I would grab these anker earbuds for $15 ASAP if I were you! I'm not just saying this cause they are on sale but they are the best non airpods I've ever used. No connection issues with the sense player or Iphone SE 2 running IOS 18. 6-7 hours on the buds and 40 something hours for the case in terms of battery, the specs on the case battery say 700MAH which is pretty amazing. Go go go!
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If that gaming mode setting could work on the sense player, it would be perfect. Even for $20 which they are usually on sale for, its still a great price!
With that being said, the airpods style fit my little ears perfectly. If you don't like those, you won't like these.
Gaming mode update. Here is how I finally got it working on the sense player. Connect the buds to IOS first and turn on gaming mode from the app. If you tap on sound effect soundcore signature, you will get a message like "Gaming mode is turned on, to use EQ turn it off." You will also notice the incredibly decreased latency. Turn off bluetooth on IOS so that the buds play their musical disconnect tone. Connect to the sense player, open the app and gaming mode will be on as you can check through the message above. Again, decreased latency, not as much as IOS but that nice EQ profile is there. If you lock the player, bluetooth turns off and the buds disconnect. When you unlock, gaming mode will still be on. Put the buds in their case however and gaming mode turns off. So you have to start from step 1 again. I will call anker tomorrow to see if they can add gaming mode as a toggle using touch controls like other models have. No reason why not, its just a simple firmware update.
When gaming mode is successfully toggled on/off, you will hear confirmation tones. On the sense player, it does toggle on/off but no tone is played and the EQ can still be adjusted. So it appears to be remembered between devices, guess it is a hardware setting but unfortunately unlike all the other settings such as EQ and touch controls, it goes away when put in the case. IMO its quite weird if you ask me. Perhaps if it is added as a touch toggle, it will stay permanently on?
Another gaming mode sense player update. I reset the earbuds just to have a clean start. Go to the gaming mode switch and use the command to start and stop a hold, press 0 twice in about 2 seconds. Toggle the switch to on, you will hear the confirm tone and gaming mode will be activated. From what I am seeing so far, when you insert/remove them from the case, gaming mode will stay activated. More updates as I experiment.
@jpellis2008 So if they're actually able to pull off this level of low-latency with Bluetooth: then couldn't Shokz theoretically address this with a firmware update?
@jackf723 I honestly don't know, I suppose so.
I was thinking of trying to record a demo but I guess the only way is to hold a bud up to a microphone and pump up the volume?
@jpellis2008 @khronos How's the latency? I bought these anyway because gaming mode, could work very well with my Android.
@pixelate @khronos On IOS at least, its 10 times better anything I've tried yet, which was only airpods gen 1, gen 2 and Jabra Elite 45h. I primarily bought these for the sense player though which runs android 11. I will call Anker next week and see if they can tell me if this gaming mode thing can be used in the buds themselves with a toggle or if they do require some kind of software thing which the sense player either doesn't have or I have to change a setting ETC.
@jpellis2008 @pixelate Wow, that's pretty impressive for the price, think I'll check these out. still have gift card money left from Christmas after all. thanks for the rec. how's the accompanying app accessibility-wise?
@dotsonapage @pixelate Android has a lot of unlabeled buttons but you can add the buds to the app after you connect them normally first, as well as change preset EQ settings, custom isn't accessible, change what the touch controls do on each bud, volume up/down, play/pause ETC and finally turn off and on a beep that plays when you touch each bud. About the same on IOS but VoiceOver whatever the thing is called that it does with trying to OCR unlabeled controls, it will read some of those like the back button on a screen. You can get an anker account but I haven't done so, don't really know what benefits it has if any.
@dotsonapage @pixelate You can also update the firmware, mine needed an update. I took them out of the case, put them in my ears, connected with bluetooth, ran app and after tapping on the device name that says connected, it will look for updates. After that, I turned off Wifi and the app ran just fine, letting me adjust settings ETC.
@dotsonapage @pixelate Left them in my ears during the firmware update, as it played a few tones here or there and a message on screen says not to use during update.
@dotsonapage @pixelate Musical tones are played as far as I know for connecting and disconnecting. A little buzz is played when in paring mode and beeping when touching a bud
@jpellis2008 @pixelate thanks. I have the Alexa earbuds from Amazon but haven't used them in a while. I actually prefer wired headphones but I've been looking to change that, and these seem like a good place to start.
@jpellis2008 hi again. ordered these earbuds on your rec and got them this afternoon. had no trouble getting them paired and am using them now. Really like the style and ease of setup/use, helped that the user guide was easily accessible via SoundCore's site. my only issue is discerning battery status, thought I could find that in the app but don't see it anywhere. do the buds make some kind of sound to alert when they're running low? thanks for your help.
@dotsonapage Depending on what you are using. On an Iphone it should be in the status bar with the phone battery level.
@jpellis2008 aha, found it. thanks. what about the case?
@dotsonapage Unfortunately no on the case. When it is charging there is an LED light on the front that blinks and is solid when charge is done. Otherwise I honestly don't know.
@jpellis2008 oh well, thought that might be the case. guess I'll just top the battery off every other day or so like I do with the case for my Meta glasses.
@dotsonapage What devices are you using it with? I think the case lasts quite a long time, I actually haven't charged it since I received it last week but haven't used the buds for 6 hours straight either, which is their expected running time.
@jpellis2008 I'll primarily be using them with my iPhone SE, the 2022 model. is the 6-hour playtime per bud or for the whole pair. when I'm with other people I almost always use headphones with my phone for privacy's sake, so any I have get a good workout. I'll probably still carry around a wired pair for backup when the new buds need to charge.
@dotsonapage It is for both but you can use one at a time in mono mode. I haven't tried that yet myself. Basically when they are out of the case they are always on and only way to turn them off is back in the case or set a power off time in the app, 10 minutes, 30 minutes ETC. As long as one is in the case, you can use the other on its own.
@jpellis2008 good to know. thanks.
@dotsonapage Yep no problem. In the app, the gaming mode switch is at the bottom near the gaming mode buttons on the main screen. It might reduce battery life, not sure but the improvement in latency is unbelievable.
@jpellis2008 good to know, thanks. I was using them in conjunction with a Bluetooth keyboard and noticed a bit of a lag. Game Mode might be worth a try.
@dotsonapage I am still testing this but I think gaming mode turns off when you put them back in the case. Evey other setting is saved, EQ settings, tap controls ETC.