Anker Soundcore Space One Review (2024)

The $99.99 Anker Soundcore Space One noise-cancelling headphones are stylish, comfortable, and affordable. They offer better active noise cancellation (ANC) than we expect for the price, and their sculpted audio impresses thanks to the adjustable EQ and support for the hi-res LDAC codec. Overall, they’re an excellent value and well worth your attention if you're on a budget. If you want more accurate sound out of the box, Audio-Technica's $79.99 ATH-M20xBT headphones are a fine alternative, though they lack noise cancellation and higher-end codec options.

A Comfortable Design With Middling Controls

Available in Jet Black, Latte Cream, or Sky Blue, the circumaural Soundcore Space One headphones feature mostly matte surfaces, with some metallic sheen on the headband adjustor. The earpads and headband have generous cushioning, which results in a secure, comfortable fit even over long listening sessions. They ship with a drawstring bag rather than a hardshell case.

(Credit: Tim Gideon)

Behind the grilles, 40mm dynamic drivers deliver a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz with an impedance of 16 ohms. They are compatible with Bluetooth 5.3 and support the AAC, LDAC, and SBC codecs. The LDAC option is a relative rarity in this price range and enables hi-res streaming on Android devices. For reference, the similar 1More SonoFlow headphones ($99.99) also offer this codec choice. Rounding out the connectivity features is support for Google Fast Pair and multipoint connectivity with up to two devices.

Anker divides the on-ear controls between the two earcups. Tactile buttons for power/pairing and cycling through the ANC/Transparency modes are on the left enclosure’s edge, next to recessed jacks for the included USB-C-to-USB-A charging cable and 3.5mm audio cable. The right earcup’s side panel has a playback button, as well as a rocker-style button that handles both volume and track control. Quick presses adjust volume while press-and-hold gestures skip forward or backward a track. For comparison, most over-ear headphones make space for discrete track buttons or combine them with the playback button. Either of those approaches is better since it leads to fewer control misfires, which we encountered from time to time here. The only change you can make to the control scheme in the app is to add an off option to the ANC/Transparency mode selection cycle.

(Credit: Tim Gideon)

Per Anker's estimates, the headphones can last around 40 or 55 hours per charge, respectively, with noise cancellation on and off. Just keep in mind that your typical listening volume and codec choice affect those numbers. For instance, if you opt to use LDAC, the estimates go down to 35 and 46 hours. The battery takes about two hours to fully replenish, and five minutes of charging should net you roughly four hours of playback.

Anker Soundcore Space One App Experience

Anker's Soundcore app (available for Android and iOS) is easy to use and offers some handy features, but it tries a bit too hard to make basic functions seem impressive. A simple transparency mode fader, for instance, doesn't require a whole separate page.

The main section features an image of the headphones with a battery life readout. Below that, the Ambient Sound section lets you switch between Noise Cancellation, Normal (off), and Transparency modes. The Noise Cancellation mode gives you the choice between adaptive and custom ANC modes, and there's a custom option for the Transparency mode. You can also activate a Wind Noise Reduction option here. I discuss all of those settings in the next section.

(Credit: Anker)

Farther down, the Easy Chat tile gives you various ways to lower your music volume for conversations. You can select a speak-to-chat option or simply opt to touch the outer left panel to accomplish this.

In the Sound Effects section, the app includes an eight-band custom EQ along with multiple preset options. Here, you can also access the HearID Sound feature, which personalizes the sound signature based on a hearing test. There's no harm in trying this and you can just leave it alone if the resultant profile doesn't appeal to you.

Otherwise, the Controls section doesn't offer much in the way of customizations, and a Safe Volume tile lets you set a limit in decibels. In the Settings menu, you can download firmware updates, tweak the auto-power-off behavior, and toggle voice prompts.

Competent Noise Cancellation

The Space One headphones offer above-average noise cancellation for the price. However, the number of related options in the app is more confusing than useful. By default, the Custom Noise Cancelling setting is active and set to the maximum level (5), presumably because it works better than the Adaptive Noise Cancelling mode. That seems slightly illogical because the adaptive mode should adapt better to different noises, but in my testing, the default option did indeed produce the best results by far. It's still worth trying out the various settings to find what you like best.

With the default settings, the headphones significantly dialed back powerful, low-frequency rumble in testing. Like most similarly priced models, they struggled against a white noise recording and mostly cut back the lows and mids from a sample recording of a bustling restaurant. They're no match for the class-leading Bose QuietComfort 45 headphones ($329), but still perform respectably for less than a third of the price.

(Credit: Tim Gideon)

Meanwhile, Transparency mode offers a fairly accurate way to monitor your surroundings. It presents your environment at realistic levels and the signal sounds mostly natural. Interestingly, decreasing the level from the default (5) to the lowest (1) makes your surroundings sound even quieter than if you turned this feature off entirely. Again, it's slightly inconvenient to have to navigate to a separate page to make such changes. The Wind Reduction Mode wasn't too effective in testing.

Low-End Emphasis

For testing, I left the headphones in their default audio profile. If you do want to make changes, the in-app EQ works well for everything from blowing out the bass to restoring balance for a flatter response.

On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the drivers deliver laudable low-frequency response. The lows sound full-bodied at moderate volumes and remain clean, with plenty of thump at higher levels.

The headphones have no trouble reproducing the sub-bass progression at the 34-second mark of Kendrick Lamar’s “Loyalty.” The deepest notes of the synth line are in low subwoofer territory but come across with palpable rumble. The vocals on the track receive plenty of high-mid clarity and don't cede space in the mix to the bass.

Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a track with far less deep bass, provides a clearer picture of the sound signature. Here, the drums get some additional low-frequency body without ever sounding thunderous. Callahan’s baritone vocals are crisp thanks to a pleasant blend of low-mid richness and high-mid definition. The acoustic strums are bright and clear, too. However, the drivers clearly favor the lows. As mentioned, the EQ can help you achieve a more accurate sound or something even more sculpted per your tastes.

(Credit: Tim Gideon)

On orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, the headphones push the lower-register instrumentation forward in the mix. The higher-register brass, strings, and vocals retain their brightness, and overall, the default delivery feels exciting.

The mic array works fairly well. I had no trouble understanding every word from a test recording on my iPhone thanks to the clear signal.

Space to Shine

The Anker Soundcore Space One headphones produce bass-forward (but adjustable) audio and offer reasonably effective noise cancellation for their sub-$100 price. We also like the LDAC support, long battery life, and option to listen in a wired mode. Although the control layout would benefit from dedicated track buttons, that shouldn't prevent you from checking these out if you're shopping in the $100 range. You can spend even less on the Audio-Technica ATH-M20xBT to get a more accurate sound signature, but you lose out on the noise cancellation and LDAC codec support.