The Status Between 3ANC Bluetooth earbuds aren’t exactly the most popular earbuds on the market, but how do they stand up to the test?
When looking for a brand new pair of high-quality, long-lasting Bluetooth Earbuds, many automatically look to the big brands. Apple Airpods, Beats Studio Buds+, and Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds are almost always at the top of the list.
Status entered the earbud industry in 2020 with the triple-driver powered Between Pro earbuds and is back at it again with the Between 3ANC. With Active Noise Canceling, an improved triple driver system, and plenty of battery life, Status has knocked it out of the park.
Key Specs
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.2, USB-C for charging
- Driver diameter: 10mm Dynamic Driver, 2 Balanced Armature Drivers
- Weight:
- Compatibility: Anything with Bluetooth
- Features: Active Noise Cancelling, IPX-5 Waterproof Rating, Wireless Charging, Multipoint Connectivity, 6 External Microphones, iOS and Android app
- Price: $249
Design
The Status Between 3ANC’s design blew us away the moment we opened the package. Status sent over the Bone colorway of the earbuds, which we weren’t sure about at first,’ but we quickly fell in love.
Its charging case is the same bone color almost all the way around, with just a strip of silver around the back to break it up a little bit. The front of the case has the battery indicator, while the back is where you’ll find the Bluetooth connect button.
The charging case is quite small, which our pockets appreciate, as it means we don’t have to walk around with a bigger case like the Gen 2 Apple Airpods Pro.
Flip open the top and you’ll see how Status managed to make the case so small. The Between 3ANC earbuds are designed with box-style stems that fit straight down into the case with a magnet to hold them nice and snug.
The magnet is quite strong, but not so strong that you’ll face any issues getting the earbuds out of the case. We tested it out by dropping them a few times on the floor and didn’t have a single issue with them popping out.
They’re super comfortable in our ears straight out of the box but come with several different-sized tips to customize their fit even further so everyone will be able to make them fit perfectly.
Setup and Features
Setting up the Status Between 3ANC earbuds is a breeze. All you have to do is just flip open the top and take the earbuds out of the case to put them in pairing mode. This also automatically powers them on, and putting them back in the case turns them back off.
Once connected to your favorite device, the Between 3ANC earbuds offer two forms of control: physical and touch.
The physical buttons are placed on the top side of the stem, and control the different modes offered by Status. A short tap on either side will switch between Active Noise Cancelling and Transparency modes, while a double tap will activate your phone’s Voice Assistant and a triple tap will tell you battery status.
Touch controls are available on the colored part of each earbud, with the left and right surfaces offering different media controls. To play or pause a track, however, you can quickly tap on either side.
We absolutely love how easy it is to control the earbuds, and having physical buttons to switch between the main modes is a much-welcome feature.
They also support multi-connect, allowing you to connect the Between 3ANC to more than one source at a time. During our testing, we connected them to our Macbook Air and iPhone 14 Pro Max throughout the workday and had no issues with audio switching between the two devices.
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Battery Life
We’ve tested a wide variety of battery-powered items, many of which provide subpar battery life compared to the manufacturer’s rating. The Status Between 3ANC earbuds are pleasantly different.
They’re rated for eight hours of battery with ANC on, and 12 with ANC off — and that’s exactly what we got. This gives you more than enough battery to last an entire day and means that you will be able to take it out and about with very little issue whatsoever.
Sound Quality
Status absolutely knocked it out of the park with the Between 3ANC, giving us some of the highest quality earbuds we’ve ever had bless our ears.
The highly tuned triple driver system offers well-defined highs when listening to prog rock band Coheed and Cambria while maintaining solid mids and just-enough bass when listening to the more hip-hop styles of Connor Price & Nic D.
Taking things a step further on iOS and Android devices, Status offers an easy to maneuver app that provides three predetermined equalizer presets. To take things even further, the app also gives you eight points of customization to create even more presets options.
Transparency mode while listening to music is very good, allowing us to hear the cars and people around us while taking a walk around the neighborhood.
Active Noise Cancelling on the Between 3ANC is rated to cancel up to 38 decibels, which we do believe reaches that rating just fine. In our testing, we could still hear the TV from across the room set at a regular volume with ANC on while listening to music.
While the ANC works just fine for our personal use, we expected a bit higher quality since it’s advertised in the product’s name.
Microphone Quality
Bluetooth earbuds have been notorious for bad microphone quality, but Status’ use of three microphones on each earbud has provided a much higher microphone quality than usual.
The microphone isn’t quite at production level or anything of the sort, but we have no qualms about using the Status Between 3ANC earbuds on any phone call or Discord voice chat.
Should you buy it?
If you’re looking for a pair of earbuds at the $250 price point, we’d absolutely recommend looking at the Status Between 3ANC. The build quality paired with phenomenal audio right out of the box makes them well worth the money.
They’re by no means cheap, so many may opt for something like the 2nd Gen Apple Airpod Pros instead, but they definitely compete with the likes of Sony and Bose products.
The Verdict: 4/5
The Status Between 3ANC earbuds well exceeded our expectations, offering more than enough quality to compete in their rather high price range. However, the Active Noise Canceling falls just a bit flat. Other things like strong battery life, in addition to its overall look and feel are just exceptional.