Anker Soundcore R50i Review: Fan of the BASS!

September 5, 2023

So, I’ve been testing the Soundcore R50i earbuds for a few days, and let me tell you I am absolutely a fan. That being said, it is missing a couple of QOL (Quality of Life) features that I’d have loved to see. But how do the pros and cons weigh out? Should you consider them for NPR 4500? Well, continue reading my review of the Anker Soundcore R50i TWS earbuds to find out. But before that, here are the brief specifications.

Anker Soundcore R50i Review: Specifications

Driver: 10mm drivers with BassUP
Frequency: 200 Hz – 20 kHz
Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3
Battery: mAh (each earbud), mAh (case)
Music Time: 10 hours (with ANC off), 30 hours (with charging case)
Charging: Wired (USB-C)
Controls: Touch
Active Noise Cancellation: No
IP Rating: Yes (IX5 sweat-resistant, earbuds only)
Color: Black, White
Companion App: Soundcore (Android / iOS)
Price in Nepal: Rs. 4,499
Buy Anker Soundcore R50i here

Anker Soundcore R50i Review:

Design and Build

The Anker Soundcore R50i are in-ear TWS buds with an Apple Airpods-like design. Both the buds and the case are made out of plastic so they don’t weigh much. Personally, they fit in my ears really well and stayed there. And despite long hours of use, they didn’t feel painful or fatiguing to wear. Soundcore R50i buds secure an IPX5 sweat resistance rating so wearing them to my workouts wasn’t a worry either.

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The case is compact with an embedded Soundcore logo on the center. There’s even a detachable lanyard for those who prefer to keep their buds with them at all times.

Soundcore App and Controls

To make the most of your R50i earbuds, you’ll need to download their companion Soundcore App. After pairing, the app allows you to switch between EQ modes, customize controls, ring your buds in case they go missing, and turn on gaming mode.

The touch controls work reliably given you touch the Soundcore logo without missing. You can assign single taps, double taps, and holds to different actions via the app.

Audio

Getting to the audio, the Anker R50i(s) are impressive for the price. They house 10mm drivers with Soundcore’s BassUp technology. They have thumpy bass and pack a lot of punch for the size. You can opt-in for even more bass by switching the ‘BassUp’ toggle but that was a bit much for me.

The mids are clear and sound decent but the buds sound too sharp at higher volumes. Luckily, the aforementioned Soundcore app allows you to change between different EQ presets and you can choose the one that fits your music taste the best. My go-to was the ‘flat’ present with boosted mids and balanced bass /trebles.

Gaming and Calls

The buds do support a Gaming Mode. The exact latency is not mentioned but if I were to guess it is somewhere between 40-45 ms. That’s still noticeable but it’s good enough for casual gaming. As such, I enjoyed playing PUBGM, Clash Royal, and other titles without compromise.

Calls don’t sound too great, to be honest. You should be fine taking one indoors but anything involving ambient noise degrades clarity. Also, since the Environmental Noise Cancellation (ENC) isn’t too great, background noises aren’t properly suppressed which makes voices hard to make out.

Battery

In my testing, the buds lasted me about 2 days at around 60% volume. This includes about 4-5 hours of audio playback a day. A quick 5-minute charge gave me another 40+ minutes of juice.

Anker Soundcore R50i Review: Conclusion

So to sum it up, the Anker Soundcore R50i buds are a great choice for under NPR 5000. If you are looking to purchase wireless buds for casual music listening, and love tinkering around, I think these would be ideal. You can choose from the 22 different EQ presents or go full BASS with Soundcore signature + BassUP.

They don’t go too deep in your ear but enough to have a bit of a passive seal. This results in a comfortable set of buds you put in and forget about. Battery life is great and I had no problems with the Bluetooth range or the strength. But I would have loved for it to have ‘Dual Pair’ which is unfortunately missing here. That means you manually have to disconnect the buds from one device before playing from the other.