“Sleep when you die” was the motto of my youth. But now, within the soft haze of lifeless middle age, I feel like I’m going to die without enough sleep. That’s why I’m thinking about the brand new Sleep A20 in-ear headphones from Anker’s Soundcore, which promise “pressure-free comfort for side sleepers.”
Like many, I go to sleep listening to podcasts. Either that or the three-pound hunk of fat and neurons stuck in my skull haunting me with thoughts of the longer term. But my Apple AirPods Pro, like most true wireless earbuds, are too large to sleep comfortably on my side, so I only wear one and swap them out throughout the night as I toss and switch as a consequence of an undiagnosed sleep disorder.
And since the A20 earplugs are designed as sleep aids, they provide many sleep-focused features, similar to “unrivaled noise blocking” and noise masking to “silence common distractions like snoring,” Anker claims.
Anker Soundcore Sleep A20
$89.99
Good
- I slept higher!
- Inexpensive at launch
- Comfortable for people sleeping on their side
- Decent passive noise blocking
Badly
- Does not “mute common distractions” as claimed
- It takes some getting used to
- The sound tends to get quieter with the cushion facing the handset
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It’s necessary to grasp that Anker doesn’t offer any lively noise cancellation to silence your snoring or talking neighbors. Sleep A20 headphones passively block all external sounds by fitting in your ear, identical to regular earplugs. That’s partly why the corporate can charge as little as $89.99 at launch and still provide as much as 14 hours of continuous white noise masking sounds or 10 hours of audio listening before needing a recharge.
The app permits you to switch between two listening modes: Bluetooth audio and sleep sounds. The former is for listening to podcasts, music, or anything you must stream, while the latter gives you access to dozens of highly realistic sleep sounds, grouped by water, nature, life (trains, planes, etc.), and meditation – I particularly like Rain on Tent. You may double-tap the earbud to modify listening modes and set it to play audio all night long or until you go to sleep. This is completed manually (using a timer) or routinely, which for my part is simply too unreliable.
A20 buds also feature quite a lot of masking sounds. You can play with multiple sliders to combine white noise with seven other colours and two forms of snoring masking tracks. This didn’t really work once I tried to mask the assorted snoring sound effects playing on a close-by speaker. While it did reduce snoring by overlaying less annoying sounds, it actually didn’t live as much as its claims of silencing common distractions. I got here to search out that it also didn’t silence the barking dogs or the drunk frat boys passing under my bedroom window.
The Sleep A20 headphones slide out and in of the case. They include multiple ear suggestions and wings so you’ll be able to select the correct size.
In my direct tests, AirPods Pro with noise cancellation turned on and playing music did a noticeably higher job of neutralizing these noises than the Sleep A20 headphones, which also play music. But I am unable to sleep on my side while wearing Apple AirPods Pro (in addition they cost more than twice as much because the A20 during Anker’s discounted launch period).
For my needs these buds are a game changer.
Nevertheless, I have to say that for my needs these buds are a game changer. Although I felt a bit of uncomfortable throughout the first week of wearing them, sleeping with the A20s on my side is now normal – as is putting them on by pressing and twisting them, after which taking them back out every morning (they fit snugly!). From time to time I even have to micro-adjust the angle between the pillow and my ear to get optimal comfort, and with the earpiece facing the pillow it often just goes silent as a consequence of the pressure, which implies I’m only listening to the sound with one ear. But the top result’s that I sleep longer and get up less often. And anecdotally, I feel higher rested.
According to sleep data measured by my Apple Watch Ultra, I now sleep a mean of seven hours and 14 minutes within the two weeks that I’ve been testing the A20 headphones, up from 6 hours and 50 minutes within the two previous weeks (wearing AirPods Pro) with barely improved deep sleep. sleep. Other sleep tracking data is concerning the same.
Screenshots from the Soundcore app showing (left) the noise-masking sounds available and (right) data collected by Anker’s sleep algorithm showing me falling over 45 times… my poor wife.
Anker also offers sleep tracking data within the Soundcore app, including recent features like Position (left or right side) and Flip (times I modified sides). Unfortunately, the info can only be viewed when my iPhone is paired with my headphones. He says I sleep totally on my left side, away from my partner, which is smart. But on several nights I recorded between 40 and 50 incursions, or as much as six times an hour, which probably means I want an exorcism.
While listening to a number of hours of podcasts each night and waking up with the battery at 50 to 75 percent, I discovered the battery to be excellent. (Soundcore’s built-in alarms are surprisingly loud and are usually not advisable.) They performed significantly better than my three-year-old AirPods Pro, which don’t last a single night.
Dropping the headphones into the charging case takes some practice at first as a consequence of their amorphous shape, but you will get the hang of it after a number of uses. According to Anker, the case can keep the battery charged for as much as 80 hours so long as you take heed to the gathering of soothing sounds downloaded to the headphones themselves while in sleep mode. This has the additional advantage of no Bluetooth audio alerts disturbing your sleep.
Otherwise, the headphones have a Find Device feature that sounds and is sort of as loud because the alarm on a classic Timex watch (read: not very much). You may independently configure double and triple tap on each earbud to toggle between sleep or Bluetooth audio, volume up/down, next, previous, play/pause, or no motion in any respect. The Anker app gives you plenty of flexibility to decide on the A20 buds based on your taste.
Listening to music is superb because of the adjustable equalizer. But I would not buy these small, lightweight in-ear headphones if your major goal is to take heed to music.
Still, as a side sleeper who listens to podcasts every night before falling asleep, I’m totally thinking about Anker’s $149.99 Soundcore Sleep A20 buds, especially on the $89.99 price point after they go on sale on Kickstarter today.
All photos: Thomas Ricker / The Verge
Credit : www.theverge.com
