Status Audio is a New York City based company that has been pumping out audio products since 2014. They have highly affordable offerings in studio monitors, wireless ANC headphones, and wireless earbuds. Today, we will go over their latest flagship product, the Between 3ANC Triple Driver Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds. The Between 3ANC uses the same Hybrid Triple Driver technology that was previously featured in their Between Pro earbuds. However, the new Between 3ANC goes a step further by adding mainstream features, such as ANC and wireless charging.
Let’s dive into the Between 3ANC earbuds to explore what $179 gets you.
Build, Controls and Comfort
Status Audio’s Between 3ANC earbuds come in Onyx and Bone colorways.
A purchase of the Between 3ANC comes with the earbuds, a wireless charging case, a USB-C charging cable, and an assortment of silicone fitwings and ear tips.
Like with Status Audio’s Between Pro earbuds, the Hybrid Triple Driver technology is the driving force of the Between 3ANC’s sound presentation. Within each earbud sits a 10mm dynamic driver coupled with two balanced armature drivers. This allows the handling of bass, mids and treble to be divided between the three individual driver components. This aims for a clear representation of each of these three sound ranges, devoid of sound distortion.
The Between 3ANC’s are equipped with six beamforming microphones, armed with environmental noise reduction (ENR). Separating the Between 3ANC from its earbud predecessor is the inclusion of hybrid active noise cancellation (ANC) and ambient sound modes. The hybrid active noise cancelation on the Between 3ANC’s offer noise cancelation of up to 38 decibels. Meanwhile, ambient sound mode allows you to hear your surroundings through the earbuds as you listen to your media. The earbuds feature both touch and button-press controls, allowing you to control both your media and the these newly-added listening modes.
Single taps on the outer surfaces of either earbud play or pause your media. Double-taps on the left earbud trigger the previous track while double-taps on the right trigger the next track. Tap and hold on the touch surface to control the volume. Doing this on the left earbud lowers volume while right earbud raises it. Pressing the button on either earbud toggles the headset between ANC and ambient sound listening modes.
The charging case for the Between 3ANC supports both USB-C and wireless charging. The battery life of the earbuds themselves is an impressive 8 hours of continuous play with ANC active. With ANC off, you can get up to 12 hours of playtime. The earbuds also sport IPX-5 water resistance, to protect the unit from rain, sweat and splashes. They connect to your compatible devices using Bluetooth 5.2 and support multipoint connectivity, allowing you to pair the headset with multiple devices.
The Between 3ANC product as a whole sports an attractive and solid build from top to bottom. The earbuds are quite comfortable while being surprisingly secure. I wore the Between 3ANC through several of my workouts without once noticing any loosening of the buds from my ears. Meanwhile, that IPX-5 water resistance added some peace of mind to my workouts. I also wore the headset for the entirely of my flight from New York to Seattle. I noticed no wearing fatigue whatsoever, even after a flight lasting more than five hours. I also appreciated the battery life of the earbuds themselves, which easily lasted the entire flight on a single charge with ANC active. The acoustic seal that the earbuds formed within my ears was also impressive. This played very well with the headset’s ANC performance, which we will dive into later.
Controlling the headset using the onboard controls is straightforward. The single-tap and hold touch controls are easy to engage. However, double-taps are somewhat difficult to perform with any sort of consistency. During most of my double-tap attempts, the headset would either register a single-tap or no tap at all. So, moving through music tracks using the earbuds directly was something I found myself trying to avoid during my longer listening sessions.
Overall, from a build and comfort standpoint, I liked what I saw and experienced with the Between 3ANC’s.
Features and Performance
From right out of the box, the Between 3ANC delivers a very solid and well-balanced sound presentation. Instrumentals are clean and crisp, the bass is warm and vibrant, and vocals are clear and lively. Even when I messed around with the headset’s equalizer to put more emphasis on the lows, the bass never got muddled or distorted. Status Audio’s Hybrid Triple Driver system does not disappoint in the Between 3ANCs. You get a sharp and enjoyable presentation of all the sound ranges, without any noticeable distortion.
I could have very well used the Between 3ANC’s without ever having to touch its companion app, and I would have been content with the level performance that I experienced. Nevertheless, the free Status app for iOS and Android opens up more tools for your Between 3ANC headset. Through the Status app, you can change sound modes, create your own custom EQ’s, toggle listening modes and receive firmware updates.
EQ customization options are both commonplace and appreciated in wireless audio solutions out today. As such, the Status app’s implementation of this is both straightforward and easy to use, if you choose to play around with EQ’s. Toggling between ANC and ambient sound listening modes is easy enough to do from the earbuds themselves by single pressing either of the buttons. So, using the app to do that instead does not add much more value to your control options. However, the app does lets you turn both listening modes off completely, should you want to listen without either ANC or ambient sound modes on. This is a control option that is otherwise not available from the headset’s onboard controls.
As for the packaged sound modes, I found myself sticking with Status Signature throughout the majority of my listening experiences. It simply delivered the most vibrant and impactful listening experience for me. Status Audiophile was ok, however it took away a noticeable amount of bass. Original Between Pro sounded closer to what I heard from Status Signature while giving a boost to highs and percussion sounds. In the end, Status Signature’s clean and balanced sound presentation stood out, clearly demonstrating why it was an effective system default sound mode.
The ANC and Ambient Sound listening modes each performed well. I was already impressed by the passive sound isolation that I experienced naturally from the earbuds themselves. So, the Between 3ANC’s ANC coupled quite nicely with the earbud’s natural acoustic seal, canceling out environmental sounds effectively in even the noisiest of environments. Whether it was airplane engines, subway tracks, or the music and chatter from a busy bar, the ANC did a great job at keeping me focused on my media.
Likewise, Ambient Sound was effective at allowing me to hear my surroundings when I worked out or walked the busy streets of New York City. Best of all, both modes performed well without taking anything away from the quality of the headset’s sound presentation.
While not entirely necessary, I did notice that there were no options to adjust the potency of either of these listening modes. Having seen such options in several of the recent wireless products I covered, I thought I would see some iteration of that here. However, since that is one of the many things that be added in an app update, I did not dwell on that for long. That said, I would have at least liked the option to customize the physical controls on the earbuds themselves. Not only is control customization present in other wireless earbuds of similar price points, but it could have helped me get around my music track gripes with the double-tap controls I mentioned earlier.
Lastly, the Between 3ANC’s voice quality is exceptional. The aforementioned ENR technology from the six beamforming microphones does an excellent job at filtering out any non-voice sounds. When I took calls while walking in the streets, call participants on the other side thought that I was calling from an empty room. The mics will however clearly pick up the voices of passersby, since they are so focused on picking up voices. Nevertheless, as long as you are not handling calls next to other talking individuals, you can field calls with the Between 3ANC wherever you like. Your call participants will like what they hear.
In the end, the Between 3ANC brings an impressive level of performance in its inbound and outbound sound, as well as its various listening modes. While the app “gets the job done” with its feature set, it could use a pinch more in an a future update when you consider what the competition lets you do.
Final Thoughts
I personally liked what I experienced with Status Audio’s Between 3ANC earbuds. The sound from the earbuds is solid, the ANC is highly effective, and the headset is very comfortable to wear for hours on end. The Between 3ANC’s also sport an impressive 8 to 12 hours of continuous play from a single charge. As such, this headset is more than ready to keep you comfortably entertained throughout your day. Aside from a gripe I had with double-taps and a desire for some achievable software add-ons, I can still happily suggest the Between 3ANC’s for its impressive level of performance and comfort alone.
If you want to check out the $179 Between 3ANC Triple Driver Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds for yourself, you can do so by clicking here.
† There are no affiliate links contained within this post. We were provided a pair of Between 3ANC Earbuds as well as some stock images and videos for review purposes and were not compensated for this review.
