Under $25 scores: The Anker P20i earbuds offer big sound on a budget
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The true wireless earbuds market sees several new releases launched monthly. Almost half of them are inexpensive models attempting to compete with the best budget earbuds, and a good chunk of those bear Anker’s branding. The latest model to grab my attention, the Soundcore P20i, is a set of extremely affordable buds that came out of nowhere and come highly recommended based on more than 7,500 5-star Amazon reviews.
There’s much to love about the P20i besides their ridiculously low retail price. Their sound is bold and impactful, giving music an energetic vibrancy. A companion app lets you personalize the buds in different ways. Anker’s minimalist and water-resistant design ensures optimal protection from extreme moisture conditions. These buds also carry some of the longest battery life per charge that I’ve seen. All that for just $25? Believe it.
Anker Soundcore P20i
If you want reliable buds with noteworthy features and strong bass performance for about a third of the price of Apple AirPods, it gets no better (or cheaper) than the Anker Soundcore P20i.
How I found the Anker Soundcore P20i
Anker has a tendency to “stealth launch” products with no marketing. This has been the case with lower-priced Soundcore headphones and earbuds, which are identifiable by the lowercase i at the end of their name, and bring updated specs to older models.
Knowing this, I visited Anker’s website to see what the latest i releases were and discovered the P20i. These buds originally launched at $40, but Amazon often has them on sale for $25 or cheaper, making them a more budget-conscious replacement for my previous favorite, the $80 JLab Work Buds.
Why the Anker Soundcore P20i are a score
Bass is one of the biggest reasons to purchase Anker buds. Now, let me be clear right out of the gate: Don’t expect the sonic-blasting greatness present on flagships like the Beats Fit Pro or Sony WF-1000XM5. Instead, appreciate the P20i’s impressive low-end delivery that can also be tweaked in the companion app.
Victoria Monét’s electro-funk single “Experience” was a pleasant-sounding bop that knocked with ferocity. The track is propelled by heavy disco drums that slap hard and blend beautifully with celebratory horns and searing synths, all of which are reproduced well via Anker’s V-shaped sound profile. Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage,” meanwhile, drop-kicked my eardrums with monstrous snare strikes and deeply distorted bass guitar riffs that didn’t muddy up the soundstage. That’s something I’ve rarely ever said about sub-$25 buds.
The Soundcore app for Android and iOS grants several features to personalize sound and usability. You’re greeted with battery-level indicators for each bud on the home screen, along with Equalizer, Controls, Find Device and Game mode settings. Equalizer hosts 20 different presets, but only half of them serve their respective categories well. Anker’s Soundcore Signature preset is the default and emits plenty of boom without turning on the BassUp feature, which is overly aggressive and bloats up most contemporary tracks. Treble Boost is what I recommend for daily listening since it does the best job of balancing frequencies, pumping out punchy bass while feeding your ears crisp mids and transparent highs.
Game mode, a feature designed to reduce audio latency, isn’t necessary because the buds already demonstrate stable audio synchronization in standard mode when playing mobile games and streaming videos.
The P20i come with responsive touch controls that execute functions as soon as you tap on them. These buds also work with your phone’s native digital assistant, meaning you can summon Google Assistant or Siri for voice commands.
Battery life deserves plenty of recognition as well. A full charge equals 10 hours of playtime, or 30 hours total with the charging case. That’s twice as much as the original AirPods Pro (five hours) and several hours more than the critically acclaimed Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (six hours). Wireless charging is MIA, but a 10-minute charge can generate up to two hours of listening time.
Durability might be the P20i’s unsung feature. Both buds are made of solid plastic and wrapped in IPX5 coating for sweat- and water-resistant protection. You won’t have to worry about them cracking if dropped on hard surfaces. The charging case is a block of plastic that safely secures the buds and comes with a lanyard that wraps around the wrist.
The P20i are not flawless by any means. I noticed some connectivity issues when streaming music on macOS devices, with audio randomly cutting out. Anker should have fine-tuned the bass levels to give other frequencies extra breathing room. Lastly, more signature features, such as a custom equalizer (EQ), wireless charging and a pairing button on the case, would have been appreciated.
It’s easy to dismiss the P20i because of their shortcomings, but doing so would be foolish, especially if you’re seeking great-sounding buds at an unbeatable price.
Note: The prices above reflect the retailers' listed price at the time of publication.
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