I tested the newest earbuds from an ‘underdog’ audio brand — and they’re ‘coming for Bose’s crown’

The Status Pro X aren’t afraid of a fight. These brand-new earbuds are from a relatively unknown upstart in the audio world. And who doesn’t love an underdog, right?

But when your MSRP is $50 pricier than AirPods Pro 3 and the same as Sony’s WF-1000XM5 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra, there’s very little room for error. Heck, there’s very little room for anything in these tiny earbuds, but the new Pro X earbuds' price means that Status is going head-to-head with the biggest names in audio.

Are they — pardon my pun — pro enough to be named some of the best earbuds money can buy? Well, this is one of the hardest calls I’ve ever had to make. To find out, keep reading this Status Pro X review.

Status Pro X review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? Tiny earbuds on a mission to take Bose, Apple, and Sony down a peg
• What does it cost? $299 / £225
• What do we like? The midrange is particularly outstanding, and they do look fantastic
• What don’t we like? You can’t help but compare to similarly priced competition here — it’s in the Pro X’s DNA

Status Pro X review: Specs

Status Pro X review: Price & availability

As you might’ve seen from above, the Status Pro X aren’t just pro in name. These earbuds are a huge $299 from Amazon U.S. and £225 from Amazon U.K.

At this price point, you can’t help but compare them to the biggest flagship earbuds on the market. I’m talking your Boses, your Sonys, your Apples, your Samsungs. Price-wise, the Pro X are in the same ballpark as the QuietComfort Ultra, WF-1000XM5, AirPods Pro 3, Galaxy Buds 3 Pro ($299, $299, $249, $249).

This is both a help and a hindrance. It’s a help that I know the intended performance and competition of the Pro X. However, it’s a hindrance in that the Pro X have a lot to live up to. Basic psychology suggests people are happier to spend money on brands they recognise and feel familiar with. That’s why you see Starbucks and McDonalds everywhere you go.

As a result, I doubt that many everyday listeners will happily drop $300 on some unknown-brand premium earbuds when they could save $50 and just get AirPods or Galaxy Buds Pro 3. I know, I know. I never said I support it or like it. It’s just the way things are.

Yes, the Pro X are overpriced. They should be under $250 — perhaps between $199 and $239 — but only to undercut the big-name rivals, which I think is the sensible thing for a new brand like this to do. I don’t think new brands should compete with the big names.

Performance-wise, they aren’t that overpriced. Apple, Sony, Bose, and Samsung can stuff their earbuds full of AI features, health-related features, and then some. The Status Pro X are kind of “what you see is what you get”. They sound awesome, have decent but not breathtaking battery life, they look great, and are reliable little earbuds. But is this enough to outrank those pesky big names? I guess it depends on where your priorities lie.

Status Pro X review: Design & controls

• Premium-feeling build
• Rectangular design
• Small, medium, or large ear tips

The Status Pro X look and feel really premium. The 12mm dynamic and Knowles balanced armature drivers are encased in a silver-and-black rectangular stem, rather than the smaller stems you might associate with AirPods or Galaxy Buds. The Pro X have a unique appearance, but I really like it.

The earbuds only come with small, medium, and large silicone ear tips, unlike the AirPods Pro 3, which come with five, and the WF-1000XM5, which come with four. Even so, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra and Galaxy 3 Pro only come with three, so this isn’t unheard of.

I have quite small ears, so I immediately switched from medium to small. The ear tips fit perfectly in my ear canal, and I was able to wear the Pro X for hours without my ears aching. For other small-eared folks, this is a major win. I wanted to love the Denon PerL Pro ($299) so much, but the large nozzle prevented me from wearing them for more than a couple of hours.

Interestingly, the Pro X have both touch controls and button controls on the earbuds themselves. You press the physical button to activate or deactivate ANC, but if you want to pause, skip, or change volume, you tap the touch area. Volume adjust took a little getting used to — it would make much more sense to mimic Apple’s dragging control rather than pressing and holding — but the other controls were a breeze.

Status Pro X review: Features & connectivity

• IP55
• Got some fancy-schmancy EQs in the app
• Multipoint

As you might expect from some $300 earbuds, the Pro X have a few premium features. However, there are by no means as many premium features as you’d get on, say, the AirPods Pro 3.

Whether or not this is an issue depends on what you want from your earbuds. Do you want things like Live Translation and a heart rate monitor, or do you just want top-notch sound?

Of course, it’s imperative that earbuds have at least some degree of waterproofing, especially if you live in a wet country like me. The Pro X are rated IP55, which is the same as AirPods, and better than Bose QuietComfort Ultra’s IPX4.

You’ll be pleased to know that the Pro X also have seamless multipoint connectivity, which is one of my earbud non-negotiables. I was able to switch between my MacBook Air M2 and my iPhone 16 Pro without issue, and control the EQ from my phone even when listening on my MacBook.

Speaking of connectivity, the earbuds have Bluetooth 5.3, and I was able to stay connected to my phone even outside my apartment and halfway down the stairs in my complex.

Non-audio features aside, the Status Pro X come with a collection of awesome EQ presets. These are: ‘Signature’, ‘Audiophile’, ‘Knowles Preferred’, ‘Podcast and UCG’, ‘Vocal Enhance’, and of course, custom.

If you go into the ‘+’ tab, you can see the curves for each preset. ‘Signature’ is flat, ‘Audiophile’ is a pretty nifty ‘W’ curve, ‘Knowles Preferred’ is heavy on the highs, ‘Podcast’ has a suppressed low-end, and ‘Vocal enhance’ peaks at 423Hz, with descents on either side.

I made myself a lovely U-shape custom EQ, which is usually my preferred method of listening (other than on Bose gear, which is tuned bass-heavy to start with).

Once you’ve got your EQ all sorted, you’re kind of… out of features? Which I don’t particularly mind. I never use the features on my AirPods Pro 3 anyway, so… I don’t think this is a major loss.

Status Pro X review: Audio quality

• Fantastic balance across the dynamic range
• Loud, powerful bass that doesn’t overpower the mids or highs
• Clarity in vocals is particularly exceptional

To test the audio quality of the Status Pro X, I listened to a variety of genres on Qobuz, our best music streaming service for audiophiles.

I listened to loads of music over the course of my testing period, but I’ll discuss three standout tracks here.

First, I’ll go through ‘Soft Shock’ by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. This track is built over a pulsing synth bassline and electronic-tinged guitar riffs, with Karen O’s distinctive vocals taking center stage. O’s vocals sounded particularly decadent; so affecting, complex, and emotive. There was no muffled bass, no tinniness, and fantastic instrument separation. Just as an aside, the rest of ‘It’s Blitz!’ sounded just as phenomenal. 10/10 from me here. The Pro X might just be coming for Bose’s crown in the sound department.

Let’s move genres, shall we? I listened to all three Die Spitz records, which are heavy, metal-infused rock albums with battling bass and growling guitars. ‘Groping Dogs Gushing Blood’ was utterly monstrous — rolling guitars reminiscent of Queens of the Stone Age thrashed their way across the soundscape, bodacious percussion rounding out the female vocal. Although this track didn’t have as much instrument separation as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, I put this down to mastering rather than the Pro X themselves, as the band’s newest album ‘SOMETHING TO CONSUME’ didn’t suffer from this.

I suppose it’s a marker of good earbuds — you need the highest-quality tracks to get them performing their best.

Finally, I tested with LDAC on my colleague’s Google Pixel 10 Pro. As the Pro X have Google Fast Pair, the buds connected instantly, and then I was ready to go. I played ‘My Old Ways’ by Tame Impala, which starts with a fuzzy, demo-sounding verse before plunging into the mastered, clean track. The electronic beat was bassy and clear, and Kevin Parker’s layered vocals were heady and immersive.

Overall, the sound quality is nearly identical to my AirPods Pro 3. The Pro X have just as much detail as Apple’s offering, with the same neatly rounded bass and punchy, effusive midrange. The only difference is that the AirPods Pro 3 are a little wider, a touch more expansive.

But, seriously, you don’t miss anything with these earbuds. Not a single cymbal, breath, or guitar string. Everything is laid out bare, exactly as it’s supposed to be.

Honestly, the Pro X really impressed me. This sound quality is definitely worth $300.

Status Pro X review: ANC

• ANC as powerful as AirPods
• ANC on, ANC off, or ambient aware
• Easy to control with touch buttons

You kind of expect ANC on $300 earbuds to be good, and you’ll be pleased to know that this is the case with the Status Pro X. Honestly, if you’ve had a few pairs of modern Bluetooth earbuds now, you’ll know what to expect.

When testing the ANC, I couldn’t hear myself typing, I couldn’t hear the kitchen tap, I couldn’t hear any traffic noise outside my apartment. The ANC was just as good as AirPods Pro 3, better than AirPods Pro 2, but I’m not sure if it takes Bose’s crown for best-in-class-noise-cancelation. Sound quality? Oh, yeah, they’re coming for Bose. But ANC? Hm…

Even so, you won’t be disappointed with the ANC on the Pro X. It’s great. My music sounded better with the ANC off, though, which is the only negative thing I have to say about it. It’s common that ANC negatively affects music — kind of swells it, bulges the seams like waterlogged clothing or an overly basted turkey — but I’d still like to see audio brands mitigate this in the future.

Status Pro X review: App

• Status Hub app
• Great app, easy to use and clean UI
• Some might long for a touch more, but I don’t mind

As I said in the ‘Features’ section earlier, the Pro X don’t have as many features as you might want on premium earbuds. For me, though, earbuds are all about the music, so I don’t mind this. If the music sounds good, I couldn’t care less about a heart rate monitor or translation.

Here are a few screenshots from the app itself so you can see what I’m talking about.

As you can see, there are loads of EQ customization options, which is arguably the most important thing for fellow audiophiles. You can also see battery life, complete firmware upgrades, and find your earbuds if you lose them. If you so desire, you can also turn off multipoint connectivity.

Status Pro X review: Call quality

• 6 beamforming mics
• Voice is clearer and warmer than AirPods

In the Status Hub app, you can enable ‘Sidetone’, where the earbuds feed back your mic audio so you can hear yourself during calls. This is common on the best gaming headsets, but it is a feature I’ve never seen on earbuds before, and one which I really appreciated.

During calls themselves, you’ve got three beamforming mics in each earbud, which makes for six overall. I tested the Pro X during work calls — my colleagues reported that I sounded warmer than via my usual AirPods Pro 2, and they couldn’t hear any background noise.

Status Pro X review: Battery

• Eight hours in the buds
• 32 hours in the case
• I listened for seven hours on loud with ANC to get down to 0%

The eight-hour battery life of the Status Pro X is okay. No, it’s not mind-blowing, but it’s the same as the AirPods Pro 3 and Sony WF-1000XM5, an hour longer than Samsung’s Galaxy Buds Pro 3, and two hours longer than the Bose QuietComfort Ultra 2nd Gen.

At this price point, you’ll be hard-pressed to find better battery life. However, I’ve tested my fair share of budget earbuds, and I can tell you that this is where impressive battery life lives. Obviously, if you’re reading this review, you’re not going to want to buy budget buds. You want the best, right? Fair enough. Me too.

But, just in case you’re curious, I’ll run through some of the best battery lives on the market right now. The EarFun Air Pro 4+ are just $99 yet offer 12 hours of battery, and the CMF by Nothing Buds Pro 2 are just $69 yet boast an incredible 11 hours.

Maybe premium brands could learn a thing or two from these budget buds.

Status Pro X review: Verdict

As I said earlier, writing this verdict is one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done. Well, that’s a slight exaggeration, but you catch my drift. The Status Pro X are utterly fantastic earbuds. They’ve nailed pretty much everything: sound quality, design, connectivity, comfort — it’s all there.

However, Status really shot itself in the foot by making these buds pricier than AirPods and Galaxy Buds Pro 3. This makes them hard to recommend for the average person who’s trying to get some high-quality yet convenient earbuds that kind of fade into the background.

But if you want some premium, punchy little buds with fewer features but more personality? Oof, then you won’t be disappointed with the Status Pro X. I had a fantastic time testing these earbuds. I was grinning from ear to ear all day. These little underdogs might be perfect for you, too.