Fit and Comfort

Seen above is the right channel of the Status Between 3ANC earphones placed into an artificial ear mold with the pre-installed size 1 fit-wings and size M silicone ear tips used. I have average-sized ears, and the ear mold above represents my own experiences well enough as a proxy. Size M silicone tips are my go-to for testing since foam tips are not included by some, as is the case here. I also found the size 1 fit-wings to work just fine for me in allowing for the shells to nicely fit in my concha and provide additional grip. In general, I will say the Status Between 3ANC is among the most comfortable and secure fitting IEMs I've used to date, be it wired or wireless. The weight balance is nicely achieved to where the stem doesn't pull the shells out and the nozzle is relatively thin to better fit those with smaller ear canals. Note also how there is plenty of room in the concha to fit the shells, thus those with smaller ears in general should also be fine. There is also plenty of wiggle room to angle the stem directly towards your mouth to better pick up your voice and minimize external noise.

Battery life is rated for 8 hours per charge with ANC and 12 hours with ANC off, which echoes my own findings too at ~70% volume level. Perhaps the lack of a higher bit-rate codec helps here but it's still a compromise I'd rather not be forced into. The case provides an additional 24-36 hours (three charge cycles) depending on whether ANC is on or off and it takes ~1.5 hours to charge the earphones and closer to two hours for the case itself. There is no quick charging support for the case or IEMs albeit you do have Qi wireless charging for the case if you so desire. I'd say battery life is fairly good overall, despite knowing the codec situation, with nearly 50 hours combined without ANC being plenty for 1-2 weeks of use.

Audio Performance

Audio Hardware

Status makes no qualms about saying outright that the drivers used in the Between 3ANC are the same as in the previously released Between Pro, which itself was seemingly a trend setter with its hybrid driver configuration. Indeed, there are more of the 1 DD/2 BA TWS sets today but they are still quite rare in a single dynamic driver dominated world. The Between 3ANC uses a 10 mm dynamic driver—no further information provided about the diaphragm/voice coil/magnets etc—for the lows and mids with two balanced armature drivers responsible for the highs. Here too we do not know what the exact BA drivers used are and also whether the Bluetooth SoC is the same as on the Between Pro with its Qualcomm QCC3040. I am not sure that is the case though since the QCC3040 has aptX support. Regardless, it's fair to say it's a dated SoC and I don't buy the "no secret" and "the best components" marketing spiel on the product page. The good news is, as long as the drivers are good and the tuning is not holding them back, the Status Between 3ANC should still offer a nice listening experience. I will also mention that the microphones used for voice pick-up work quite well for online calls etc.

Frequency Measurement and Listening

I will mention that I have a general preference for a warm-neutral signature with a slightly elevated bass, smooth treble range, detailed mids, and good tonal separation. I also generally prefer instrumental music over vocals, with favored genres including jazz and classical music.


Our reproducible testing methodology begins with a calibrated IEC711 audio coupler/artificial ear that earphones can feed into enough for decent isolation. The audio coupler feeds into a USB sound card, which in turn goes to a laptop that has ARTA and REW running and these TWS earphones connected to the laptop through Bluetooth. I begin with an impulse measurement to test for signal fidelity, calibrate the sound card and channel output, account for floor noise, and finally test the frequency response of each channel separately. Octave smoothing is at the 1/12th setting, which nets a good balance of detail and noise not being identified as useful data. Also, the default tuning was used for testing, and no app-based settings were chosen unless specifically mentioned. Each sample of interest is tested thrice with separate mounts to account for any fit issues, and an average is taken of the three individual measurements for statistical accuracy. For those products that get a full review, I am also using the appropriate ear mold fitted to the audio coupler for a separate test to compare how the IEMs fare when installed in a pinna geometry instead of just the audio coupler. The raw data is then exported from REW and plotted in OriginPro for easier comparison.


The IEC711 is such that you can't really compare these results with most other test setups, especially those using a head and torso simulator (HATS). The raw dB numbers are also quite contingent on the set volume, gain levels, and sensitivity of the system. What is more useful information is how the left and right channels work across the rated frequency response in the Status Between 3ANC which is seen above. The left channel was separately tested from the right one, and colored differently for contrast. I did my best to ensure an identical fit for both inside the IEC711 orifice, so note how the provided sample shows fairly good channel matching, especially for TWS sets. The ~1-1.5 dB offset in the lower frequencies isn't a big deal as there is very little audio information at those frequencies. Likewise, while I did notice some channel imbalance in the higher frequencies, it wasn't as bad as the graph suggests given measurements taken after the resonance peak matched at 8 kHz are best taken with a grain of salt. The response with the anthropomorphic pinna in place matched the ideal scenario in the coupler quite well and this is an indicator of how good the fit and seal was when installed in the artificial ear.



Here is the average frequency response for both channels of the Status Between 3ANC in the three sound modes and two operating modes possible. This makes for a total of six graphs which I decided to split into two figures (ANC and ambient mode) which in turn are plotted against the Harman 2019v2 in-ear target that Status is clearly going for here. You can of course compare these frequency response measurements against my personal target or others on VSG.squig.link as usual, especially since I do not think the Harman target is particularly good for IEMs. The good thing is Status has added its own twist in each setting, although the bad thing is not all of them work well in practice. ANC works well enough in reducing environmental sound in the ~100-500 Hz range especially, and does so without creating the pressure feeling you get with some ANC implementations too. I would assume ANC mode is the default for these IEMs since the ambient mode results in external noise pick-up for obvious reasons.

As such, the default Status Signature/ANC mode ends up being a good safe choice in that I think it's the best of the lot when it comes to giving a balanced sound with the least compromises. If you do happen to be in a quiet environment and are playing something that drowns out the mic static, then the Status Audiophile/ambient mode would be the overall best tuning on paper. It has more mid-bass compared to the already bassy Harman target, which can help add some body to the otherwise bassy sound and help balance out the ear gain region from 1-5 kHz that may otherwise come off shouty, making vocals overly prominent and harsh. The same Status Audiophile mode with ANC on results in a big bass tuck that takes away from bass guitars and drums while also resulting in leaner lower mids that can affect vocals and instrument separation alike. The Status Original (the older Status Between Pro tuning) goes back to the brand's sound standards in prioritizing sub-bass over mid-bass, albeit comes off more V-shaped in ambient mode. I am still not a fan here given the excessive energy in the sub-bass as well as mid-upper treble that makes for a generally fatiguing sound, although you may want to try it out if you find the other modes somewhat dark. You can see how it's mostly futile to talk about the Status Between 3ANC in a general way given how different it sounds in the six options provided by the company, let alone with any EQ you decide to add on top via the app or separately via 3rd-party applications.

As such, I'll briefly talk about the Status Signature/ANC mode here which doesn't have the best treble extension and ends up going for a mostly bassy sound. There's an ~8 dB bass shelf focused in the sub-bass here which helps take away from an otherwise muddy/boomy bass from IEMs that prioritize mid-bass and then have poor extension in the sub-bass. The dynamic driver used is about average when it comes to TWS drivers and resolution though, since you'd be hard-pressed to make out trailing ends of tones with kick drums and especially with electronic music beats. As such, I'd say the actual bass impact is slightly lower than the graph makes it seem and certainly not the most detailed. What does help is a clean cut to the mids allowing for vocals to be clear and forward-facing while still retaining good instrument separation and range. Female vocals are still likely to come off shouty here but male vocals were absolutely fine for me. Imaging is decent and soundstage is slightly wider than usual for TWS sets too. If you are a fan of jazz/classical music then perhaps this tuning can still work for you, although I'd suggest playing with the in-app EQ too. There is a slightly plasticky timbre in place throughout though; perhaps the BA drivers have something to do with this.


The Status Between 3ANC is currently on sale but is in that weird price range where I don't have a lot of similar featured TWS sets at the moment. I decided to go back to my target here since these are all over the place in tonality anyway. There's the stunning looking Kinera YH802 Limited Edition with hand painted artisan shells and a single dynamic driver in a more traditional stem design, The YH802 goes for that boomy bass with mid-bass emphasis that Status aims to reject in its products, and it shows since the Between 3ANC ends up more balanced and resolving for my money. The Kinera set may end up less shouty but then goes for an even brighter tonality in the upper mids and treble to where it is even more fatiguing to me, especially with the tamer bass not holding it back. In fact, see how the other two sets are going for a more boomy/muddy bass despite being far more expensive. The final ZE8000 is a weird one that went from a much more reasonable tonality in its release firmware to whatever this thing is currently, it has no ear gain and results in an extremely warm sound that unfortunately doesn't make the most of arguably the best single dynamic driver used in a TWS set to date. HIFIMAN may challenge that specific claim with the recently released Svanar Wireless, which costs a whopping $500 (review coming soon) and has a more deliberate V-shaped sound similar to the wired Svanar. There is a lot going on there to make for a very warm and engaging sound too, although the upper mids come off bright and compressed so it can take away detail if you are sensitive to that region. As it stands, the Between 3ANC is probably the best tuned set of the lot even if it may not be the most detailed.