Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Audio / Video
  3. News

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Soundcore’s clip-style earbuds are glasses- and budget-friendly

By
Woman wearing Soundcore C30i clip-style open earbuds.
Soundcore

Soundcore’s latest wireless earbuds are a new addition to the growing open-ear category, but this time, the company is following Bose’s footsteps with a clip-style design. The Soundcore C30i have a clamshell shape that wraps around the middle of the ear, making them less likely to interfere with glasses. The C30i come in a translucent black color for $70 and are available on Amazon starting April 9. A solid white color is expected to be added later this month.

At $70, the C30i will be very attractive to anyone who liked the look of the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, but wasn’t crazy about their $299 price.

Soundcore C30i clip-style open earbuds in black.
Soundcore

These two products are not identical. Unlike the Bose, which uses a flexible, spring-like fit system, the C30i employs a hard-shell design. To help those with smaller ears achieve a better fit, it includes optional silicone sleeves that can wrap around one end of the earbuds.

Recommended Videos

However, Soundcore has chosen to include its own version of Bose’s Immersive Audio on the C30i — inside the Soundcore app is a 3D-Sound profile that promises a more immersive listening experience.

Soundcore says it uses a large, 12x17mm racetrack-shaped driver to aim sound into your ear canal while still taking advantage of the fact that all open-ear earbuds let you hear your surroundings with perfect clarity. Like many products in this category, the C30i offer IPX4 protection from water and sweat, making them a good option for workouts.

Related

Battery life is a claimed 10 hours when playing at 50% volume, and the C30i’s charging case stores two full recharges, for a total of 30 hours. A fast-charge of 10 minutes should extend listening by 3 hours.

Finally, the C30i use Bluetooth 5.3, including the ability to maintain two simultaneous connections via Bluetooth Multipoint.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Simon Cohen
Simon Cohen
Contributing Editor, A/V
Simon Cohen covers a variety of consumer technologies, but has a special interest in audio and video products, like spatial…
Exclusive: Bose discontinues its Frames line of audio smart glasses
Bose Frames Soprano

The Bose Frames line of audio smart glasses has been discontinued. Bose / Bose

Bose has confirmed to Digital Trends that it is discontinuing its Bose Frames line of audio glasses. Almost five years to the day after Bose launched the Frames as part of a larger audio augmented reality initiative, the company only has one model left on its site, the Frames Tempo, which are listed as sold out -- and with the price also slashed in half, at that. Over the years, Bose sold several versions including the Alto, Soprano, Tenor, Rondo, and Tempo.

Read more
1More’s PistonBuds Pro Q30 look like great budget buds at $50
1More PistonBuds Pro Q30 in black/gold.

The new PistonBuds Pro Q30 from 1More boast AirPods-like looks along with active noise cancellation (ANC) and spatial audio, but it's their rock-bottom $50 price that stands out. As part of the launch, 1More has dropped the price to $40 for a limited time, making these wireless earbuds even more attractive. The PistonBuds Pro Q30 are available in white/gold or black/gold combos.

In the past, 1More has favored a stemless design for its PistonBuds lineup, but this time the company has opted for a stem-based approach. If you've ever tried PistonBuds in the past and found them a poor fit, this new shape might be a better option.

Read more
Soundcore’s first open-ear earbuds come with an optional neckband
Man wearing Soundcore AeroFit Pro in Electric Purple with the optional neckband.

Soundcore's AeroFit Pro in Electric Purple with the optional neckband Soundcore

The open-ear earbuds landscape has been growing like crazy over the last 12 months, so it's great to see that Anker's Soundcore brand has decided to throw its hat into the ring with two new models: the $130 AeroFit and the $170 AeroFit Pro. Both are available in black starting November 1 from and Amazon, with three additional color options coming toward the end of 2023.

Read more