If you spend any time on YouTube and “the algorithm” has identified you as an audiophile level consumer with an interest in good quality earphones, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve seen ads for Status Between Pro or the newer and better-featured Status Between 3ANC true wireless stereo (TWS) earphones.

It’s the latter, reviewed here, that are advertised as being designed for audiophiles, and after a run-through over the course of a week, we wouldn’t dispute that claim. The clarity of sound for both music and voice calls was quite impressive, rating up there with more expensive models from major brands.

The Status Between 3ANC earphones sound excellent for music from and wide range of genres, and proved to our ears to offer nice musicality without unnaturally coloring the overall sound at either the high or low end of the range. We found voices to be nicely clear and on-board controls to be relatively intuitive without much operational learning required.

Furthermore, the Between 3ANC earbuds ship with a compact charging case that can easily fit in pants or jacket pockets and conveniently connect to either wired USB-C or wireless QI charging pad power sources.

Importantly, these earbuds were quite comfortable and secure for our ears. We understand that almost everyone’s ears are different and personal experiences will vary, but in our opinion Status has done a thorough job at outfitting each set of earbuds with a good range of ear tip sizes (12mm, 13mm, 15mm) to fit most people. to ensure sound isolation, the company even provides soft, flexible silicone “FitWings” which wrap around the ear tips if necessary for greater stability and audio isolation. We found a set of ear tips alone suited our needs very well without additional FitWing support, but your mileage may vary.

In our experience, the selected tip size shut out surrounding sounds well without causing any significant discomfort after multiple hours of wear. In fact, the ear tip fit did a better job and shutting out distracting room sounds than the hybrid Active Noise Canceling circuitry. But together, they were quite effective.

We even found these earphones comfortable enough to wear lying face up while listening to binaural audio pulse-enhanced music intended to induce sleep or meditation. This is not recommended for tossers and turners, as the earphones protrude a bit from the ear which will prevent sleeping on either side ear-side down in the pillow. Additionally, the touch-sensitive controls can be accidentally triggered.

Status Between 3ANC Earphones

The Status Between 3ANC Earphones are Bluetooth 5.2 enabled TWS models. Available for a street retail of $199.99 (for Bone or Onyx color options) this version adds to the earlier Status Between Pro ($98.99), switchable Active Noise Canceling and Transparent Sound control. This can be controlled via a connected mobile device app that also offers graphic equalizer control to somewhat effectively customize tonality to the listener’s preference. We found the degree of EQ effectiveness to be somewhat limited by volume level and song selection, however.

The supporting Status app is free and available for both (iOS/Android) devices and also enables quickly and easily updating firmware in the event the company needs to make and any changes or improvements in the future.

Each earbud is composed of three speakers including a dynamic speaker coupled with two balanced armature speakers. The dynamic speaker serves up respectable bass while the armature speakers have evolved from hearing-aid technology to enhance mid and high frequency ranges to produce excellently flat and natural sounding music with clear and easy to understand voices when making or taking calls.

Battery Life

The Status Between 3ANC earphones have a battery life of between 8-12 hours per charge, depending on whether or not the hybrid ANC is engaged. The battery in the re-chargeable IPX5 weather-resistant case holds an additional 24 hours of backup re-charging life. Unless you’re stuck on the flight from hell, this should be plenty long enough for most purposes and longer than many premium earbuds offered just a few years ago.

The compact case connects to a supplied USB-C charging cable (no power outlet adapter is included) or can be placed atop a wireless QI charger. Upon making the power connection, the case displays three LED lights to show remaining charge level, and one flashing LED to indicate charging is in progress.

Design

The Between 3ANC earbuds are offered in two color choices (Bone or Onyx) and at first glance appear to be less comfortable than the actually are. Each earbud connects to the case’s charging terminals by squarish-shaped chrome-coated posts that carry red/blue LED status indicators and a physical button to toggle between ANC and transparent listening modes. The capacitive touch controls on the surface post portion operate playback and volume. The control posts then connect to the portion of the earphone containing the speaker assembly and exterior ear tips.

We found the build quality to be compelling enough to warrant our trust that they will be durable performers, and found that the ear tips kept the earbuds firm in the ear when hiking and jogging without an significant issues of the earbud falling out from accumulated sweat.

In out review, the Between 3ANC’s case served its purpose well, offering a compact portable design without and garish markings or colors. Charging was consistently reliable, as we would expect.

Sound

The company claims the Between 3ANC to be “audiophile” grade earphones, and we wouldn’t dispute that. We found music to be clear and bright without embellishing or coloring the creative intent of the artist. The bass was deep (especially with jaws shut) and seemed to create a punch we could almost feel without any actual vibrations present. Midrange was similarly excellent, particularly for studio-produced bluegrass and horn-heavy jazz classics. Listening to the Del McCoury Band’s “The Family” we heard mandolins and banjos that presented an audible sparkle to our ears.

For bass punch, we tried out 70s Euro prog-rocker Focus’ legendary “Hocus Pocus” that has been known to give a 12-inch subwoofer driver a good work out and discovered the 3ANCs produced a very satisfying bottom end for a pair of earphones.

The supporting Status mobile device app offered to control additional features in Between 3ANC earbuds offers the ability to tweak sound with a graphic EQ. However, we found the control response here to be somewhat limited at different volume levels. When you’ve dialed in a set of adjustments that suits you, the app allows saving them as a regular preset for future use.

The app also allows listening to standard mode without either ANC or Ambient modes engaged, if you prefer.

Nicely, the Between 3ANC offers Bluetooth 5.2 with multipoint. This lets the earphones connect to two source devices at once while maintaining simultaneous connections to a laptop and smartphone, for example.

Codec support only includes the pedestrian AAC and SBC Bluetooth formats. Disappointingly, you won’t be able to use the better aptX or LDAC codecs here, if you have supporting Android phones or another supporting source device, which does limit the audiophile quality somewhat.

Conclusion

We found the Status Sound Between 3ANC TWS earphones to be an excellent option for taking music on the go, and in our experience they were equally convenient, comfortable and utilitarian for entertainment and voice call purposes on the go.

To our ears, the fit was one of the best we’ve experienced for feel and security, and the sound fidelity measured up well to popular “audiophile-level” alternatives from Apple, Sony, Bose and others. The earbuds are a little bulkier than some competitive models, but we didn’t find this to be a issue in actual use. In fact, they felt more secure in the ear and felt to us to be little less likely to lose.

The noise cancelling and EQ sensitivity features of the Between 3ANC don’t quite match up to premium audiophile grade over-the-ear wireless headphones like those in supporting models from Sony or Bose, but they aren’t as bulky to wear and look less peculiar walking around town.

If you’ve had trouble with the performance or comfort from other earphone brands and models, we suggest giving the Status Between 3ANC earphones a try when its time for your next earbud purchase.

We therefore award the Status Between 3ANC TWS earphones 5 out of 5 hearts.

The Status Between 3 ANC Wireless earphones used for this review were supplied by the company

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By Greg Tarr

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