Strike 3 Review - After 9 Months of use

Back in February, just before the lockdown, I was excited to have a Strike 3 on the way - seemed like it would be nice addition for occasional conference calls, some gaming, maybe music when I was working from home. Already had a headset in the office, so this was for my home office. Of course, a very few weeks later that become my only office for most of the remainder of the year. So these have seen a LOT of use.

These headphones are very comfortable. All day wearing with minimal issues - or at least, hours at a time, then a break for lunch or a walk, and then hours again. Not true of every set of headphones. These are solid, but well padded, so it works out to be comfortable even with a little extra weight on your head.

Functionally, they sound great. Music is clear, volume will go much higher than I need without distortion, and they are equally good for listening to music, movies, or conversation. The mic is clear and consistent, no issues with anyone hearing me, which is a great help. The mic is removable - it is also flexible, but not enough to really get out of the way. So if you want a clear space in front of your face, you have to take it off completely. That is good and bad - it is no obstruction at that point, but if you set it down in the wrong place it can be hard to find later.

They connect over USB - great for computers, no go on the Xbox. That is Microsoft’s fault and not a knock on these, get a Strike 1 if you need it for that console. Mac or PC, either worked immediately and with no issues for me.

They also look great. The blue light would be nice to have a shut off, but it isn’t overly glaring, and is fine in a professional environment. For those interested in pictures, I have taken a few in the gallery, and those are still available, I linked a few below.



The one issue I have had - at the beginning of November, I took them off one day, and noticed that one earpiece was sitting at a funny angle. The plastic in the part of the band just above the right earpiece, where it narrows to go smoothly into the top part of the headband to be adjustable, had cracked. The plastic had just weakened, seems to have been a stress point from the pressure of gripping my head for almost 9 months. Superglue doesn’t hold for a fix, the plastic is just weak now, and they basically are unusable with the crack in place. I wasn’t able to find any way to repair it. I contacted soundcore support, and they were able to send me a replacement pair, very much appreciated, and the support from this company is why a lot of us are here enjoying their products. But it does leave me a little bit concerned about long term quality - I would expect more than 9 months from a $50 set of headphones.

However, the time without a pair available was a good reminder - for daily use with a computer, a plug in headset is much better than bluetooth. No awkward profile switching, or low quality music when it is on the wrong profile. No battery to charge. The mic in front of your face has much better pickup than one beside your ear. Just much nicer to have it in front of you.

So overall, I am very happy with these - performance, comfort, and good support when needed. The only question mark is whether mine just had a defect in the manufacturing, or whether that failure was inevitable based on the design. But the good news is that they have great support if you do end up needing it. I expect to be using the replacement headset I got regularly for a long time to come.

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Same thing happened to the one that I won from the giveaways about 2 months ago. It broke in the same place but on the left side about 1/2 inch lower. Duct tape and sliding it all the way in worked (redneck ingenuity ). It lasted about a month for me though before cracking. :frowning:

Other than that I use them for work daily.

I went ahead and did some tickets for this coming drawing.

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from reading amazon reviews it seems like its really common. Ive been on the fence about getting these to make online classes a little better for me but so many people talk about them breaking in the same spot as you that I am a little weary

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I guess my head is too big and broke them. If you do not have to stretch the band you will be ok :rofl:

I like them and played them with a COD game on the PS4 and it worked pretty good.

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Huh that’s kinda odd. I would’ve thought it would be metal like Life 2 back in the day and newer Life Q20, Q30, and maybe Q10 as well

But hopefully your next unit works well and lasts longer because warranty isn’t extended further when you get a replacement

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I have the Q10, Q20, and some other over ear wireless headphones. I only have one other without metal reinforcement on the band, and that is much thicker plastic. It was a concern of mine from the outset, and @Duane_Lester’s experience makes me concerned that it is a design flaw. I can actually sort of use his fix on mine, but pushing the band all the way in on one side doubles the forces on the other side, so I expect that won’t last long.

I really like these headphones in so many ways, but I hate to own any products that will land in the waste stream before seeing years of use. Xbox controllers drive me crazy for exactly that reason - one part goes bad (stick drift, etc), and then the whole think is junk because all the parts are soldered to a single board. And that is true even of the more expensive options. I do try to do my own repairs, but there is only so much you can do.

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Well mine was the Strike one, it means that it may be a design flaw in both headsets.

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That design flaw stopped me from buying these as well…

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Wow that doesn’t seem good

Yea it doesn’t make sense to keep throwing headphones or any product for that matter which aren’t completely dead. I wonder if Soundcore customer service will reach out to the production team and relay this issue. Looking at @Duane_Lester’s post, it sure looks like they didn’t think this through enough and removed metal for weight reduction (just me guessing honestly)