Critique of the Soundcore Space One Pro Headphones
I've come across a product that's almost perfect, just needing a bit of fine-tuning in certain areas. For me, Soundcore's Space One Pro headphones, the latest in their Space One line, are that product. Priced at $200, these over-ear headphones shine in numerous aspects: exceptional battery life, user-friendly controls, and impressively good sound quality. However, they could improve in delivering powerful noise cancellation and achieving a snug fit.
Surprisingly, I find over-ear headphones often fitting me perfectly. Yet, I was taken aback by how frequently I had to adjust the Space One Pros on my head due to their lack of snugness. The noise cancellation wasn't awful, but it wasn't robust enough to effectively block out intense sounds and transport me to a soundless environment.
Soundcore Space One Pro Review: Design and Fit
Soundcore's premium headphones boast a streamlined design that's neither showy nor flashy. You'll notice a matte plastic body, minimal branding on the earcups, plush foam ear cups, and a well-padded headband with a leather finish. I appreciate a subtle design as long as it's built to last. The Space One Pros aren't flimsy; they're solid and robust, making them an excellent investment for their mid-range price. They're also foldable, making them convenient for storage in my small tote bag.
The Space One Pros have a fit so loose that they border on being unsuitable. I utilized these headphones daily, commuting to and from work. Despite my swift pace through crowded Manhattan streets, the headphones would often slide backwards, eventually perching on the back of my head, ready to slip off. I had to manually adjust their fit, which was bothersome and damaging to my hairdo.
Photo courtesy of Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo
The headphones' adjustment band is also unfortunate. It lacks distinct markings or a tactile interface, making it difficult to visually track the adjustments. Simply folding or unfolding the headphones would inadvertently shift the headband's position, albeit not significantly for me since I always used them in their smallest setting. However, it might cause irritation for someone who prefers maintaining a specific setting for their headphones.
However, the loose fit does have one advantage—it permits prolonged wear without causing any discomfort. If I could ignore the headphones sliding off my head every 10 minutes, I'd be content.
Soundcore Space One Pro Review: Controls
Mastering each button's function on these headphones took some time, but once I got the hang of it, navigating playback, calls, and volume was a breeze thanks to the built-in controls. I was pleased to find that the right earcup houses a volume rocker. Over-ear headphones like these, with ample space to work with, usually allow swiping up or down for volume control (as the Sony Ult Wear does flawlessly). Nonetheless, the reliability and tactility of physical buttons are superior. The same earcup also boasts a playback button capable of accepting, declining, and ending calls, alongside controlling the play and pause functions of your content. The left earcup handles powering the headphones on/off and switching between noise-cancelling and ambient modes.
Photo courtesy of Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo
The plethora of buttons could have proven confusing without Soundcore's thoughtful distinction between them. The volume rocker has a distinct elongated shape, setting it apart from the playback button. The power button, on the other side of the same cup, features a smaller size and an indented power icon, helping you discern it from the smoother ANC button in the same earcup.
Pressing the buttons doesn't provide voice prompts but uses distinct tones for each action performed. Mastering the tones required a few days, but I eventually grew accustomed to them.
Soundcore Space One Pro Review: Sound and ANC
The Space One Pros' default sound was slightly heavier on the bass for my personal taste, but a few tweaks on the Soundcore app resolved the issue. I picked the Treble Boost preset, which injected a brighter, airier sound into the mix. Although the headphones lean more towards the lower end, activating the ANC button twice supplemented the bass. However, it amplified the bass in an underwhelming way, tuning the music muddy and excessively dense, resulting in muffled, poorly defined sound quality. Since the bass boost wasn't executed skillfully enough, most songs sounded distorted and overwhelming. I could envision the mode serving a purpose at the gym, where a loud, punchy bass is desirable, but maintaining audio quality isn't an issue.
Although the Space One Pros offer numerous presets, most of them are genuinely beneficial. The podcast preset prioritized the midrange in the song I was listening to, while the Treble Reducer instantly diminished the balance I had managed to achieve by adjusting the presets. As with most aspects, preference varies from person to person, but the Classical preset was my favorite. It remained true to the original sound, preserving the intended harmony and clarity of each song.
The Space One Pro's special four-stage sound suppression system operates in the following order: Stage 1 identifies disturbances, Stage 2 puts a filter in place, Stage 3 neutralizes disturbances in real-time, and Stage 4 amplifies the sound-suppressing effect. Despite the manufacturer's boasts, the sound-suppressing capabilities fell short of their extraordinary promises. It was not awful, but it also wasn't remarkable. The Subway's distinctive rumbling, which I've found to be one of the most challenging noises to eliminate, was simply lessened, not eradicated. I could hear my call slightly better, but I wasn't transported into a soundproof chamber away from the city's tumultuous sounds. Noise that wasn't as pronounced, such as street passersby, coworkers in the office, and my flatmate cooking in the next room, was effectively muted.
Image by Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo
Soundcore Space One Pro: Battery and Additional Features
You have 40 hours of battery life with noise cancellation turned on and 60 hours without, exceeding typical figures for the majority of over-ear headphones, which usually offer 30 to 40 hours. A five-minute charging session on the Space One Pros will provide you with eight hours of playback time, a speedier charging option than most.
The Space One Pros can simultaneously connect to two devices, which is beneficial as it spares you the time and effort of switching devices manually between your laptop and phone. The Space One Pros also include an Easy Chat feature, which lowers the volume of your content when it detects you're in conversation with someone. This feature is known as Conversation Awareness on Apple's latest AirPods 4. To use this feature on the Space One Pros, ensure the Easy Chat toggle is enabled on the companion app, which isn't enabled by default. A pleasant surprise was the inclusion of a sidetone mode on these headphones, allowing you to hear your own voice during calls. This mode can be enabled in the app for important meetings or at the start of intense gaming sessions.
Soundcore Space One Pro Review: Verdict
The ANC worked tirelessly to reduce noise instead of canceling it out entirely. I experienced difficulties hearing my calls even when the mode was activated. In terms of fit, the leatherette on the headband had a tendency to slide off my head, necessitating frequent adjustments.
The Space One Pros delivered a lively and open sound that improved with some modification on the companion app, despite its initially thick sound profile that was too much for me. User-friendly controls are a crucial aspect of the headphone experience, and the Space One Pros performed exceptionally well in this area. The headphones offer separate, identifiable buttons for every function, with varying sizes, feels, or shapes. The Space One Pros have more positive aspects than negative ones, but some of its negatives are too significant to overlook. Its limited ability to completely silence city sounds means I wouldn't rely on it as my daily headphones.
Despite the headphones' excelling in sound quality and user-friendly controls, their significant drawbacks in noise cancellation and fit make them less suited for daily use in noisy environments like cities. Future reviews could focus on technologies that significantly improve noise cancellation and fit for over-ear headphones like the Space One Pros.
The seemingly flawless design of the Space One Pros, with their robust build and foldable feature, should be complemented by advanced noise cancellation technology and a snug fit to truly make them stand out in the mid-range market. With improvements in these areas, the Space One Pros would garner more positive reviews and surpass customer expectations in the future.
