The Soundcore V40i earbuds live up to their intended purpose. Although the earbuds can pump audio into my ears just fine, they also don’t obstruct my ears much, so I can clearly hear everything around me when wearing them—even faint sounds like the chatter of my keyboard as I type up this review. Fortunately, the buds can still play loudly enough to be heard even in a noisier space. You just won’t want to listen to subtle music in such a location, as whenever the music dips into hushed tones, external sounds are liable to wash over it.
The audio experience isn’t perfect, but it is still enjoyable. Bass is light but tight. On a track like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the powerful bass triplets and sub-bass quarter notes are somewhat subdued. They’re still audible and clean, but just don’t have the weight that they should have. The upper registers are a touch thin as well, with the presentation leaning heavily on the mids, which makes for an engaging synth melody.
Because the speaker drivers are essentially floating over the ear canal, position plays a part in the audio quality. Shifting the buds around can significantly change the sound. This is why the adjustable position of the earhook and buds is critical, and it does give them an edge that not all open earbud designs have.
(Credit: Mark Knapp)
Although plenty of earbuds can hit deep sub-bass notes surprisingly well, the Soundcore V40i earbuds struggle to do so. They largely present Kendrick Lamar’s “Loyalty” well, but they fail to produce the sub-bass line that comes in around the 35-second mark. Most of the notes are close to inaudible in the mix. Sometimes one of the higher notes will come through far more powerfully than the rest and overtake the presentation.
Bill Callahan’s baritone vocals in “Drover” come through nicely, fitting into that safe midrange that the Soundcore V40i earbuds emphasize. The electric guitar, acoustic rhythm guitar, and fiddle all also fall within this frequency range, making for a lively track that suits the buds well. The cymbals don’t quite come to life due to the lacking brilliance of the high end, and the bass can sit a little too far in the background. By similar dint, the drums don’t quite reach booming levels in the song’s climax. But the overall presentation is still decent, especially with the roomier soundstage this open-ear setup provides.
The Soundcore V40i earbuds are a bad match for orchestra music like John Adams’ “The Gospel According to the Other Mary.” The limited bass and sub-bass leave the sound feeling much too thin and dominated by the string instruments and horns—which, in turn, lack some of the presence that brings them to life. Beyond that, the subtlety of this music is too readily overcome by external sound. You’d have to find a very quiet environment to even begin trying to enjoy it.
The microphones on the Soundcore V40i earbuds are OK. They can suppress some background droning to focus on my voice, and I don’t sound as horribly distant as is common for many earbuds, nor do I sound completely unintelligible. With the more chaotic background noise of a busy cafe, they struggle more to cancel out the noise, which ends up mixed in with my voice and makes it harder to discern what I’m saying from time to time.
