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If you want sleep earbuds that give you the flexibility of streaming audio or simply acting as fancier earplugs, the Anker Soundcore Sleep A20 will get the job done at an affordable price. They’re not without some quirks, but on the whole, they offer the best feature-to-price-point ratio.
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It was hard to pinpoint any stark differences in performance between these and a premium sleep earbuds model, which, considering their $150 price difference, is pretty impressive on Soundcore’s part.
The Soundcore buds promised more battery life per charge, which I didn’t really notice as both buds easily hit the eight-hour range. However, I did notice that the case held 80 hours of charge, meaning I didn’t have to charge it for a week, while I had to recharge the other sleep earbuds models after two nights of using them. The Soundcore buds also connected with my device with noticeably less lag than other models.
So, where did they show their lower price point? Maybe this is more personal preference, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the sleep sound library on the Soundcore app. A lot of the sounds felt too busy and too loud, even at lower volumes. One night, when I was testing out a feature that switches the audio from Bluetooth streaming to white noise when the earbuds detect you’ve fallen asleep, the sound of the white noise literally woke me up because of how loud it was. Admittedly, this was because of the volume I set it at, but only because the volume sounded fine (low even!) on the podcast I was streaming, and I didn’t exactly expect the white noise from the Soundcore app to be significantly louder.
When playing around with the controls later in the daylight hours, I found the highest volume literally hurt my ears — thankfully, setting it that high is avoidable, but it did feel like these headphones could’ve used a better safeguard in terms of volume. After all, it’s not like you can quickly adjust the volume when you’re unconscious. In terms of the automatic switching feature, I found that it usually jumped the gun. Sometimes, I’d just settle down to close my eyes, and the earbuds would switch over (an issue I didn’t experience with more premium models).
In terms of flaws, those were the only major ones I noticed. The buds stayed in my ears and felt comfortable to use while lying on my side. The Soundcore ear tips are silicone and feel slightly tacky — it didn’t bother me, but my partner couldn’t stand the feeling, so if you deal with any sensory sensitivity, it’s something to be aware of. My audio streamed reliably (if, again, a little on the loud side), and the touch controls worked perfectly when I used them, but never accidentally triggered at night while I slept. In general, I didn’t find myself using the touch controls to adjust the volume or switch between modes all that much, but they still felt like a nice addition.
The Soundcore earbuds also offer sleep data, which can be stored on the earbuds for up to a week (with a sync required to get the info in your app). I’ve never used any sort of sleep-tracking device before, but from the few times I’ve used sleep-tracking apps on my phone, these earbuds offered more accurate and detailed data on how I slept, from how long to how many times I tossed and turned.
