Soundcore Sleep A30 Earbuds Review: The Swiss Army Knife of Sleep Audio

Disclosure: soundcore provided these for review, but they are not sponsoring this review, and all opinions expressed are my own.

Sleep-focused earbuds have become an increasingly popular solution for those struggling with night-time audio needs, whether it’s blocking out a snoring partner or creating a calming sleep environment. Soundcore’s latest offering, the Sleep A30 earbuds, represents the third generation of their sleep-focused audio line and promises to be their most comprehensive solution yet.

Design and Comfort: Built for All-Night Wear

The most critical aspect of any sleep earbud is comfort, and the Sleep A30s excel in this area. Soundcore has engineered these to be their slimmest earbuds to date, measuring 7% thinner than their predecessor, the A20’s. This reduction in size translates to a flush fit that sits comfortably inside the ear, which proves essential for side sleepers who need to rest their head on a pillow without experiencing discomfort.

What sets these apart from many other sleep earbuds is their unique insertion method. While most sleep-focused earbuds twist upward and hook into the upper portion of the ear, the A30’s hook into the lower part of the ear canal. The earbuds were still securely held in place and I found them comfortable to wear all night long.

The comprehensive fit options further enhance comfort. Out of the box, the A30’s come with 7 different silicon ear tips, and 3 ear wings sizes as well, ranging from extra small to large. Of the ear tips, 4 are silicone ear tips whilst the remain 3 are memory foam ear tips. That impressive variety in both ear tip sizes, and material, ensures that you will find it easy to get the optimal fit regardless of your ear shape or size.

Sleep Features: A Comprehensive Audio Toolkit

The Sleep A30’s distinguish themselves through their extensive range of sleep-focused features, accessible through the soundcore mobile app. The system operates on two primary audio modes: ‘bedtime sounds’ to help users fall asleep and ‘sleep sounds’ to maintain rest throughout the night.

Bedtime Sounds and Binaural Beats

The bedtime sound feature centers around binaural beats—specialized audio designed to play different frequencies in each ear to encourage brain relaxation. Options include “Starry Sky,” “Ocean,” and various other ambient soundscapes. The system can automatically detect when a user is falling asleep and either switch to sleep sounds, stop audio completely, or continue playing the selected content throughout the night.

Advanced Snore Masking Technology

One of the most impressive features is the intelligent snore masking system. The earbuds’ charging case includes a built-in microphone that monitors the sleeping environment for snoring sounds and provides personalized audio recommendations that best mask the actual noise in the room. The system offers various masking sounds, from gentle options like “Beach” and “Still Lake” for lighter snoring to more robust options like “Niagara Falls” for louder disturbances.

The dynamic snore masking feature takes this further by automatically adjusting the volume of masking sounds in response to snoring intensity, though users should be aware that this means audio levels will fluctuate throughout the night. Fortunately you can disable this feature is it proves more distracting than benefical.

Custom Audio Options

Beyond preset sounds, the A30s offer extensive customization through a white noise generator that allows users to create personalized audio environments by combining different sound elements. Additionally, the earbuds support Bluetooth connectivity, enabling users to stream music from Spotify, Amazon Music, or other streaming services—a feature that sets them apart from many sleep earbuds that only offer local sound options.

Active Noise Cancellation: A Mixed Blessing

The Sleep A30s mark a first in the sleep earbud category by including active noise cancellation (ANC). While this feature sounds promising in theory, the practical implementation proves less impressive than dedicated everyday earbuds. The ANC provides some noise reduction but falls short of expectations for significant sound blocking.

Testing revealed that foam ear tips combined with appropriate noise masking sounds proved more effective than relying on the ANC feature alone. Additionally, disabling ANC helps preserve battery life, making it a worthwhile trade-off for many users.

Battery Performance: Built for All-Night Use

Battery life varies significantly depending on usage patterns. Soundcore advertises up to 9 hours of playback on a single charge, which the earbuds can achieve when using local sounds with ANC disabled. However, battery life drops to approximately 6 hours when streaming Bluetooth audio with ANC enabled.

In my testing, the ideal configuration that worked best for me was to start the night listening to Bluetooth audio (such as a Spotify playlist) for bedtime sounds with ANC enabled, and then automatically switching to local snore masking sounds with ANC disabled. This setup not only allowed me to get to sleep quickly, and stay asleep, but it also made sure that the battery easily lasted the whole night.

Sleep Tracking Capabilities

The soundcore mobile app includes comprehensive sleep tracking features that provide detailed insights into sleep patterns. The system monitors sleep duration, differentiating between light and deep sleep phases, tracks movement throughout the night, and identifies sleeping positions (side sleeper versus back sleeper). The app even monitors snoring frequency and volume, though it cannot distinguish between the user and a sleeping partner. If you’ve ever wanted to know everything there is to know about how you sleep, this app pretty much has you covered.

If you are concerned about privacy though and would rather not have the app track your sleep then you can disable sleep tracking entirely in the app settings, thereby giving you control over data collection.

Everyday Use Limitations

While the Sleep A30’s can function as everyday earbuds, they’re clearly optimized for sleep rather than general listening. The 4.6mm drivers, as they’re designed for compactness and comfort, produce a pleasant enough, if unremarkable, sound quality. The audio profile is more balanced than soundcores typical earbuds offering, with a subdued bass and restrained treble. Now whilst this is great for earbuds tailored to help you sleep, it does mean they lack the detail and depth that you would get from typical dedicated music earbuds, such as soundcore’s own Liberty 4 Pro’s.

The absence of EQ customization in the mobile app further limits their appeal as primary everyday earbuds. Users seeking versatile earbuds would be better served using the A30’s as backup devices while relying on more audio-focused options for daily listening.

Value Proposition and Competition

With so many options available in these earbuds to help you sleep, the Sleep A30’s really are the Swiss Army knife of sleepbuds. They do cost $230 though which might not sound cheap, but when compared to comparable sleepbuds, such as the Ozlo Sleepbuds which retail for $350, well the Sleep A30’s certainly start to look like like more the bargain.

Final Verdict

The Soundcore Sleep A30 earbuds successfully deliver on their promise as comprehensive sleep audio devices. Their combination of comfort, extensive feature set, and reasonable pricing makes them an excellent choice for users seeking a dedicated sleep audio solution. While they won’t replace high-quality everyday earbuds for music listening, they excel in their intended role as nighttime audio companions.

Whilst the ANC on the Sleep A30 is disappointing, the amount of custom options available in these earbuds to help you sleep, more than makes up for it. This makes the Sleep A30’s the Swiss Army knife of sleepbuds. They do cost $230 though which might not sound cheap, but when compared to comparable sleepbuds, such as the Ozlo Sleepbuds which retail for $350, the Sleep A30’s certainly start to look more like a bargain.