Audio brand Anker will help people get a good night’s sleep with its upcoming wireless earbuds: the Soundcore Sleep A20. These earplugs are specially made to block out as much outside noise as possible while still being comfortable to wear in bed.
The first thing you’ll notice when scrolling through the Sleep A20’s product page is that there’s no active noise cancellation feature – presumably because ANC technology quickly drains the earbuds’ batteries. Instead, Anker implements a so-called “4-Point Noise Masking System”. It starts with a design that consists of two layers of silicon instead of just one. This configuration, the company claims, gives the A20s “three times stronger passive noise blocking” than your backyard earbuds.
According to the Anker, the devices come preloaded with white noise and other sounds in “an included sound library.” Smart volume control automatically adjusts the audio volume to ensure outside sounds (such as someone snoring) don’t leak in. The same library even offers personal alarms that only you can hear, so your sleeping partner or anyone else in your room won’t be disturbed. a nearby room.
Tightly sealed
When it comes to the external design, the company designed the Sleep A20 earbuds to fit comfortably, and says they blend in with the shape of your ear. Speaking from personal experience, sleeping while wearing earplugs often results in a dull, throbbing pain. Especially if you are a side sleeper, it can be quite painful.
It seems that Anker is well aware of this problem, as their model has a flat cover that shields the ear canal. The ends of the A20 transform into an ‘Air Wing’ to evenly distribute the pressure caused by their weight. This wing plus the ‘ultra-soft material’ used for the construction should provide extra comfort, according to Anker.
You can of course listen to music or podcasts from your favorite streaming device via Bluetooth. The Sleep A20s aren’t primarily designed for music, though, and Anker’s product page doesn’t include a spec sheet, so we don’t know what kind of drivers it will have.
The maximum battery life is up to 80 hours with the charging case. Between charges, the earbuds deliver “14 hours of continuous playback in sleep mode.” That number drops even further to 10 hours when Bluetooth is enabled. Other notable features include support for automatic sleep monitoring and sleep position tracking; both of which can be accessed via the official Soundcore app.
Availability
The launch of Anker’s Soundcore Sleep A20 will be a bit complicated.
On April 16 at 8 a.m. EST, the company will launch a Kickstarter campaign where you can pre-purchase the earbuds for 40 percent off in the US, UK, and possibly Azerbaijan because the country code “AZ” was mentioned. We believe this is a typo and they wanted to enter Australia instead.
Once the Kickstarter is over, the Sleep A20 will be widely available on Amazon and in their online store for $150/£120/€150. You can sign up to be notified when the campaign starts by entering your email address to be entered on the product page.
We contacted Anker and asked for clarification on certain aspects, including future availability and the final price tag, among others. We will update with any news.
Anker’s latest model may be the earbuds that fill the gap left by rival Bose when it discontinued its SleepBuds series. Despite how good they were, there didn’t seem to be enough interest in the SleepBuds II, so the plug was pulled. That’s a shame, because we really liked them and Bose hasn’t announced any future developments in the sleep earbud space.
If you want recommendations, check out Ny Breaking’s list of the best sleep earbuds for 2024.