Top pick
These tiny wireless earbuds sound great, block noise, and can play customizable preloaded sounds or stream audio from your Bluetooth device. Cushioned wings make them comfortable for side-sleepers, too.
If you’re trying to block out or mask sounds in order to fall or stay asleep, the Soundcore Sleep A20 earbuds are designed for that purpose. The earbuds’ isolating design blocks noise more effectively than headband-style sleep headphones can. That isolation—in combination with the audio you can play through the earbuds—can muffle snoring partners, barking dogs, and even construction racket. However, if you don’t like the feeling of earbuds during the day, these probably won’t serve you well at night.
They block and mask disruptive sounds. These sealed earbuds block external noise quite well. Note that this is not an active-noise-cancelling device; active noise cancellation, while effective on sustained low-pitched sounds such as airplane noise, isn’t adept at reducing intermittent sounds like hammering or higher-pitched sounds such as voices. Instead, the A20 set uses physical isolation in conjunction with your chosen audio to block and obscure distractions.
The A20 earbuds’ thin and tiny design makes them more comfortable to lie on than standard earbuds. The puffy stability wings cushion the earbuds for side-sleepers while holding the earbuds in place—even if you toss and turn.
Should you drop an earbud in bed, the Soundcore app has a Find My function that causes the earbuds to emit a loud chirp.
We like the simple tap-based controls better than touch controls, as they reduce the risk of accidental playback changes during the night, and the set can give you up to 14 hours’ worth of sound.
The app includes a variety of masking sounds that you can load directly onto the earbuds. For best results, you should listen to something with a pitch similar to that of the noise you’re trying to block out. You can even combine up to three of those sounds to make a custom soundscape. You get a few presets that are labeled specifically for masking low-, mid-, and high-frequency sounds; one of our testers with tinnitus found a track in the same frequency range as their ringing, which helped make it less noticeable.
Once you’ve selected your sounds, you can load them directly onto the earbuds so that you don’t have to keep your phone connected to them all night. The preloaded sound files play on a loop, which means that once your chosen track has begun, you won’t need to worry about anything interrupting your audio.
You can also stream content via Bluetooth. If the built-in sounds aren’t for you, the A20 set also can stream your favorite music/ASMR/soundscape tracks from your phone—but this function reduces the earbuds’ battery life. With preloaded sounds, the A20 set played for around 14 hours in our tests. If you stream music instead, you’ll probably get about 10 hours, which still should be enough for all but the longest lie-ins.
Another option is to start out streaming and transition to preloaded sounds when the A20 senses that you’ve fallen asleep—doing this will provide you with more hours of battery life. Or, if you just need the audio to fall asleep, you can choose to have the sound stop after a set number of hours.
The battery in the charging case holds five additional charges and can fully power up the earbuds in 90 minutes.
The sound quality is balanced, with no piercing highs or booming bass. The set offers enough bass to help mask lower-frequency distractions and reproduce rumbling thunder in a soundscape, as well as nimble high frequencies to handle delicate raindrops.
The sound is good enough that you may also choose to use these earbuds when you’re awake, and you can adjust the EQ settings in the app to meet your specific listening preferences.
The earbuds are small and surprisingly comfortable. Each earbud is tiny—about the size of a peanut butter M&M—and far thinner than most true wireless earbuds that are made for daytime use. The pair comes with four sizes of isolating tips, three pairs of perforated “breathable” tips, and three sizes of stabilizing wings. The breathable tips reduce the earbuds’ occlusion effect (a side effect of all sealed earbuds) but do not block sound, so we don’t recommend using these tips if you are seeking maximum noise blocking.
Though the body of each earbud is made of hard plastic, the wing is puffy, so the earbud sinks into a cushion of air. However, people who don’t like the feeling of earbuds in their ears or who sleep on firm pillows could still find the pressure uncomfortable. In addition, to achieve the small size, the A20 set lacks microphones, so you must take the earbuds out to answer a call.
An alarm is built in. Because this set blocks sound so well, you likely won’t be able to hear an alarm clock. Fortunately, the earbuds offer their own alarm, which you can set via the app. You can set up to five different alarms and choose which days of the week they are active. You can also choose between four different alarm sounds. A firm double-tap silences the alarm. However, there is no snooze button.
The system provides data on your sleep. If you’re into tracking your shut-eye, the A20 tracks the quality of your sleep, including data such as duration and timing of sleep depth, how many times you roll over, and which position you sleep in most.
The data is not as in-depth as what you can get from other sleep-tracking devices, but what it collects is useful, and you can make the results more accurate by doing the sleep-position calibration in the app.
The A20 is water-resistant and has a warranty. If you happen to splash these earbuds with water, they’ll survive, as they have an IPX4 rating. Soundcore, which is owned by Anker, covers the A20 set with a 18-month warranty. If you purchase from the Soundcore site, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
You can’t use your own alarm sounds. If you are accustomed to waking gently with a custom tone, using the Soundcore Sleep A20 pair may take some adjustment. We found the included alarm sounds pleasant and effective, but if you prefer a specific alarm sound on your phone, the A20 may not play that alarm in your ears.
iPhone alarms still sound, but it comes out of the phone, not the earbuds. Google Pixel alarms play in the earbuds, but only if you’ve connected them via Bluetooth; plus, the alarm plays at the same volume as your media, so it may not be loud enough to wake you if you’re a heavy sleeper.
This pair also lacks a snooze function. We made a work-around by setting three different alarms 10 minutes apart.
The earbuds might block sounds too well. Another concern is that this pair’s isolation and masking are so good that people who need to be alerted to an emergency may not hear the alert.
If that’s a concern, you can use the perforated eartips and play your masking sounds at a lower level. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than earplugs.
They’re somewhat pricey. At the original price of $150, this pair is quite expensive for an earbud set that can’t work for phone calls and has limited bonus features (such as active noise cancellation or better water resistance).
But there literally isn’t any other earbud set available that does what the Soundcore Sleep A20 pair does, and at least the sound quality is good enough that you could use these earbuds during the day if you wanted. Earplugs can reduce the sounds around you, but they don’t play soothing audio—and they also cause you to experience the occlusion effect, which amplifies every sound your body makes.
