Soundcore A20i

Banger for 30! – Bought these purely to listen to podcasts and programs while I move around the home — and for that purpose, they're great. Don't expect to be wowed when listening to music on the A20i. They won't sound any better than your average service station buds — no matter how you tweak them in the Soundcore app or Wavelet. Any Youtuber saying otherwise is being purposely misleading. But if, like me, you just need a basic set for listening to people talk, you can't go wrong with these (so long as the codec is set to AAC).

Battery life and build quality are outstanding for the price. Mic quality is good too (so I'm told).

One aspect that deserves special mention is connection stability. These buds cut through walls like they don't exist — something I hadn't seen in bluetooth audio devices until now (could be the 5.3).

There are a couple of downsides, however.

Firstly, the included eartips are all far too small. You'll need to slap on some third-party tips if you have medium to large ear canals. Also, the tips are so cheap and flimsy, fitting them to the buds is next to impossible.

Secondly, I've had an issue from day one where sometimes the right earbud is significantly quieter than the left. This has nothing to do with the cleanliness of the tip or mesh filter, or audio channel balance. None of the troubleshooting suggestions worked. I then discovered that if I quickly pop the quieter bud into and out of its case, the problem disappears.

In my experience, Anker support staff are quick to respond and returns are hassle-free.