With enhanced comfort and active noise-canceling, the Sleep A30 are Soundcore’s finest sleep earbuds to date.
Sleep earbuds are crucial for achieving a restful night’s sleep, yet the availability in this category is dwindling. Bose has ceased its Sleepbuds without offering a replacement, and Philips has followed suit. This has reduced the number of credible brands producing high-quality sleep earbuds by 2025 to just a few.
Among these brands is Soundcore, a division of Anker, with its Sleep A10 and Sleep A20 both featured on our top sleep earbuds list. The company is now accepting pre-orders on Kickstarter for the innovative Sleep A30. For the first time, the Soundcore Sleep A30 introduces active noise-canceling, although it comes at a $50 increase compared to the previous version.
After testing (and using) the Soundcore Sleep A30 for a week, I can confidently say they excel. As a side sleeper, I was pleasantly surprised by how comfortably the Sleep A30 earbuds fit in my ears most nights, without any pressure or discomfort the following morning. The sound quality and active noise-canceling are impressive given the earbuds’ compact size.
However, a high retail price of $230 means potential buyers should think about whether the Sleep A30 can also serve as everyday or workout earbuds to justify the cost.
Comfort is unparalleled with the Soundcore Sleep A30
Most importantly, comfort is paramount in sleep earbuds. They must be crafted to accommodate various sleeping positions and preferences, especially challenging for side sleepers like myself. Sleep earbuds that are overly bulky or protrude too much from the ear canal can lead to discomfort as soon as your head hits the pillow.
Soundcore’s Sleep A10 and A20 were already exemplary in this aspect, maintaining an ultra-low profile. The Sleep A30 enhances this, being 7% smaller than its predecessors. I noticed this right away—after positioning the buds in my ears, they sit almost flush. While lying on my side, I quickly forgot I was even wearing them.
One surprising aspect during my testing of the Soundcore Sleep A30 was how securely they fit without causing pressure or discomfort. Typically, when I wear earbuds to sleep, they either fall out overnight or cause significant congestion upon waking. Neither occurred with the Sleep A30 — I experienced no discomfort, and they only fell out once.
Some of this can be attributed to the Sleep A30’s compact design, while the rest is due to excellent ventilation.
I used the medium silicone eartip on the left earbud and the small silicone eartip on the right, but there are many customizable tips included in the package. You receive four sizes of silicone eartips and three sizes of foam eartips, along with three sets of wings. Thanks to the flexible wings that help secure the earbuds in place and the variety of tip sizes and materials, almost anyone should find a combination of Sleep A30 that suits them.
Soundcore notes that silicone eartips are likely to be more comfortable, while foam eartips provide superior sound isolation and a firmer fit. If you can manage the minor inconvenience, I’d suggest using the silicone tips for sleep and workouts, reserving the foam ones for daily use.
Sound quality and ANC exceed expectations
Naturally, sound quality isn’t the primary focus for sleep earbuds. These won’t outshine my Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, AirPods Pro 2, or Powerbeats Pro 2 in terms of audio performance, yet the Sleep A30 holds its ground. The soundstage is well-balanced without any single element being overly emphasized — lows, mids, and highs come through clearly.
You do get powerful bass with the right track, primarily because the passive sound isolation is effective enough to keep vibrations contained within your ear canal. There’s a warmth to the Sleep A30’s sound profile, which I found agreeable, especially considering their intended use. The volume level is also impressive, allowing comfortable listening at 50% or lower, which is beneficial for battery longevity.
According to Soundcore, over Bluetooth, each earbud provides 6.5 hours of playback with ANC activated, and a combined total of 35 hours with the charging case. This aligned with my real-world experience. After one full night of Bluetooth use, my Sleep A30 earbuds were completely or nearly empty when I woke up. In local mode, listening to white noise or nature sounds saved directly to the earbuds, that extends to nine hours of battery life per earbud.
This is all with active noise-canceling active, suggesting you could potentially squeeze extra battery life by turning it off.
The app is robust, providing controls for ANC, sleep
