Let me remind you of life dot 2 which hsa record 100 Hours battery life and 8 hours for ear buds and life A1 which is 9 hour plus each bud and 35 of case and life dot 2S 40 case 10 hours earbuds and all are them stemless design non chunky and stay put in ears with excellent call quality and Bluetooth connection Soundcore just copying other stupid stem products design which they should stop as one or day after the other none of the stem style earbuds will stay in ears I will give up some of the features like Very big battery life 7 Hours and 28 hours in case would be enough for everyone these days and even the stem style earbuds are giving the same stamina so there in releasing these type of earbuds
SoundCore is not releasing any new minimal style earbuds
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The L3P is a dual driver, it is a stacked configuration with an armature. That forces the drivers collectively some distance out from the ear canal and then all the rest of the components then fit around that stack.
Is your career interest in electronics?
The teardowns exist out there if you want to look and learn.
The dipole antenna of the L3P I thought was a good design. I was skeptical it would hold a good signal but the reviews were positive of bluetooth performance.
There is for sure scope to make the stick format shorter, there is scope for a single SoC to merge all the separate components. I dread to think what would be the price increase if that were done.
I agree with OP. The steam and L2P or L3P design won’t fit all ears.
Designs like like the Dot A1 or Dot 2, which are more traditional with wings to hold the earbuds combined with more advanced options like ANC and compatibility with the Soundcore App is something that is long due.
Personally I’m waiting on Soundcore to release something like this for more than 2 years now, since the design of stem or the ear wings from the Liberty Pros don’t fit my ears. So far, the closest one would be the Dot 2s which is not widely available.
At this point, I’m quitting waiting for Soundcore and will look into other companies to buy them. I find this really sad because I really like Soundcore products.
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The only thing they could do physically is make a custom chip which puts all what is on the pcb which fits around the driver or a stem into a smaller dot. That would drive up cost.
For sure if you wait then smaller will happen.
L3P teardown
https://www.tele.soumu.go.jp/giteki/file?AFK=210_N_1_211105N210_�F��_19__&AFT=1&AFN=2
Pertinent image
The battery can’t be shrunk, the driver can’t be shrunk, so its that pcb which can be shrunk.
Where does the antenna go?
Compare with the P2i
You see how the pcb is longer and the antenna is in the stick
So you have the choice of either a chunkier in-ear, or a stick. If you avoid either then you must put in a shorter antenna which would worsen reception (battery life, distance til cut out, audio quality).
You can shrink that PCB, that will happen automatically over time as electronics shrink. If you want it earlier then a custom chip is needed which would increase cost so you’d pay more to not be patient.
Look at the L3P functions, and the corresponding size of the main chip
The P2i has less functionality so has less chips
Dot 2 teardown
https://fccid.io/2AOKB-A3922RT/Internal-Photos/Internal-Photos-4984296.pdf
Looks like a smaller antenna?
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Have you seen jabra elite new line up how small and sleek they are jabra elite 7 and 3 that’s some thing Soundcore should adapt from others they are losing the game in earbuds by sticking to the stem style stupid earbuds
I have already forwarded my Voice to them you guys also raise your suggestions instead of just praising these stupid stem style earbuds
We don’t want such big drivers anything around 8mn is enough and 7 Hours to 6 hours with anc Is best. This is stem style fail design in my opinion have you seen the jabra latest earbuds line up they have come with such a small and unique design and none of them are these stupid stem style earbuds
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I am no audiophile, I don’t know how driver size impacts sound quality, but I imagine bigger drivers have some advantage. Perhaps someone can come along and explain why a bigger driver helps?
I agree that a stem style does not suit everyone but neither does a small in-bud suit everyone. I like Soundcore having the bread of bud size styles. My only issue is they release many similar types often, the support issues that causes and the needless confusion.
Is that fair? Who has praised the stem style? The stem style suits some people more. As I’ve shown from the teardowns, the electronics has to fit somewhere. So you must either make a larger in-ear bud to fit all electronics within, or a smaller in-ear and a stem.
For those without stems you have choice of drivers. The L3P follows on from the L2P of dual drivers. That makes for a longer stacked shape which is why that dual driver type protrudes further out of the ear.
They aren’t sticking to them, they have L3P. They aren’t stupid either, that has advantage of microphone further towards mouth and separating microphones allows to eliminate sounds other than voice, which matters to those people who use their buds for lots of calls. So it depends on the person, there is no single right best way and no stupid style. The diversity is how you suit more people.
The general trend will be towards smaller sleeker thinner anyway, the P2i teardown shows are they are already close to a pencil stem shape next iteration. What is holding everything back is the antenna length - if you don’t make it a stem or a chunkier in-ear you must have a smaller antenna which must worsen reception strength which must either worsen battery life or distance or quality. The 990kbps LDAC I’d expect particularly needs the antenna to not be compromised and I see it in the chunkier L2P+ L3P and the stick LA2P.
https://www.digikey.com/en/articles/understanding-antenna-specifications-and-operation
For sure the best to get is ask but the ask must fit within physics and current technology. Soundcore can easily make a smaller bud by making custom electronics, at a cost. As they grow in popularity that probability increases, if they have enough sales volume they can design custom chips at a reasonable price. Only they will know if they are that point now.
I concur with the @The_Professor.
I can not see how they are losing at the game. They have diversified their lineup. They have more headphones now. They started the audio glasses. They have in ear, on ear and stem earbuds.
On the community there has been several people state certain style earbuds has hurt their ears. My younger brother has stated that stem are about the only ones he can wear as other styles do hurt his ears.
So Liberty Air, P3 and P2 mini are here for a while.
I think there has been more discussion about the lack of the wired earbuds as everything is going TWS or headsets. I think their U band earbuds were the last wired earbuds they put out.
Indeed, I am not far off having to buy from a competitor due to Soundcore not investing in the line. It’s not for the lack of me telling them!
The Slim wired places the battery in the control in the wire so the bud in the ear doesn’t have the weight or bulk of the battery, so for me it stays better in the ear and while they do fall out, they fall to chest which is acceptable.
It’s a pity for me who has honest curiosity the newer products don’t all have teardowns. But it’s Soundcore’s right to protect itself from its competitors.
I think they probably not far off having the ability to make an in-ear narrow stem-less design. They could place an antenna along the axis of the ear canal so from the inside of the drive through the length to the control button outside. Using a dipole antenna it’s possible to be both small and good reception to the phone. That changes the challenge as if the antenna is pointing towards the center of the skull then TWS signal between ears won’t work so would have to be BT 5.2 so each ear only talks with the phone not each other.
If I were designing such a bud I’d be thinking the challenge is the corrosive environment right in the depth in the ear canal. So I’d have to embed the wire of the antenna within the plastic of the tip.
If my mind’s eye design is correct obviously it will suit those in this thread asking. I just don’t know when it’s a good enough design, I don’t have their lab.
Are you aware of these?
Looks an exact match? I am seeing transparency and app support and ANC
There’s no teardown but my guess is the dipole antenna in the ring shaped outer is what is causing the size and within that ring are the electronics, and if my guess is right it’s the antenna minimum size setting the minimum size.
Yes I have seen them but sadly it’s still quiet big that whole ear buds protude out of the ear to much and there is no major design change rather than a big battery but I m interested in these but there should be some new color options like life p3 to attract more customers
You’re probably then just have to wait longer. As mentioned you’ve got the driver, battery, antenna, electronics and microphone to all fit somewhere.
An 8mm driver would help make it a little smaller, smaller battery helps, smaller electronics is inevitable, but the antenna does set a minimum size.
I believe the issue is not the size, it’s the design…the new designs with these wings are not good for holding the buds for everyone.
Then you have the lower budget lineup which has more of a traditional design which are not being updated.
I wouldn’t mind buying the A2 NC if the design for holding the buds (wings) were different.
I think the wings are optional if you are better without.
Without advocating for a different brand, what design are you saying you want? And why? There’s only so many ways to hold a bud in the ear.
The bud tip is inside the canal and begins emerging at the Concha Cavum.
You can place a stem into the Intratragic Notch but then if too wide it pushes bud out, so you can make a pencil stem.
You can place a hook into the Concha Cymba wedged between the Inferior Crus and Helicis Crus. But then some ears where the the Concha Cymba is further up no wing will work.
Eventually electronics will shrink til they don’t need either of the above. Maybe 2022, its purely only a cost issue to get custom chips which are more efficient and a smaller battery.
See the latest jabra elite series line up like elite 4 active, elite 3, elite 2 they are truly what I want from SoundCore
They look same size as the A2 NC+ to me?
Those other brand are 20.85mm x 20.49mm x 27.3mm | 0.82in x 0.81in x 1.07in. I can’t find the dimensions of the A2 NC+, I searched also for the identical looking A2 NC.