Belkin SoundForm Anywhere AUC014fqBK

The connectivity is literally the best we've ever tested, and the mic quality is in the top 11%. But the music score is a rough 54.7, with bass that's more of a suggestion than a sound. Buy these for all-day call comfort in an open-ear design, not for music.

Let's talk about what these do shockingly well: staying connected. With Bluetooth 6.0 and multipoint support, the connectivity score is literally off the charts in our database. You can be paired to your laptop and phone simultaneously, and switching is genuinely seamless. It's the kind of reliability you don't appreciate until you use a pair of earbuds that constantly drop out. The mic setup is another bright spot. Four microphones with noise cancellation put call quality well above average, making your voice clear even with some background chatter.

But the music score of 54.7 tells the other half of the story. Those 12mm dynamic drivers are fighting a losing battle against the open design. Without a seal, the low end just evaporates. You get a clear, if somewhat thin, midrange that's perfectly fine for spoken word, but any track with a bassline feels hollow. The sound profile is about average overall, but that's dragged down heavily by the lack of physical bass response. The Environmental Noise Cancellation feature is for calls only, it does nothing for your music. Battery life is a modest 6 hours in the buds, which is about average, with an extra 20 in the case. The quick charge is handy, giving you 1.5 hours from a 10-minute top-up.

Stacked against the competition, the SoundForm Anywhere carves out a weirdly specific niche. The Soundcore P31i will give you far better sound and actual noise cancellation for a similar price, but it uses a traditional in-ear design. The EarFun Air Pro 4+ absolutely demolishes the Belkin on music and ANC performance, though you'll pay a bit more. Where the Belkin wins is pure call comfort. Compared to the Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro, a much pricier competitor, the Belkin's mic quality is surprisingly competitive, but the Samsung's sound is in a different universe. You're trading all musicality for a featherlight, open-ear fit that's comfortable enough to sleep in, a claim most of these competitors can't make.

Pricing on these is a bit of a wild west show, with a spread from $31 to an eye-watering $9547 across vendors. Obviously, ignore that high-end outlier, it's likely a placeholder or a scalper having a laugh. At the $30-$50 range where you'll actually find these, the value proposition hinges entirely on your priorities. You're paying for elite call quality and connectivity in an incredibly comfortable, no-tip design. If that's your checklist, it's a solid deal. If sound quality for music is anywhere on your list, your money is better spent elsewhere.

The Belkin SoundForm Anywhere earbuds land a total score of 66.7 in our database, which is solidly middle-of-the-pack. They're not chasing audiophile perfection, and the music score of 54.7 makes that clear. But for a specific type of user, the numbers tell a more interesting story. The connectivity is literally the best we've seen, hitting the 100th percentile, and the mic quality is a standout too, landing in the top 11% of all earbuds we've tested. If you spend your day on calls and hate fussing with Bluetooth pairing, these specs start to look a lot more compelling.

The real hook here is the semi-in-ear design. It's a love-it-or-hate-it form factor that ditches silicone tips entirely, so you're never dealing with that stuffy, plugged-up feeling. The 12mm drivers push out a sound that's decent for podcasts and calls, but the lack of a seal means bass is anemic and outside noise floods in. At 40g for the buds and case, they're incredibly light, and the IPX4 rating means you don't have to panic if you get caught in the rain. Just don't expect them to replace your noise-canceling cans for a focused listening session.

Anyone who cares even a little about music quality should look elsewhere. The 54.7 music score isn't just a number, it's a reflection of bass that's practically non-existent and an overall thin sound. If you want to get lost in your music, the lack of passive isolation from the open design means you'll be competing with every sound around you. Commuters, gym-goers who want to block out gym noise, or anyone who enjoys bass-heavy genres will be deeply disappointed. This is also a skip if you need all-day battery, as 6 hours is just average and falls behind many competitors at this price.

The Belkin SoundForm Anywhere are a one-trick pony, but it's a trick that almost no one else is doing this well. If you despise the plugged-up feeling of silicone tips and live on phone calls, the combination of best-in-class connectivity and a standout microphone makes them a compelling, affordable choice. For everyone else, the poor music performance is a dealbreaker. These are workhorse earbuds for calls and podcasts, not for enjoying your favorite album.