Soundcore by Anker Life P2 Mini

Comfortable, stable fit

The Soundcore by Anker Life P2 Mini have a compact, delicate appearance and are exceptionally light, weighing just 4.5 grams per side, making them barely noticeable when worn. Another advantage of these in-ears is that they are delivered with five different sizes of ear tips, which allows you to fit them specifically to your ears and ensures good stability. Thanks to their water- and sweat-resistant finish, in accordance with IPX5, these wireless earphones are also weatherproof and can be used during sporting activities, and the slim housings also fit under a cap or hat.

Battery life

Despite their weight of only a few grams, these headphones have long-lasting batteries that offer a runtime of eight hours and fifteen minutes at higher volumes. The Soundcore by Anker Life P2 Mini come with a charging case, which weighs only 39 grams, and in this, they can be fully charged twice and then by a further 60 per cent. This meant that a total runtime of 30 hours was achieved during our test. Charging the earpieces takes 45 minutes. The fact that it is not possible to see from the outside when the batteries are charged isn’t ideal, but the Life P2 Mini is equipped with a practical quick-charge function. This enables usage for two hours and 20 minutes after ten minutes of power supply. The case has a USB-C connection and is fully recharged in two and a quarter hours via the supplied charging cable. Progress can be seen at all times thanks to three LEDs.

Bluetooth connection

The Soundcore by Anker Life P2 Mini, which can also be used individually in single mode, can be paired as soon as the charging case is opened. This turns the system on and automatically puts it into pairing mode while putting the earpieces back in the case causes them to turn off. The in-ears can also be switched on and off manually by holding down the touch-sensitive earpiece surfaces. This is a good feature as it protects the batteries and increases their lifespan as they are not constantly being charged after each use. The Bluetooth connection was also very stable, carrying through several rooms and offering a high range of up to twelve metres within an urban environment.

Device control

When a wireless connection is established, a double-tap starts and pauses playback; this can be done on both sides and is also used to answer phone calls. A short press ends or rejects calls. Track selection is made by briefly holding the right earpiece, and you can skip forward and back with the left. If you want to communicate with a voice assistant, you can call it up by tapping the left earpiece three times. On the right, triple tapping switches between the three EQ modes of the Soundcore by Anker Life P2 Mini, and overall the touch control responds reliably and without delay. However, volume control has been omitted, so this has to be done via a voice assistant or on your device itself.

Speech quality during phone calls

Voice intelligibility was good on both sides during phone calls with the Soundcore by Anker Life P2 Mini. Thanks to the AI-assisted noise reduction used by the microphones, street noise is also attenuated quite effectively when the user’s own voice is presented. The only noticeable thing was when there was a busier background, a slight hissing noise was perceived when the other person was speaking, but this does not have a significant effect on speech intelligibility.

EQ modes

In addition to the basic tuning, two options for sound adjustment are available, a bass booster and the podcast mode. The Bass Booster boosts the lower frequency range and is designed for driving and providing encouragement during sports. However, the bass reproduction seemed overloaded, spongy and muffled. In my opinion, this provides no added value, as the basic sound of the Soundcore by Anker Life P2 Mini is already powerful and defined. In podcast mode, there is a slight boost in the mid-frequency spectrum, while the bass range is attenuated. Compared to the basic sound, voices are reproduced louder, feel closer and are more centrally focused. The clarity and the intelligibility of voices are also increased so that the podcast mode definitely offers advantages with spoken content.

Sound

The Soundcore by Anker Life P2 Mini features 10mm drivers, which the manufacturer claims provide an extra dose of bass. Built-in technology analyses the playback in real-time and amplifies low frequencies accordingly. Nevertheless, these headphones are not particularly bass-heavy when it comes to voluminous, powerful low-frequency reproduction. Rather, the powerful bass reproduction sounds impressively controlled and deep. This means that bass-oriented productions are a lot of fun to listen to, and there’s no booming or rumbling when low bass is required.

Voices and instruments are also reproduced with appealing precision, liveliness and freshness. Even the sounds of instruments being picked up in the background are reproduced in great detail. Only the upper registers show a slight drop, while sibilants can be perceived as a little harsh at higher volume levels. However, these in-ears are not prone to unpleasant harshness and sharpness in the high-frequency range. Despite their low price, these wireless headphones offer excellent overall reproduction quality with a clean, unclouded sound that is neither too bright nor too dark. These headphones’ coherent and harmonious tuning is suitable for a wide range of uses, for listening to music as well as audiobooks or films.