Their V-shaped sound profile is quite energetic, making them an excellent choice for pop or rock music. Unfortunately, instead of a nice hard case like the Life 2, the Q20 now comes with a more basic carrying pouch. On the plus side, their battery has been slightly improved and now charges much faster, which is nice. The Anker Soundcore Life Q20 ANC isn’t going to win any design awards, but it’s still stylish and understated. The only color available is black, but it appears to be a slightly metallic dark blue/gray in real life. The plastic construction makes them light and comfortable for extended listening, but it does have a cheap feel to it. In addition, when the buttons are pressed, they make a loud clang. The fact that the headphones have rotatable ear cups and can fold up for storage and travel will appeal to frequent travelers. However, no hard case is included, but a pouch is included if you don’t want to scratch them up in your bag. Each ear cup contains large, easy-to-use physical buttons. Power/pairing and ANC buttons are located on the left side. On the right side, you’ll find media playback buttons, as well as a multi-function button that activates your phone’s voice assistant and BassUp, Anker’s name for its bass boost feature. Charging is done via microUSB rather than the now-common USB-C port, which is unfortunate. There’s also a 3.5mm analog jack so you can use the headphones wired if the battery runs out. Because of its plastic construction and ultra-plush leatherette ear cups and headband, the headphone is lightweight in terms of comfort. We wore the Anker Soundcore Life Q20 ANC for hours without getting tired, even with our glasses on, which is unusual. Let’s start with the most important features: The battery life is rated for 30 hours with ANC on and up to 60 hours with ANC off – and we easily exceeded the 30 hour mark with ANC on during our testing. Even better, when you run out of juice, the headphones recharge quickly: Anker claims that a 5-minute charge will give you 4 hours of music playback. Unfortunately, the Anker Soundcore Life Q20 ANC’s noise cancellation is only adequate. While the headphones were effective at blocking out most low-volume background noises, they fell short when it came to low bass or high frequencies. In terms of ANC, Sony and Bose continue to set the bar. The Ankers also support Bluetooth 5.0, and we experienced no audio dropouts. We could even walk around the apartment without losing signal, though it will cut out if the signal has to pass through too many walls.
