soundcore Sleep A20 by Anker Sleep Earbuds, Noise Blocking Sleep Headphones, Small Design for Side Sleepers, 80H Playtime, Stream Content via Bluetooth 5.3, Personal Alarm

I had a pair of Bose Sleepbuds (MKII) for 2 years and loved them for getting a good night sleep, and not getting disturbed by noise. When Bose discontinued them, and my first pair of Sleepbuds died (battery issues), I was gutted as I assumed I wouldn't be able to find a decent replacement. Then I discovered these, and I absolutely love them. They are WAY better than the Bose Sleepbuds in my opinion for an number of reasons: 1. They will work as a normal blue tooth pair of earbuds, and they actually sound great! I often use them for workouts and the likes. 2. The battery life is loads better than the Bose sleep buds for overnight use in sleep mode. 3. The sleep sounds are much more customisable and you can layer different sounds on top of each other to create a custom sleep sound. The flexibility is fantastic. 4. They cost less than half the price of what the Bose Sleepbuds were, but are a lot more feature rich. 5. The carry/charging case isn't unnecessarily huge like the Bose Sleepbuds. It's also nice and light. In addition, the battery life of the case is also much better than the Bose and I can generally get 5-6 nights out of a single case charge before having to recharge the case. (That's with wearing the buds all night long each night) 6. The way the buds go back into the charger case is a better design than the Bose, and I've never had the buds fail to make proper contact with the case (a issue I had regularly with the Bose). 7. The passive noise cancellation (without masking) is much better than the Bose and even with no masking, they do a great job of blocking out the noise. 8. They are more comfortable to wear at night than the Bose. I did get use to the Bose, but these, I forget are even in my ears, and I'm a side sleeper! The ONLY one negative I can report is the "wing" retention system just isn't quite as good as the Bose sleep buds, and sometimes they feel a little loose despite having the largest fitments installed. However I've never had one fall out overnight, it's more they sometimes unseat themselves and I need to reposition them for a better seal against my ear canal. However this is likely a product of my ear shape and the product design, and with all the other positives, I can definitely live with this and have found a position that minimises this problem. Apart from that one minor point, these are absolutely perfect. I love them and take them everywhere with me when I travel. If you're a post-Bose Sleepbud user like myself, I can highly recommend these as a replacement, or more to the point, an upgrade. Full marks to Anker for their engineering on these. They have done a stellar job!

Here's what you need to know... These are the most comfortable buds I've ever used. I wanted to ditch Bluetooth eye blinds and thought I'd take the the plunge in these. They block sound plenty well enough as long as you get the right tips and wings sorted for your ear shape. They last all night as long as your ok to have it switch to the onboard sleep sounds automatically when you fall asleep. Bluetooth will do 8 hours most nights though. The on board sounds are mediocre but with some tweaking will do for while your actually sleeping (I use My Noise app until I fall asleep and let the mediocre sounds take over... You can switch back if you wake up by double tapping one ear). Controls are simple and don't activate when you move around. These stay in your ears all night (although I sometimes take them out in my sleep apparently! LOL). They are fine for side sleeping but softer pillow helps... Mine's a firm pillow so I noticed very light pressure...still fall asleep just fine and ears are fine in the morning. Sound quality is great...IF... You spend some time setting your EQ on your phone properly. I use Samsung sound assistant and create a sound profile on a routine that activates on connecting the buds. Sweet spot is to set the bass high, mids low and a little treble to taste. Take out the 4khz band completely. Charging is super quick but not wireless (for the case). The product feels really premium and the case is lush. Loads of tips and wings including breathable ones. No assistant app functionality or mics... But not needed. Companion app easy to pair and use. I use these for watching movies and they sound just fine... Music is ok too... Maybe not out and about as no ANC. So big win is this... I've never slept better. No more hot, stuffy Bluetooth eye blinds and I'm sleeping right through to my alarm. Worth £99? Minus one star here. For the price I'd expect a wireless charging case and maybe in ear detection. ANC won't fit in buds this small so don't expect it! Would I buy em again if lost... Absolutely.

Ok, I wanted to wait a week before writing this review to give the most accurate review I could, I review products a lot for a living but I am not in any way affilliated with this company, it's totally not my niche, anyway, here is my opinion: I have owned 3 pairs of Bose Sleepbuds 2, and I was very sad that they discontinued the range, one pair I purchased directly from the company and the other 2 pairs were for well over the origional cost price due to them being rare now (from private sellers). I became used to wearing them every night so they became a necessity. So, onto these! I was reluctant to order a pair of these due to never owning the product before, I like to stick to brands I am familiar with but I was tired of spending ridiculous amounts of money when my Bose batteries decided to fail (yep, and the right earphone issues). I decided to take the jump and I am extremely impressed! They are very, very similar to what I am used to, comfort, ease of use and battery life. The app is so much better too! So many custom sounds for sleep AND (it's a BIG AND).... You can actually customize many of the sounds! You can literally build your perfect sleep sound! You can select say 3 different sounds and adjust each of those with incredible precision, say you want thunder with rain and a train in the background (for example).... you can tweak the rain volume right down, increase the thunder and have heavy or almost silent rain! It's honestly unreal! The app is easy to use, just connect via Bluetooth initially, then you can play around and add the sounds to the buds. You can also set the buds up in a similar way to the Bose buds so that you do not need to use the app to begin the sounds, just take them out the case and they automatically play the sound you set as a preset, to change the sound, you can set the options to just double tap the left or right ear bud to skip sounds! You can also set the taps to change the volume. As for battery life, absolutely incredible! No issues at all, they play all night and have even had them playing constantly for 10 hours. They charge in the case and I have found a full case charge charges the buds 4-5 times but this will depend on volume and how long they run for. The only issue I had was the hardness of the silicone fittings. You get 3 different sizes to swap and change, I set mine up so they were almost identical to my Bose sizes, but the silicone is much softer so the 1st night or two took some adjusting but now, well, I'm just used to them now. I highly recommend these buds! I would never go back to buying Bose again, even if they came out with a 3rd version, everything about these is a game changer for me! Excellent product! Ooooh, also, if you lose one in the night, there is a FIND ME option in the app!

So I will start by saying I have not used other brands of sleep buds. My review will be purely how my experience is with these. Other users may find they work much better. I have been looking for sleep buds for a long time and so finally jumped in when these finally came back in stock. I've slept using headphones for a long time so wanted to try sleep buds to see if it helps me sleep more comfortably. Sound: This point is will say i was actually surprised how good it was. For how small and thin these are they have surprisingly clear and detailed sound. Good enough for general music listening and they can get loud if you push the volume although I wouldn't recommend that. Sound wise these were comparable to soundcores mid to "pro" buds. Battery: Another super good point but to be expected for buds meant to last all night. No complaints and the case holds many charges before needing to be plugged in. One sad point is no wireless charging on the case. Minor things. Comfort: This is where for me I had to give it up. While they are light and soft when wearing, I had two specific issues. Number one was the ear tips, they are weird for me. They don't seal in my ear nor do they go into the ear canal. They are designed to sit against similar to how the airpods pro work compared to standard ear tips on buds. The issue is the shape. They are way to long in one direction while being narrow in the other. It never makes a seal in your ear, tried multiple tips and wings and could not find a combination that worked. This along with the second issue which was the shape of the buds. They sit at a slight angle and so without the tips holding on the only thing holding them in for me was the wing which meant I had to really twist them in almost painfully to stop them moving about. If you don't move around while sleeping these issues wouldn't matter but if like me you move a lot in your sleep you may find yourself waking up often to these being somewhere under you in the bed. And they are hard to find trust me. It's really hit or miss and depends on the shape of your ear. I tried it and sadly it wasn't fit for me. Other than the comfort I have no complaints on the features and functionality of these. No weird issues, app worked fine, paired and connected seamlessly.

I have been suffering with sleep issues for many years now. I have tried many earplugs with some being better than others. I am a light(ish) sleeper, but the slightest sounds disturb any sleep that I get - others snoring, wind blowing, neighbour’s car doors banging - you name it; it disturbs me. I often fall to sleep listening to a podcast, audiobook or watching some videos with my Sony XM3’s in, but as we all know they fall out, disturb you and then get lost in the bed. Therefore, finding these Anker buds filled me with hope and ticked many boxes – none more than the potential for blocking out sound and being comfortable when I fall to sleep with them in and then being able to leave them in. The added bonus of having some “ambient” background noises to alleviate this also sound appealing. With all of the above in mind, and reading about them on a Telegraph review, I immediately hit the “buy now” button. The fact that these were Anker also made me feel better as they have some brilliant products. And then… What a fall from grace. These on offer (limited time offer) were £99 and oh wow are these things badly overpriced. In my experience they did not block out sound to a decent level – I could still hear general nightly house noises; quilt rustling when my other half was getting into bed, doors shutting and the wind outside. The idea, some of the execution (low profile design, sleep sounds, good battery life and the vast array of attachments) was superb but the fact that they don’t block sound to an appropriate or satisfactory level is totally unacceptable. THIS was the main reason I wanted them. I desperately wanted to block out sound – much more than these do. I actually feel a little cheated – I know I could return them but that just feels like a hassle so they will be consigned to the car or draw as a desperate spare. Maybe I am using them incorrectly, but I followed everything – or so I thought – but £99, no chance. To add insult to injury my right ear keeps swelling whenever I used any of the wingtips/cover but my other ear doesn’t suffer. Obviously this is my fault but I could only ever use one bud! To price these the same as things like Galaxy Buds is rather poor. Sorry Anker, I love your products but these are not great for the purpose intended.

These are absolutely amazing they fit perfectly easy to use via touch control on the earbuds the sound is perfect great value for money with a app thats easy to use aswell as the touch control on the buds. Win win they have helped with my sleep from the first night of use the most comfortable buds you dont feel like you have them in your ears great for side sleeping I would highly reccomend to anyone. I am very happy with this purchase. Thanks

Before these Ive been using the Hush plugz silicone ear plugs - the most comfortable for quiet sleep. But i wanted to experience these A20 - maybe they would be even better? They are cumfy... I'm a stomach/side sleeper and can comfortable put my ear against the pillow with the plugs in my ear. There are different size plugs and wings included in the box. I use YouTube videos (sleep sounds like rain, thunder) or an app like Calm to fall asleep. The A20 recognize when I have fallen asleep and automatically changes to their in built soothing sounds for the rest of the night. The sounds from your phone through blutooth sound great some soundscapes are so 3Drealistic you feel you are in the middle of the woods while its raining. Lovely. The inbuilt sounds from the Soundcore app are in mono though, but you wont be bothered as they still soothing and kick only in when you are at sleep (and keep you lullying in good sleep) :) The controls need tapping on the earbuds. I had an issue with this but Soundcore customer service sorted it out. You can switch between bluetooth (sounds from your phone) or the inbuilt sleep sounds. Pros: comfortable, sound great (you can use them for podcasts, music, but there is a small latency in sounds if you want to watch videos), battery last well till morning Cons: they are tricky to put back in the case in dark, but you learn quite quickly to do it I absolutely love these. They dont have active noise cancellation (thats why they so tiny!) but they block a bit passively and then the sounds you listen to drown any noise like snoring around you. I highly recommend these!

After 6 months of nightly use, it's time to look for something else. Positives: - They have definitely aided in achieving uninterrupted sleep; sufficiently blocking out snoring, coughing and the dreadful sound of foxes in season. - I'm still able to hear my alarm in the morning. - The selection of different-sized rubber parts means they generally stay in my ears all night (whilst other have not). - Good selection of noise and sounds to blend within the app. Negatives: - I'm a side sleeper and half the time I'm waking up with slightly sore or swollen ear canals (I've tried all the different-sized rubber attachments) - You have to tap the sides of buds three times, with moderate force and quick succession to adjust volume. The amount of force required results in dangerously loud thuds right next to your ear drum which is often outright painful. - The volume increments are too large, meaning I can never achieve the perfect volume - it's either a bit too loud or a bit too quiet. - The sound quality is dreadful for bluetooth music, although I only ever use them in Sleep Mode (preloaded sounds from the app) - After 6 months they need charging with increased frequency, suggesting that the battery is on it's way out. I've been careful to charge them slowly with a 0.5A USB outlet. All in all I couldn't recommend them and not sure they constitute good value for money. From here I'll probably explore wired options as Bluetooth connectivity isn't something that's important to me.