Soundpeats CC3 Professional Clip-On Earbuds Evaluation – Mighty Gadget Weblog Expertise Information and Evaluations

Clip-on earbuds proceed to be a rising section within the earbuds market, with my most up-to-date evaluate being the SoundPeats UU2 POP Clip2 Clip-On Earbuds.

Soundpeats has now launched the CC3 Professional, which seems to be the successor to the Soundpeats Pearl Clip Professional, which I reviewed again in January 2025.

Associated Evaluations

Specification

Soundpeats CC3 Options and Enhancements

• Upgrades
  • Larger most output for louder, cleaner playback
  • Improved skin-friendly coating
  • Longer battery life with as much as 10 hours per cost and 42 hours complete
• Sound
  • 12 mm titanium-coated dual-magnet dynamic driver for fuller, extra dynamic sound
  • DynamicEQ for richer bass efficiency
  • Customized EQ for personalised tuning
  • LDAC & Hello-Res Wi-fi for high-resolution audio playback
• Consolation
  • Roughly 5g per earbud for light-weight all-day put on
  • Redesigned U-Bridge for a safer and secure match
  • Open-ear design for pressure-free listening and environmental consciousness
  • Slim profile for snug use with glasses and masks
  • 0.5 mm nickel-titanium reminiscence wire for flexibility and sturdiness
  • UV nano-excimer coating for a easy, skin-friendly end
• On a regular basis Options
  • Automated left/proper recognition for grab-and-go comfort
  • Bodily button controls for fewer unintentional touches
  • Privateness Mode for extra non-public listening
  • Quick charging(10 min = 2 h) for fast top-ups

Design & Consolation

The CC3 Professional arrive in a compact white field with the Hello-Res Audio Wi-fi and LDAC badges on the entrance. Inside, you get the earbuds, the charging case, a USB-C cable and a consumer information. The CC3 Professional are additionally the primary product to make use of Soundpeats’ new, extra rounded brand, so you might even see a mixture of outdated and new branding on Soundpeats merchandise for some time.

The case has a shiny midnight blue end that appears sensible however picks up fingerprints simply. It measures 70.6 x 47.0 x 25.0mm, so it isn’t tiny, however it’s cheap for a clip-on design, which at all times wants a wider case than typical earbuds. The USB-C port and pairing button sit on the backside of the case, and the earbuds can go into both slot because of the automated left and proper recognition.

The earbuds comply with the acquainted clip-on format. A matte silicone bridge hyperlinks a shiny blue-black speaker housing, which sits simply outdoors the ear canal, to a second housing behind the ear that holds the battery and the button. At 5.5g every, they’re somewhat heavier and bigger than the UU2 POP Clip2, which weigh round 4.7g. For most individuals this gained’t be noticeable as soon as they’re on, however these with smaller ears may have extra trial and error to get a safe, snug place.

Positioning issues extra with clip-ons than with in-ear buds. Shifting the speaker housing a number of millimetres nearer to or farther from the ear canal makes a transparent distinction to the quantity and the quantity of bass you hear, so it’s price spending a minute adjusting them earlier than judging the sound.

The swap to bodily buttons is probably the most welcome design change. The contact controls on the PearlClip Professional may very well be triggered accidentally when adjusting the match, which is a standard grievance with clip-ons. The CC3 Professional buttons are wrapped in silicone, present a particular click on and might be remapped within the app. The minor trade-off is that urgent the button pushes the earbud in opposition to your ear, although the open design means nothing will get pushed into the ear canal.

The IPX6 score covers sweat, rain and splashes, which is okay for operating and the gymnasium, however they aren’t designed to be submerged.

Soundpeats App

The CC3 Professional use the Soundpeats app reasonably than the older PeatsAudio app utilized by the PearlClip Professional. The house display exhibits the battery stage of every earbud and the case, adopted by toggles for Spatial Audio, Dynamic EQ, LDAC, Sport mode and Privateness Mode. You additionally get gesture management customisation, dual-device connection administration, Discover Earbuds, a Drainage Perform that performs a tone to assist clear water from the speaker grilles, immediate sound settings, and the standard gadget data and reset choices.

The app prompted a firmware replace as quickly as I related the earbuds, taking them from v0.2.1 to v0.2.9. The file was solely 767.50 KB, however the entire course of took simply over 3 minutes, nearly all of which was the switch to the earbuds. You must hold the earbuds within the case in the course of the replace.

There’s one signal that the software program isn’t fairly completed. The auto energy off timer choice is labelled in Chinese language characters on my unit reasonably than English. It’s a minor challenge on pre-release firmware, and I’d anticipate it to be mounted by launch, however it’s price mentioning.

The equaliser part has three elements. There’s a set of presets, corresponding to Basic, an Adaptive Equaliser that performs tones and asks you to faucet while you hear them to construct a profile to your listening to, and a customized 8-band EQ. The customized EQ covers 62Hz to 8kHz with a variety of plus or minus 6dB, which is satisfactory for many changes, although there is no such thing as a management above 8kHz.

The most important limitation is that the EQ can’t be used similtaneously Spatial Audio, Dynamic EQ or Privateness Mode, and turning one on mechanically turns the others off. This implies you must select between a customized sound profile and options like Privateness Mode, which is somewhat irritating.

Sound High quality

The CC3 Professional use a two-driver design. The 12mm dual-magnet dynamic driver handles the bass and mid-range, whereas the 9mm piezoelectric ceramic driver handles the treble. Piezoelectric drivers reply in a short time, which helps with element in cymbals, vocals and the higher harmonics of devices. The quoted 20Hz to 40kHz frequency response is usually there for the Hello-Res certification, because the higher half of that vary is properly past human listening to, however the additional driver does make an audible distinction.

I discovered the sound high quality of those to be a notable enchancment over the POP Clip 2 I reviewed extra lately. There’s extra readability within the treble and the general presentation feels fuller and fewer congested.

It’s price noting that my associate did suppose these sounded tinny when she first wore them. I really feel this may increasingly have been consumer error with the positioning, as she was coming from the inferior TOZO OpenEarRing, which has a special match. As talked about above, a small change in the place the speaker sits makes a giant distinction to bass on clip-ons.

I’d say the sound high quality is not so good as the costlier Soundcore AeroClip. Then once more, my associate appeared to desire the Soundcore C40i, so I’m not certain her judgement is reliable in the case of sound high quality.

Total, the sound is sweet, with a formidable stage of bass for earbuds of this measurement. Dynamic EQ boosts the low finish at decrease volumes, the place open-ear designs normally sound thinnest and, in accordance with Soundpeats, it really works with LDAC enabled. LDAC requires an Android cellphone that helps it, so iPhone customers will likely be restricted to AAC.

As at all times, they sound higher indoors as a result of lack of wind and environmental noise, however I discovered that they labored properly whereas strolling outdoors. Site visitors and wind will masks a number of the bass, and you’ll naturally flip the quantity as much as compensate.

Turning the quantity up brings the standard open-ear challenge of sound leakage. At reasonable to excessive volumes, individuals sitting close to you’ll hear one thing, even when they will’t make out precisely what you’re listening to. Privateness Mode reduces the leakage by limiting the output, which is helpful in a quiet workplace or on public transport, but it surely disables the customized EQ and Dynamic EQ.

After about an hour of listening I did expertise some fatigue. I get this so much with high-pitched frequencies, and the crisp treble from the piezoelectric driver won’t go well with everybody over lengthy classes. Flattening the 4kHz and 8kHz bands within the customized EQ is the plain solution to soften this, although doing so turns off Dynamic EQ. Whereas the earbuds do have good bass, they’re by no means going to be as heat as correct in-ear or over-ear headphones.

Battery Life

Battery life is among the greatest enhancements over the earlier mannequin. Soundpeats quotes as much as 10 hours from the earbuds and 44 hours in complete with the case. This compares with 6 hours and 24 hours for the PearlClip Professional and round 42 hours in complete for the UU2 POP Clip2.

As with most earbuds, these figures will drop when LDAC is enabled and when listening at greater volumes. Open-ear designs are usually used at greater volumes than in-ear buds, significantly outdoor, so I’d anticipate real-world runtime to be a number of hours decrease than the quoted most. Even so, there’s sufficient headroom {that a} full day of intermittent use shouldn’t be an issue.

The earbuds take round 53 minutes to cost totally, whereas the case takes round 100 minutes over USB-C. Quick charging offers as much as 3 hours of playback from a 10-minute cost, which is an enchancment on the two hours quoted for the PearlClip Professional.

Wi-fi charging is a welcome addition at this value. It’s slower than wired charging, as is regular, however it’s handy to drop the case on a charging pad in a single day reasonably than discovering a cable.

Value and Different Choices

The Soundpeats CC3 Professional have an RRP of $70, and the UK RRP has now been confirmed at £75.99, with availability from 28 October 2026.

The Soundpeats UU2 (POP Clip 2) I reviewed a number of weeks again had an RRP of $50 and is listed on Amazon UK for £60 RRP, discounted to £51. Earlier than the UK value was confirmed, I anticipated the CC3 Professional to be round £70, which I felt was a superb reflection of the efficiency distinction. At £75.99 the RRP is a contact greater than I hoped, however Soundpeats merchandise are normally discounted on Amazon quickly after launch, and I’d anticipate the CC3 Professional to drop to round £60 to £65 at instances.

Different choices embody:

Anker Soundcore

• Soundcore C50i: £45
• Soundcore C40i: £40
• Soundcore AeroClip: £94

Different manufacturers

• TOZO OpenEarRing: £30
• Baseus Bowie MC2: £64
• EarFun Clip Open: £33

The Soundcore C40i, C50i, TOZO OpenEarRing and EarFun Clip Open are all less expensive and are a wise solution to discover out whether or not the clip-on type fits you, however the CC3 Professional provide a extra full package deal, with LDAC, bodily buttons, wi-fi charging and a dual-driver setup. The Soundcore AeroClip presents higher sound high quality, but it surely prices round £20 extra. The UU2 POP Clip2 are additionally price contemplating if you will discover them discounted to round £50, as they provide LDAC and bodily buttons, however they don’t sound nearly as good and lack the additional driver.

Total

The Soundpeats CC3 Professional are an honest pair of clip-on earbuds, with pricing sitting on the prime finish of the finances choices.

I’d say the general price-to-performance ratio is about proper. They’re higher than the UU2 (POP Clip 2) and plenty of different cheaper choices from different manufacturers, however not so good as the AeroClip.

The strengths are clear. The twin-driver setup delivers extra element than most clip-ons at this value, the bass is sweet for the shape issue, the bodily buttons are an actual enchancment over contact controls, and the battery life and wi-fi charging put them forward of a lot of the competitors. The app can be properly featured, with an adaptive EQ, an 8-band customized EQ and helpful extras corresponding to Discover Earbuds and multipoint.

There are some weaknesses. The intense treble precipitated some listening fatigue for me, the EQ can’t be mixed with Privateness Mode or Dynamic EQ, the earbuds are somewhat bigger than the UU2, and the app nonetheless has a number of tough edges forward of launch. Sound leakage at greater volumes can be unavoidable with the sort of design.

I’ll word that each the Soundcore C40i and AeroClip broke after round a yr of use, with them failing to cost as a consequence of both the pogo pins getting broken or the contact space for the pogo pins sporting away. Sturdiness is subsequently one thing I’ll regulate with the CC3 Professional, and I’d counsel shopping for from a retailer with an easy returns course of.

If you would like open-ear earbuds that allow you to hear visitors and conversations whereas nonetheless providing respectable bass and element, the CC3 Professional are one of many higher choices underneath £80, particularly as soon as they’re discounted. If you’re delicate to treble or need the perfect sound high quality on this class, the AeroClip continues to be the higher selection, offered you’re pleased to pay extra.

I’m James, a UK-based tech fanatic and the Editor and Proprietor of Mighty Gadget, which I’ve proudly run since 2007. Captivated with all issues know-how, my experience spans from computer systems and networking to cellular, wearables, and sensible dwelling units.

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