Pro experience on a budget

Design

• Very comfortable
• Foldable design
• Foldable

The original Space One were lightweight but also a bit flimsy. I could accept that for less than £100, but at £150 I’d expect more. And as far as build quality goes, the Space One Pro deliver a better experience.

Just from the feel and heft, they come across as better than the original model. They’re also more comfortable, a combination of a firmer clamping force that’s not too stiff (the Space One were a little loose); plush earpads that provide a comfortable point of contact and a very soft underside of the headband. Comfort has clearly been the priority with this design and they feel very comfortable.

The stepless slider for adjusting the fit is also an area where they feel an improvement on the less expensive model. They can be folded, though there’s no carry case just a pouch to keep them safe. Colours include Jet Black and Cream White (which I think is the better-looking).

Controls are located on both headphones and I don’t find I’m fumbling quite as much with where the controls are on the side – which cover noise-cancelling, playback, volume (or track skipping), and power.

The controls are in the same place, and perhaps I’m more used to the placement, but I found it a bit tricky to remember which button is which. Placing the ANC and power button close together, sometimes I forgot which button it is. At least there’s a nice clicky feel to the buttons, which gives some assurance that it’s been pressed. A 3.5mm jack for audio and USB-C port for charging are on the left earcup.

Features

• LDAC support
• Google Fast Pair
• Soundcore app

Wireless connectivity is still Bluetooth 5.3, and there’s SBC, AAC, and LDAC (you need to install an update to enable LDAC). I haven’t experienced any connectivity issues walking through a busy interference area, such as Waterloo, or in fact any problems elsewhere.

Like the Space One, the Space One Pro does not seem capable of streaming in LDAC when Bluetooth multipoint is engaged. There’s Google Fast Pair for a quick connection to Android devices.

The Soundcore app gives you plenty of ways to customise the headphones’ sound, noise-cancellation, controls and more.

You can create your own custom EQ, or select from several presets (personally, I’d stick with the Soundcore Signature EQ, the other main EQ options don’t sound as good). There’s the HearID Sound that creates a sound profile just for you and what’s new is the Dolby Audio, which is basically spatial audio.

Finding there’s too much wind noise? Switch on Wind Noise Reduction feature.

There’s room to customise the controls – sort of. It’s a case of adding Bass Boost to a double tap and whether to include Normal mode alongside the other Noise Cancellation options. The Easy Chat mode is Soundcore’s version of Sony’s Speak to Chat, where it automatically detects when you’re speaking and pauses music.

Battery Life

• Up to 40 hours with ANC
• Fast-charging support

Soundcore is claiming the Space One Pro can reach up to 40 hours with ANC on and 60 hours without. Doing my usual test of playing a Spotify stream and measuring the battery drops each hour, I think 40 hours is wide of the mark.

With AAC Bluetooth, the headphones fell 10% in three hours, which suggests a performance closer to 30 than 40. That’s still reasonable, and matches the Sony 1000X series, though a pair like the Cambridge P100 – which have fallen to £149 at the time of review – offer considerably longer battery life.

There is some fast-charging support, a five minute charge offers a whopping eight hours of extra battery life.

Noise Cancellation

• Adaptive ANC
• Wind Noise Reduction mode
• Very good call performance

Less expensive headphones don’t always offer the best ANC experience. In fact, a lot of them aren’t very good at all, and produce a passable performance. Does the Space One Pro make headway in this area? Yes and no.

It does seem to depend how much noise the headphones make, which is an obvious point to make but what I expected was more consistency across the board.

For instance, worn on a plane, the Space One Pro get rid of a substantial amount of noise. It’s not completely quiet but the sound of the cabin doesn’t distract from the music I’m listening to and I don’t have to turn the volume up to mask the cabin noise.

When walking around London, the headphones seem to struggle more. There’s enough suppression to provide a general sense of calm but noise still makes its way through – walking through Waterloo station I can still hear the ambient sounds of the station to the point where I thought I was in the Transparency mode. I had to rely on the volume to push these sounds away.

The ANC is good at masking voices, and when the Transparency mode is turned on, it pipes in clarity to the ears and voices and external sounds come across naturally.

Doing a pink noise test versus the Space One, I’ve had some varying results. One attempt there wasn’t much difference between the two. Another attempt, and there was a clearer difference with the Space Pro quieter pair.

I suspect that it might be the ‘Adaptive’ part of the ANC not always kicking in with as much strength as it should. Eventually, I switched to the Custom ANC to keep it consistent. In any case, it’s a solid noise-cancelling performance, especially for £149.

And what about call quality? It’s as good as you can get for the money.

There’s good clarity, voice pick-up was good as well, and the person on the other end mentioned they could barely hear anything on my side apart from a couple walking past. Standing still in a busy food market and all they could hear was my voice. That’s the sign of a good call performance.

Sound Quality

• Clear highs
• Detailed midrange
• Balanced bass

Compromises are often made with less expensive models, but the best compliment I could make about the Soundcore Space One Pro is that it sounds more expensive than its price would suggest.

Treble is clear and sharp with GoGo Penguin’s Erased by Sunlight. There’s a strong sense of definition, variation and detail to the highs – the performance gets stronger at slightly higher volumes, in which case some may find it can be a little too strident.

Listening to Sufjan Stevens’ Chicago, and again, there’s a good brightness to the highs in this track too. Normally, I’d expect highs to be a bit vague and lacking in detail with less expensive headphones. This is a much more mature sound and tuning than I was expecting from Soundcore.

The midrange is rendered with clarity and detail – you could get more insight at higher prices, but what’s offered here is more than fine. I’d also say the headphones come across neutral in terms of tone – they’re neither crisp nor warm in their approach – and this uncoloured sound helps make a wide variety of tracks enjoyable to listen to.

Vocals sound clear and natural. Whether it’s Frank Sinatra in Fly Me to the Moon, Phoebe Bridgers in Garden Song or Chris Cornell’s distinctive voice in Black Hole Sun – there’s strong clarity and detail to voices, along with an impressive sense of naturalism to instruments. This is an excellent sound for the money.

It’s broad in terms of dynamics – there’s a bump in ‘loudness’ but it’s a case of going from slightly less loud to louder rather than truly being ‘quiet’. It’s most noticeable with Norah Jones’ I Don’t Know Why – there’s a small bump in the inflexion of her voice but it’s not quite as swift in terms of its swing from quiet to loud. Nonetheless, it’s fine.

Bass is good and kept in check in terms of balance. That means the Space One Pro can deliver strong, weighty, punchy and even rich bass without affecting midrange clarity. The bass performance is stronger here than it is on the Sennheiser Accentum Plus.

My main takeaway is that there’s never been a sense that the Space One Pro over-eggs bass for the sake of it. Using the Bass Booster EQ doesn’t really boost the bass all that much and makes the midrange recessed. I’d avoid it.

I’ve found the tuning of these headphones very impressive. Clarity and detail are good, the soundstage is wide, the sound is balanced. If there was an issue, is that at higher volumes the soundstage can come across as a little too stretched. As well as getting louder, the shape of the soundstage seems to warp a little. It’s… odd.

Should you buy it?