Anker Soundcore Q45 Wireless Headphones Review
Adaptive noise cancelling and 50-hour battery for a fraction of the big-name price.
Fifty hours of battery, decent adaptive noise cancelling, and a price that undercuts Sony and Bose by half. The Soundcore Q45 is the headphone you buy when you want 80% of the flagship experience without the flagship sting.
What the Soundcore Q45 actually is
These are full-size, over-ear wireless headphones with active noise cancelling, sitting in the $100 to $150 range on Amazon. Anker's pitch is simple. Take the features people pay $350 for on a Sony WH-1000XM5 or Bose QuietComfort, strip out the polish nobody actually notices, and sell it for a third of the money.
The headline specs are real. Up to 50 hours of playback with ANC off, LDAC support for higher-resolution Bluetooth audio, adaptive noise cancelling, and a companion app with a full EQ. On paper it reads like a much pricier set. The interesting question is where the corners got cut.
How it performs day to day
The noise cancelling is good, not class-leading. It crushes the low drone of plane engines, bus rumble, and office air conditioning. Where it falls short of Sony and Bose is the sharper stuff. Voices, clattering keyboards, and sudden noise still leak through more than they would on a flagship. For a commute or a focused work session, owners widely report it does the job. For total silence on a long-haul flight, the big names still earn their premium.
Sound out of the box leans bass-heavy and a bit thick, which is on-brand for Soundcore. The saving grace is the app EQ. Dial back the low end and the Q45 cleans up into something genuinely balanced and enjoyable. With LDAC enabled and a phone that supports it, detail improves noticeably. Most listeners will be happy. Critical listeners chasing reference-flat accuracy should look elsewhere.
Battery life is the standout and it isn't close. Fifty hours means you charge it roughly once a week and forget about it. A quick 5-minute top-up gets you several hours back. This is the area where the Q45 genuinely beats far more expensive rivals.
The pros and the real cons
On the plus side: outstanding battery, solid ANC for the money, LDAC, a useful app, and comfortable padding that handles multi-hour sessions without clamping your skull. Build is mostly plastic but doesn't feel cheap.
The cons are worth knowing before you buy. Call quality is mediocre, so don't make these your primary headset for meetings. The folding hinges and plastic frame won't survive abuse the way a metal-reinforced flagship might. And while the ANC is impressive at this price, it can produce a faint pressure or hiss that some people find off in quiet rooms. None of these are dealbreakers at the price. They're just the honest trade-offs.
Who should buy it, and who should skip it
Buy the Q45 if you want strong noise cancelling and marathon battery on a budget, and you're willing to spend two minutes in an app tuning the sound. Commuters, students, and anyone who resents paying flagship prices for headphones they'll inevitably lose or sit on. This is our value pick for ANC under $150.
Skip it if you take a lot of calls, if you need the absolute quietest cabin on frequent flights, or if you're an audio purist who wants neutral sound with no fiddling. In those cases the Sony WH-1000XM5 or Bose QuietComfort Ultra are worth the upgrade. For everyone else, the Q45 is the smart-money choice.
The verdict
The Soundcore Q45 is one of the best deals in audio right now. It gets you most of what a $350 headphone delivers for a fraction of the cost, and its battery life embarrasses sets that cost three times as much. Accept the weaker call quality and slightly-behind ANC, and you're getting a genuinely excellent set of headphones for the money. Recommended.
Frequently asked questions
- Is the Anker Soundcore Q45 good for noise cancelling on flights?
- Yes, for the low-frequency engine drone that dominates a flight. It won't silence everything the way a Sony WH-1000XM5 or Bose QuietComfort can, but for the price it handles cabin noise well and is a solid travel companion.
- How long does the Soundcore Q45 battery actually last?
- Up to 50 hours with ANC off, and still around 30+ hours with noise cancelling on. In practice you charge it about once a week. A 5-minute quick charge gives you several hours of playback.
- Does the Soundcore Q45 support LDAC and Hi-Res audio?
- Yes. It supports LDAC for higher-resolution Bluetooth streaming on compatible Android phones, and the Soundcore app includes a full EQ so you can tame its default bass-forward tuning.
Marcus has spent over a decade testing consumer tech and gadgets. He cares about whether a product earns its price in real life — not on a spec sheet.
