02/03/2025
Are the AXIL XCOR Pros worth $300? That's the question I asked myself while comparing several competing brands. Sure, you can find cheaper hearing protection. However, as the idiom goes, you often get what you pay for, and that's especially important when considering gunfire can damage hearing, and most hearing loss is irreversible. Therefore, top-notch hearing protection is, in reality, priceless.
For starters, my AXIL XCOR Pros arrived well-packaged in a box with a start guide. When unboxing the XCORs, you'll find a soft but protective zippered carrying pouch with a keyring loop. Inside the pouch is a slick magnetic charging case with electronic earbuds, a USB C charging cable, six foam, and six silicon earbud tips. Everything inside is well-made and has a premium feel. The charging case has a multicolored light that glows blue while charging and white when fully charged. The earbuds are labeled left and right, and they feature touch-sensitive pads to turn the sound on and off and adjust the volume. To operate the Bluetooth features, the earbuds utilize a single tap of the right earbud to turn the audio volume up and a single tap on the left earbud to turn the audio volume down. If you double tap either earbud, your musical source will pause play, and a triple tap right earbud will cause the music to skip to the next track.
As wireless Bluetooth earbuds go, they perform admirably, offering rich and immersive sound, even at full volume. Are they perfect? No, and while the sound is full, they still aren't in the same league as my dedicated music earbuds by JBL and Skullcandy. Both of those provide gobs more bass, but again, they are engineered solely for music. Also, in complete transparency, I only used the foam tips (designed for maximum sound protection) and not the silicon tips designed for music.
The XCORs use cutting-edge HearPRO technology, which blends hearing aid technology and artificial intelligence to improve speech clarity, reduce background noise, and incorporate 29 dB SNR hearing protection. The XCORs provide up to 13 hours of usage in Hear Control Only mode, up to 7 hours in Bluetooth Audio Only mode, and up to 5 hours simultaneously in the Hear Control and Bluetooth mode.
Wrapping up my review, you may wonder how the XCOR Pros performed at the gun range. Let me start by saying I was initially apprehensive, and I wondered if electronic devices so small could protect my hearing? More importantly, could the XCOR Pros outperform or, at minimum, provide the same level of hearing protection that my trusty over-the-ear Howard Leight Impact Pro and Walker Razor electronic earmuffs have provided over the years? In a few simple words: yes and then some! I am genuinely impressed by the AXIL XCOR Pros indoor gun range performance! At my indoor range, I could hear the sound of empty brass hitting the floor and crystal clear voices of other shooters on the firing line, all while gunfire seemed muffled and distant. Honestly, I can't recall hearing the same clarity using my over-the-ear electronic earmuffs, and that's very impressive! Also impressive was the lack of ear fatigue and soreness that I've gotten used to when wearing heavy compression over-the-ear devices that squeeze down on your ears and can be a source of pain. So, in conclusion, I give the AXIL XCOR Pros two enthusiastic thumbs up and five stars!
