Soundpeats H3 Review: Triple-Driver Wireless Earbuds

As you might guess, triple drivers and fancy codecs add to the cost. To keep the H3’s price as accessible as possible, Soundpeats made some compromises in other areas. The case feels a bit cheap and plastic, and it doesn’t have wireless charging. The headphones do not have wear sensors for automatic music pausing and, despite using the latest Bluetooth 5.4 protocol, Auracast is not supported. You don’t benefit from spatial audio modes or headtracking.

Once I found the right size, I was impressed with the passive sound insulation. You may find that this is all you need for quieter environments. You can turn on the ANC to hear more, and it does a decent job with lower frequencies, but don’t expect Bose, Sony, or Apple levels of silence. Think of it as pushing some of those annoying sounds further into the background instead of canceling them out completely. The same goes for transparency mode. This is good for situational awareness, but you’ll still feel a little separated from the rest of the world, especially when you’re listening to your voice.

My only real complaint is that you can’t override Normal mode when switching from ANC to Transparency unless you’re using the app, which I hope Soundpeats fixes with a firmware update. Speaking of the app, Soundpeats is in the process of transitioning its products from the old Peats Audio app to the new Soundpeats app. Meanwhile, you won’t be able to use the Peats Audio app without an internet connection, which is something to keep in mind if you’re regularly without a data connection.

Like everyday buds

With Bluetooth 5.4, wireless connectivity is solid and stable, even when using LDAC’s high bitrate mode. You get multipoint support when LDAC is disabled (a pretty standard limitation with this codec), but the H3 can’t do LE Audio or Bluetooth Auracast. I realize that Auracast is still far from ubiquitous; However, if we want this incredibly useful technology to proliferate, it needs to be added to as many new Bluetooth devices as possible.

Call quality was another pleasant surprise. My voice lost some of its bass, leaving it less natural, but what remained was crystal clear. And it was consistent; no matter how many loud, intrusive sounds were made on my side of the call, none were transmitted to my callers and they minimally affected the quality of my voice. I’m not sure I want to rely on the H3 for longer calls and meetings, as the lack of a natural transparency option ends up proving tedious, but for shorter, fact-focused discussions, they’re more than adequate. One caveat though: active phone calls lock the ANC mode switch, even from the app, so you’ll need to choose your ANC mode before taking or making a call.