Soundcore Space One Pro Review – Landing from Orbit

Hey everyone, welcome to the Soundcore Space One Pro review, a pair of noise-canceling over-ear headphones.

These headphones are priced higher than usual for Soundcore, which typically budgets within a friendly to mid-tier range. Though the Space One Pro is still mid-priced, they’re costlier than other Soundcore top-line models. So, does the Space One Pro aim to be the brand’s new leader, dethroning others like Scar from The Lion King?

This raises the question: Do the other Soundcore headphones follow behind the Space One Pro, like hyenas trailing Scar? It’s unclear at first, as the Space One Pro is a mixed bag, offering both good and bad features. Think of the monkey in the Lion King, Rafiki: wise yet a bit crazy.

I’ll compare the Soundcore Space One Pro with the regular Space One, which I also reviewed.

Despite weighing 285g, the Space One Pro is comfortable, even when worn with glasses for three hours straight. It’s not ideal for workouts as over-ear headphones can cause sweating during intense exercise. Surprisingly, the foldable design doesn’t sacrifice durability.

However, they are likely not dust or water-resistant, as it isn’t mentioned in the documentation or on Soundcore’s website.

The headband flexes generously, and the earcup cushioning is very soft, feeling great even to the touch. The headband cushioning is all around, so it’s comfortable even for those with little hair. Earcup rotation is excellent forward and back, slightly stiff up and down, but doesn’t impact comfort. Overall comfort is comparable to the original Space One.

Replacement earpads aren’t available yet, likely due to the product being new. Third-party options currently only offer pads for the original Space One.

If you’ve been wearing them a while and need to rest them around your neck, folding the earcups helps avoid discomfort from them touching your chin. This makes looking left, right, and down comfortable.

Controls

As for controls, the left earcup has a power button that activates Bluetooth pairing mode when held. An ANC button cycles between noise-canceling, transparency, and normal modes. On the right earcup, the bottom button handles play/pause, call management, and voice assistant activation when held for two seconds.

The next button is volume down, and holding it goes to the previous track. The following button is volume up, and holding it goes to the next track.

Like other Soundcore headphones, it’s annoying because when I want to replay a track, I press volume down and accidentally hit Play/Pause. Most phone manufacturers place the Play/Pause button between volume up and down, but Soundcore puts it separately (below volume down), which can be frustrating.

Smart assistant functionality on my phone works well, with clear audio and responsive commands on Android and Google Assistant. Double-tapping the noise-canceling button activates Bass Booster Mode, which is a default app equalizer (also activated in the app).

These headphones don’t support passive play/pause, where removing them pauses your content automatically, but this isn’t typical for mid-tier headphones, so it’s acceptable.

Noise Cancelling

Noise canceling and transparency mode performance is good for the price. The Space One Pro excels at reducing low, consistent noises like airplane engines, making it suitable for plane or bus rides. Vocal sounds may come through, but it’s not annoying, even when listening to the news.

ANC performs better in the Space One Pro compared to the Space One. You get better quality for the higher price. Transparency mode lets you hear your surroundings and have conversations within ten feet more easily than the original Space One.

Without transparency or ANC mode, the noise cancellation is mediocre. It’s best to keep ANC mode on to cancel out noise.

Battery

Soundcore claims 40 hours for ANC and transparency mode, but my testing averaged 35 hours (even after numerous battery drain tests). I found the ANC level in the app was set to maximum, likely causing faster battery drain. It’s possible that in Soundcore lab testing they didn’t set ANC to max level which resulted in their claim of 40 hours.

For regular headphone mode, Soundcore claims 60 hours, and my tests showed 61 hours, aligning closely with their claims.

Soundcore claims a full battery recharge takes 2 hours, but I usually average 1.5 hours. The USB-C charging port is on the bottom of the left ear cup.

Microphone Quality

The microphone performs well in a quiet environment, ensuring clear conversations that don’t sound too digital.

In a noisy environment, it also did fairly well. My voice remained clear with only slightly harsher “S” sounds, which were hardly noticeable unless you’re specifically listening for audio issues.

In a windy setting, the microphone performed similarly to the noisy environment. My voice came through clearly, but occasionally, parts of my voice were cut off as the microphone tried to reduce wind noise. Still, it was adequate for conversation.

Audio Quality

Regarding audio quality, it’s a mixed bag. With audio codecs like SBC, ANC, and LDAC, plus Dolby mode in the app, it’s decent at mid-tier pricing.

Straight out of the box, the sound is more bass-focused, typical of Soundcore, but nothing exceptional. If you don’t like the default settings, you can reduce the bass in the equalizer.

When adjusting the equalizer, things can go haywire with high bass on deep bass songs like “Drip Too Hard” by Lil Baby and Gunna. Repeated tests with various genres show that increasing the bass results in significant thumping, but it sacrifices quality in other areas. Vocals step back, and volume lowers significantly. Increasing volume brings the vocals up but also raises instrument and bass volumes too high, compromising overall quality.

Increasing vocals narrows the soundstage, limiting the surround effect.

Highs also perform poorly, not making much difference on high notes and impacting bass quality. Basically the same issue as increasing the bass, other elements of audio are sacrificed.

The equalizer’s performance is disappointing at this price point, as Soundcore usually delivers better. Despite fully updating the firmware and using custom equalizer templates, results were the same. Compared to the original Space One, which is half the price, the audio quality is significantly better without these problems. The original Space One offers better audio quality for its price.

Despite disappointing audio performance, wearing glasses with the Space One Pro is the same typical experience as wearing other over-ear headphones. Mids and highs remain unaffected, but bass leaks out where the glasses frame pokes through, impacting bass quality.

Software

In the app, selecting the Space One Pro reveals features like Easy Chat Mode, which allows conversations while listening to content. However, it doesn’t work as accurately as expected. You can cycle between ANC modes and adjust ANC level.

The equaliser allows for custom made templates along with many premade equaliser settings to choose from. As mentioned earlier, no matter what I tried with custom or preset equaliser settings it didn’t help with the audio experience.

Another unique item to Soundcore headphones is a volume limiter you can customise to prevent ear pain or damage.

The settings area includes options for sidetone mode, dual connection, and firmware updates.

Conclusion

Given the higher price, I expected better performance from Soundcore, but the Space One Pro is more like Rafiki than Scar. The original Space One offers better audio quality at half the price, making it a better bang-for-buck option. Where does that leave the original Space One? It’s not a hyena following the Space One Pro (Scar), it’s a Simba coming back for redemption.

That wraps up my review and Lion King references! I hope you found this review useful.