The Status Pro X Sound Incredible. Everything Else Is Just Fine.

Status Audio isn’t a name most people know, but they’ve been quietly chugging away for past decade or so, making relatively inexpensive earbuds which sound a lot more impressive than their pricetag would suggest. The Pro X, at $299, are its first premium earbud, and it puts them in a price bracket occupied by Apple, Sony, Bose, and Sennheiser. It’s a bold move for a small company, and the results are both impressive and uneven.The headline is the sound quality. Each earbud houses a triple-driver system — a 12mm dynamic driver handling the bass, flanked by dual Knowles balanced armature drivers for the mids and highs. The result is the clearest, most detailed sound I’ve heard from any wireless earbud. Instrument separation is exceptional—individual guitar strings, backing vocals, and snare hits all occupy their own space without stepping on each other—and the soundsage is shockingly wide. Listening to a well-produced album sounds less like you have earbuds on and more like sitting in a small room with a good pair of bookshelf speakers.It is worth flagging though that the width feels engineered — an effect pushed by processing rather than something that emerges naturally from the drivers. It’s dramatic and immersive, but a little too artificial, as is the bass sometimes. Sometimes it’s too boomy; othertimes, too blunt and flat. You probably wouldn’t notice or complain on another pair of bluetooth earbuds — there is certainly enough volume at the low end — but it’s unsophistication stands out against the detailed heights and rounded mids.The biggest letdown is the noise cancelling, which is fine in a calm office, but just can’t compete with the best from Apple or Bose—particularly when you get in the wind, or a real loud environment like on the London underground. I almost wish these were a bit less expensive, but dropped the noise cancelling entirely.Elsewhere, they are competent but not mindblowing. The design is chic if a little unremarkable and generic; and they’re comfortable, even if they do sit somewhat loosely in my ears. The hybrid control scheme — a capacitive touch surface for playback combined with a small physical button for noise cancelling and voice assistant — is easy and intuitive, and the app also lets you easily tweak the sounds to your preference. I tend to use the Status Audiophile mode for most listening—the Knowles tune drives that artificial over-dramatic character to the extreme—and then Voice when listening to podcast. The app also handles multipoint connectivity and has a find-my-earbuds feature, and the earbuds can also use the higher resolution LDAC and LC3 bluetooth codecs—if you have an Android phones that support them.To an average customer, looking for an everyday, all-around pair of earbuds, I probably wouldn’t recommend these, particularly for the price. But if you want the best sounding earbuds for listening to music on the go—without forking over four figures for a Bang & Olufsen pair—they’re the best option on the market.

The Status Pro X Sound Incredible. Everything Else Is Just Fine.

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