When sleeping no matter where I am I always have a fan on and I prefer to have the TV on as well with something playing. I’ve found however that those two things together can end up being a bit of a noise battle when I want to hear the dialog. So I have been tossing the idea of using earbuds to pipe the audio in so I could hear it better and to keep from annoying my wife with it being way too loud. The problem is, most earbuds aren’t designed with that in mind, specifically with their size and I’m a side sleeper so I would imagine that would lead to discomfort. I then came across the Sleep A10 earbuds from soundcore which are designed specifically for sleeping. They also have other features like sleep tracking, a built-in alarm, and the ability to play different white noises to help cover up snoring. Today I’m going to take a closer look and go over my experience with them so let’s dive in!
Product Name: soundcore Sleep A10 Bluetooth Sleep Earbuds
Review Sample Provided by Anker/soundcore
Written by: Wes Compton
Amazon Affiliate Link: HERE
Specifications |
|
Type |
In-ear, true-wireless |
Color |
White |
Dimensions |
1.69 x 1.04 inches |
Weight |
2.08 ounces |
Connectivity |
Bluetooth 5.2 |
Noise masking level |
4-point noise masking blocks up to 35 dB of sound |
Microphones |
None |
Battery |
Sleep Mode – 10 Hours |
Drivers |
Single dynamic drivers |
Driver Size |
5 millimeters |
Waterproof |
IPX4 (splashproof) |
Charger |
USB-C charging case |
Warranty |
18-Months |
Packaging
Anker is consistent with all of their different brands and for soundcore, their audio brand, their packaging always has a bright white background and blue trim and that is exactly what the Sleep A10s box has. The soundcore logo in the top left corner has the blue background and they also use the blue town in the bottom right where they list a few key features in a small font. The model name is featured in the top right and that also has a description of what they are below it. Then in the center is a large picture of the two earbuds and in the largest font on the box, it says “Get a peaceful night's sleep”. The back of the box has the same white background and the blue trim is up on the top edge where the soundcore logo and model name is. There is a picture of the earbuds sitting in their case down at the bottom as well as a picture list of what you will find in the box. Then each of the features is then mentioned and repeated across 5 other languages which takes up most of the back of the box.
Once you take the plastic wrap off the box the front cover opens up and the inside has the two Sleep A10 earbuds right in the front sitting in their formed tray. The back side of the front cover has a step by step picture instructions showing you how to wear them. Then on the right side, they have a cover panel that has a picture of the phone app and lists how they work with instructions on how to switch between the music and sleep modes, how to adjust the sleep mode volume, and how the smart volume control works. That covers up the carrying case which is behind the panel. In addition to the earbuds being featured when you open the box, you also have a whole tray that opens up and you can see the four different pairs of ear tips included with the Sleep A10s and the two additional ear wing sizes in addition to the pair included on the earbuds already.
For documentation, the Sleep A10s come with a quick start guide and then the standard legal paperwork with warnings and all of the fine print. They come with one short USB cable with Type-C on one and Type-A on the other end for charging. The cable isn’t long but I was surprised with the quality which seems to be a little better than some of the bundled cables, it feels softer or is silicone and has the soundcore branding on the plug. Then like I mentioned the A10s come with two more sets of ear wings, one has a larger rubber hoop and the other has no hoop at all. Then there are four pairs of ear tips with the standard size raised with recommended under it to let you know. Given the importance of these fitting for long-term comfort it is great that you have multiple options. The semi-transparent color should go with the white earbuds and may help in keeping them clean as well.
Photos and Features
Like most earbuds, the soundcore Sleep A10’s come with a carrying case that also doubles as its charging case and the case design is a big departure from other earbuds I’ve tested in the past. The case has a pearl white finish with the soundcore logo in the center and a round shape. The case is 70 mm wide and around 28 mm thick. The sides are all rounded and there isn’t too much going on. You have one USB Type-C connection on the top edge along with a small button for resetting things when needed. Then on the front edge, three small pinhole LEDs show the battery status. I expected to see all of the certification logos and all of that information on the bottom of the case but surprisingly the bottom is completely blank with nothing going on. Overall the case size is almost exactly like an Ice Breakers Mint container which is easy to pocket, but I do still think this case is a lot larger than it needed to be with past earbud cases like the Space A40 being a lot smaller.
The main reason for the larger size is because of the case's unique lid design that doesn’t flip open but slides open. Doing that reveals the product information and certification logos I was looking for previously which are hidden on the underside of the lid. The inside of the case has small labels for left and right next to the formed indents that hold each earbud. These have a small magnet with two charging pins on each side for charging the earbuds and a small grove on each to fit the ear wings that are optional but come preinstalled. You can’t see it but there are two status LEDs near the front as well that light up white through the plastic to show that each earbud is connected. The case does have some built-in battery capacity as well which according to the soundcore website can recharge them 7 times. The case doesn’t have wireless charging, not that it should be needed if you can get that many charges from the case's batteries but it would make keeping things charged easier.
Here is a look at the pinhole status LEDs, they light up as soon as you open the case.
The first thing I noticed about the Sleep A10s is just how small they are compared to other earbuds that I’ve tested in the past. They are 19mm wide without including the silicone ear wing that the silicon cover has on it, 13 mm tall, and then 9 mm thick. That is without the ear tip installed but for comparison, the same measurements from the soundcore Space A40s are 20mm wide, 17 mm tall, and 22 mm thick. That is smaller in every dimension and with the total thickness being more than twice as thick. That is important however, with these being designed for sleep you don’t want them to stick out. If they do and you sleep on the side it will push the earbud in and press on your ear which would be uncomfortable overnight. Like with the case, the Sleep A10s are bright white including the silicon covers which are also white. There is the aluminum part where the ear tip is attached which isn’t white but the white ear tip will cover that. The underside of the A10 has an R or L to let you know which side it is and there are also the two contacts and the center magnet which is used to get good contact when in the charging case. They have a 5mm dynamic driver and because of the compact size they don’t have a microphone built in so while they are Bluetooth you can only receive audio not make calls. The battery is rated for 6 hours of music, 10 hours in sleep mode, and they estimate 8 hours when using those in combination. They also do not have active noise canceling but they use passive cancelation with the dual ear caps and the silicone cover on the case itself helping to get a good seal. Anker says that this can block up to 35 dB of noise and then the sleep mode plays white noise to add to that. They connect via BlueTooth 5.2. They are IPX4 rated so they are water resistant to splashes of water which should be good enough to handle sweat.
Here is a look at the A10s with the recommended ear tip. You can see the dual-layer design that helps cut down additional noise.
To get a better idea of the smaller size of the Sleep A10. I put the Jaybird Vista 2 next to them and it makes the Vista 2’s look huge. I also have a comparison shot of the cases as well, like I said before the round case design is surprisingly large for how small the earbuds are. Even with the Vista 2’s being larger the carrying case is more compact. Thankfully the Sleep A10s aren’t going to be carried around in your pocket often.
Software and Performance
As always these days the software for the soundcore Sleep A10s plays a big role in their overall performance so let’s check that out before getting into their performance. They use the soundcore app which is the same software that other soundcore products like the Bluetooth speakers I took a look at last year and their Space lineup as well. Once you have the app installed and you are signed in which uses the same login information across all Anker apps btw. It will check for firmware updates which the Sleep A10s did have. The update description was a little better here with at least one thing that lets you know what is going on, but the “we fixed some bugs” is still there as well which I always hate. Right after the firmware update the software will upload its music to the earbuds so you will need to wait for that as well before getting started.
Below is what the landing page for the Sleep A10s looks like. You have the model name up top then a main selector between sleep and music modes. Below that is a picture of the earbuds which also has the battery status of both. Being the music page you can change the built-in music, get to the equalizer, and controls. Then down at the bottom, there are other pages as well. The music page has a long list of preloaded files split up between focus, rest, and sleep. They are all white noise or similar and there are a lot of weird noises in there as you can see like hugging sounds, clean the jacket with a brush, and so on. Basically a bunch of ASMR noises.
For the equalizer when you select that option you can pick from a list of default soundcore signature profiles or make your own custom profile. The soundcore profiles opens up a page with 18 different profiles and then up at the top the option to add a bass kick to any of them.
The controls page is simple because the Sleep A10s just have a basic double-tap button in each ear, not full touch controls. You can turn the double taps on or off and pick what each side does. By default, the left one will switch modes and the right one is play and pause but you can change them to handle volume, next, and previous as well.
The sleep mode page is similar to the music mode only you don’t have the equalizer button and they have added a few things. The built-in music for the sleep mode is different for one. You can also set the playback duration and the music volume here. That is the only place you can change that volume setting as well. Below that, you have smart volume control that adjusts your volume after it detects you sleeping according to the outside noise level. But with the Sleep A10’s not having a microphone I’m curious if that means the app is using your phone's microphone to detect the outside noise, Anker doesn’t say much about this on the product website so I’m not really sure. The sleep page also has the controls button the EQ button has been changed to open your sleep data. You can get to the sleep data from the music page as well but it is down at the bottom.
This is the sleep data page and similar to how a smartwatch tracks your sleep this will show you how long it thinks you slept each day. That includes showing deep and light sleep modes and you waking up. They also graph out and compare how long it takes you to go to sleep against others as well.
The settings gear up in the top corner on most pages opens up a page where you can see the current firmware. This page has links to the quick start guide and the user manual as well. But the real gem is the add alarm option which lets you add alarms to wake you up. Being Bluetooth earbuds you can use your phone's alarms but where this setting is different is if the earbuds disconnect from your phone this alarm will still go off because it is uploaded to the earbuds the same way the night music and sounds are.
Moving on to the experience and performance of the soundcore Sleep A10s there are a few aspects we need to check out. Comfort is the biggest one, audio performance, battery life, wireless range and performance, charging and the case, and another big one is how well the unique sleep audio works. Comfort was the biggest concern for me because even some of the most comfortable earbuds are only comfortable for me for 3-4 hours at most and sleeping overnight I would need to have them in longer than that as a side sleeper, I would also be pushing on them often as well. Thankfully soundcore’s design was extremely small so the pressure wasn’t a concern for me. The A10s were small enough to fit inside my ears so any pressure on them was the same pressure on my ears themselves. Having multiple eartip options was helpful as well. For my wife, the smallest size was best and the recommended size felt good on my initial fit but I decided to go down a size after the first night of using them. Once dialed in on the size the Sleep A10s fit my ears well and wouldn’t fall out. The double-layer eartips also did a surprisingly good job cutting out noise, even with no music on at one point my wife was talking to me from the other room and I had no idea. Long-term comfort was still a bit of a concern, not from the shape however, just from heat which can be an issue for me even without the earbuds but sealing up my ear just added to the trouble with sweat and earwax and gave me some concerns that long term use could give me ear infections if I wasn’t careful as well. This might not be a concern for some people, but if you get ear infections often or if your ears sweat a lot it can be a concern.
For audio performance, the compact size is going to play an overall role in audio performance but when streaming music from my phone I was happy with the performance. Larger and more expensive earbuds will have more bass and more range but the A10s don’t sound bad. Having the extra flexibility with the equalizer profiles helped but the A10s aren’t designed for high-end audio so don’t go in expecting it.
So the listed battery life is 10 hours in sleep mode, 6 hours for music, or 8 hours in combined mode. For me, I was hoping to be able to utilize the combined mode to listen to some music then fall asleep and have it play white noise through the night. Diving into the details on the soundcore website their expected life for the combined mode is a half hour of music and then 7.5 hours of sleep which is pushing the limit, especially for anyone who is planning on getting 8 hours of sleep. In that situation, you have to go with sleep mode only. You also need to make sure they are completely topped off at all times, thankfully the case does that. Volume levels play a role in those times and for me, I did kill my pair a few times in the 8-hour range even when just running in sleep mode. Using the A10s for a long night's sleep and also getting some music in beforehand wasn’t possible. More importantly though with long nights pushing to the edge of what I could get with sleep mode only, the alarm mode was concerning. The alarm is only good if you can trust that it will always work, but if your battery dies you no longer have an alarm. The extra battery life from the case was nice and keeping it charged wasn’t a problem with it having a Type-C connection. As far as charging speed when I did check it with the meter it charged at 2 watts which isn’t fast but is normal for earbuds.
Another big concern for me was how well the Bluetooth would perform. With standard earbuds or if you are using the A10s outside of sleeping it isn’t going to be an issue. But once you start laying on your side and the wireless has to go through your head/ear/pillow the range is going to get short quick and that did happen with the A10s. I was hoping I could connect to our Nvidia ShieldTV to listen to what was on TV and that did work. But once on my side things were hit and miss. The only setup that worked was thankfully how I often keep my phone anyhow which is up next to me or under my pillow, in short keeping the pillow lower than your head to help keep the signal going through your pillow is your best bet but is going to be something you fight with. This is why the Sleep A10s have the built-in sleep white noise, to eliminate that as an issue and that did work well. I did still run into issues with one earbud disconnecting randomly a few nights which is a surprisingly big pain in the butt. You have to get back on your phone and get them back into the case and start over essentially.
So how did the sleep-specific features work out? I liked the sleep mode white noise which eliminated the random noises around the house, storm noise, and with my wife working third shift and our sleep schedules being all over the place it was nice for times when she was up making noise.
Overall and Final Verdict
The idea of sleeping with earbuds is simple and you would think it would be easy to make work. But once you break down what they need to do differently it does get more complicated. They have to be extremely compact so that they can be comfortable when sleeping on your sides, they have to have the battery life to last the entire night which gets complicated once you also figure in the compact size, and because you have them inside of your ears and you potentially are sleeping on your side covering it all up you have to be able to get a signal through to them or at least have a solution for when you lose connection. Then on top of that, you have all of the standard concerns that all earbuds have as well. On paper, soundcore has all of that covered though with a very small margin when it comes to battery life especially if you want to listen to some music when going to sleep. But do they accomplish that? Well in most ways yes but the Sleep A10s are far from perfect.
They did a great job on comfort with the compact design combined with including a nice variety of eartip and earbud silicon covers. In fact, the compact design makes me want my everyday earbuds to reach the same compact size, but once you start going to better battery life, active noise cancellation, and/or more power for even better audio the size goes out the window. I did personally run into issues with my ears getting hot and sweaty when running the A10s which as someone who gets an ear infection every few years started to cause concerns. Locking all of that sweat in and doing it every night for the entire night can cause issues. So if you overheat easily, like me, this might not be the best setup to get through the entire night.
The wireless issues did end up being an issue, namely when I tried to connect to anything at any distance when laying on my side. Keeping my phone under my pillow helped a lot though. Soundcore did set the Sleep A10s up to account for this though, at least once you are asleep. The sleep white noise is uploaded to the earbuds so keeping connected doesn’t stop that from playing at night. It was the battery life though that was my biggest issue with the Sleep A10s. The listed life gets you up to 10 hours using only sleep mode, 6 hours with music, and 8 hours in mixed-use with that mixed-use being a half hour of music and 7 and a half hours of sleep. Even in perfect battery life, that is pushing it for anyone who wants to listen to a little music before sleeping and then get 8 hours of sleep. In my opinion, I think future models should air for 10 hours of mixed-use to give a little headroom. This becomes a bigger issue if you rely on the alarm and the battery dies. Even if you aren’t planning on using it, now you have to have an alarm that is loud enough to overpower the double-sealed earbuds and if they are still running the white noise as well. In the end, my experience had the batter life down from the advertised numbers which meant they were often dead if I wore them all night.
Now I do still have to point out that when things were working well they did improve my sleep and some of the issues, namely my ears getting so hot are going to be an issue with any sleeping earbud. There is room for soundcore to improve on things for sure but they aren’t far from hitting the mark as well. For me, it does let me know that white noise could potentially help me sleep better at night, but maybe the music and white noise would be better coming from an external speaker in my situation. Maybe soundcore should consider integrating it with their older Wakey alarm.
As far as pricing goes the Sleep A10s launched with an MSRP of $179.99 which that price when compared to the competition, the Bose SleepBuds II which are $249 isn’t too bad. But once you take the Bose out of the picture the price is expensive especially when the sleep design takes away a lot of the functionality of day to day earbuds like a microphone, active noise canceling, and longer battery life. They did update the price with a coupon on their website and it is just lower on Amazon for $129 which is better but is still expensive. Once we compare the Sleep A10s with the Bose I can also see why they went with the charging case design that I felt was too large for no reason. Overall if you need sleeping earbuds, these are worth a look. But go in knowing that there are downsides. That said more than anything I hope Anker/soundcore continues to improve on the design because they are close.
Live Pricing: HERE