When I first picked up the Soundcore Space One Pro headphones this week, I did not anticipate them being one of the best headphones I've ever tested.
I've tried a fair few headphones at this point — $4,000 audiophile open-back headphones that altered my perception of audio reality; $70 headphones that made me shrivel up my nose in disgust; $550 headphones that elicited nothing more than a 'meh'.
But when I started listening to the Soundcore Space One pro headphones, a kind of celestial, euphoric haze settled over me. I was blown away by the sound quality with respect to the mid-range, easily affordable price point. What do you mean, these headphones are under $200? I've tried headphones double the price that sound exactly the same!
Soundcore sound supreme
When I first tried the Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones, I thought they were decent. Not excellent, certainly not worth over $400, but decent. The QuietComforts are very bass-heavy, which I find is sometimes a symptom of headphones that don't quite have the audio prowess they think they do.
The Space One Pro are bass-heavy, too, but there's a way around the muddled sound quality that so often comes with that. Venture into the Soundcore app and try something called 'HearID'. It's basically just a personalized EQ (not a custom EQ, although they could arguably be interchangeable).
HearID takes you through a series of hearing tests and then a 'this or that' game to generate you an optimal EQ setting. If you're familiar with an eye test at the opticians, where they ask you which lens is clearer, it's basically just that, but with music.
Then, once you've completed the game, you're greeted with a personalized EQ suited to your tastes. If you like bass, you'll obviously lean towards a bass-heavy EQ, but if you like a little more detail in your tracks, you might want a treble-heavy EQ. Here's what I was generated.
As you can see, mine is a more gentle curve than a basshead might choose. This EQ brightened quieter sounds in tracks and pumped up the bass just a little, so it didn't overpower the rest of my music.
Choose your playback
Although the majority of headphones I've tested have this, I love that the Space One Pro have a 3.5mm jack. This means I can plug into my laptop or listening device and listen for hours without worrying about draining the battery.
Not that you'd need to worry — the Space One Pro battery lasts for a mind-boggling 60 hours with ANC turned off.
However, with wired playback, you can extend that battery life to eternity.
Not so budget anymore
Whereas the Space One — the previous iteration of the Space One Pro — was just $99, the Space One Pro headphones are over double, at $199. But this doesn't mean Soundcore has merely gotten greedy and decided to charge as much as they want for mediocre headphones — there's a reason for the price increase.
The Space One Pro headphones are not priced as budget cans, because they simply aren't budget cans. There's an audio finesse you wouldn't get on budget offerings; the app is user-friendly and intuitive; the multi-point connection means you can shift from phone to laptop to phone and the Space One Pro will follow you along like a loyal companion. No more going into settings and selecting the headphones on each device you switch to.
One of the main reasons why I'm such an AirPods Pro 2 fanatic is because of how seamlessly they switch from iPhone to MacBook to iPad. But really? The Space One Pro can do it too, now.
Is the sound quality as good as audiophile-grade headphones? No. But do the Space One Pro sound phenomenal for their sub-$200 pricetag? You bet.
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