A Premium Wireless Earbud That Delivers Quality ANC
Back in 2023 we learnt about a company we’d never heard of before, chucking a pair of Status Between 3ANC Wireless Earbuds in our lugholes. From minute one, we loved them.
Since that time, we’ve gone through two sets of the Between 3ANC’s, using them pretty much on the daily for over two years solid. We loved their look, we loved their feel and we loved the audio they piled into our ears. Above all else though, we loved the active noise cancellation they delivered, with some ANC vibes from the gods.
Status have got their work cut out then with the Pro X, especially as they are selling these as smaller, sharper and smarter. Thankfully, Status have not only gone big with the name and promise, but they’ve gone big with the Pro feel and sounds too. We can finally put our Between 3ANC’s in the drawer (which is great timing, because the second set we have used is now on its last legs), safe in the knowledge that we can move forward with the Status Pro X earbuds.
A Seamless Audio Experience
Whether you’ve heard of Status or not, it matters little. What you need to know is that these guys know their stuff when it comes to creating, to crafting, a glorious set of earbuds.
We’ve used the Alloy Black version of the Pro X over the last few weeks, across a range of scenarios, gaming on the cloud through Game Pass, hooked up to our Mac for work purposes, and for music listening in the evening, powered through mobile Bluetooth. Not once has the Pro X let us down. Not once have we looked elsewhere for something better. Although that said, we’ve been sad that reviewing these has meant our beloved SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds have been put on the backburner.
Minimalist Case, Oversized Controls
Working a rather similar angle, albeit updated, to the Between ANC, the Pro X comes in a pill shaped case, all black in design with hardly anything of note on it. In fact, only by looking closely will you see the delicate Status logo on the top of the case, whilst a single USB-C charging port sits around back. Aside from an LED front and centre that lights up as you flip open the top, and a pairing button inside, that’s about it for the case. Let it be known though, the shape and size means it is easily pocketable, hardly taking up any space.
Flip it up, the LED will spring into life and you’ll be treated to two buds, sitting side-by-side in the case, awaiting a grab. For us, these are easily recognisable as a Status product, with a rather large touchpanel of a slab on the outer side of each bud housing the controls you need. That is in turn attached to the drivers, with a silicone tip plugging your ears. Straight out of the box, the medium tip feels good in the ear, and we’ve used that size exclusively during our test period. If you need to switch up though, large and small tips are also present in the box.
Whilst we’re chatting ‘what’s in the box’, expect to be treated to a very short double-ended USB-C cable for charging purposes. Of course, you don’t need to use that to charge the case though – we’ve just done the usual (and what we would suspect 99% of users to do) and plugged the case in when need be to any one of a number of USB-C cables that are hanging around the place. Thank god for USB-C, eh!? How did we live without it?
A quick start guide is also in that box, but we don’t think you’ll need it. See, the Status Pro X buds are super easy to get started with, and we were up, running and connected to these buds within seconds of flipping open the case and searching for the Bluetooth 5.3 signal required. Since then, rock solid is about the only way we can describe the connection delivered, no matter what device we’ve tried pairing them up to.
Audio Excellence: Punchy Sound and Dual Drivers
You’ll want to get these working with multiple devices too, as the Pro X buds from Status sound brilliant. Again, out of the box they are punchy, bassy, but super clear, and not once have we experienced even a hint of distortion or muddy nature from the 12mm drivers and Dual Knowles Balanced Armature drivers found housed inside. We’re no absolute audiophile, but we know good sound when we need it, and these have it in abundance. We’ve listened to our current favourite bands with the volume switched up to 11 and have thoroughly enjoyed what the Pro X buds have been able to handle.
It’s similar too when gaming through Game Pass and whilst we’d love for Status to bring a set of ‘gaming’ specific buds to the table, something compatible with an Xbox console, we’ll continue to use these going forward for everything outside of standard console gaming requirements.
Silence is Golden
Much of the real joy is being able to totally switch off from the world, and like in the Between 3ANC buds, the Pro X have ANC baked in, with more than 40dB of noise cancellation present. Dive into the mobile app (we’ve been using the Android version) and you can dial that in how you wish too, switching off the ANC, switching on Ambient if you like. That app also lets you assign touch controls to each bud, with single, double and triple presses complemented by a tap and hold. We stuck a rotation of ANC onto the triple press, and have used it near daily alongside the usual play/pause and volume controls – all of which work seamlessly, may we add.
We feel we must drop a little segment into this review to cover that app too. The Android app is, in a word, brilliant. It’s super slick, well designed and easy to navigate. With multiple EQ settings, Listening modes, and Bud controls front and centre, dialing these in to your own personal preference is easy. And you can even ping your buds with a ‘Find Earbuds’ section, or switch on multipoint connections, attaching this to multiple devices at once, which is much more useful than you could ever imagine…
Anyways, back to the buds themselves and we’ve found that the size of the Pro X allows for those touch controls to be easily accessible too. We’ve moaned previously about not being able to ‘find’ the correct tap space with certain buds, but that’s not a problem with these. Yes, perhaps the slab of tech on the outside of the ear may put some off, but we actually like the look, and appreciate the simplicity of controls that the sheer size allows. And besides, Status has slimmed everything down this time around, with the Pro X’s control slab some 21% smaller than before, with the case having had a few millimetres shaved off it too.
What’s more, the Pro X’s have a physical button on top of each bud if you need it (it’s decent for having your favourite Assistant to hand), but can also auto-detect when they are placed in the ear, playing from there on out, pausing as they are removed. Consider that calls are seemingly crystal clear too, and we were taken aback when a family mentioned that they couldn’t tell any difference between using the Pro X buds, or straight up chatting through a mobile, when in a call. That should tell you everything you need to know about their quality.
Throw in an IP55 rating that should cover you for sweat and splashes (just don’t go swimming in these), some eight hours of battery on a single charge, and that case which caters for another day’s worth of use, and these have got pretty much everything you would need of a decent bud, and more so. If you are worried about the status of the battery, and don’t wish to go by that which is displayed on your device, then the case LED is a neat little side affair – white, orange or the dreaded red, prompting you to plug in.
The Case Conundrum
And so we get to the negatives, the things we don’t like about the Status Pro X buds. Make that the one thing we don’t like. One very, very, extremely minor thing. You see, even though we’ve been using these for weeks, we still struggle to place the buds back in their little case, every, single, time. There should be no real reason why, but weirdly we’ve found it difficult to place these properly, scratching around until the buds find their little home and go to sleep. We initially blamed ourselves, but even here and now, weeks down the line, it’s still something that bugs us. We’d tell you – and Status – the reason for our struggles, if we had any idea what it was, but we don’t. It’s just one of those things. But hey, we’ll get there. One day.
Oh, and the Pro X buds aren’t cheap either. £269 is a fair old whack of cash for a set of buds, pricier than a pair of Apple’s finest Airpods Pros, for instance. But then, you do get one hell of a set of earbuds for your money.
A Top-Tier Audio Investment
It means that Status has done it again. Our daily drivers for the last few years, we can finally put our Between ANC buds to one side and rock the Pro X with aplomb. No matter whether you are gaming, listening to music, or watching the odd video, either alone in a dark corner or out in the hustle and bustle of the real world, the Status Pro X buds are capable of handling every situation thrown at them. It helps that they sound great, feel brilliant in the ear, and are super simple to control. Granted, they ain’t cheap, but like we’ve said multiple times over the years, you really do get what you pay for.
These should be right at the top of your shopping list if you have the cash available.
Huge thanks go out to Status for providing us with the Status Pro X buds for review. Grab a pair for yourself (seriously, do it) from Status direct for around £269.
