The Soundcore Space 2s Are My New Favorite Budget Headphones
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It’s easy to find greatnoise-canceling headphonesfor over $350 — but harder to find ones under $150 that are worth recommending, so I’m always on the lookout for headphones that offer a lot for the money. In my years of testing audio gear, I’ve been impressed with Anker’s Soundcore lineup with lots of options that sound better than their price tags would lead you to expect.
That’s especially true of Anker’s new Soundcore Space 2 headphones, which have replaced the Soundcore Space One Pros as ourfavorite less-expensive noise-canceling headphone.
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They don’t sound like budget headphones
The Space 2s may be inexpensive compared to premium headphones like theBose QuietComfort UltrasorSony WH-1000XM6s, but they don’t sound like $130 headphones. The mids and highs sound equally good with a surprising level of detail and clarity; nothing ever sounded tinny or muddled. They’re not perfect — out of the box, the soundstage is a little narrow, and the bass just a tad too punchy for my tastes (though some people may prefer it), but they are better than anything else in their price range.
But the out-of-the-box sound profile is just a starting point. If you want to get the best possible sound out of the Space 2s, the equalizer in Soundcore’s app lets you tune the sound profile to your hearing. First, you listen to several frequencies and tell the app what volume you prefer for each one. After that, the app will play a generic song multiple times with different settings. You again tell it which you prefer, and it’ll generate what it thinks will be the most pleasant settings for your ears. The process takes only a few minutes and brings the headphones from good to great sounding.
That’s a notable improvement over theSpace Onesthat these headphones replace. In previous rounds of testing, I recommended thePro versionof those headphones over the standard ones as the jump in price came with a huge boost in sound quality. The Space One Pros still sound great, but the Space 2s get so close that it’s hard to justify spending the extra $40.
They’re good at blocking out sound
The combination of fit, isolation, and active noise cancellation, or ANC, on the Space 2s works well. I couldn’t hear chatter in the room next door when I had guests over, nor was I bothered by the workers shouting at each other on my neighbor’s roof. Even on a long walk, I could hear all my favorite podcast hosts talking without being disrupted by cars honking their horns.
Even with ANC disabled, the Space 2s still produce a decent physical seal that keeps a good deal of noise out. I have to deal with a house full of barking dogs every day, and these headphones did a great job of keeping even the loudest howls at bay. It’s not as effective as having noise cancellation turned on — isolation alone won’t keep out the roar of an airplane engine, that’s what ANC excels at — but it’s nice to have good isolation when you’re low on battery but still want some peace and quiet.
Like more expensive headphones, there’s also a transparency mode for when you actually want to hear the things around you, and it sounds quite good when enabled (by pressing a button on the left ear cup). With it, I was able to hear a family member talk to me when they came into the room as well as the sound of an alert for entering a crosswalk while I was walking downtown.
They’re quite comfortable for budget headphones
That said, the plastic that makes up most of the Space 2s feels slightly cheap compared to the build of headphones like the Beats Solo 4, which cost about $40 more. And unlike most headphones we recommend, the Space 2s don’t come with a carrying case.
They’ll last for days on a single charge
While not as noticeable day-to-day as sound quality, battery life on the Space 2s exceeds expectations, too. The Space One Pros last about 40 hours with ANC on, while the Space 2s can last up to 50. If you enable the auto-pause feature, which stops playback any time you remove your headphones or place them around your neck, that may drop a bit but not significantly. And by default the headphones will turn off after an hour of inactivity, but you can adjust that from 30 minutes to up to five hours.
You won’t find better headphones at this price
If you want noise-canceling headphones with as few compromises as possible, you won’t find a good pair for less than $300. Below that, you risk some combination of lackluster sound quality, weak noise cancellation, and cheap materials. The Soundcore Space 2s avoid that better than any other headphones I’ve tested in this price range.
Other headphones we like
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