- good value
- comfortable
- good battery life
- good anc
- heavy
- bad transparency
- Not exercise-friendly
The Bose QuietComfort Ultra has comfort, strong ANC, and smooth sound. Battery life isn’t Sony-level, and it misses small features like swivel earcups, but at $450 it’s still one of the best picks if you want headphones that feel great and sound even better. Overall, I believe the headphones are worth it.
At $99, the Soundcore Space One is a pair of headphones I’ve
been using for over a year, and they’ve impressed me. But are they really the
right fit for you? In this Soundcore Space One review, I’ll break down my
experience with them over the past year.
Design/Comfort
The Soundcore Space One is made of plastic with a very plush
headband and soft earcups. Even though it’s plastic, it has a premium feel. It
weighs around 263g, which is about halfway between the Airpod Max (384.8g) and the Sony XM6 (254g). On first wear, it feels
heavy, but I got used to it in about two weeks.
The design is modern and sleek, giving off a premium look.
It’s comfortable with the plush earcups and headband, but it can feel heavy
after 1–1.5 hours. It’s also not great for exercising since it’s
heavy, and even for something like lawn mowing, sweat can build up
around your ears and make the earcups damp. But that sweat is only on the
outside of the earcups and doesn’t seep in, so a quick wipe with a
paper towel fixes it.
Overall, the Soundcore Space One is a very good-looking set
of headphones—heavy, but with comfortable earcups and a supportive headband.
Sound Quality
Bass/Mids/Treble
The bass is strong and present. Compared to headphones like the Sony XM4 (about $80 more expensive), it’s slightly less emphasized. Still, for most people and for me, the bass on the Soundcore Space One is more than good enough.The mids (vocals and instruments) are very clear. For
example, on the track Hello by Adele, the voice sounds clear, but with a
higher-end pair of headphones, you can notice a slight difference
in clarity and tone. Again, the mids are more than good enough.
The treble (high frequencies) is sharp—sometimes too sharp.
It’s clear, but for certain tracks it can become piercing and uncomfortable. It
is clear but a bit aggressive.
The overall signature for me is balanced.
Others online describe it as bass and treble-focused, or U-shaped, but I find
the mids and bass slightly more dominant while still balanced overall.
Soundstage
The soundstage on the Soundcore Space One headphones is good. I could easily tell if a sound came from the left, right, or center, but the range feels limited. I didn’t hear instruments or voices that felt really far away, unlike the Sony XM4s, which felt much more like a concert. In short: good, but not the strongest trait of these headphones.ANC/Transparency Mode
ANC
The ANC is good but not on the same level as the Sony XM4. For everyday noise, though, it works well. For example, when the Soundcore Space One tries to block people talking, it does a solid job. On the louder parts of a song like Attention, it takes at least 60 decibels of noise to break through, 70 decibels as slight-to-medium background noise, and 77 decibels to be clearly present—any higher and it doesn’t block it. In the same test, the XM4 made 80 decibels seem like just a buzz.Another test I tried was mowing my lawn. The
Soundcore Space One blocked the noise of my electric mower well, making it
sound like a medium-to-high buzz. It was still present, but manageable at high
volume.
It doesn’t handle sudden spikes like screaming well, as they
cut through the ANC clearly.
Overall, the Soundcore Space One is strong for normal noises
and ambient sounds like people talking or AC buzz, but not great
with very loud sounds.
Transparency
These headphones are not good at transparency. Having a conversation while using Transparency is tough—you have to strain and sometimes read lips. Transparency just isn’t strong. The solution is the Easy Chat option in the app, which lowers your music a lot. It can be activated by talking (beta as of writing) or by pressing and holding the left earcup.So, transparency is weak, but there’s a usable workaround
with Easy Chat.
Battery Life/Charging
Battery life and charging on the Soundcore Space One are excellent.On a full charge, you get at least 2 days of
use. More specifically, about 40 hours with ANC on and around 50 hours with it
off. That’s outstanding. For comparison, the AirPods Max and XM6
last only 20 and 37 hours respectively.
Charging is also impressive:
- 5
minutes of charging gives ~4 hours of playback with ANC off
- A full
charge takes only ~2 hours
Call/Mic Quality
The call quality on the Soundcore Space One headphones is good. In quiet settings, voices sound clear and not too robotic. However, it doesn’t feel like I’m speaking to someone in person. It’s about 70% of the way there, but still solid when there’s no background noise.If there are people near you, these headphones
block the noise decently, though some words will slip through. Overall, it’s
pretty good at reducing background chatter.
For wind it does better:
- Up to 67
decibels: handled well
- Beyond
79 decibels: voices became harder to understand. The wind
itself wasn’t audible, but the words got mumbled.
Overall, I wouldn’t recommend these headphones
for frequent professional meetings, but they’re good enough for most people.
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