The Anker SoundCore Space NC are decent, mixed-usage, wireless over-ear headphones. They are also noise-canceling and provide a good isolation performance, which makes them suitable for commuting and at the office. Unfortunately, they have a dark sound profile and should be mostly used for bass-heavy music. On the upside, they are well-built, and their 21-hour battery life will satisfy most users. They also have a nice touch-sensitive control scheme for music, and have dedicated buttons for power, calls, and ANC, which are very useful.
Decent for mixed usage. The Anker SoundCore Space have a thumpy and boomy bass with recessed vocals, which will be better suited for bass-heavy genres rather than a wide variety of music. However, they have a good ANC feature that blocks a good amount of background noise, which will be great for commuting and at the office. They are decently stable and more breathable than most over-ears, but they still won’t be a good option for sports due to their bulky design. Also, like most Bluetooth headphones, they won’t be ideal for watching TV due to their latency and mediocre microphone.
Average for neutral listening. They are more dark-sounding headphones. They have a deep and powerful bass, but it is overly thumpy and slightly boomy. Their mid-range is even but recessed, which pushes the vocals and lead instruments to the back of the mix. Also, their treble is underemphasized and lacks detail and brightness. Overall, these headphones will be better suited for bass-heavy genres like EDM and hip-hop.
Decent for commuting. Their ANC feature blocks a good amount of low-frequency noises like engine rumble, and you can block even more noise by playing audio. They are comfortable for long listening sessions but aren’t the most portable headphones. Thankfully they come with a great case, and you can easily have them rest on around your neck thanks to the rotating cups.
Okay for sports. The Anker Space NC aren’t very portable but should fit inside your gym bag if you decide to use them for this use. They are decently stable and you’ll be able to jog with these, but you might sweat a bit more when wearing them. Their dark sound and thumpy bass can be good to keep you pumped during your workouts.
Above-average for the office. They block a great amount of ambient speech, especially if you’re playing audio. They don’t leak too much, so you’ll be able to listen to higher volumes without bothering colleagues surrounding you. Also, their battery life will last you more than a workday, but you won’t be able to use these if they are charging. They also don’t connect to multiple devices simultaneously, so you won’t be able to switch between your desktop and phone.
Sub-par for gaming. The Anker Space NC have too much latency for gaming, and their microphone recording quality isn’t good enough for online games with friends. However, they do come with an audio cable that would get rid of latency, and it also has an in-line microphone that should perform better than the integrated Bluetooth mic.
The SoundCore Space NC are comfortable, and you’ll be able to wear these for a while before feeling any ear fatigue. The headband and the ear cups have thick padding, which is a bit stiff but should soften up with time. The headphones are fairly lightweight and apply a good pressure on your head. They might be a bit too tight for people with larger heads, and the cups might be a bit small for larger ears.
The SoundCore Space NC have touch-sensitive controls on the right ear cup and some additional physical buttons. You get play/pause, volume control, and track skipping on the touch-sensitive surface. You can manage calls on a physical button and have a noise canceling switch. You can also access your device’s voice assistant by holding the call button.
For the volume, you can swipe up or down and keep your finger on the surface at the end of the movement to register the same command again. This means you can go from no volume to max volume with a single swipe. The physical buttons offer great feedback, but you might cover the LED indicator when powering on/off the headphones. Also, you need to be slow and precise with the touch-sensitive area. A quick press or swipe won’t necessarily register, so be sure to put enough pressure on the pad.
Like most over-ears, the SoundCore Space NC are not the most breathable headphones. They trap heat under the ear cups, and some may feel a difference in temperature after a long listening session. These won't be a good option for working out, since you'll sweat a bit more than usual.
Like most over-ears, the SoundCore Space NC are not very portable headphones. However, their cups swivel, making it easy to slide inside a bag or to wear around your neck. Also, they fold into a more compact format and fit inside their great hard case, which doesn’t add too much bulk.
The case of the Anker SoundCore Space NC is great. It is a hard case that protects the headphones well against scratches, water exposure, and impact. The interior of the case is molded to fit the headphones perfectly and gets rid of any wiggling room. The headphones lay flat in the case, and the drivers are also protected.
These headphones have a surprisingly good build quality for their affordable price point. The ear cups feel dense enough to survive a few accidental drops without breaking, and the headband is mostly made out of metal. Unfortunately, the cups aren’t made of metal and are only plastic with a shiny metallic finish. The weakest point of the headphones seem to be the hinges that hold the ear cups, as they feel a bit thinner than the rest of the build.
The SoundCore Space are fairly stable headphones due to their good clamping force. You should be able to jog with these, but their bulky design might not be ideal for more intense physical activities. Their lightweight design doesn’t fall off when tilting the head forward or backward, and since they are wireless, you won’t have to worry about a cable getting hooked on something.
The frequency response consistency is very good. They seem to be using their noise canceling system to check for bass consistency. Therefore, in the bass range, they perform extremely consistently across our five human subjects. In the treble range, they are decently consistent, but not as much as the bass range, showing a maximum deviation of about 6dB under 10kHz. This results in a consistent delivery of bass and treble across multiple users and re-seats.
The bass of the SoundCore Space NC is mediocre. Their LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 10Hz, which is excellent. However, low-bass is overemphasized by about 9dB which will result in excess thump and rumble. Mid-bass, responsible for bass guitars and kick drums, is also overemphasized by about 6dB. High-bass, responsible for warmth, will be slightly boomy due to the 2dB overemphasis. If you'd like a less hyped bass but still want to feel the thump and rumble of it, take a look at the Plantronics Backbeat Go 810.
The mid-range performance of the SoundCore Space is above-average. The whole range is fairly even, but is noticeably under our target curve by 4dB. Vocals and lead instruments will sound rather thin, and since mid-mid is also recessed, they will be pushed to the back of the mix.
The Anker Space NC have mediocre treble performance. The range is flat before 4kHz but gets underemphasized and uneven after. This results in sharp S and T sounds (sibilances) to lack detail and brightness. This will be most noticeable on vocals, instruments, and cymbals.
Their imaging performance is good. Weighted group delay is at 0.27, which is very good, but the GD graph shows that the response crosses the audibility threshold around 30Hz, but this shouldn’t be too audible. Additionally, the L/R drivers of our test unit were well-matched in frequency and phase response but had a bit of mismatch in amplitude. This is important for the accurate localization and placement of objects (like voice, instruments, and video game effects) in the stereo field. However, these results are only valid for our unit, and yours may perform differently.
The SoundCore Space NC have a sub-par soundstage. The PRTF graph shows a decent amount of pinna activation. However, the interaction is not accurate, and there's not a 10kHz notch present either. This and their closed-back design suggest a soundstage that is perceived to be located inside the listener's head, as opposed to in front of it.
The Anker SoundCore Space have a good isolation performance. With the ANC (active noise cancelation) enabled, they achieve more than 18dB of isolation in the bass range, which is quite good. This means they can cancel out the rumble of airplane and bus engines to a good degree. In the mid-range, important for blocking out ambient speech, they isolate by 18dB, which is also very good. In the treble range, occupied by sharp sounds like S and Ts and fan noises like A/C systems, they isolate by 36dB, which is good. They isolate quite more than the Anker Soundcore Life 2, but don't have their good audio reproduction.
The leakage performance of the SoundCore Space NC is good. The significant portion of leakage sits between 1kHz and 5kHz, which is a relatively narrow range. This results in a leakage that sounds fuller and more comprehensible than the leakage of in-ears and earbuds, but not as much as open-back headphones. However, the overall level of leakage is not too loud. With the music at 100dB SPL, the leakage at 1 foot away averages at 33dB SPL and peaks at 50dB SPL, which is just about the noise floor of most offices.
The Anker Space NC’s integrated mic has an above-average recording quality. The LFE of 281Hz results in recorded/transmitted speech that is relatively thin. The HFE of 3.7kHz suggests a speech that lacks detail. Overall, the intelligibility of speech on this microphone will be decent since it depends on the 500Hz-3kHz range.
The noise handling performance of the integrated microphone is mediocre. The mic achieved a speech-to-noise ratio of 14dB, meaning they will have a hard time transmitting clean and noise-free speech even in environments that are moderately loud.
The SoundCore Space NC have a great 21-hour rechargeable battery life but take about 3 hours to charge fully. We couldn’t really find what was the real advertised battery life, since Anker shows 12hrs, 20hrs, and 25hrs on the product page and specs sheet. They also say you can get 50 hours of continuous playback if you use the ANC feature when the headphones are wired, but we couldn’t confirm this. You can use the headphones with an audio cable, even when the battery is dead. However, when you plug the audio cable, be sure to turn off ANC if you want to save battery life, as the headphones will automatically be turned on and use the ANC feature. Note that if you are charging the headphones and plug in the audio cable, you’ll have passive playback, but as soon as you connect the cable, they stop charging.
Anker doesn’t have an application to enhance your listening experience with customization options.
These headphones are Bluetooth compatible but don’t support NFC for quick and easy pairing, and they can’t be connected to 2 devices simultaneously, which would have been useful at the office to switch between your phone and work computer. Unfortunately, these are not Bluetooth 5.0 headphones so if you have a 5.0 source then you may get a slightly better wireless range performance with the Cowin SE7.
With 154ms of delay, the SoundCore Space NC have better performance than the average Bluetooth headphones, which usually get 200-220ms of latency. Their number might still be a bit high for watching video content and gaming, but some devices and apps offer some sort of compensation, so you might not notice the delay as much.
You can use the headphones with the included 1/8” TRRS audio cable. It also has an in-line microphone that will be supported by PCs and console. You can also use them passively even if the battery is dead. If there’s still power, you can use the ANC feature while being wired too. If your ANC switch is on when you plug the audio cable, the headphones will automatically turn on.
These headphones do not have a base/dock. If you’re looking for headphones with one, we suggest the SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless.
The Anker SoundCore Space NC are decent noise-canceling headphones that set themselves apart by their dark sounding audio quality. However, they have great isolation performance and outperform some high-end models in that category. See our recommendations for the best noise cancelling headphones and the best over-ear headphones under $100.
The Anker SoundCore Life 2 Wireless and the Anker SoundCore Space NC Wireless are very similar headphones in design. However, the main difference between the two is sound. The Life have a more balanced and flat frequency response, while the Space have overemphasized bass and a recessed mid-range, which is better suited for bass-heavy genres. The Life also offer more battery life and take less time to charge, but this may be due to the better noise cancelling performance of the Space. The Space are more versatile since they block a good amount of noise while commuting and at the office.
The Anker Soundcore Life Q20 Wireless and the Anker SoundCore Space NC Wireless are both decent wireless over-ear headphones with ANC. The Life have a slightly better-balanced sound profile, a much longer battery that charges much quicker, and much lower latency on iOS. On the other hand, the Space have better ANC, feel better built, and have lower latency on Android.
The Bose QuietComfort 35 II/QC35 II Wireless 2018 are better headphones than the Anker SoundCore Space NC Wireless. The Bose are one of the best noise-canceling headphones we’ve tested so far, and they have an excellent design with a very comfortable fit. They also have a neutral sound reproduction that will be suited for a wider variety of genres compared to the Anker's dark and thumpy sound profile. On the other hand, the included TRRS cable for the Anker has an in-line microphone that we expect to perform better than the one integrated into the headphones themselves. The Anker also less expensive, and fans of bass-heavy music might even prefer them.
The JBL E65BTNC Wireless are better-sounding headphones than the Anker SoundCore Space NC Wireless but don’t isolate noise as well. The JBL sound profile is suitable for a good variety of music genres but will still be better suited for bass-heavy genres. The JBL can also be connected to two devices simultaneously and can be used while charging, which can be very useful at the office. However, the Anker block out more noise, especially in the bass range, which makes them a better option for commuting.
The Plantronics BackBeat Go 810 Wireless are better headphones than the Anker SoundCore Space NC Wireless. While the Anker feels better-built and slightly more comfortable, the Plantronics have a great neutral audio reproduction that is versatile for a wide variety of music genres. The Plantronics bass is overdone and will be better suited for bass-heavy genres. On the other hand, the Anker have about more than half the Plantronics' latency, and their ANC feature blocks out a great amount of ambient noise. The Anker also come with a nice hard case and an in-line microphone. Critical listeners should go towards the Plantronics, while fans of EDM, hip-hop, and rap who like to listen to music while commuting might feel like the Space NC is a better choice.
The Plantronics BackBeat Pro 2 Wireless 2016 are better headphones than the Anker SoundCore Space NC Wireless. Both headphones are better suited for bass-heavy music, but the Plantronics have better overall audio quality. They also have a great 30-hour battery that only takes two hours to charge fully and can be connected to two devices simultaneously. The Plantronics also support aptX Lower Latency if your source can support it as well. However, their ANC isn’t the best, and the Anker are better in that category, making them a better option for commuting. The Anker also have a better microphone for calls, and their in-line one should be even better.
The Plantronics BackBeat Go 810 Wireless are better headphones than the Anker SoundCore Space NC Wireless. While the Anker feels better-built and slightly more comfortable, the Plantronics have a great neutral audio reproduction that is versatile for a wide variety of music genres. The Plantronics bass is overdone and will be better suited for bass-heavy genres. On the other hand, the Anker have about more than half the Plantronics' latency, and their ANC feature blocks out a great amount of ambient noise. The Anker also come with a nice hard case and an in-line microphone. Critical listeners should go towards the Plantronics, while fans of EDM, hip-hop, and rap who like to listen to music while commuting might feel like the Space NC is a better choice.
The Anker SoundCore Space NC Wireless are better headphones than the Cowin SE7 Wireless. The Anker ANC does a good job of isolating out background noise, making them more versatile for everyday casual use and especially for commuting. They also have an in-line microphone on their included audio cable which we expect to perform better than Bluetooth-integrated mics. On the other side, the Cowin might sound better for some, especially if you don’t use their lackluster ANC feature, which negatively affects their sound profile. The Cowin are also Bluetooth 5.0 compatible, which can give you better range and connection stability performance if your source supports it.
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