Soundcore C30i Review
Clipping On Sound
I have never been able to wear earphones without feeling uncomfortable after a certain amount of time. Something about sticking an orb into my ear just doesn’t settle well with me. Open ear earphones like the Soundcore C30i are intriguing as it still allows for the mobility that earphones provide, without the potential discomfort they inevitably will hamper ears with. However, after using the C30i for a big chunk of time, I just can’t see it replacing the traditional earbud form factor due to various factors. Here’s why.
Purchase Price: $69.99
Play Nice With Water
The C30i is IPX4 rated so it is resistant to water.Look and Feel
On the outside, the C30i comes out of the box just like any other pair of earbuds does. It’s packaged with a nice plastic charging case that plugs into charge through a USB-C port. The earbuds themselves are a translucent gray color that showcases the circuitry inside. On first impressions, I really like the look of these earbuds as their unusual shape and form differentiates itself from all the other buds sticking out of other people’s ears.
So the way open-ear earbuds work is that instead of a mass lodging into place to cover your ear, a U-shaped device slides down the rim of your earlobes to hang on instead. Since the earbud is U-shaped, the two latch points have a bit of bulk behind it which is understandable as they need to clip-on to the ear lobe somehow. My biggest problem is that I often forget which side faces outwards and which one goes behind the earlobe. One of the sides is an elongated oval, while the other one is closer to a circle. Unless you’re looking at it closely, they look and feel pretty similar. I can’t convey just how many times I have the Soundcore C30i locked in only to hear muffled audio coming out of it before realizing I had them on backwards. The same thing applies to inserting them back into their charging case. They magnetic drop into one position, but it’s also possible to drop them in reverse. Fortunately, the case doesn’t close fully when they’re in the wrong position, but I’ve quickly inserted them incorrectly many times.
When you do have these earbuds clipped onto an ear, it legitimately looks like a large earlobe piercing. The correct positioning has it resting smack dab in the center, dividing the earlobe in half. It does look a bit strange at first, but I’m all for different form factors as earbuds have become so stale in aesthetic stature over the years. Initially I was hopeful that because these open-ear earbuds aren’t directly logged into my ear that they would feel more comfortable to wear, but I quickly waned on this form factor as it was equally if not even more uncomfortable than the standard form factor. The easiest way to describe the feeling is that it feels like something is clamping your earlobe. It isn’t an undeniable pain, but it is certainly a noticeable pinch. I wouldn’t want to wear this as my daily driver.
Open Ear Sound
Also, since the shape of the earpiece is an unorthodox form factor, expect the sound quality to be lackluster. This is most certainly not the pair of earbuds for audiophiles seeking the best bang for your dollar in sound quality. No matter what you’re listening to, it won’t seem as clear if you are accustomed to using traditional earbuds. Sound feels distant and muffled for narrative and verbal audio content. Audio can get rather loud to offset the lack of fullness, but it’s just not too enjoyable in my opinion. That’s to be expected since the sound isn’t physically pushing into your ear like a normal earbud would. Audio has to travel more distance to reach you and it shows.
I think it’s acceptable for podcasts and audiobooks as the substance is more desirable than the presentation when it comes to those verbal formats. There’s essentially no bass of any substance when it comes to listening to instrumental music. Lyrical music sounds like you’re listening to music coming out of a down facing laptop. It’s a bit too tinny to my liking.
Other Features
I simply find the C30i to do the bare minimum of relaying audio to my ears. I don’t find it to be of high quality and that might be okay for some people looking at an open ear form factor. When it comes to functionality, the Soundcore C30i has necessities needed to work for the user on a daily level, but they’re not especially reliable. Since the clip-on form factor requires the bulk of the base to reside on the backside of the ear, the media touch controls are forced to occupy that area of the ear. That means that instead of using an index finger to click like you would on a normal earbud, the natural action is to use a thumb here. To be clear, you can still reach the back with your index finger, but I just found it more natural to use the thumb. Double tapping makes the Soundcore control play and pause, while triple tapping skips to the next track. That’s all the touch controls provide along with answering calls. The touch control area is extremely crowded and small. I found myself tapping and not receiving any commands back from the earbud. A bit of a miss with the rounded shape here.
The C30i can switch connections between devices through multipoint connection using the Soundcore app. You can also tinker with sound effect profiles and check the earbud and cases’ battery life, but the app itself is rather limited in functionality it can actually control. It’s not that big of a deal as most people wouldn’t expect much customization from this price point.
Battery
To round out the rest of the features, the charging case can extend the overall battery life to 30 hours, with the earbuds holding about 10 hours of battery life off a single charge. With fast charging through USB-C, the C30i actually gets juice back up and projecting audio relatively quickly.
final thoughts
I will say that for a pair of clip-on earbuds, Soundcore has made these stay in place quite well. I’ve never had them fall off while moving around and swinging my head throughout the day. Also due to them not physically plugging my ear, I’m more keen to my surroundings and able to hear sounds from the world.
After plenty of time with the Soundcore C30i, I personally couldn’t find a viable usage where I found this piece of audio tech to improve my lifestyle. I do think it looks unique attached to my ear, but that’s really the extent of my adoration towards this product. My ears felt weary after a brief amount of time mounted and I don’t find the audio quality to warrant that discomfort. I surmise the comfort will be dependent person by person as no two earlobes are the same. So while open ear earbuds don’t seem right for me, I can see how some people may find the form factor to be worth the tradeoff to the audio drop off of traditional earbuds.
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