Status Audio Between 3 ANC TWS hands-on: Premium earbuds with better noise-cancelling than Apple’s AirPods Pro

Despite some small annoyances, I found myself trading out my AirPods Pro 2 for the Between 3ANCs for two reasons: audio quality and battery life. Speaking to the former, the Between 3ANC buds pump out superior audio compared to Apple’s offering (as well as to most other TWS systems). The Between 3ANC buds each house a 10 mm dynamic driver and two additional armature drivers that sit in the ear canal. The whole package creates a fuller, more dynamic sound stage than the AirPods Pro 2 can produce. Yes, Apple’s buds have a slightly larger 11 mm driver, but the overall sound profile is flatter and more balanced. The Between 3ANC buds seem to operate in a wider frequency range, and the extremes of that range are amplified compared to the AirPods Pro 2. 

The AirPods Pro 2 are more balanced out of the box and have a flatter noise curve, which offers a more natural, balanced profile. The Between 3ANCs are more dynamic and offer a fuller, brighter sound (which can further be adjusted via Status Audio’s app). Using an analogy, it’s like a camera that snaps flat, neutral, photos versus one that does some post processing on its photos to create more vivid, bright, and colorful images. It comes down to personal preference, but in my opinion, the Between 3ANCs offer more color, especially across a wide range of music genres from pop to hip-hop to classical.

The sound stage of the Between 3ANCs can be tweaked further via Status Audio’s app, which offers a few preset sound profiles and allows users to create and save their own sound profiles. I wish there was a way to navigate between sound profiles via the buds (maybe a double click on the button?), but they have to be selected in the app. This would make it easier to swap from a music-centered profile to one for spoken word, but this is a nitpick.