Soundcore Anker Life Q20 Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Headphones

TL;DR — these are the best noise canceling headphones, and they perform at or above the level of more expensive headphones. I tried the newer Q30 version and switched back to these Q20s due to the better performance.

I bought these about a year ago, and I’ve loved them. The noise cancellation is excellent–my sister was showing me the noise cancellation on her new AirPods Max and it was comparable these Q20s. I get easily overwhelmed by lots of noise, so the noise canceling feature was the most important to me when selecting headphones. I use these to block out my husband watching TV, dogs barking, neighbors blasting music in my apartment building, people talking loudly on airplanes, etc. They are excellent, and I can wear them for several hours before my ears start to get a little sore. The battery life on the headphones is also really good. I’m not a huge audiophile so I can’t really tell you if the sound quality is as good as more expensive headphones, but I have no complaints about the sound when I’m listening to music.

The only thing I don’t like about these headphones is that I can only connect to one device at a time. If I’m using them for my laptop and I get a call on my phone, I can’t take the call on my headset without manually switching the bluetooth connection over. This bothered me enough to try the newer Q30 headphones, which can connect to two devices simultaneously and also have a little feature that switches from noise cancellation mode to transparency mode when you tap the right earphone. After a couple weeks of trying them out, I am returning the Q30s and going back to my Q20s. The newer headphones had less effective noise cancellation, and I would occasionally get a sharp piercing sound in my ear through the headphones that was a little painful. Some of this could be the shape of my ears or whatever, but I found the Q20s to be more comfortable with better noise cancellation, and a much better price point. I can live with the minor inconvenience of the single bluetooth connection in exchange for better noise cancelation.

I’ve had the Soundcore Q20 headphones for almost a month now, and I thought I’d start off my review with one simple statement: I’ve only charged these things ONCE since I’ve taken them out of the box. These headphones have absolutely phenomenal battery life. The only reason I charged them was because I wanted to test how long they would last on a full charge (within my day to day use). I received these headphones on the 1st of April. It is currently the 27th of April and the battery is still at “Medium” (there is no visual indicator, however there is a voice that tells you whether your battery is “High”, “Medium”, or “Low”).

That being said, I’ll go ahead and list some Pros:

– Battery Life (Seriously, I can’t stress enough how good it is)
– Sound Quality
– Comfort
– Looks
– Sturdiness/Build Quality
– Noise Cancellation (there’s a caveat here, continue reading to see what I mean)

BATTERY LIFE:
As if I haven’t already said enough, these headphones refuse to die. I’ve used them from anywhere between an hour to 3-4 hours at a time (long gaming sessions or binging a show on my laptop or phone), and they just don’t let up. Like I mentioned in the intro, it’s been almost an entire month with these headphones and I’ve only had to charge them once. It is worth mentioning that the battery will drain much faster with noise-cancelling turned on, as it is indeed ACTIVE noise-cancelling and uses more power. I’ve got to give props to Anker for marketing these as lasting 40 hours, as this runtime is more accurate when noise-cancelling is ON. With ANC off, these can easily last 60+ hours. It’s always refreshing to see a company slightly under-sell and over-deliver.

SOUND QUALITY:
These things sound way better than they should at this price-point. I wouldn’t call myself an audiophile, but I do have experience with over-ear, closed-back studio headphones (I own a pair of Audio Technica ATH-M50x’s), and dabble in amateur sound mixing/mastering as a guitarist. Apart from being just a bit heavier on the bass than I would like, these headphones do an excellent job at bringing out lows, mids, and highs in pretty much anything you’ll find yourself listening to. Nothing sounds drowned out or overexposed (with the exception of the bass, but there’s a valid reason for it in this case). I bought these headphones primarily for multimedia consumption (movies, video games, music, etc.). They have just the right amount of punch in the low-end to make things such as explosions or bass-heavy sound effects really shine. In this instance, the heavier low-end makes sense. Voices sound crystal clear, as the mids don’t get drowned out by the lows or highs like on some other higher-priced headphones (looking at you, Beats..). The highs are where these things truly shine, in my opinion. Lots of budget headphones tend to sound very “tinny” with harsh, sharp highs to over-compensate for the overly-saturated bass, but these do a great job at keeping both the mids and highs prominent enough (despite the thicker bass).

COMFORT:
I’ve owned and used plenty of both over-ear and on-ear headphones over the years, and I can’t beat around the bush here: these are the most comfortable headphones I’ve ever used. I was expecting to have to “break them in”, given what some of the other reviews were saying, but the minute I put these on I was pleasantly surprised at just how soft and light these felt (without feeling cheap or flimsy). And I wear glasses!

LOOKS:
Not a whole lot to say about how these look. I wouldn’t say you’ll be turning heads while wearing these out and about, but for the amount of money that they cost.. I’m just saying they could’ve looked a lot worse. I’ve seen headphones three times the price that are a complete eye-sore. The Q20s are clean and minimalistic, without giving away its low price.

STURDINESS/BUILD QUALITY:
Although I’m not one to man-handle my devices (no matter how little they may cost), I have to say that these don’t feel the least bit flimsy. I did a mild stress-test by stretching both ear cups apart as far as I was comfortable with and was able to get about 10 inches wide. I don’t think anyone has a head that wide, but if you do, these are definitely going to fit. The build quality feels great, and I feel like these will definitely last a while (and I will be updating this review if that changes lol).

NOISE CANCELLATION:
These headphones do indeed have active noise cancelling, BUT.. I literally almost NEVER use it. Here’s why: they don’t need it. The headphones are built in such a way that even with the ANC off, they drown out a ton of outside noise. Unfortunately, there is a significant drop in volume when noise-cancelling is activated. The bass takes a hit as well, making it more evened out with the mids and highs (which might be a plus for some).

FINAL THOUGHTS:
There’s only really one “Con” that I wasn’t going to mention, and that’s the carrying bag that comes with the Q20s. There’s nothing really wrong with it, but I did just want to note that they used to come with a hard carrying case (according to some older YouTube reviews), and I’m a little salty that us newer buyers don’t get that lol. All in all, for the $60 that I paid for these headphones, I can’t think of any reason not to fully recommend them. They sound great, the battery life lasts incredibly long (almost to a suspicious degree, making you feel like today is finally the day it’ll need a charge only to be proven wrong), it’s got decent looks, solid build, and they even threw in Active Noise Cancellation for situations that call for some extra silence. If you’re in the market for some new headphones for multimedia consumption (I definitely would not use these for any professional work, as they are not made for that), and have a bit of a stiffer budget, look no further. These will do more than its price tag leads on.

Overall they are a decent head phone not wow like bose or higher quality but they do the trick for a cheap pair of head phones. They’ll work until the holiday sales start.

Pro’s

Bluetooth or aux cord. Most devices are going away from aux cord but they know a lot of people have older devices and can not financially update and this allows both.

Decent sound for a cheapo pair of head phones. I wouldn’t rave it great but it gets the job done. I compared them to my older head phones from 10 yrs ago and was a bit impressed but def NOT wow they’re great. No where near bose but it does the job. It does some sounds decently but is not so great at other sounds. If you like surround sound I would not rate these great for that. I love good sounding music and these don’t cut it for me but will do until the holiday sales kick in. I live in my head phones so I will get high quality ones these ain’t it.

Won’t break the bank. For a cheap head phone these are actually pretty decent. I’ve had my fair share of cheap not so great head phones. If you are not hard on your head phones you could easily get a couple yrs out of these. I have a lot of aux cord devices and this will probably end up being a back up pair for those. In the long run I may eventually take out the battery and keep them as a aux cord headphone.

Great noise cancelation up to about 90 dec. That’s pretty much most back ground noise. Works great as I’m a light sleeper. This is a standard feature with most head phones these days.

Con’s

Short battery life. I mean 40 hrs isn’t that long. I know other head phones that can last up to 3 days with a full charge. I mean that’s every other day you’re charging them for 2 hrs.

Short axu cord. Sorry but 1.5 ft is very short and you need at least a 3 ft cord to be comfortable with it. You can easily buy a longer aux cord on amazon if this one be too short for you. Yes the aux cord can affect the sound quality. You be best to buy a more decent one than the cheapo one that came in the box.

Charging cord is very short 0.5ft. Designed to charge device off to the side not while using it. I am glad I bought a universal head charger as this won’t cut it for me. Am I the only one who finds the tedious charging of head phones annoying?

Environment affects battery life. This head phone is designed for the ideal temps of 40-90f. Anything outside of this range can heavily affect them. If you read the manual this is in there.

Volume controls are a bit difficult to access. You have to tuck under the ear piece and feel for them instead of blindly taping the ear piece for it. This is a bit frustrating.

Not the best sound. Great for a chep pair but I wouldn’t go raving about the sound quality. I am use to high quality sound such as bose or better.

Can’t hear anything in a noisy environment above 90 decimals unless the volume is over 30%. Sorry but my old beats could easily blast through that and I could hear my beats as low as 5% volume in noisy environments. I had a fan running in the back ground and had to have them 40% or higher to hear them.

App that comes with the head phones will steal the data on your phone. So many people fall for this and you can run the device fine without it. Please read the i agree clause and you will save your self from this fate. You do NOT need the app and they work just fine as a stand alone device.

Unable to disable the voice notifications. I use my head phones a lot and find it annoying when your device randomly says “battery low” or gives an odd command out of the blue. Zero way to disable this.

A bit tight for me. These are pretty tight on my head and I do not find them the slightest bit comfortable. The ear pieces are huge for me and it would be nice to have them a couple inches smaller.

UPDATE: Added the 5th star. Read the review with edits at the end.

Wow. I am rarely this blown away by consumer-grade peripherals, but I feel very compelled to write a glowing review of these headphones.

I do a lot of audio work, and cans are ubiquitous. I have some wired Sennies that I love behind the mixer, a couple wired Audio Technicas that have stood the test of time in the broadcast studio, and a pair of nice Sony BT cans with ANC, so I will be comparing these Ankers to the Sony model WH-1000MX3.

Without question, Anker has come further, faster, than a lot of peripheral manufacturers. The attention to detail in their products is exceptional, and downright attractive. The build quality is great, the packaging is great, the functionality is great, the ergonomics are great. My experience with their hubs is what leaned me toward their headphones.

After a bad experience with in-ear phones on an airplane, I decided I really needed some over-the-ear headphones for flying, but I didn’t want to carry around a $300 pair of cans that I only use a couple dozen times a year. I looked on Amazon, saw the reviews, read the single-star complaints, and plunked down a whopping $60 (SIXTY BUCKS?!?! Are you kidding?) figuring they couldn’t sound that awful and would be perfect for the task.

Let me assure you: these are the perfect headphones for flying.

I like the idea that if they get lost or stolen, they’re easily replaceable. I love how well they fit (with a caveat, below), and they look great. MOST of all, holy cow do they sound great!

Pairing the first time was a little bit of a process, but that’s to be expected the first time you play with a new toy. After that, I put on my go-to sound check song (“Sacrilege,” by Mentallo and the Fixer), cranked the volume way up, and listened.

I have no idea what the THD or frequency range on these are, but I don’t think I care. The “silent note” at the 1:00 mark of that song came through so clearly, without even the slightest hiss or noise, that I was madly in love with them immediately. The dynamic range is exceptional, there was no need for me to play with the super-duper-bass-button-doodad, I just let it play.

The highs are crisp without tinny tones, the lows are deep without rattling the 40mm drivers (I’d love a set like this with 50mm drivers), just a very clean, direct, simple, uncomplicated sound quality that rivals the AT 500’s I have and is absolutely on-par with the Sonys.

So I tested the ANR. I turned on the A/C in my office, reset Sacrilege, and played the beginning again. The A/C, as expected, kinda dampened the experience, but not any worse than the Sonys. I reset the song again, with the A/C on, and activated ANR (it’s called ANC on the Sonys). THIS is where the two headphones differ dramatically.

With Noise Cancellation on, the Ankers outperform the Sonys. Period. It’s a night and day difference, so if this is why you’re considering these headphones, waste no more time and go get yourself a pair.

In terms of tonal quality, I put these at the top of the list of any wireless earphones anywhere. I mean it. They’re better than ANY earbud type I’ve listened with, they’re better than every other OTE without ANR/ANC, and they’re as good as the Sonys, but with better ANR. They’re better than any WIRED earbud, too, including the Sony IEMs I used to use back when everything had an 1/8″ jack.

Sound is, as you would expect, not ‘quite’ as good as the higher-end wired ATs and Sennies. I don’t think Anker would mind me saying that, because they’re a completely different application. If you play MP3s and don’t think they sound worse than lossless files, you wouldn’t appreciate the higher-end phones, so go buy these right away. If you can’t hear compression noise in your satellite radio, then you won’t appreciate the compression of BlueTooth and you should go buy these right away.

That’s quite a lot of good stuff to say about a pair of headphones that cost less than a decent dinner.

There are 3 reasons for the 4 star review.

1. The ear pads are uncomfortable for my ears. Not VERY uncomfortable, but enough that I have to adjust the phones several times during a 3 hour flight. It might be that they’re new and I just need to break them in. If that turns out to be true, I’ll adjust the review up a star.

2. The battery life isn’t that great. To be fair, I only need about 12 hours of battery life and I’ll just recharge them. However, the advertised battery life is estimated at 40 hours with ANR and 60 hours without. My experience is that with ANR I get about 22-24 hours, and without I get about 48. Now, I have not had these very long, so I’ve only timed my first recharges, so if it turns out the battery life goes up with proper use, I’ll add the 5th star.

3. They don’t fold up as small as the Sonys or even my ATs. This one alone is not worth docking a whole star, but it’s the only other complaint I have. Carry-on space is so limited, and there’s a pocket in my bag that the Sonys fit in, and these don’t (not by much though).

Hope that helps you make a decision. I’m very happy with these, and I just might give them some airtime at sea level just for giggles.

UPDATE January 2023: After using these headphones for a reasonable amount of time, I’m adding the 5th star. The earphone cushions did “break in,” which I’m not crazy about (if it breaks in, it will break out), but they did become more comfortable. Ordinary movement is sufficient to avoid the urge to move the head phones. On a 3 hour flight, they’re perfectly fine. When they are new, the cushions are a bit stiff and I should have realized that, because my AT’s needed their cushions replaced after umpteen years.

Battery-wise, I am getting pretty close to advertised spec, but I have noticed that if you crank up the volume on your phone or player, then crank up the volume on the headphones, the battery life suffers dramatically. Play with it a bit, adjusting device volume and then headphone volume until you get good sound without noise.

Finally, I’ll tell you that I like these so much that I bought a BT card for my PC. These are pretty good for videoconferences, and they’re nice to have while you run a buzzsaw or have screaming children next door and you just want to not be distracted. I’ll still prefer my Sennies for mixing, and I still prefer my AT’s for ordinary focused PC work, but these cans are exceptionally good. I cannot get over how good they are, affordable or not.

Five stars. When they wear out, or break, or otherwise stop making me smile, I’ll just go buy another set.

Update Dec 2023- These headphones are still as awesome as the day I received them in 2019! Ankar is truly hard to beat. Just in case you’re looking for a pair I can vouch for the quality of these.
I’ve had these headphones since end of December 2019, gotten for flight over the holidays. Tried out both Bose noice Cancelling headphones at local brick & mortar store, but the price caused me to pause. On to Amazon where I found these, better price, would arrive before my flight, sounded like a deal worth a shot after reading everything about them what did I have to lose with Amazon’s return policy & Anker’s reputation for quality.
I’ve had great chargers, other electronic items by Anker with great results. They arrived on time well packaged, impressive from the start, but sound quality sealed the deal.
Back to Anker headphones, I love them! The sound quality is amazing, when I have ANC on I can’t hear anything but music, the outside noise is indeed cancelled. Even on my really bad flight (another story) a guy wanted to test them against his B newest headphones, so we switched for a test. He said he wish he had known about Ankers quality & price, they were impressive not that he would give up the B set, but would definitely buy them as a spare or an extra pair to use for other activities, he couldn’t believe the price. He went straight to Amazon asked me if the pair he chose were the same as mine, they were & he ordered them. That kind of confirmed I have a great pair of anc headphones & didn’t pay $$$ for them,
They pair easily and are comfortable – until I’ve worn for hours then my shades/glasses are indented in my skull, time for a break, but that’s after hours of wearing-enjoying great sounding music 4-6 hrs & battery is still strong, time fly by.
There are only 2 minor suggestions for Anker regarding these headphones 1) add to Soundcore app please (after thought I don’t know if it’s needed unless to customize equalizer) the volume can be controlled on the headphones. 2) the headband could use a slight redesign. Wearing them while working out, doing lawn work or inside cleaning, cooking, always moving about (excellent BT range btw), the top of headband pulls my hair as the headband is adjustable it tends to slide a wee bit & my hair gets pulled so I have to adjust them & keep going, I’ve no idea how they could do this it’s something I noticed when trying out my son’s. He bought a cheap pair of JBL headphones for lawn mowing, they do fit a little better but don’t compare to Ankers sound quality, imho Would love JBL type fit on Anker Life Q20 hybrid ANC headphones!
Taking phone calls while wearing headphones works great, I asked how did I sound, fine he said, then we laughed when I told him I was listening to music on my Ankers when he called & I took the call while wearing my headphones. Neither of us had any problems with quality of call. Volume is easy to find & adjust the multifunction button is easy to use for music or calls.
They come with the charging cable, though I wish more companies included the wall plug in,I don’t always have a spare just ling around, ok so I never have a spare just laying about. Also the aux cable is included though I haven’t used that feature yet. A drawstring pouch to put them in, which was good as I didn’t have a case to put them in for my flight & no time to get one. Instructions are well written Anker products are always first class
Love these headphones, the ANC & overall sound quality at this price point is a gift that keeps on giving. The quality of this model looks & sounds like the much higher price headphones, maybe better than some. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy for a gift as they come gift wrap ready or a gift of music for me.
Overall Ankers entry into the headphone, earbud market is welcomed. I wouldn’t hesitate to try them out if you’re looking for headphones with ANC Fantastic sound, that doesn’t break the budget to tears, give them a listen I think you’re going to love them.
Simply put my Anker Life Q20 ANC headphones are fantastic in quality and sound. I’m not an audiophile but I can’t find a thing disappointing in these, not quality or sound. I like a variety of music & I hear good bass, mid tones & treble, vocal it’s all there. As said for everything including quality these headphones deliver at a price that doesn’t break the bank & with Ankers outstanding customer service is amazing. I can honestly say Anker SoundCore is definitely impressive, just as their charging cables, & other electronic devices that was my first introduction to Anker products. I’m sure I’ll look at their Bluetooth speakers soon.
Sorry for overly long review, there’s so many outstanding elements that I feel are important for customers to know when spending your money,I try to offer as much info I’ve experienced as possible, I’ve relied on Amazon customer reviews when making a purchase, they’re brutally honest good or bad & I appreciate that.
I’ve had & used these headphones since late 22nd December, tonight is 25 July enough time to really evaluate them, they’ve exceeded my expectations, I would definitely recommend, most of all I would buy them again.
Thanks if you did read this long review, good intentions to help others as they shop.

UPDATE 12 August a friend of mine used my Ankers while visiting. He called back he had received his very own Anker Life Q 20 headphones. That says a lot about the sound & quality whilst respecting the customers wallet, he was so happy with his new headphones & that I recommended Ankers.

Thanks again to Amazon shoppers, Amazon & Anker

UPDATE: if you’ve read my review you know I’ve had this set of headphones since Dec 2019 it’s Nov 29 2023. I thought I would need to replace them this week but not so fast! Removed them from the pouch they came with, paired with new iPhone and wore them while preparing dinner continuing until bedtime always after midnight. The quality of sound, the hours of comfort while carrying on with everything needed to be done, the joy of listening to many genres of music was fantastic even taking a call.
In 2019 I think there was 1 color choice, sure I’d loved to have had the choices Anker has today but I didn’t buy them as a fashion statement but for the Anker quality, outstanding customer service in every product they put the Anker name on. These headphones have not diminished in sound quality whether I’m jamming as I go through daily chores, or taking or making phone calls while wearing this same pair of headphones.
In this current economic environment I’m thrilled for Anker’s dedication to quality while delivering headphones that are affordable. And providing a fantastic choice
I wanted Amazon shoppers to know they have a choice if shopping for headphones that doesn’t sacrifice sound or quality or lasting performance. When I’m looking for another set of headphones or the Anker Liberty Air EarPods or the many chargers I’ve bought, I always look for Anker/Soundcore first I know the quality and their outstanding customer support
Thanks everyone Happy Shopping