The Best Budget Earbuds: Soundcore Space A40

Last year I was on the search for the best over-ear headphones I could find. After a lot of research, polling y’all, and testing, I found them!

Well now it’s time to expand that search to earbuds, which up to this point I thought would never be for me. So let’s see what changed 🙂 .

• My Search For The Best Affordable Headphones Of 2024

BACKGROUND

I’ve mentioned this a few times before: I have small ears 🙂 . That reality has led me to having to buy some specialty products, such as Slim Fit Ear Plugs that don’t make me feel like my head is going to explode when I use them.

This also affected my search for affordable over-ear headphones when I discovered that some over-ear devices that felt awesome to other people were strangely uncomfortable for me to wear. However, I persevered and found a pair that worked for me.

I thought my search for headphones and the like was over when my SIL had her birthday this year and received Soundcore Space A40 Earbuds.

My previous over-ear research ended with me buying and loving a refurbished version of the Soundcore Space One Headphones, which were $75 (25% less than the new versions) and seemed brand new. These became my everyday headphones and I’ve used them 8+ hours a day since I got them a year ago.

But, back to these gifted earbuds. Someone told me that the ones she received were $50, which I was shocked to hear given all the features listed on the box, such as customizable noise cancelling, 50 hour battery life with the case and noise reduction up to 98%.

However, the game changer was when my SIL let me try the earbuds on. They were comfortable in my tiny ears! This in particular blew my mind because Airpods are painful for me to wear for even a few seconds and all other wireless earbuds I’ve tried in the past felt similar.

THE COST

For those fit reasons, I had previously never seriously considered earbuds, but the other reason I hadn’t considered them was the cost. It turns out that these Soundcore Space A40 Earbuds are usually $99.99, which is too high a price for something I thought I might lose immediately 🙂 .

So when I was looking at all the options for my new headphones last year, I dismissed them because of the price. But it turns out that since these earbuds came out 3 years ago, they have been going on super sale at least every month for the last 3 months according to Google Chrome’s Shopping Insights price tracker. Instead of $99.99 they have been 55% off and could be bought for as little as $44.99.

This is the moment I hesitated because I still have perfectly good, working headphones. Should I really spend $45 on another pair? That’s not usually how I roll, but then I thought about it and realized: I don’t hesitate to spend money on the things I want – it’s just rare that those things are “things.” It’s usually food, travel and experiences, but if this is something I want, the same rules should apply.

Also I spent $50 on what turned out to be a lackluster lunch earlier that day so why shouldn’t I spend it on something that will give me more than the 10 minutes of enjoyment that food did #FlawedFrugalLogic 😉 .

So I bought them and Spoiler Alert: I have no regrets. After pressing buy I excitedly awaited my new earbuds’ arrival.

WHAT COLOR? 

As a quick aside, I decided to buy the White version of these earbuds. They are available in Black, White, Navy Blue, Green and Purple.

Originally I obviously gravitated to the Purple ones, but they look more pink to me:

I then looked to see what Replacement Eartips Soundcore had and as I suspected, they did not have them in all colors. They are currently only available in Black, White and Blue for $9.99 per pack of 5.

So given the inevitability of me losing an eartip, which help these fit perfectly in my ear and get a great noise cancelling seal, I decided to only buy one of those colors. My SIL has Black ones and I’m not obsessed with Blue so I settled on White earbuds.

MY EXPERIENCE

As the title of this post and spoiler alert above implied, I love these Space A40 Earbuds. I’ve had them in my ears 8+ hours a day since I got them and my world is changed 🙂 .

It’s been a slow progression to me being open to wireless headphones at all and now I’ve finally evolved into one of those earbuds people 😉 . The biggest shock is how well these earbuds fit into my small ears.

I originally braced myself for them to fit, but to be uncomfortable like Airpods are immediately, or like my Powerbeats are after a few hours, but that hasn’t been the case at all.

These earbuds are the smallest I’ve ever seen and that opinion is reflected in what tech YouTubers say about these earbuds:

They’re tiny! And I think that’s why they’re so comfy for me. And not only are they small, but they also are so well designed that they have never fallen out of my ears no matter what I’m doing, from PT to Yoga to head-banging an epic jam – they’ve never budged. That’s a wild combo 🙂 .

I think my record is 12 hours of nonstop listening with these bad boys and my ears have yet to feel anything negative. However, I will caveat that I just place these earbuds in my ears and twist slightly as instructed – I don’t dig them in or anything.

As you’ll see below, the Fit Test within the Soundcore App confirmed that my method still gives me a great seal, but I imagine if you dig these earbuds deep into your ears to make sure they don’t fall out, that that might hurt after a bit 🙂 .

I gently place them in my ears and all is well. I also absolutely love that I can just take them out of their charging case, place them in my ear and they automatically turn on and pair to my devices. Meanwhile, my over-ear headphones have to be turned on – how ancient 😉 . So let’s dive into all the wild features the Space A40 Earbuds offer.

FEATURES

The Case: One of my concerns before getting earbuds was that they would be easy to lose. However, this earbud case is magnetic. If I put the earbuds close to it, the earbuds snap into the case. Similarly, this magnet keeps them in the case if I turn it upside down and even shake it around. Sensational!  The case can also wireless charge, which I find cool.

Ear Tips: There are 5 pairs of ear tips included in the box with these earbuds (including the pair that comes on the earbuds). These ear tips are all different sizes to make sure you find the right size that are comfortable in your ears and have the best seal for ideal audio.

ANC (Active Noise Cancelling): These earbuds are noise cancelling and claim to reduce noise up to 98%. The ANC also has two possible modes: an “Adaptive Mode” that changes your ANC settings based on how loud your environment is and a “Manual Mode” where you can determine how much noise cancelling is applied. I do love some customization.

Transparency: These earbuds also have a “Transparency Mode”, which I enjoyed on my Space Ones but love even more here because it’s once again customizable with these earbuds 🙂 . In the Soundcore App, I can change my Transparency Mode from “Fully Transparent” to “Vocal Mode,” which only makes voices stand out clearly and I much prefer that!

When I use Transparency Mode on my Space Ones, it amplifies all sounds from the A/C to annoying background noise, but with Vocal Mode on these earbuds, only voices come through, but nothing else and I can go about my business undisturbed.

Touch Control: Now these earbuds do have touch controls and I’ve mentioned before how I love me some buttons 🙂 , but I understand that these earbuds are so small that there’s no room for buttons. However, I was pleasantly surprised with how easy these touch controls are to use.

It ranges from one tap, two taps or holding for 2 seconds on each earbud. These controls are completely customizable in the Soundcore app including special controls if you only have one earbud in! That’s so cool and helpful! 

I’ve customized my earbuds so that I can do absolutely anything while wearing both buds: play/pause, previous, next, volume up, volume down and switching between ANC, normal and transparency mode. I also customized what each control means if I’m only using my left or right earbud, so I have everything I need no matter which earbud(s) I’m wearing.

Battery Life: These earbuds advertise 10 hours of playback on the earbuds alone and 50 hours on the earbuds and case combined before having to plug anything in. In my time with these earbuds, that’s proven to be true – I only need to charge them once a week despite using them constantly and that’s amazing.

These earbuds also tout a 10 minutes charge for 4 hours of playback, which is wild. I also love that the Soundcore App shows a visual of how much each bud is charged and the case has indicator lights showing how charged it is.

If I’m looking for more granular information, my Pixel 8a shows how much battery in percentages each earbud and the case have, which I find very helpful. I hope all phones have that capability.

Dual Connection: These earbuds allow you to be connected to two devices at the same time. I love this feature in my Space Ones. I’m always connected to my phone and computer so when I’m watching YouTube and get a phone call, it’s as simple as pausing YouTube and answering the call.

The switch happens seamlessly on my Space Ones and on my earbuds! There’s no need to swap headphones or wrangle cords. It’s so seamless, so sexy 🙂 .

IPX4 Water Resistance: These earbuds include IPX4 Water Resistance, which means they can withstand splashes of water so it should be ok if I get caught in a little bit of rain or want to use these while working out. Nice!

And that’s an overview of the features of these Space A40 Earbuds. The OG price of $100 for all that makes a lot more sense and that price seems lower than other earbuds with all these features.

But that’s not all 🙂 . Now let’s dive into the awesomeness of the Soundcore App.

THE SOUNDCORE APP

As a preface, I am generally against apps for specific products or companies, but the Soundcore App is so useful that it’s one of the few I have downloaded onto my phone. So let’s see why.

Completely Customizable: I mentioned some of this above, but I love how this app makes everything customizable from how my ANC works and how strong it is to how transparent transparency mode can be and the specific controls on one or both of my earbuds. It’s absolutely amazing.

HearID Sound: Another way the app lets you customize your earbuds is through its audio. You can completely customize what your audio sounds like by choosing between 22 Default Sounds (such as Bass Booster), creating a Custom EQ, or doing their HearID Sound test like I did so that the earbuds adjust sounds based on your specific ears and hearing abilities.

Fit Test: The app has an option to play a sound and test how good your earbud seal is to see if you need to switch ear tips or adjust how you’re wearing them. I found it helpful when I first got my earbuds to make sure I was positioning them correctly to get the best sound and fit possible.

Find Device: This is the clincher. The Soundcore App has a section called “Find Device” which plays a loud noise from your earbud so you can find it if you’ve lost it. That’s yet another way Soundcore has combatted my first fear of getting earbuds: losing these tiny things!

However, my Pixel takes this a step further. I’m not sure if this is available on other phones, but from my Bluetooth settings I can also access “Find Device” and play that same tone AND I can also see my last known location when my phone was connected to the earbuds. Fancy!

TIPS

One thing I love about Soundcore is that they have extensive manuals, instructional videos and FAQs for all of their products and the Space A40 Earbuds are no different. They even have step-by-step instructions for how to clean your headphones, which I haven’t seen a lot of other companies clearly explain:

And if you’re looking for even more tips, I found this tech YouTuber’s video helpful:

THE REVIEW

So yeah, I’m obsessed with these earbuds 🙂 . I still love my over-ear headphones, but using these earbuds makes my life even easier, such as listening to YouTube or music while rolling around on the floor doing my daily PT or yoga, which previously could be uncomfortable with my over-ear headphones on, depending on the position.

Similarly, laying on my side in bed for example was basically impossible since it would squish my over-ear headphones, but with the Space A40 Earbuds it’s almost like I don’t even have earbuds in.

I also love that I don’t have to use both earbuds at once if I don’t want to. That’s way easier than keeping an ear out in my over-ear headphones and it makes using multiple machines, like when I use our gaming PC, and multiple headphones way easier since I can just slip my over-ear headphones over one ear that doesn’t have an earbud in it.

In general I just think these earbuds provide a seamless experience from not having to turn them on to the flexibility of being able to use just one earbud while the other charges. That combined with all the customizable features that these earbuds offer blew me away.

I only have two critiques and they’re pretty minor. The first is that I wish that similar to my Space Ones, that these A40 Earbuds would announce what kind of mode I’m switching to. My Space Ones say “Transparency”, “Normal” and “Noise Cancelling” when I press the button on the headphones to switch modes, but the A40 Earbuds instead just play different tones.

I’m learning to recognize those three different tones, but if I have to nitpick, I just wish it said the words so I don’t have to learn new tones to know what mode I’m in without looking at my app. Dummy-proof it for me 😉 .

And my other negative is one I also noted in my Space One review – the provided cord for these earbuds is SHORT, as in so short I will never use it just like I’ve never used the one provided with the Space Ones. It’s so short that the headphones would dangle from the outlets around my house if I tried to use it. So it’s basically useless 🙂 . But those are my only complaints – these earbuds are awesome.

CONCLUSION

And that has been my experience with the Soundcore Space A40 Earbuds. In summary, I’m in love 🙂 . I went from thinking the original price of $100 was too steep for something I’d likely lose, to realizing all the safeguards in place to make it unlikely that will happen.

I also think that the now routine 55% deal that makes these headphones $45 is an absolutely steal. I really can’t praise these earbuds enough for completely changing my mind about what earbuds can be and opening my eyes to new possibilities for my small ears.

I’m still going to keep my over-ear headphones for now, but I really enjoy the freedom of these earbuds and they’ve become what I use every day.