Are sleep earbuds legit? My buying advice after testing in a busy NYC apartment

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I care a lot about my sleep, to the point where I watch what I eat before bed, exercise regularly, and stick to a regular sleep schedule. Every factor within my control is accounted for, but that doesn’t stop uncontrollable factors from obstructing my wind-down time. 

You see, the root of my sleep issues has little to do with my own inability to fall asleep – it’s more to do with the noisy four-way road outside my bedroom window. The symphony of sounds might make for a great scene in Ford v. Ferrari, but I’d prefer silence, not the sound of zooming cars, as I try to doze off. 

Also: The best sleep earbuds

This is all to say: I use the heck out of sleep earbuds to quiet down noise and fall asleep. And I’m in luck, because Soundcore just released its third-generation sleep earbuds, the Soundcore Sleep A30–>, with several upgrades (and an icy new mint color). I tested the earbuds out during one noisy night and even put them to the test in the chatter-filled office to see if they were up to snuff. 

The job of a sleep earbud is fairly simple. It should stay in your ear throughout the night (a tall order for me, a girl who’s constantly tossing and turning), mask most of the disruptive noise around you, and be comfortable enough to feel like it’s dissolving into your ear (and not a hard piece of plastic in between your ear and your pillow). 

The Soundcore Sleep A30 attempts to address all of these issues. It’s got a thin, flat build with wing tips to properly twist and set in the ear. It comes with active noise cancellation (new to this model) to dim down sound, and two types of ear tips, silicone for comfort and foam for further cancellation. 

Lots of options, and great battery

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The A30 comes with two types of tips, and it’s great to have both, as they get the job done in different ways. For example, the silicone ones are far more comfortable and less dense than the foam tips; great for an already-quiet room. If, however, you’re actively attempting to reduce noise around you – whether that’s a snoring partner or a loud environment – the foam tips will do the job. 

The app also has a good selection of ambient soundscapes, like the soothing binaural beats I’ve come to really like. Users can toggle between local mode, which stores audio within the earbuds, or Bluetooth mode, which connects to a streamer. I recommend using local mode for the bevy of soundscapes you can choose from to whisk you to sleep. Bluetooth mode might be good for listening to audiobooks, but it’ll cut into your battery life. 

Also: 5 expert-backed tips to get better sleep 

On the topic of battery, the A30 exceeded my expectations. The earbuds managed to last four nights (and one afternoon nap) on one charge. Soundcore says, in local mode, the earbuds offer around 45 hours of total playtime and nine hours in the earbuds. Bluetooth mode offers 6.5 hours of life in the earbuds and 35 hours total. This appears to be accurate. 

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Other nice-to-have features include automatic sleep monitoring, which kind of works (and heavily depends on the earbuds staying in all night). There’s also a repeatable (and snoozable) alarm within the earbuds, and a Find My Earbuds functionality when they inevitably slip out of your ears and into your sheets throughout the night.  

What I’d like to see in the next model

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When I reviewed the Soundcore Sleep A20 (these earbuds’ predecessors) one wish I had was better noise canceling instead of just “noise-masking”. Cancellation eliminates the sounds around you by producing the opposite sound waves, where noise masking just produces more sound to distract from the ambient noise.

It’s the same with this generation: I wasn’t wowed by the ANC in the A30. I used them several nights in a row, and also took them to the office to see if they could dim down the ambient chatter around me. I couldn’t really tell the difference between when ANC was on or off – in both my office and my bedroom. Instead, I relied more on the the noise masking. 

I’m glad to see Soundcore is listening to user feedback from previous generations, but the new ANC features it’s advertising still falls short. The bottom line is you will probably still hear a snoring partner (or singing neighbors) with the ANC on. In my case, I can definitely still hear traffic outside. 

Also: These sleep earbuds help me fall asleep in my noisy bedroom 

Regarding fit and comfort, the earbuds are mostly comfortable to wear, but they’re not as flexible as other earbuds, like the Ozlo Sleepbuds. The first few nights of testing them, I took it out before falling asleep because it felt like a pebble was in between my ear and the pillow.     

Despite improvements in earbud build (and a 7% slimmer form factor than the A20), I still felt some discomfort and had some trouble keeping them in. But after a few nights, they began to feel a lot easier to sleep with, leading me to believe it takes some time and adjustment to get used to them. 

ZDNET’s buying advice

My advice for Soundcore Sleep A30–> is the same as it was for the Sleep A20: if you need soundscapes to fall asleep in your already quiet bedroom, the Soundcore Sleep A30 is an ideal sleep earbud. If you are trying to reduce the noise of your distracting sleep environment, the earbuds might minimize some of the noise with noise-masking audio, but they won’t cancel that noise with strong ANC. 

Also, I have to take into account their price. At $230, I’d recommend waiting until they go on sale during Black Friday or Prime Day. Alternatively, I’d suggest buying the Soundcore Sleep A20 earbuds<!–>, which offer similar levels of comfort and the same winged design.