Anyone who has ever stepped foot on a plane knows one sound will make them sigh so hard it could push a Boeing into flight: a baby crying. It’s not the baby’s fault, it’s normally not the parents’ fault, and it’s definitely not your fault – but our brains are genetically programmed to hear a baby’s cry and act on it.
Thankfully, evolution has nothing on technology – suck it, Darwin – and so some incredibly smart person invented noise-cancelling headphones, blocking out the wails so you can sleep as soundly as that baby is supposed to be. This exact scenario played out on my long-haul, nine hour flight from Las Vegas, USA, last week and my salvation came in the form of the Soundcore by Anker Space One Headphones.
Usually costing £89.99, they’re now £54.99 in Amazon’s Black Friday sale. I paid £61 during a previous sale. Anker claim these Soundcore headphones can reduce 98 per cent of noise with their ‘adaptive’ noise cancelling technology.
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The headphones, in fact, have three modes: transparency, ‘normal’ and noise cancelling, with the ability to enhance the latter with the adaptive option. These can be turned on with a button on the side or utilising the user-friendly app – which I do because, after three months, I have no idea which button does what unless I look at it the way my mum reads cooking instructions on Tesco frozen food.
Transparency is good if you need to keep your wits about you, like crossing a road or if someone on a train is telling a really good piece of gossip. It doesn’t sound completely natural, but the difference between transparency and noise cancelling is ridiculous. This is partly due to how effective the noise cancelling is. On the plane, the background noise from the engine reduced to a low hum.
Here are all the times the noise-cancelling on these headphones let me sleep through anything:
- My neighbours purchasing a new sound bar they love using at 11pm
- All of my friends cleaning my entire flat at 11am after my 31st birthday party
- Getting a train packed full of drunk West Ham fans into London
- My cat an inch away from my face at 5am trying to scream because he doesn’t want to eat his dry food
- Not asleep but honourable mention: Delivery driver ringing the doorbell, then knocking on the door, several times while I was gaming
The normal setting is sort of the midpoint between the other two modes, but I’ve just never encountered a scenario where I would put this to good use. The battery life is impressive as well – the 40 hours claimed is about accurate and it charges quickly too.
I’ve found it drains quicker than the cheaper Q20i (£31.99), the other pair I own. However, the noise cancelling and sound quality pale in comparison to the Space One. While I’m not an audiophile, I do use them all day to listen to music, podcasts and YouTube videos and everything sounds crisp.
There are a few things wrong with it: the battery life doesn’t display accurately on my Google Pixel 7 on the Bluetooth dropdown. Not sure which corporation to blame for that one, but all the other Soundcore head and earphones work this way. This is solved by looking at the app as it displays accurate battery life, not good when you are leaving the house in a rush and need to know how much battery you have quickly.
I use these for the gym nearly every day and while I cannot hear either the terrible music nor the rattling of teenage boys lifting a too-big weight before having a chat for half an hour, they do slide off my head when I lay down. This is sort of the trade off with having two silky smooth pillows on either ear: if you’re sweaty, they’re coming off on the bench press.
The only other thing is they are a bit bulky, so harder to keep in your coat pocket and impossible to not have round your neck in the summer like Sonic the Hedgehog circa 2008. I do hear some people possess something called ‘bags’ that they fit easily in.
Should you buy the Soundcore Space One headphones?
If you want a high quality headphones for a fraction of the price with some impeccable noise cancelling, the Soundcore Space One headphones are the pair for you. Some minor niggles over size and sweat-based utility aside, they are probably my favourite headphones of all time.
Pair these with a sleep mask and you’ll never have to worry about sleeping on an aeroplane again. I got five hours while my brother got none. And you know what I said? You should’ve bought the headphones I recommended.
If these aren’t to your liking, there are Black Friday deals aplenty for noise cancelling headphones. Argos are selling Sony’s WH-CH720N Over-Ear NC Wireless Headphones at an impressive £64.99 right now. Or John Lewis has the JBL Tune headphones for £51.20 – though reviews aren’t as impressive as Sony and Soundcore.