Soundcore Sleep A10 Review: With the Soundcore Sleep A10, the manufacturer has launched an ultra-compact wireless in-ear. It doesn’t bother your ears while you’re sleeping and surprises with an extraordinarily voluminous sound that you certainly wouldn’t expect from this size.
Soundcore Sleep A10 Review
Soundcore Sleep A10 Review, photos, videos & specs below;
- Soundcore Sleep A10
- Packaging & scope of delivery
The packaging of the Soundcore Sleep A10 is strongly reminiscent of that of the flagship model Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro. If you open them, you will find inside, in addition to the listeners themselves, a total of four pairs of ear pads, four pairs of ear hooks, a USB-C charging cable and a user manual.
Design & Processing
The Soundcore Sleep A10 come in a bud design but are significantly more compact than their “big brothers”. The headphones are only around 5 mm thick, so that they hardly or not at all protrude from small ears. With a weight of 3 g, the headphones are also extremely light.
In terms of color, the Soundcore Sleep A10 are only available in white and are mostly made of plastic. As always, the Soundcore logo is on the back of the handset. The Sleep A10 look a bit funny in the charging cradle with the cushion size recommended by Soundcore. The ear pads look insanely large compared to the mini earphones. We will go into more detail under the point of wearing comfort.
The charging box is damn huge compared to the very small headphones. About as big as you would expect from a normal headphone. As is typical for Soundcore, it can be postponed.
In terms of workmanship and design, I have nothing to complain about with the Soundcore Sleep A10. Both the headphones and the charging case are clean and have no defects.
Big sound in small headphones
Soundcore Sleep A10 Review: The Soundcore Sleep A10 are each equipped with a dynamic driver. Unfortunately, Soundcore is silent on the whole with these headphones, which are too hard facts. Unfortunately, no membrane diameter is given . However, since these are located directly behind the earpiece opening, they cannot actually be larger than 5 mm.
Soundcore Sleep A10 Review: When I put the Soundcore Sleep A10 in my ears for the first time, I expected something similar to the 1More ComfoBuds Z that we tested a few years ago. Little bass (where is that supposed to come from here?), solid midrange and a treble that is not very detailed. Okay for listening to a podcast or audio book to fall asleep in bed in the evening, but not really useful as music headphones. Wrong thought, the Soundcore Sleep A10 completely surprised me.
If you don’t hear it for yourself, you can’t believe how good the Soundcore Sleep A10s sound as headphones for listening to music. As usual from Soundcore, these tiny devices also have a sub-bass and bass, as is known from the Soundcore Life P3, for example. I don’t quite understand how it can be that these mini headphones produce such a voluminous sound as if they were ordinary, normal-sized Soundcore headphones.
Soundcore Sleep A10 Review: The midrange and treble of the Soundcore Sleep A10 are also surprisingly detailed. I compared the compact in-ear to the entire Soundcore line-up. In my opinion, they sound better than the entire budget range. Soundcore Life-In-Ears like the Life P2, Life P2 Mini , Life P3i or Life A3 have less to offer in terms of sound, especially in the treble. Soundcore’s mid-range ANC-In-Ear Life P3 also performs a touch worse in my opinion. In terms of sound, the Soundcore Sleep A10 are quite comparable to the Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro !
Soundcore Sleep A10 Review: Overall, the Soundcore Sleep A10 are a statement in relation to the size. They don’t come close to Soundcore’s top model , the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro , but everything else from their own line-up is currently inferior or equal. The Soundcore Liberty 4 with dual drivers, which is in the starting blocks, will probably also sound better than the Sleep A10. Nevertheless, in six years of testing headphones at CG, I have never come across such a compact headphone with such a large stage.
Wearing Comfort
As briefly mentioned under design, the Soundcore Sleep A10 are equipped with special, double-walled ear pads. So Soundcore wants to achieve good shielding from the outside world even without technical ANC. The sleep-in-ear works like earplugs á earplugs. If you can’t stand this feeling in your ears for long, the Soundcore Sleep A10 are not really suitable for you.
I personally like the comfort of the Soundcore Sleep A10. It actually feels like you just have earplugs in your ears that can play music. The weight of 3 g per earpiece is so marginal that it doesn’t matter. Of course you can lie wonderfully on your side with the Sleep A10 , because the headphones are so flat, they don’t press uncomfortably into the ear and the sound is not affected by this.
Operation & App
Soundcore Sleep A10 Review: The Soundcore Sleep A10 are equipped with touch sensors on the back of the handset . However, these only support a double-tap gesture. At least it is possible to customize them in the Soundcore app. The following functions are available:
- Switch sleep/music mode
- next title
- previous title
- Increase/decrease volume
- Play/Pause
Music Mode
In addition to touch customization , the app can be used to adjust the equalizer in music mode and play integrated white noise sounds via “fall asleep quickly”.
There is also the “Smart Switch” function . If this is switched on, the headphones recognize when the user has fallen asleep and automatically switch to sleep mode. There are also: sleep reminder, alarm clock and firmware update.
Sleep Mode
Soundcore Sleep A10 Review: In sleep mode, the headphones work independently without a Bluetooth connection to the cell phone. In this mode, any Whitenoise sound can be played back, which is loaded onto the internal memory of the handset via the Soundcore app. A total of 30 sounds are available in the Soundcore app, unfortunately external sounds cannot be played on the handset. However, I am impressed by the selection, wind, rain, water, fire, nature, city – there should be a suitable sound for everyone. Unfortunately, with some sounds it is quite clear that it is a 15 second loop , which can be annoying, but other sounds are less obvious and more pleasant.
Soundcore Sleep A10 Review: In addition, the volume of the handset can be adjusted in the app in this mode. If the headphones are not connected via Bluetooth, the volume is not linked to the mobile phone volume. There is also the “Smart Passive Noise Cancellation” mode, if this is activated, the handset volume is automatically reduced as soon as you fall asleep.
With the sensor, which recognizes whether you have fallen asleep or not, general sleep data can be collected and read out in the app. Similar to a fitness tracker, statements are made about the length of the different sleep phases and the sleep quality. It is annoying that you need a Soundcore account for this function, but you can also quickly log in via an Apple, Google or Amazon account.
Individual app, tailor-made for the sleep headphones
Soundcore Sleep A10 Review/ Soundcore continue to do a pretty good job with their app. It is individualized for each product and supplemented with useful functions explicitly for the respective product. The fact that the functions are only available when you have actually connected the respective product to your cell phone makes it totally clear and intuitive to use. Soundcore also does a good job when it comes to updates. Two bug fixes have already been released during the now six-week test phase of the Soundcore Sleep A10.
Compromises that you have to make for the form factor
In addition to the limited operating gestures, there are other limitations compared to a normal-sized in-ear that you should be aware of.
No active noise cancellation
While Soundcore speaks of a “4-layer noise cancellation system to filter up to 35dB of noise”, this is not active noise cancellation. The ear cushions are only intended to act like earplugs and thus passively dampen noise.
Soundcore really didn’t communicate this well and was misunderstood by many buyers. Now Soundcore has taken the letdown and some very bad reviews for “cheating”. The “Smart passive noise isolation” item in the app was also understood by many users as ANC, which it is not.
No headset
Presumably to save space, the Soundcore Sleep A10 do without microphones entirely. Therefore, the microphone of the mobile phone is used for sleep monitoring. In addition, of course, you cannot make calls with the Soundcore Sleep A10. Under the premise that the headphones are sold for sleeping, I think you can come to terms with them. However, since it can also replace normal in-ear headphones in terms of sound, you should still be aware of this.
Bluetooth range
Soundcore Sleep A10 Review: Unfortunately, the presumably ultra-energy-efficient Bluetooth module delivered a slightly below-average range and connection stability in the test. If you press both hands firmly against your ears, you can provoke a connection problem. However, I had no problems lying in bed, and the distance from pocket to ear is also no problem on the train or on the road.
In the test, the connection remained stable at around 8 meters in an open area. However, not only the headphones but also your mobile phone play a role. Because there are also differences in the Bluetooth transmission strength of the mobile phone.
Soundcore Sleep A10 Review: Overall, I would say that the Bluetooth range of the Soundcore Sleep A10 is quite suitable for everyday use, even if it is below average. The headphones are only not suitable for sports. As I said, I had no problems in the test when I was out and about, with a normal distance between the cell phone and the receiver.
Battery Life
One thing where you don’t have to compromise, despite the small form factor, is the battery life. Soundcore promises an insane 10 hours of running time in a row. That’s as much as current top models (without ANC switched on) offer.
In the test I was able to confirm your runtime of around 8 hours at 50%-70%, pretty crazy! If you listen to soft music in bed in the evening or at night, the runtime of 10 hours is quite realistic. This means that the headphones can be used all night and still have enough battery for the integrated alarm function in the morning, very good!
Conclusion – Bluetooth in-ears are finally getting awesome!
Soundcore Sleep A10 Review: When I think about what junk came out in 2016-2017 that was immature, too clumsy and offered poor Bluetooth range and battery life. There really wasn’t any real competition for the first generation of Apple AirPods at the time.
Now we are at the point where Bluetooth in-ears, even if they will probably never really come close to wired ones, can offer something like Hi-Fi sound. At the same time, the Soundcore Sleep A10 is an ultra-compact headphone that offers non-audiophile people an incredibly good button-sized sound that does not disturb their sleep.
If we think another 5 years ahead, then maybe there will already be a fully usable in-ear without restrictions in the size of the Soundcore Sleep A10. That’s exactly what we all really want. Great sound and headphones that you can hardly see in your ears!
In terms of price, €180 is of course a word, you are paying for innovation in the field of component reduction. If you can do without the small form factor, you get an equivalent sound, integrated ANC and all the points where you have to make compromises for around €100. Nevertheless, Soundcore proves: a small form factor can also sound big! Soundcore Sleep A10 Review comments below.
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