Status Audio Between 3 ANC Earbuds: In Review

While I’ve become a fan of over ear headphones for my day-to-day work, there are definitely times where a good pair of earbuds can be handy – going for a walk, taking a call while on the go (please, only wear one at a time if you’re driving), and so on. One of the latest we’ve been spending time with are the Status Audio Between 3 ANC Earbuds.

A familiar form factor

When you open up the Status Audio Between 3 ANC Earbuds, you’re greeted with the charging case, which is a sort of form that we’re getting used to seeing. You’ve got some LEDs on the front to indicate the charge level of the case, a USB-C port around back to top it off, and then a hinged top that opens to reveal the earbuds. When you open up that case, though, you see a different shape to the actual earbuds.

The earbuds

The Status Audio Between 3 ANC Earbuds have a bit different of a form than we’re used to seeing. In fact, when you first look on them, it seems like they’re going to stick out from your ear way, way too far (spoiler alert: they don’t). This is largely due to the oblong rectangular shape that the end of the buds take, which makes for a stark contrast to the barrel that ends up inserting into your ear.

The shape, we believe, allows them the space for their triple-driver setup, as well as the ability to have six microphones, allowing not just for picking up your voice for calls and voice assistant commands, but also to help figure out what in the environment it needs to filter out and prevent from reaching your ears.

The app

With many earbuds, you’re going to have an associated app on your phone that allows you to tune and tweak things. The first thing to check, once they’re connected, is if there are any firmware updates that need applying. Past that, you’re able to control whether ANC is on or off, or if you want to let ambient noise though (to hear someone talking, or traffic noise, and so on). You’re also able to set different listening profiles, and adjust the EQ, to what you prefer for whatever it is that you happen to be listening to.

The fit

With earbuds, we’ve become accustomed to silicone tips that we can replace that, ostensibly, help to hold them in your ears. With the Status Audio Between 3 ANC Earbuds, you’ve also got silicone “wings” that you can replace as well. These are what help to hold the earbuds in place. Which is good, because if you were relying just on the ear tips, that would be a lot of weight to hold in place. With the different sizes of wings, you can get the fit that works best for you. For me, I stayed with the stock ones that were installed, and I had no issues with the earbuds coming loose or moving around.

The UI

With the Status Audio Between 3 ANC Earbuds, you’ve got two different ways to interact – via a physical button on the top of each earbud, or via touch surfaces on the flats of the buds. Here’s what each of those enable:

Physical Buttons
- Active Noise Cancelling: Short tap (either side is OK)
- Transparency Mode: Short tap (either side is OK)
- Voice Assistant: Double tap (either side is OK)
- Battery Status Triple tap (either side is OK)
- Manual Power Off Hold both simultaneously for 3s
Touch Controls
- Volume Up: Right Surface (hold)
- Volume Down: Left Surface (hold)
- Play/Pause: Short press (either side is OK)
- Track Forward: Double tap (right)
- Track Back: Double tap (left)
- Answer/End Call: Double tap (either side is OK)
- Reject call: Press & hold (either side is OK)

Yes, that can feel a little overwhelming at first, but spend some time with the manual when you start out, and you’ll start getting used to it. Or you know, you can ignore all of that, and control the music directly on your phone, if that’s the need.

Using the earbuds

That’s all fine, but we need to talk about what it’s actually like using the Status Audio Between 3 ANC Earbuds. These are oriented towards a more active usage, as they’ve got IPX-5 Water Resistance. In other words, you can get a sweaty workout going, and these won’t mind. So, these got put to use when I’d go out on a morning jog.

For those, I didn’t rely on transparency mode, but I did turn off noise cancelling. As with most earbuds that have bits that are sticking out from your ear, if there’s any wind, you’ll start picking up some of that additional noise. Putting on ANC will cut some of that, but not all of it. So, just be aware of that if you’re popping these in before going on a bike ride.

On the other hand, when the temps drop, I’ve got a hat on. When I had the hat covering my ears (and the earbuds) then wind noise was nothing you needed to worry about. Once I started out, whether I was listening to podcasts or to music, the sound was great. I didn’t feel I had to crank the volume up to unsafe levels, and I was still able to be aware of someone coming up behind me, while still hearing what was coming from the phone.

As we mentioned earlier, we didn’t have any problems with the Status Audio Between 3 ANC Earbuds moving around or coming loose. Which is great, because if you’re out there exercising, you don’t want to have to be constantly pushing earbuds back in – particularly if they’ve got touch-sensitive surfaces.

How to get yours

As you can expect, you can get the Status Audio Between 3 ANC Earbuds directly from Status. They come in bone white (as reviewed) or onyx, for a price of $249. Right now, however, they’re on a pretty steep discount to $139. These are definitely higher-end ear buds, so you’ll need to consider how it is you’re using these. If earbuds are just an occasional backup to your regular daily-driver headphones, perhaps that steep. If they’re you’re only headphones, or you need that dedicated pair for working out, then it can make more sense. Check it all out, and order yours, over at status.co