The soundcore q30 was the worst buy I did for a wired headphone

#1

I bought recently a q30 for me to use on my computer and cellphone, while I would use it wireless on my phone, on my computer I would use it wired.

If I knew that the audio with the cable was muddy and heavier with bass I would probably pick a cheaper wired headphone and a cheaper wireless headphone as ANC is something that I don’t use a lot.

#2

It’s a well known issue, a search beforehand finds these

https://community.soundcore.com/search?q=Q30%20wired

E.g.

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#3

I didn’t searched for wired mode exactly, only for reviews and because they praised it on bluetooth I expect to have a similar quality on wired mode too

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#4

Wired cannot use the Bluetooth EQ, its totally reliant on the EQ of the source.

You should investigate what your source can do.

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#5

I can fix a lot by tuning the EQ but it still a PiTA mostly because I have more than 1 OS(windows and linux) on my machine and I’m not that good in EQ.

While I can agree that I should take blame for not researching about it, the wired mode is more a useless gimmick to increase sales

#6

The Q35 released shortly afterwards has better wired capabilities.

#7

Yeah, I would pick it if I knew but because I imported it from china(aliexpress soundcore store) the shipping for returning is more expensive than the headphone itself, so I’ll see what I’ll do

#8

In that case, least worst option is research adding Bluetooth to your PC. You then connect to phone, set EQ, disconnect phone, connect to PC
Having said that, I remember one person saying one product didn’t save EQ, so I’d search if Q30 persistent EQ. I think it does…not sure. One way to test yourself is use two phones, pair with both phones but only have soundcore app on one phone, set a very obvious EQ on one phone, the disconnect from that phone, connect to other phone and listen if the EQ carried over. If it does then you know the same trick on PC would work, then buy BT dongle then experiment what EQ makes PC sounds best.

But EQ cannot fix if the bit rate or soundcard on PC is bad.

Search is your friend.

#9

I use a laptop so BT isn’t a problem but I prefer using cable on it as I wouldn’t need to recharge it too often(even if the battery lasts about 40hrs)

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#10

I own the Q30.

Battery life is amazing. Easily 24 hours. I’d not worry about battery life. Plug into power when not listening (e.g. bio breaks) and will outlast your needs. I often fall asleep and 10 hours later is 80% full.

I also when out about carry a Anker Powercore and I’ve never had any kind of power angst on anything.

#11

Yeah, I love the headphone itself, my main issue is that I bought it mainly because of the wired connection but the wired mode is very bad

#12

Use pulseEffects.

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Q30 Audio is muffled if connected through my headphone jack
#13

This reply isn’t so much for you but for a future search for future potential owners.

When you use Bluetooth you do:

  • the original digital media is passed immediately to the headphones over a digital Bluetooth signal
  • the headphones take that digital input, apply a volume alteration per frequency range as per the EQ settings
  • inserts anti-sound if applicable so ANC works, this takes sound from microphone and adds the opposite sound to the EQ so cancelled noise.
  • converted to analogue
  • pass this as analogue signal to the drivers along a very short soldered wire within the headphones.

When you use wired:

  • the digital signal converted to analogue
  • passed along a much longer plugged in wire
  • to the drivers in the headphones

So the sound is totally different and wired is reliant on the soundcard in your PC, the quality of the audio socket, the cable. It also stops ANC from being possible.

What the Q35 implicitly did wired was:

  • added an analogue to digital converter in the headphones
  • this is then fed through the same EQ that Bluetooth path would do
  • this also allows ANC to be inserted
  • converted back to analogue
  • then to the drivers

This extra pathway then allowed other sound alterations such as inserting ANC etc as it inserts the inverse sound from the microphone to cancel noise.

This is why Q35 costs more, it physically has more electronics, and is a better choice wired.

I hope this informs a future search prior to purchase so the owner knows it’s their fault if Q30 sounds bad wired. You’d choose wired because your source is good quality and your source can do EQ alterations.

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#14

In case you have bluetooth on your computer, just use it to connect head phones. 40 hours of battery life is a lot.

#15

I too am very disapointed with these headphones terrible sound, my daughter has some cheap bluetooth head phones and using them wired the sound is far supperior to the Q30’s I would say these headphone are worth about £10.00 if at all.