SoundPeats Cove Pro Review
Weight: 251 grams
IPX4 waterproof
Bluetooth 6.0 with SBC, AAC, and LDAC
Battery life up to 95 hours (58 hours with ANC on)
Charging time: 2.1 hours; fast charge 10m yields 11 hours of use
Overview
I recently reviewed the QCY H3S on this site (https://www.jpwhiteside.com/qcy-h3s-bluetooth-anc-headphones/) and on my YouTube channel (https://youtu.be/VlCqeHqeuJs) and outside of my issues with the QCY app, I thought they were solid headphones in the sub-$100 price range. The H3S can in fact be found for less than $50 on Amazon depending on coupons and sales. A viewer asked me to consider reviewing the SoundPeats Cove Pro. The Cove Pro are available on the SoundPeats website for $70 and have specifications that are pretty similar to the H3S, so I expected them to perform about the same.
The two pairs of headphones are very similar in terms of size, shape and weight. The headphones are not low-profile; the earcups are thick and obvious on your head. The build is plasticky and relatively lightweight as a result, but because these headphones are so inexpensive, I can forgive the plastic. For what they are, they look fine. They have buttons on them that are very similar to the buttons on the H3S and there are no touch controls, so if you're a fan of buttons you'll be well served here. The arms fold up for travel purposes and the earcups swivel so wearing them around your neck isn't out of the question. The branding isn't ostentatious and the fit isn't uncomfortable although they are ever so slightly too large for my head and therefore sit lower on my jaw than I'd like. They're very decent in terms of fit and finish for the price.
Bluetooth Performance
The Cove Pro have reasonable Bluetooth range. I was able to wear them throughout my house with few dropouts. They struggled to maintain connectivity while I was in the basement, but they were mainly solid throughout my main floor. The range isn't stellar, but I'd consider it just about acceptable for the price point.
ANC Performance
The ANC is able to reduce the sound of steady state noise very well. The sound of my central heat or a portable heater I keep under my desk were completely eliminated. The sound of obnoxiously loud cars driving down the street was also greatly reduced. Voices can be heard but are muted. Higher pitched sounds like the clicking of a mechanical keyboard are still very audible but are dampened somewhat. The transparency mode is a little more airy or hissy than real life but not so much that it's annoying. This ANC is good for office environments or use at home but may not be the pair you want to take on trips or use in very loud places like cafes and restaurants.
Microphone Performance
The microphones on the Cove Pro pick up your voice fairly well in a quiet environment. There is some digital compression that you can hear, but voices will be understandable, if just not perfectly clear. The microphones don't do as well with wind, so you'll probably want to wear them indoors or limit your outdoor conversations on windy days.
How Do They Sound?
This is where everything just fell apart for me. When I first turned on the headphones, I was struck by how the audio prompt indicating they were powered on sounded like it was in a tunnel. I was dismayed to find that the tunnel effect carried through to the audio. I really couldn't get past it. It was reasonably fine for spoken word like podcasts and some YouTube videos, but I did not enjoy listening to music on these headphones at all. The QCY H3S sound better than these and even a working app can't resolve the issues I was hearing as it was frequency, it was just a veiling over the sound in general that made it sound far away and a little dirty. There isn't much in my collection, including some very cheap clip-on style earphones with which I would enjoy listening to music less than these because of that tunnel effect on the sound. I have wondered if my pair is defective since a quick scroll through Google seems to indicate others think these are fine. Or maybe they're being more generous than I am due to the low price. But even if my pair is defective, it does not bode well for SoundPeats that quality control would be an issue like this. I have multiple pairs of SoundPeats earphones that I really like, and it has become a brand that I don't even second guess when it comes to trying their new products. Based on my experience with their earphones, I expected to like and recommend these headphones, but in the end, they're going into a new box of shame that I hope never to have to put anything else in.
Recommendations
Assuming my headphones aren't defective, I don't really recommend these. The QCY H3S are better even with a problematic app. I haven't reviewed many headphones in this price range, but I do trust the Soundcore brand enough that I would suggest looking into the Space One over these. The best use case for the Cove Pro is to use them to listen to spoken word content as a background activity for your daily life. I would not recommend them even for casual music listening.
I have no affiliation with either QCY or SoundPeats. Nevertheless, I do recommend buying the H3S over the Cove Pro. The Amazon affiliate link below will help support this site financially at no extra cost to you. Thanks in advance for your support!
YouTube Review:
QCY H3S at Amazon:
From the Author
Cove Pro at SoundPeats website:
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