Soundcore Sleep A30: Sleep Earbuds with Noise Cancellation
The Sleep Earbuds That Actually Block Noise
I’ve been testing the Soundcore Sleep A30 for a few weeks now, using them both at home and while traveling. These are the first sleep earbuds with actual active noise cancellation, which is a big deal if you’re trying to sleep through snoring or noisy hotel rooms.
The short version: they work really well for blocking sound and they’re comfortable for side sleeping. But the battery life is just barely enough to get through the night, and the app has some annoying quirks.
What Makes These Different
The big innovation here is ANC. Every other sleep earbud I’ve tried—Bose Sleepbuds for example —just uses the seal in your ear to block sound. The A30s have actual noise cancellation like you’d find in AirPods Pro, but optimized for sleep.
They also have this smart snore detection system. The charging case has microphones that listen for snoring, and when it hears it, the earbuds automatically adjust the masking sounds to cover it up. I can’t personally verify how well this works since I’m the one wearing the earbuds, but I can tell you that I slept straight through some pretty loud environments while traveling.
The earbuds are small and flat. They don’t stick out of your ear like regular earbuds. I’m a side sleeper and they didn’t bother me at all. After the first night I honestly forgot they were in my ears.
The Good Stuff
Comfort is excellent. I’ve tried a lot of sleep earbuds and these are right up there with the best. They come with a ton of different ear tips—both silicone and foam—so you can find the right fit. The foam tips are new for this generation and they stay in place better.
ANC actually works. I used these on a plane and in noisy hotels and they blocked out most of the rumble and hum. They’re not as powerful as my AirPods Pro for blocking conversations, but they’re great for the low-frequency sounds that keep you awake at night.
The sound library is huge. The app has over 60 different sounds—rain, ocean, white noise, even weird stuff like keyboard typing. You can mix three sounds together and adjust each one separately. The spatial audio feature with binaural beats is pretty cool and I found it helped me fall asleep faster.
Sleep tracking works well. I compared the data to my Oura Ring but it was not close. It tracks sleep stages, how much you move around, when you wake up, all that stuff. I have no idea really what product is more accutate.
The Alarm is great. It has a very gentle sound to wake you up and you can snooze by tapping on the sleep bud 3 times. I have no idea why only 3 times though.
The Problems
Battery life is borderline. They’re supposed to last 9 hours but I got about 7-8 hours in real use. That’s just barely enough for a full night of sleep. If you need 9+ hours or you’re a restless sleeper (which drains the battery faster), you might wake up to dead earbuds. I don’t trust using them as my only alarm.
The charging case gives you about 5 nights before you need to recharge it, so you’re charging the earbuds nightly anyway.
No Apple Health integration. All your sleep data stays trapped in the Soundcore app. Can’t sync to Apple Health or use with other apps.
Price and Alternatives
These cost $230, which feels about $30 too high for the issues you’re dealing with. The Soundcore Sleep A20 is $150 and lasts 14 hours—better value if you don’t specifically need ANC. The Ozlo Sleepbuds are $300 and slightly more comfortable but don’t have ANC. QuietOn 3.1 has the best ANC and 28-hour battery but no audio playback at all, just silence.
Should You Buy Them?
Get these if: You want something more comfortable than AirpPods for sleeping and want the benefits of bluetooth support for handling any audio playback at night without disturbing your sleeping partner. You sleep 7-8 hours and can charge nightly. You want one device for both sleeping and audio use.
Skip these if: You sleep 9+ hours (battery won’t make it). You want to stream audio all night without interruption (the auto-switching will drive you crazy). You just need simple earbuds without all the features.
I’m keeping mine for travel and home use. The noise cancellation makes a real difference in hotels and on planes.
These are innovative earbuds that solve real problems. They’re just not quite polished enough yet to recommend to everyone.
Price: $229.99
Black Friday deal is $179 which your affiliate deal took me to.
Love these things! My favorite feature is the auto-switching so that the audio I was streaming to fall asleep doesn't end up waking me later in the night.