Soundcore, Anker’s audio model, lately launched a brand new pair of high-end Bluetooth headphones: the Soundcore Area One Professional. With this $199.99 mannequin, Anker shifted the gear by a notch. We lose slightly by way of value-for-money proposition however regardless of some shortcomings, the Soundcore Area One Professional affords an expertise worthy of Bose or Sony headphones that value twice as a lot. I am going to share extra on this full overview.
Abstract
Purchase
Good
Elegant, compact design
Strong battery life
Extremely efficient Lively Noise Cancellation
Complete utility on each Android and iOS
Unhealthy
Very unbalanced bass signature
No IP score
No put on detection
Anker Soundcore Area One Professional: All offers
In a nutshell
The Soundcore Area One Professional has been out there since September 19, 2024 for $199.99 a pop. You should purchase it from the official Soundcore retailer or retailers akin to Amazon.
Soundcore Area One Professional Design
The design of the Soundcore Area One Professional completely sums up the producer’s philosophy. It looks like a premium product, regardless of some technical shortcomings.
Visually, I discovered the Soundcore Area One Professional to look very elegant in its shade of beige. It is also very comfy to put on, with generously padded cushions within the headband and earcups. The headscarf is slightly large, although. Even with my massive noggin, I may put on it on the tightest configuration.
The earcups will also be folded inwards and rotated 180 levels. This makes the headphones very compact and straightforward to hold. They will also be worn comfortably across the neck. The carrying case included within the field is made of soppy material with a faux-leather lining. This makes it not very best to guard the headphones. Soundcore does promote a nicer, extra inflexible case, however it prices $34.99.
Design-wise, the Soundcore Area One Professional has two actual shortcomings. The absence of an IP score for water and dirt resistance and missing put on detection for the headphones.
Unbalanced Audio High quality
The Soundcore Area One Professional has a really bassy profile by default. This audio signature turns into much more unbalanced when Lively Noise Cancellation is deactivated.
The frequency vary that the Soundcore Area One Professional faithfully reproduces ranges from 20 to twenty,000 Hz. That is par for the course. What does this imply? The headphones cannot go very low by way of bass. Nonetheless, Soundcore’s Bluetooth headphones additionally has the unlucky tendency to amplify bass far an excessive amount of.
While you mix these two parts, you get a sound signature that is completely drowned out by the bass. The bass is not exact, and overflows into the remainder of the sound, the place the vocals and devices lose an excessive amount of particulars. What ought to be a heat, rounded sound turns into muddled.
Soundcore affords an excellent equalizer in its utility. Nonetheless, it’s a must to select from 23 presets. That is far too many, and also you are inclined to get misplaced. Whereas there are many on-line tutorials on the best way to use a third-party equalizer, I feel this goes towards the concept of a shopper Bluetooth headphones that is purported to be prepared to make use of proper out of the field.
By the way, this bass imbalance turns into even worse whenever you disable Lively Noise Cancellation. Be that as it could, the Soundcore Area One Professional’s sound high quality is not unhealthy. It is simply unbalanced. I believe most of you’ll have to spend a while to right its audio signature.
Soundcore Area One Professional ANC
Lively Noise Cancellation (ANC) has all the time been Soundcore’s sturdy go well with. The Soundcore Area One Professional’s ANC is not any exception. I additionally discovered the transparency mode very pure.
In guide mode, you possibly can select from 5 depth ranges for ANC. You too can depart it to the headphones to routinely adapt the depth in keeping with the encompassing sound atmosphere.
I discovered the Soundcore Area One Professional cancelled all structure-borne noise very successfully. Airborne noises akin to voices had been additionally effectively attenuated, albeit much less successfully. It isn’t the perfect ANC performer available on the market however within the sub-$200 Bluetooth headphones section, Soundcore is clearly on the high finish.
I discovered the transparency mode very pure as effectively. There was no distortion nor hiss. Nonetheless, it lacked energy. Amplified ambient sounds, although devoted, weren’t loud sufficient for my choice.
A Complete App
Soundcore has an Android and iOS app for organising the Area One Professional. The app may be very complete with quite a few options. There’s loads of management over Lively Noise Cancellation and its audio signature.
I actually favored the HearID Sound perform. It means that you can carry out a number of audio exams to customise the headphone’s audio signature in keeping with your listening to and preferences. You too can create your equalization profiles with the eight-band equalizer. It is good to have such a level of management.
The bodily controls should not very customizable although. On the fitting earpiece, there are two quantity buttons and a play/pause button. These buttons should not customizable in any respect. On the left earpiece, there’s an on/off button and a button to activate ANC. Solely the latter is customizable.
The Soundcore Area One Professional has no put on detection to pause music when the headphones is eliminated, however it does have an automated sleep perform. It’s also good to see multipoint connectivity supported.
The absence of Spotify Faucet and Discover My Machine is not a significant flaw for my part. It’s the type of handy characteristic I might nonetheless have favored to have although, particularly at this worth level.
Battery life & Charging
The Soundcore Area One Professional has a fairly stable battery life on paper. The headphones claims to final 60 hours with ANC disabled. When ANC is enabled, battery life stands at 40 hours. After all, I used to be unable to confirm these figures.
We’re a good distance from the 90-hour battery lifetime of the Audio-Technica ATH-S300BT (overview). Nonetheless, the Soundcore Area One Professional’s claimed 60 hours locations it on the very high tier.
Nonetheless, the 60 hours of battery life are solely attainable with ANC and LDAC disabled. With ANC (and with out LDAC), the determine rises to 40 hours. With LDAC and ANC enabled, the determine drops to 25 hours. Even then, the Soundcore Area One Professional is a minimum of as long-lasting as a Bose Quietcomfort Headphones (overview) or a way more costly Apple AirPods Max.
Personally, I used the Soundcore Area One Professional inside these parameters:
100% recharged
No charging throughout my session
ANC is all the time activated and set to most
Transparency mode is all the time disabled
50% listening quantity
Paired to an Android smartphone
AAC/SBC codec
I used to be capable of obtain the marketed 40 hours beneath the circumstances listed above.
Ought to I Purchase the Soundcore Area One Professional?
Would I like to recommend you purchase the Soundcore Area One Professional for $199.99? No, however…
I feel the Soundcore Area One Professional does not fairly justify the worth distinction with the Soundcore Area One. I hope to have the ability to overview it and give you a comparability.
Moreover, I additionally assume many reviewers in contrast the Soundcore Area One Professional with fashions from Sony, Bose, or Sennheiser on many fronts. The Soundcore Area One Professional is a pair of $200 headphones and never $400.
Its shortcomings should not turn-offs for me. For $200, I feel it is a good pair of Bluetooth headphones. Nonetheless, it is true that Soundcore has considerably botched its product technique. If it actually had wanted a top-of-the-range, flagship mannequin in its catalog, Soundcore ought to have gone all out and never skimped on the options and {hardware}.
Personally, I might discover its price-to-performance ratio way more acceptable if it had been priced at $150.
What do you consider the Soundcore Area One Professional after this overview? Do you propose to purchase these Bluetooth headphones?
Anker Soundcore Area One Professional
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