Design

You can think of the SoundPEATS Life earbuds as the “non-pro” version of the SoundPEATS Air3 Pro earbuds. I’ll go in to detail about the functionality differences below, but as far as design, instead of a “drop in” case like the Air3 Pro, the Life earbuds lay flat in the case of SoundPEATS Life. There is a subtle LED under the latch that lets you know the battery level of the case:

• Green: 100%-50%
• Yellow: 49%-10%
• Red: Below 10%

The earbuds themselves are plastic with a black and gray matte finish, with microphones at both the top and the bottom of the earbuds. There are several eartips included so if the medium tips are not comfortable for you, they can easily be swapped for another pair.

Performance

Sound quality on the SoundPEATS Life is very similar to the Air3 Pro, with strong bass and clear mids and highs. However, depending on the song, I can sometimes notice that the bass is overpowering and it can slightly drown out the other frequencies. I don’t really mind it, as I would rather have bass-heavy sound than “tinny” sound, and I think most people should be more than satisfied with the sound.

The Active Noise Cancellation is just slightly less effective on the SoundPEATS Life as they only have mics on the outside to suppress noise (the Air3 Pros have mics on both the outside and inside, and can therefore more thoroughly block noise). However, it is still effective for constant low frequency sounds like an engine’s hum or a loud fan. This allows you to listen to your music or podcasts at a more comfortable level.

The microphones are also good for phone calls and the built-in “AI Environment Noise Cancellation” seems to do a good job of removing background noise in your environment, but sounds directly in front of the front-facing microphone (like typing on a keyboard or a person talking in front of you) will still be picked up by the earbuds.

Features

• Active Noise Cancellation: The Active Noise Cancellation feature is good for drowning out the engine noise and allowing you to listen to your music and podcasts at a more comfortable level. It’s slightly less effective than the SoundPEATS Air3 Pro and not quite as effective as the Active Noise Cancellation on larger over-the-ear headphones.
• Transparency mode: If you need to hear what’s going on around you, you can enable Transparency mode by holding your finger on the left earbud’s touch sensor for 1.5 seconds. This doesn’t sound as natural as the AirPods Pro’s transparency mode, but it’s effective enough to hear what is being said.
• AI Environmental Noise Cancellation (ENC) technology: This uses dual microphones to help pick up your voice clearly, while reducing ambient noise and echo during phone calls. This appears to be in place instead of cVc 8.0 technology.
• Single earbud use: You can use either earbud by itself by returning the unused earbud to the charging case.
• IPX4 water resistance: While the SoundPEATS Life earbuds have resistance against splashes and sweat, they should not be submerged in water. The case is not water resistant, so be sure to dry the earbuds before returning them to the case.

SoundPEATS Life vs SoundPEATS Air3 Pro

When comparing the SoundPEATS Life vs Air3 Pro, you’ll fine they’re very similar, but there are some notable differences:

• The SoundPEATS Life use “Feedforward” noise cancellation (the mic is on the outside), while the SoundPEATS Air3 Pro use “Hybrid” noise cancellation (which uses mics on both the outside and inside and can result in better noise cancellation)
• The SoundPEATS Life get slightly less battery life per charge at 5 hours vs 6 hours on the SoundPEATS Air3 Pro.
• However, the charging case holds more of a charge, resulting in slightly more total battery life on the SoundPEATS Life at 25 hours vs 24 hours on the SoundPEATS Air3 Pro.
• The SoundPEATS Life do not appear to have cVc 8.0 mic noise cancellation for calls like the Air3 Pro, but instead appear to have a different “AI Environmental Noise Cancellation (ENC)” technology.
• The SoundPEATS Life and Air3 Pro both use Bluetooth version 5.2.
• The SoundPEATS Life and Air3 Pro both have an IPX4 (splash resistant) rating.

Battery Life

The earbuds can last up to 5 hours with ANC turned off. The charging case provides an additional 4 charges for up to 25 hours of total playback time before the charging case needs to be recharged.

Video Review

https://youtu.be/4d1cxSz9A0A