Anker Soundcore Space 2 Headphones Are a Top Value Alternative to Bose and Sony

Back in 2023, Anker released its Soundcore Space One noise-canceling headphones. While I thought they were a good value at around $100, truth be told, I didn’t love them even as they became popular headphones. They looked a little too large on my head and offered decent, though not exceptionally good, performance across the board. They were a good budget-friendly alternative to more expensive headphones from Bose, Sony and Apple, but they fell well short of the flagship models from those brands. 

Anker’s new-for-2026 Soundcore Space 2 headphones ($130) are a definite upgrade. Not only do they feature a sleeker, more comfortable design, but they also have improved sound and noise canceling. At around a quarter of the price of Sony’s $450 WH-1000XM6 and Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (Gen 2), they’re an excellent, more affordable alternative to those models. While they’re more of a B-plus for overall performance, they earn an A rating in the value department. 

Read more: Best Headphones of 2026

Soundcore Space 2 design

While the Space 2 weighs about the same as the Space One (265 versus 260.6 grams), it appears to be a bit trimmed down and sleeker. Anker has upgraded the ear pads to plush memory foam, and the headphones are overall quite comfortable and fit securely on my head without excessive clamp force.

They fold up flat and include a basic canvas-like carrying pouch, along with a USB-C cable and a 3.5mm cable for audio devices with a 3.5mm jack. While they don’t feature premium build quality, they look and feel more premium than the Space One.

As far as controls go, there’s a pause/play button and a volume rocker on the left ear cup (press and hold the volume up button to advance a track forward and hold down the volume down button to skip back). On the right ear cup, you’ll find a power/Bluetooth button and an “NC” button that allows you to toggle between noise-canceling and transparency modes. Long press on the power button to access your phone’s voice assistant. You can also answer an incoming call with a single press on the same button or reject it with a long press. After a few days of use, you should get used to operating the buttons by feel alone, though I initially took the headphones off a few times to remind myself which buttons were which.

Soundcore Space 2 features

The Space 2 doesn’t have a lot in the way of extra features. However, they do support multipoint Bluetooth pairing and are equipped with ear-detection sensors that pause your music when you take the headphones off and resume playback when you put them back on (the feature must be activated in the Soundcore companion app for iOS and Android). Additionally, they have an “AI Chat” mode that’s essentially like having always-on Siri and allows you to use voice commands to control playback, or just ask for the weather report and other information. This also must be activated in the app, after which saying, “Hey, Anka,” can be used for voice commands or asking questions.

The app offers manual equalizer settings to tweak the sound, plus a few presets and a HearID EQ setting that optimizes the sound for your ears based on a hearing test. On a more critical note, I was disappointed with the 3D Sound mode in the “Sound Effects” setting in the app. It didn’t expand the soundstage or give any sort of spatial audio sensation and actually made everything sound worse. Perhaps it will get improved in a firmware update. 

As far as audio codecs go, iPhone users get SBC and AAC. Android users have the added option of Sony’s high-quality LDAC to stream over Bluetooth (it’s Bluetooth 6.1), assuming your device supports it, as many do.

While the headphones support analog wired listening with the included cable, there’s no support for USB-C audio. I was kind of hoping they would.

Soundcore Space 2 noise-canceling performance

The headphones offer adaptive noise canceling that’s improved over the Space One, with better noise muffling for lower-frequency sounds. That said, while walking in the streets of New York, I did hear more noise across all frequencies than with the Sony WH-1000XM6, Bose QuietComfort Ultra (Gen 2) and Apple AirPods Max 2. In other words, the noise canceling is effective but just not in the same league as what you get with premium ANC headphones. I’d grade it a B-plus, while those other models’ noise canceling gets an A-plus.

Soundcore Space 2 sound quality

Out of the box, I thought the Space 2’s sound quality was quite good using the default Soundcore Signature EQ, but I can’t say it wowed me. There’s decent clarity and definition with a reasonably spacious soundstage, but there’s a bit of bass push, though you may appreciate that. The sound just doesn’t feel quite as clean, natural or rich as what you get with some higher-end wireless headphones. 

After taking Anker’s HearID hearing test in a quiet room, I compared my custom profile to the Soundcore Signature setting and felt I got a noticeable bump in sound quality. In my profile, the bass was dialed back a bit, the midrange more so, and there was a spike where the mids cross into the highs. Lastly, some of the treble was shaved off. It was sort of a modified U-shaped profile with some jaggedness to it. I liked how it made the sound seem a little more balanced, with the bass tightened up a tad and a bit of edge taken off the highs.

The Baseus Inspire XH1 are among the Space 2’s closest competitors at the moment. That model, which costs around $100, has “Sound by Bose” and is overall a well-designed headphone with similar overall performance. I like the sound of the Baseus a tad more. It also has a bit of bass push, but the bass has a little more energy, and the sound just seems a little smoother overall (and the XH1s have a bit more openness). But which sound you prefer will largely come down to a matter of taste. Note that the Inspire XH1 aren’t equipped with ear-detection sensors, but they do come with a hard case instead of a pouch.      

In the end, if I didn’t have a bunch of better-sounding headphones at hand to compare them to, I might have even higher praise for the Space 2’s sound, which is quite decent with a bit of tweaking. I’d give them an A or A-minus for sound at this price ($130 still isn’t cheap), but a B-plus in the grand scheme of things. 

Soundcore Space 2 voice-calling performance and battery life

In my tests with callers on the noisy streets of New York, the headphones did an excellent job reducing background noise to almost silence, but callers said my voice sounded muffled — like I was talking through the sleeve of a thick shirt. I could hear callers fine, but based on their feedback, I’d grade the voice-calling performance a B.

The Space 2 offer strong battery life, with up to 50 hours with noise canceling on at moderate levels and up to 70 hours with noise canceling off. The Sony WH-1000XM6 are rated for up to 30 hours with noise canceling on. 

Anker Soundcore Space 2 final thoughts

Not everybody can afford to spend upwards of $250 (or wants to) on premium noise-canceling headphones, which is where models like the Anker Soundcore Space 2 come in. A clear improvement over the Space One, they have a better design and build quality than several of the headphones on our best budget noise-canceling headphones list and match or exceed their performance. Some of those headphones cost a little less, but the Space 2 are a top option at this price, especially if you see them go on sale for closer to $100.