Active noise cancellation used to be the domain of high-end headphones from Sony and Bose. But technological advancements have made it possible to get it in affordable earbuds, like the 1More PistonBuds Pro Q30.
But listening to music isn’t just about ANC—it’s a mix of sound quality, convenience, features, and more. The PistonBuds Pro Q30 do a reasonable job of delivering these, even at an affordable price.
1More PistonBuds Pro Q30
The 1More PistonBuds Pro Q30 deliver excellent value for money. Their great sound quality and ANC feature ensures that you will enjoy your music the way it’s meant to be heard.
Design and Fit: A Compact Case in Your Pocket, But Large in Your Ears
Jowi Morales / MakeUseOf
The 1More PistonBuds Pro Q30 come in a relatively compact box, belying the size of its contents. The earbuds and case are small and light—weighing just 43g or 1.5oz and measuring 6.4 x 4.5 x 2.6cm (2.6 x 1.8 x 1.1 inches)—making them easy to pocket.
The case also has a bottom-mounted USB-C charging port and a reset button. Our review unit came in a matte white finish with white and silver earbuds, although they can also be had in black/black and gold on Amazon and the 1More store.
Although each earbud weighs just 5g or 0.1oz, it has a long stem that makes you acutely aware you’re wearing the PistonBuds Pro. You’ll eventually get used to it.
But taking the earbuds out of the case using one hand is a problem, as you’ll need to do this when you’re holding your phone in your other hand. It’s best to wear the earbuds before taking out your phone and connecting them.
Aside from the earbuds and case, you also get a USB-C charging cable and two spare silicone ear tips—small and large. The medium-sized silicone ear tip is already attached to the earbuds.
Controls: Convenient Tap Actions, but Don’t Use the Q30 in Bed
It’s easy to control your audio once you’re wearing the earbuds—tap an earbud twice to play or pause your music and tap it thrice to activate voice control. You can also tap and hold to change noise cancellation modes between Active, Transparency, and Off.
They also feature Smart Playback functionality, which automatically pauses and plays your media, depending on whether you’re wearing the earbuds or taking them off.
If you’re used to other tap controls, you can change their functionality in the 1More app. But the default settings are already a suitable scheme as you can use voice control to adjust volume and change tracks.
While touch-sensitive control works well in most cases, they’re not as great when using the PistonBuds Pro Q30 in bed. That’s because your pillow or ear can activate the tap-and-hold function, inadvertently changing the earbud’s ANC settings. This is annoying, especially when you’re trying to concentrate on what’s on your screen.
Battery Life: Decent for Its Price
1More claims a 30-hour battery life on the PistonBuds Pro Q30. However, this is if you don’t use ANC. When you turn on this feature, the battery life drops to 20 hours—but that’s still a decent amount given its price point.
On paper, each earbud can last up to 5 hours (7.5 with ANC off) on a single charge. This largely checks out with my experience, where I would have about 50% battery left after using the earbuds for a little over two hours.
It also charges quickly, gaining about 30% battery from empty after I dropped the earbuds back in the case for about five minutes. So, whether you’re a passenger on a long car drive, taking a long flight, or listening to music all day while in the office, the Q30’s battery life should be enough for your needs.
Wireless Connectivity: Great for Calls, Music, Movies, and Gaming
The 1More PistonBuds Pro Q30 use Bluetooth 5.3, ensuring the best wireless performance. However, they can only connect to one device at a time. So, if you want to pair the earbuds with your smartphone, tablet, and PC, you must reset them every time you change devices.
You can connect the PistonBuds Pro Q30 to more than one device, but you must enable the experimental feature. Tap the 1More logo, go to Experimental Features, and enable Dual Connection. Then you can connect to one other device.
They feature negligible latency when watching movies and playing games. But if you’re playing competitive FPS games and find the minute difference between what you see and hear, you can turn on low latency mode in the 1More app.
Sound and Microphone Quality: Great for Its Price
Although the Q30 are affordable, they doesn’t skimp on sound quality. At the lowest possible volume level, you’re able to still hear the fine details of the music you’re listening to. Furthermore, the sound quality remains crisp and detailed, even when you set your phone at maximum volume.
Active Noise Cancellation Options
Screenshot by Jowi Morales; no attribution is required.
The Q30 have excellent ANC capability, cutting out around 95% of the low-frequency drone of an aircraft engine when the ANC strength is set to Strong. You can also choose Mild if you don’t want the earbuds to cut out environmental noise completely, and WNR is best for using ANC outdoors.
And, if you can’t decide the ANC strength you want or if the ambient noise around you changes frequently, you can just choose Adaptive and let the earbuds pick the best mode. However, you can only adjust these settings in the 1More app, so you must install it on your phone to update the earbuds to your preferences.
If you need to talk to someone while wearing the Q30s, you can simply tap and hold on either earbud to switch ANC mode to Transparency. This will let you hear everyone and everything around you clearly, so you don’t need to take the earbuds off when interacting with people or the environment.
Of course, you can always switch off ANC to save battery life, especially in a quiet room. However, the earbuds don’t have a voice prompt when changing ANC modes. Instead, you only hear some beep combinations to tell you what mode you’re in.
There’s a slight learning curve to memorizing which beep combinations correspond to which mode, but they’re pretty intuitive. Nevertheless, it would’ve been better if a voice told you what mode you’re in, as the beeps could be hard to hear, especially if you’re focused on something else. Also, note that ANC only works if you’re wearing both earbuds.
Weird Spatial Audio
Spatial Audio is another feature you may turn on in the 1More app. This toggle switch gives you a fuller sound profile and makes your sound more immersive. However, there was one time when one earbud was louder than the other when I turned on this feature—it was as if the left earbud had the feature turned on, and the right earbud didn’t follow suit.
I had to restart the earbuds by putting them back in the case and waiting a few minutes before wearing them again. That fixed the problem and allowed me to enjoy excellent audio quality again.
Environmental Noise Cancellation During a Call
Of course, earbuds also have microphones so that you can use them in a call. We tested the PistonBuds Pro Q30 with a loud street café background noise, which performed well enough.
To give you a better idea of how that performed, here’s a separate recording with the environmental noise included:
All environmental noise was stripped from the call, and I still sounded legible, although a word or two was marginal. You should be able to make a call with the Q30 even if you’re in a public space and still be heard.
1More App: Use Your Earbuds as You Like
you may customize your earbuds to fit your lifestyle as you like with the 1More app. Aside from changing ANC modes and tap functionality on the earbuds, adjusting Smart Playback, activating Low-latency mode, and switching on Spatial Audio, you can also use it for OTA Firmware Upgrade.
But the most crucial feature audiophiles would love with the 1More app is Sound Options. You get 12 preset EQ options to match the sound profile to your tastes. But if you don’t find a preset you like, you can head on to Custom EQs and create multiple profiles that will give your ears what they want.
ANC Earbuds Don’t Have to Be Expensive
The most expensive ANC earbuds can set you back around $300, but 1More proved that you could get a great experience at just a fraction of the price. The Q30 retails around $55 on Amazon but less than $50 on the 1More website. In fact, it’s on sale at the time of writing at just $39.99.
So, if you want to listen to music and audio without being bothered by ambient sounds, the 1More PistonBuds Pro Q30 will let you do so without emptying your wallet. It’s a great way of isolating yourself from environmental noise and stress, enabling you to focus inward or on your movie.
