GadgetByte Nepal

By churning out some great value for bucks earphones over the past couple of years, Anker is no longer just associated with power banks and chargers. Their wireless earphones such as the Liberty Air 2, Spirit Dot 2 impressed many. And they hope that Spirit X2 will follow along in the same path.

The Spirit-lineup is catered towards fitness-focused customers. The Spirit X2 is designed to be your audio partner for your next exercise session. However, to be that it has to tick a few boxes such as battery life, comfort, and obviously the sound quality. So, let’s find out how well these earphones fare in our review of the Soundcore Spirit X2.

Anker Soundcore Spirit X2 Specifications:

• Dimension: 96 x 35 x 66 mm
• Weight: 430g
• Driver: 12mm composite, BassTurbo acoustic design
• Connectivity: Wireless (Bluetooth v5.0, 33 meters range)
• Frequency response: 20Hz – 20kHz
• Audio codecs: AAC, SBC, aptX
• Sound Impedance: 85dB
• Sound Mode: Stereo
• Battery Life: 9 hours, 36 hours (with charging case)
• Battery Capacity: 545mAh
• Calls: 2 mics with cVc 8.0 uplink noise reduction
• Charging time: 1.5 hours
• IP rating: IP68, SweatGaurd Technology
• Power case charger: Type-C
• Color: Black
• Additional Accessories: Ear-tips kit, charging case, USB-C charging cable
• Price: NPR. 10,699

Soundcore Spirit X2 Review

DESIGN & BUILD QUALITY

The market is dominated by tiny, aesthetically pleasing, basically AirPods like wireless earphones. So, if you are accustomed to such earphones then the Soundcore Spirit X2 might come across as a bulky or even an ugly device for you.

The Spirit X2 sports large earhooks which helps to increase the stabilization. You’ll have to twist the earphone around your ear to get the hooks in place. And for the most part, they are pretty comfortable. Initially, that is. After using it for about 3 and a half hours or so, I started feeling a slight discomfort on the back of my ear. Furthermore, they also left a lingering sensation for about 5-6 minutes after I removed them. And if you wear glasses then, you’ll probably have a hard time using the Spirit X2.

Other than the slight discomfort, however, the earphones did not trouble me while exercising. Never once did I feel the need to adjust the earphones while cardio, jogging, or any other workout. And that’s what you should expect from an earphone catered towards fitness conscious customers. You wouldn’t want to have to keep adjusting the earpiece every once in a while.

Furthermore, the IP68 rating, a great feature to have in this price range, means that it is dust, water, and sweat resistant. So, you can go for a long run without any concern about the earpieces coming loose due to sweat.

The Spirit X2 is waterproof in up to 2 meters. However, the company has stated that these earphones are not designed for swimming. That’s probably cause the Bluetooth signal starts to get a bit iffy underwater. So, what’s the point of wearing the earphones underwater if you can’t listen to music, right?

CONTROLS

On each, earpiece you’ll find the control strips. It will take some time to get used to the placement and to memorize the control options that the buttons provide. Thankfully, the “long” user manual explains everything in detail.

The buttons can be used to skip tracks, increase/decrease volume, activate voice assistant, switch between normal and EQ mode, and finally, to accept/reject the incoming calls.
On the right, the upper button helps to increase the volume and the lower one can be used to play/pause the tracks. The left upper one can be used to decrease the volume and the lower one to play/pause the tracks.

The long-press of volume up will skip one track, and the long press of volume down takes you back one track.

Similarly, a long press of the play/pause button on either side will help you activate your voice assistant. For calls, the press of the play/pause button of the right earpiece will answer the call, and pressing the one on the left will decline the call.

As I said, a lot to take into. I mean I’ve been using this earphone for over 3 weeks now and I still get confused every once in a while.

Talking about the charging case, it pretty much goes along with the aesthetics of the earphones themselves. That is, it too is a bulky thing to carry around. I did not find it comfortable to carry the charging case in my pockets. A backpack is probably the best place for the case.

But size aside, the case is fairly minimalistic. It has a plain design with the soundcore label on the top, 3 LEDs in the front that indicate the charge of the case. And on the back, you’ll find the product details and a flap that covers the charging port. Oh, there’s also a small button right beside the flap, that you can use for Bluetooth re-pairing and for reset.

CONNECTIVITY

The very first thing about these earphones that left me in awe was the connection strength. I left my phone in my room on the first floor, went down right to the other end of the house, listening to music and I noticed no connectivity issue at all.

I even used it while playing PUBG and other than the latency problem due to the internet, there was no noticeable lag in the audio.

The connectivity strength is the courtesy of Bluetooth 5.

One minor issue here for users might be the lack of multipoint connectivity. This means there’s no seamless connection switch between devices. However, connecting to a device requires you to just pair the earphones through the Bluetooth settings. Thus, it shouldn’t be much of an issue for most.

I wasn’t able to test AAC compatibility, but the device does support AAC, aptX, and SBC codecs. So, I am sure everything works fine with iPhones too.

PERFORMANCE

The Spirit X2 does not come cheap, however, they don’t cost as high as the AirPods and earbuds. So, it falls in the middle. And honestly, I had no idea what I was getting into with these.

However, I listened to a few songs, and that was enough for me. Spirit X2 definitely punches up.

The earphones are equipped with 12mm drivers and they deliver a frequency range of 20Hz to 20KHz. Furthermore, there are acoustic chambers behind the 12mm driver for low-end resonance.

Most sub-NPR 10K wireless earphones lack in Bass. So, it made sense for me to try bassy heavy songs on the Spirit X2. Also, I wanted to see the difference between the Normal mode and the Bass Up mode.

While listening to songs like On My Level, I found the normal mode itself delivering enough thunder. Using the Bass Up mode in those scenarios will certainly be an overkill.

The lower frequency range might sound a bit dull, but the reproduction of the lower-mids is just perfect. Furthermore, you won’t face bass distortion even at high volumes.

Obviously, I had to try out songs with a low bass range in order to fully see the effect of the Bass Up mode. While it does beef up the bass and provides stable levels, I did not prefer it too much. That’s because it just sounds a bit too spongy for my liking. So, I would probably suggest you stick to the Normal mode.

These earphones will not satisfy true audiophiles. However, by sticking to the normal mode you can listen to your favorite bass-heavy tracks or a much subtle track for a gymming session, and feel the audio hit just the right spots.

CALLS

There’s no auto-pause and active noise cancellation. But there is cVc active cancellation for phone calls. Furthermore, there’s the aptX support and dual-microphone system to aid you during calls. Microphones on this device are quite good. However, most of my calls were marred by sound interference, so, I did not find the device suitable for calls. Maybe it was due to the poor network connectivity in my area. So, I am not completely sure about that.

There are a few compromises, but you won’t have many complaints regarding the quality of audio or the microphones of the Spirit X2, Especially, considering the price range.

BATTERY

Another area where the soundcore Spirit X2 excels-in is the battery life. The company claims that the earphones have 9 hours of battery in them at 50% volume, all thanks to the huge battery inside the giant earloops. Furthermore, the charging case packs in a further 27 hours in it. These are great and accurate numbers.

I tested the earphones at a lower volume – around 40% and was able to get an hour and a half more than the claimed one. Moreover, if you find the earphones out of juice for a quick workout session, the quick charge feature will come in handy. The quick charge gives the earphones about 2 hours of playback time in just 10 minutes. However, you will have to keep in mind the volume. Higher volume will result in quick draining of the battery.

CONCLUSION

Yes, the Soundcore Spirit X2 has a few drawbacks. The earphones are bulky and the audio reproduction is not the same as that of the high-end TWS earphones.

However, it provides big bass, the audio will please everyday listeners, it has a huge battery life and the IP68 rating renders this device to be robust. Thus, I can safely say that, if you are looking for a TWS earphone in under 10K then the Soundcore Spirit X2 is the one that you can consider.

Soundcore Spirit X2 Review: Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Earhook design great while doing exercises
• Tight fit
• Sturdy build
• Great wireless range
• Punchy Bass
• Great battery life

Cons:

• Bulky charging  case
• No ANC
• Controls difficult to remember