Flexible, flashy gaming earphones with a treble-leaning sound signature
I’ve been PCMag’s home entertainment expert for over 10 years, covering both TVs and everything you might want to connect to them. I’ve reviewed more than a thousand different consumer electronics products including headphones, speakers, TVs, and every major game system and VR headset of the last decade. I’m an ISF-certified TV calibrator and a THX-certified home theater professional, and I’m here to help you understand 4K, HDR, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, and even 8K (and to reassure you that you don’t need to worry about 8K at all for at least a few more years).
The Anker Soundcore VR P10 true wireless gaming earphones look nice and have clever design elements, but they're lacking in the lows.
Based on the name, Anker's Soundcore VR P10 earphones ($99.99) sound like they’re geared toward VR headsets. They’re indeed designed to work with the Meta Quest 2, but they’re really just a flexible pair of true wireless earphones with customizable lighting, a charging case that stores a USB-C transmitter (and they have Bluetooth connectivity), and crisp, clean sound. Their biggest flaw is a lack of deep bass response. If you want a better gaming-focused experience, Razer's over-ear Barracuda X headphones ($99.99) have a boom mic and offer both more bass and superior voice performance. If you want true wireless earphones and the lack of a USB-C transmitter isn’t a deal breaker, JBL's Tune 130NC earphones ($99.95) offer booming low-end and passable active noise cancellation.
The P10 earpieces look more elaborate and “gamerly” than most stem-based designs. The main body of each earpiece has a round, glossy segment designed to fit in the ear with a flat stem extending downward. A silver-colored plate covers the stem with the Soundcore logo and a set of three RGB LEDs. The lights glow magenta by default, but you can customize their color in the Soundcore app or disable them entirely. Three pairs of silicone eartips are included, and I found the fit comfortable.
The earpieces have an IPX4 rating, which makes them relatively sweatproof for use during workouts. The case, however, doesn't have an IP rating and cannot get wet.
The charging case is particularly clever. It’s matte white and rounded, and splits diagonally along the sides. When open, the earpieces easily snap into their recesses for charging, but that’s standard for true wireless charging cases. The case also has a circular light on the front to indicate its status.
The clever bit is the magnetic enclosure under the top of the lid that securely holds the included USB-C transmitter. This is clutch. Typically, true wireless headphones lack a storage space for the transmitter, which is often small and easy to lose. This charging case design ensures that you always know where the transmitter is. The recess for it is deep and the transmitter itself is smooth, so some fingers might have difficulty retrieving it. Still, secure housing is sometimes preferable over ease of access.
The transmitter itself is also slightly more useful than usual. It’s a small white tube with a glossy black cape on one end that holds an indicator LED and the USB-C plug. The other side of the tube holds a surprise in the form of another USB-C port. This lets you charge other devices via pass-through using the same USB-C port the transmitter is plugged into.
Anker says the P10s can last up to six hours on a charge, and the case includes enough power for three more full charges for a total listening time of 24 hours. That’s typical for true wireless earphones.
The Anker Soundcore app enables several useful features with the Soundcore VR P10. First, you can adjust the lights on the earpieces to glow solid or breathe, or turn them off entirely. You can change the color of the lights, but there are only five options: blue, pink, purple, magenta, and orange. Tap, double-tap, and hold gestures can be customized for either earpiece, or disabled entirely. You can select from over a dozen preconfigured equalizer settings, or create your preferred sound profile via the adjustable eight-band EQ.
The Soundcore VR P10s are designed to be used via Bluetooth or with the included USB-C transmitter, and can automatically switch between the two connections when the transmitter is plugged in or disconnected. The earphones use Bluetooth 5.2 for connecting, and support the SBC, AAC, and LC3 codecs. They're promoted as compatible with the Meta Quest 2 VR headset, but work just as well with the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Windows PCs. The Microsoft Xbox isn't supported, however. When connected via the transmitter, the mobile app can’t control or adjust the earphones, though your RGB color and other preferences are maintained.
Any simulated surround effect is dependent on the device to which the P10s are connected. For example, you’ll only get stereo with your phone or Nintendo Switch, but you can use spatial audio software with your PC, or rely on the PlayStation 5’s built-in 3D audio processing, as well as experience full head-tracking sound with the Meta Quest 2.
The P10s put out a decent amount of bass, as heard in our bass test track, The Knife’s “Silent Shout.” While the bass synth notes sound a bit weak, the kick drum hits are round and forceful, and neither distort at maximum volumes.
Yes’ “Roundabout” sounds quite good on the P10s. The acoustic guitar plucks in the opening bars have a solid amount of resonance. When the track properly kicks in, the lows and low-mids take a bit of a back seat to the high-mids and highs, making the signature bass line sound a bit more poppy than deep. The different elements can be clearly heard in the busy track, but the edges of the drums, guitar strums, and vocals really stand out. There’s plenty of detail here, but there’s also a noticeable gap in low-mid response.
The lowest bass frequencies seem to get more presence than the low-mids. The P10s attempt to emulate subwoofer-like sub-bass while bypassing the standard bass tones. This comes through in The Crystal Method’s “Born Too Slow,” where the riffs and vocals get strong edges that cut through the mix. The backbeat at the beginning of the track sounds a bit poppy, but when the bass drum hits start they get a solid, deep roundness that anchors the track.
Enabling the BassUp feature in the Soundcore app's EQ section addresses some of these complaints. The lows and low-mids are boosted just a bit with the feature on, but still sound somewhat scooped.
Fortnite gameplay sounds clear and detailed, but the scooped sound profile keeps it from providing a real sense of atmosphere. The lack of lows and low-mids above the deepest frequencies (which even the game’s thumpy party music doesn’t tend to hit) means the pop and texture of gunfire and footsteps come through easily, but without much resonance.
Another game, Satisfactory, has a similar sense of lightness through the P10s. Environmental sounds are clean, but the heavy machinery in the game doesn’t have much rumble. Only one of the machines (the Awesome Sink) receives lots of presence, while the whirr of constructors and woosh of hyper tubes sound reasonably full, but there isn’t that solid low-mid grind during the game that other headphones produce.
The mics are serviceable. Test recordings were clear enough to understand, but a bit fuzzy and distant, which is typical for true wireless earphones. If you want very good sound for calls or video, you should consider a gaming headset with a dedicated mic, or even better, a USB microphone.
The Anker Soundcore VR P10 are clever true wireless earphones with an eye-catching, light-up design and clean sound. That sound doesn’t have much presence in the lows and low-mids, though, and leaves the P10s with a somewhat flimsy audio profile. There’s plenty to like about the earphones, including their flexible connectivity, functional app, and charging case that stores the USB-C transmitter. Bass fans, however, should keep walking. Anyone looking for a flat, accurate sound signature will likely be disappointed, too. If you like the lighted look and secondary features and prefer a crisp sound to lots of bass, however, the Soundcore VR P10s are a solid pick.
The Anker Soundcore VR P10 true wireless gaming earphones look nice and have clever design elements, but they're lacking in the lows.
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I’ve been PCMag’s home entertainment expert for over 10 years, covering both TVs and everything you might want to connect to them. I’ve reviewed more than a thousand different consumer electronics products including headphones, speakers, TVs, and every major game system and VR headset of the last decade. I’m an ISF-certified TV calibrator and a THX-certified home theater professional, and I’m here to help you understand 4K, HDR, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, and even 8K (and to reassure you that you don’t need to worry about 8K at all for at least a few more years).
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