Optus Mobile Review ALDI Mobile Review Amaysim Mobile Review Belong Mobile Review Circles.Life Review Vodafone Mobile Review Woolworths Mobile Review Felix Mobile Review Best iPhone Plans Best Family Mobile Plans Best Budget Smartphones Best Prepaid Plans Best SIM-Only Plans Best Plans For Kids And Teens Best Cheap Mobile Plans Telstra vs Optus Mobile Optus NBN Review Belong NBN Review Vodafone NBN Review Superloop NBN Review Aussie BB NBN Review iiNet NBN Review MyRepublic NBN Review TPG NBN Review Best NBN Satellite Plans Best NBN Alternatives Best NBN Providers Best Home Wireless Plans What is a Good NBN Speed? Test NBN Speed How to speed up your internet Optus vs Telstra Broadband ExpressVPN Review CyberGhost VPN Review NordVPN Review PureVPN Review Norton Secure VPN Review IPVanish VPN Review Windscribe VPN Review Hotspot Shield VPN Review Best cheap VPN services Best VPN for streaming Best VPNs for gaming What is a VPN? VPNs for ad-blocking Running through our testing playlist, the first couple of songs test out how headphones handle the lower register. In ‘I Didn’t Just Come Here to Dance’ there was a layer of bass missing, and the deep resonance you’ll normally hear in Childish Gambino’s ‘3005’ was muted and distant. These same characteristics also come through on the microphone, making the voice sound flat and muffled. On the listening side of things, the lacklustre bass is a telltale sign of poor audio balance on the lower end of the spectrum. This did end up being salvageable using a Soundcore signature effect in the accompanying app called ‘Bass Up.’ Toggling this on made an immediate, and drastic improvement. Equipped with 50 hours of battery life with noise cancelling on, the Soundcore Q45s are in the upper echelon for battery life. When powering up, the cans give a handy battery warning either saying high, medium, or low battery which coupled with fast charging could just save you from needing to interact with the outside world. The set has relatively reliable auto-pairing with the previously connected device, but there are times when it has failed and left me blasting Taylor Swift to a street full of people. A boon for them, but less so for me. Updating the firmware all but fixed this issue, and took a couple of minutes through the accompanying app. Multi-point supports two devices simultaneously, and makes the Q45s easy to justify as a work and life device. Rather than having a headset wired into my laptop, I’ve found multi-point makes jumping between work and day-to-day activities easier. No need to switch up headphones for a lunchtime walk, I can just swap Spotify playing from my laptop to my phone and carry on. The switch can be a touch delayed, but it is otherwise a dependable feature. In any magical relationship it can feel like you’re the only people in the world, all that external noise cancelled out. These headphones give you that same sensation with excellent noise cancelling, and an equally strong transparency mode. Adaptive noise cancelling automatically adjusts to suit your environment, but Soundcore offers five levels of custom noise cancelling as well. With the strongest noise cancelling on you won’t even be able to hear someone talking directly to you less than a metre away. Transparency Mode will let in more chatter, and ambient noise, and with ANC off entirely you’ll be very aware of what is happening around you. Switching between the modes can be done through the app and the on-ear controls. These are lightly customisable - you can change what one and two presses of the NC button does - and intuitive. Turning noise cancelling on and off you’ll get a spoken alert through the headphones, but if the volume on your audio is too high you might not hear it as the volume of the alert is set. The buttons protrude slightly from the side of the muffs making them easy to find and navigate. Of course, looks aren’t everything, what really matters is how they make you feel. They sit comfortably for extended listening, but are quite loose for me. I’ve found them difficult at the gym in particular, they tend to slide off during any exercise that isn’t entirely vertical. For people with larger heads, or who don’t plan on being horizontal all that often it won’t be a problem. Fortunately, the in-built ‘Bass Up’ function evens out the audio balance, making a richer and more enjoyable listening experience. While it is disappointing that the Soundcore didn’t put their best foot forward from the get-go, they’ve charmed me nonetheless.
Sound: Do they sound good? Audio quality is pretty important for headphones, after all. Comfort & Design: Are they comfortable to wear over extended periods of time? Features: How long does the battery last? Is the connectivity reliable? Is the noise-cancelling good? Vibe: What’s the overall experience? Value: Are they good for the money?
While audio products can be quite subjective for many reasons, we have standardised testing procedures across the team designed to help us look at the category in a consistent way. You can read more about how we review over-ear headphones here.
