Never heard of Status Audio? I don’t blame you. The New York City-based company has been essentially operating under the radar ever since founder James Bertuzzi launched its first product, the wired CB-1 headphones, in 2016.
Several wireless headphones followed, and Status eventually created two wireless earbuds, the Between Pro ($169) in 2021 and Between 3ANC ($249) in 2023. They were both well received and proved popular with buyers, perhaps helped by their quirky yet super-comfy square shape.
Still, many reviewers—myself included—noted that they seemed to lack features like advanced codecs, wear sensors, and customizable controls that came standard on similarly priced alternatives from the big brands. The bigger issue, however, was that the Between 3ANC’s noise canceling and sound quality fell short.
Bertuzzi and his team were obviously taking notes. The company’s third-gen earbuds, the $299 Status Pro X, just launched, and they’re a major leap over their predecessors. In fact, after spending three weeks with them, I think Status has created an excellent alternative to flagship wireless earbuds from Bose, Sony, and Apple.
Unique Design
Photograph: Simon Cohen
Design-wise, the Pro X retain the same basic shape as the company’s previous models. An ergonomic in-ear module is connected to a chunky, rectangular stem. In a world of glossy white stems, the Pro X’s matte black with its slash of chrome stands out. I think it looks sharp and sophisticated.
The charging case is about the same size as many of its closest competitors. It’s well built, with a sturdy hinge and a strong magnetic latch. Charging can be done wirelessly or wired via USB-C, and Status includes a short cable in the box (though take note if you’ve got an older computer or charger, as it’s USB-C to USB-C).
The Pro X buds themselves look sleeker than both the Between Pro and Between 3ANC; the stem portion now sits much closer to your ear, and Status has nixed the silicone “fitwing” sleeves. If you’ve had luck with the AirPods Pro or any other stem-based buds with silicone eartips, I think you’ll like the fit.
That said, the elimination of the previous generation’s “fitwings” does impact stability. With less skin-to-silicone contact, the Pro X don’t have the same rock-solid feel as the Between 3ANC. Unless you’re relentlessly pounding the pavement, it shouldn’t be an issue. I was a bit surprised to see that there are only three sizes of eartips in the box, including the preinstalled mediums. More and more companies are shipping four sizes these days, but it’s not a deal breaker. With an IP55 rating for dust and water resistance, they should have no problem with a bit of sweat or rain—just be sure to wipe them down before putting them back in the case.
Status’s chunky design makes it easy to reposition the buds without accidentally triggering a control. When you do want to tap, the broad outer surface gives a generous target for your finger. The Pro X includes an improved version of the physical button that sits atop those rectangular stems. This one is slightly easier to press thanks to its gently rounded profile.
I don’t entirely understand Status’s thinking here. On the one hand, it makes a lot of sense to offer people a choice of physical and touch controls. People not only have preferences for one or the other, but there are also times when only a proper button will do (e.g., gloved hands). Then again, you can only customize the touch controls via the Status Hub app, and the buttons are frustratingly hard-coded to only serve three functions: ANC mode switching, voice assistant access, and power off/on. In an ideal world, you could assign any function to any control/gesture combo. The addition of wear sensors—one of the omissions that made the Between 3ANC harder to recommend—is a welcome change, and they work well for playing and pausing music.
Cross Compatible
Photograph: Simon Cohen
Pairing the Pro X is a snap on Android thanks to Google Fast Pair, and only two taps harder on an iPhone. In my time with these buds, the connection remained very reliable. With Bluetooth Multipoint, you can connect two devices simultaneously, and switching between them is fast and seamless. You can’t see the list of previously paired (and simultaneously paired) devices in the app, but that’s a minor nitpick.
The Pro X don’t support Bluetooth Auracast at the moment, but Status tells me it’s on the roadmap and should be enabled with a future firmware update later this year. When that happens, Status says you’ll be able to use the app to find and listen to Auracast Broadcasts. Several Auracast-compatible wireless earbuds I’ve tested recently rely on a phone’s operating system to provide the needed interface, which is a real problem for iPhone owners as Apple has yet to embrace LE Audio or Auracast technologies.
Active noise canceling (ANC) on the Pro X is a major win for Status. It’s sensational, with a performance that comes so close to Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 ($249) and Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra ($299), it’s hard to quantify the differences. Whether out and about on busy streets or dealing with the drone of machinery or aircraft cabin noise, you’re treated to a quiet and calm environment. However, if you’re already in a quiet location, you may notice that ANC mode produces a low-level background hiss when you’re not listening to anything. I couldn’t hear it all when music was playing, even as low as 20%, so it’s not a deal-breaker for me, but if you want a perfect hush even when there’s already a perfect hush, you may want to look elsewhere.
Ambient (transparency) mode is also excellent. Status offers four ambient modes in its companion app: low, medium, high, and super. I used high most of the time as it felt most natural to me, but I also appreciated super mode, which acted as a slight hearing enhancement for voices. It’s still not as perfect as the AirPods Pro 2 when it comes to the sound of your voice, but then again, I’ve never tested a set of earbuds that could match the AirPods’ transparency.
Best of all, switching between ANC and Ambient is fast, and you don’t need to toggle through the available off mode to do so. There’s also an anti-wind noise mode, which I needed when using ANC in even a light breeze. Unfortunately, there’s currently no way to trigger this mode using the buttons or touch controls; you’ll need to open the app.
Multi-Driver Performance
Photograph: Simon Cohen
When it comes to flagship wireless earbuds from the biggest brands (think Apple, Bose, Sony, Sennheiser, and Technics), they all have one thing in common: a single dynamic driver does all of the work. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing—single-driver earbuds can sound fantastic—but it’s an approach that puts all of the acoustic eggs in one basket.
The Pro X, like the Between 3ANC before them, use multiple drivers: a dynamic unit for the lowest frequencies paired with a dual set of Knowles balanced armatures for the upper-mids and highs. Just like in a tower speaker that has a woofer, a midrange, and a tweeter, multi-driver earbuds divide and conquer by sending specific frequencies to a driver that’s been tuned to handle them.
Out of the box, the earbuds are set to Status Signature—the Pro X’s default tuning. It’s a nicely balanced EQ that boosts neither highs nor lows, yet still possesses a warm tone. There’s effortless detail in the midrange, and the highs have excellent clarity. Bass is tightly controlled; even when pushing the Pro X to 95% volume, Billie Eilish’s bass-tastic “bad guy” sounded perfect, with no discernible distortion.
Switching to the Knowles Preferred preset gives a big bump to the upper mids and highs to show off what those balanced armatures can do. Normally, this kind of tuning doesn’t do it for me, but on the Pro X, I was impressed by how enjoyable it was. If you’ve found yourself drawn to Bose’s high-energy sound signature in the past, this preset gets you very close.
If you can’t find your favorite balance from among the five available presets, you can roll your own. In fact, one of the best features is creating custom EQ presets by starting with an existing one. I goosed Status Signature’s low-end just a tad, and got exactly the mix I wanted. On that note, I have to give Status props for its app; it’s super clean and very easy to use.
The soundstage isn’t especially wide—I’d place its extremities about 3-6 inches outside my head—but it’s got excellent precision. Individual elements stand out from each other so clearly that you can mentally point at the various musicians playing in front of you. A jazz classic like Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five” benefits a lot from the Pro X’s clear separation of sounds, letting you appreciate each instrument in its own space.
I did most of my listening on an iPhone 16, but it’s worth noting that the Pro X support Sony’s high-quality LDAC Bluetooth codec. If you’re on Android, make sure you’ve got it enabled for an even smoother, more refined performance.
Against the Crowd
Photograph: Simon Cohen
I swapped the Pro X with Sony’s WF-1000XM5, Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 4, and Technics’ EAH-Z100. The Status Pro X more than held their own on sound quality. I personally still prefer the XM5’s sound signature thanks to its more resonant bass response, but that’s more about my taste than any shortcomings of the Pro X—they’re excellent.
Phone calls on the Pro X will keep your voice very clear, with an impressively natural tone, that is, as long as you’re in a relatively quiet environment. The moment things get noisier (think loud traffic, construction), the algorithm struggles to keep your voice from becoming compressed. Your callers, on the other hand, will likely think you’re just walking through an area of bad reception: Status’ “VoiceLoom” AI does an admirable job of canceling out those intrusive noises. With either transparency mode (or the optional sidetone mode), you’ll hear your voice clearly too, though you may need to experiment to find the best combo.
Status pegs the Pro X’s battery life at eight hours per charge, with 24 hours total when you include the case’s capacity. If you turn ANC off, you may get up to 9.5 hours per charge. That’s on the lower side of what you can expect from a set of wireless earbuds, especially when you consider that these numbers are based on 50% volume and can drop precipitously when LDAC is used. LDAC plus ANC resulted in just 5 hours of continuous playtime, according to Status’ own testing.
Is it a deal-breaker? No, or at least, not for most folks.
Given the Pro X’s many strengths and comprehensive feature set, I think they can easily justify their $299 asking price. And if you get in on Status’ preorder period, which ends September 16, you can save yourself $50. At $249, they’re a steal.
