So the Soundcore Space One are a pair of very impressive entry level ANC headphones that have above average active noise cancellation, a very long battery life and they also have a lot of extra features that you won’t normally find on entry level headphones. But today we’re going to see how the Soundcore Space One stack up to the Sony WH-CH720N which are currently my favorite entry level and headphones to recommend and they’re my favorite for the gym as well.
Regarding pricing, the Soundcore Space one have a retail price of $100… which is very attractive especially considering their feature set. But then there are the Sony WH-CH720N’s and these have a retail price of $150… and these like to routinely go on sale for $130… and sometimes they go on sale for $100. Overall both of these headphones are really good… but you’ll might want to go with one over the other cause of your needs or preferences. Nonetheless, if you want to pick either of these two headphones up they’ll be linked down below.
Now first lets talk about the included case… now the Sony’s dont come included with any kind of a case or pouch. Where as the Space One do come included with a carrying pouch. However, if you do plan on traveling with either of these two headphones, I do recommend that you invest in a hardshell case. Just keep in mind that since the Space One’s are fully collapsable, you will have more case options to choose from… where as since the Sony’s have a lay flat design to them… their case options are a little more limited. Nonetheless, these are entry level ANC headphones… so I dont expect an included case here… so its very impressive that the Space One’s come with a pouch, period.
But now lets talk about the headphones themselves. Regarding fit, but of these headphones have a neutral amount of clamping force to them… so they dont fit too tight and they aren’t super lose… but more importantly they are both big head approved. Both of these headphones have a decent amount of padding underneath their headband, so hot spot aren’t and issue and both of these headphones have very spacious earpads so they will both be able to accommodate most ear types and both ear pads should have no problem fitting you if you have very large ears or ears that stick out a lot. In general, both of these headphones fit well… but I do feel the Sony’s are a lot more comfortable than the Space One. First off there their weight. The Space One’s weigh in at 264 grams… which is average for a pair of ANC headphones… but with the Sony’s these weigh in at 192 grams… making them super light weight. And since these headphones are so light weight, they’re a lot less noticeable when they’re on your head, and you dont notice them shifting their weight around when you’re walking with them on. But also, there’s just something about the Sony’s that make them feel like they are resting much more naturally on your head than the Space One’s… but also, there’s their looks… the Space One’s just look bulky and they’re much bulkier than the Sony’s where as the Sony’s look sleeker. And finally there’s just their build quality. Both of these headphones are mostly made out of plastic and they both have decent feeling leatherette. However, the Sony’s do feel sturdier and more premium than the Soundcore. Overall, both of these headphones fit well… but personally I do prefer to how the Sony’s fit here cause they sit more naturally on your head, they’re lighter, and they also look better too.
But when it comes to their battery life… the Sony’s have an advertised battery life of 35 hours with their active noise cancelation turned on and with their ANC turned off they can go for as long as 50 hours… which is good and its a little above average.
Where a with the Space one, these have an advertised battery life of 40 hours with their ANC turned on and with their ANC turned off, they can go for as long as 55 hours… which is even more impressive than the Sony. And in order to charge these headphones up, they both charge via a USB C port as they should.
Now when it comes to the bluetooth connectivity of these headphones, both of these headphones can be simultainlisy connected to 2 devices at the same time, regardless of eco system, which is good if you’re a power user cause you can easily hot swap from one device to another.
And when it comes to overall performance, both of these headphones have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether youre using an iPhone or an android device… but when it comes to audio codecs, the Sony’s have support for SBC and AAC… where as the Space one has support for SBC, ACC and LDAC which is Sony’s own high res audio codec. However just keep in mind that if you want to use LDAC you do have to be an android user cause iPhone’s top out at AAC, if you use LDAC than your headphones will only be able to be connected to one device at a time and LDAC does take an additional toll on the battery life.
But if you want to you can always just use a wired connection with either of these two headphones cause they both still have a 3.5 millimeter audio jack, and they both come included with audio cables. Now I know this sounds very basic but I do have to point this out cause some companies are starting to remove the audio on their headphones… especially on their more budget friendly options.
But now lets talk about actually lisnteing to music with these headphones. Now with both of these headphones you can go into their apps and you can either choose from a few premade EQ’s of you can make your own. And in general, both of these headphones sound good enough to get the job done. However, I do feel that the Sony’s sound better and the Soundcore Space one and their sound is going to satiate more people. With the Sony’s these sound a little more open than the Space one, they also have a little better instrument operation… but more importantly, they have more physicality in their bass… so the bass on the Sony’s will rattle your head a little bit. Where as the bass on the Soundcore doesn’t have much kick to it… it resonates well… but its not going to rattle your head like the Sony’s. So I feel that people will prefer the Sony’s over the soundcore when it comes to sound.
Now when it comes to controlling your media, both of these headphones are using pshycial buttons… and both of these buttons are on the right ear cup, they’re easy to find and tell apart and they have good tactile feedback.
But the really imirmepssive thing here is, the Soundcore’s have wear sensors, so they will automaitllcy pause your music when you take them off and they’ll start playing your music again. Now personally I dont really care for wear sensors on my headphones and I usually just turn them off… but regardless its very imrepssve that the Space one’s have them cause the Sony’s dont.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancellation on these headphones. Plainly said, the ANC on the Soundcore Space One blocks out way more noise than the ANC on the Sony WH-CH720N… but so that you can see for yourself, we’re going to jump into an ANC Test.
So like you may have just seen, the ANC on the Soundcore Space One blocks out way more noise than the Sony WH-CH720N… and the ANC on the Space one isn’t too far away from the ANC on the Sony 1000XM5 when it comes to blocking out constant lower frequency sounds like road noise. But when it comes to blocking out chatter… the Space One can’t keep up with the Sony 1000XM5. Nonetheless, the ANC On the Sony WH-CH720N is going to be useful on lets say a bus or in a slightly chatty office… but with the ANC ON the Soundcore Space one… these are the better option if you plan on traveling or flying a lot with your headphones.
But also, both of these headphones have an ambient mode… and you can adjust them to your liking. But I do feel that the Sony’s have a more natural sounding ambient mode than the Space One. However, the ambient mode on the Space One has an extra feature called easy chat. And what easy chat is, it allows you to quickly talk to someone without having to fully remove the headphones. And I love this kind of feature on headphones cause it very useful escpially if you’re flying. And with easy chat, you can either manually active it by coving the left ear cup like this.
And then when you let go, the headphones will go back to normal again… of you can also active easy chat with just your voice, like this.
But personally, I do prefer to manually activate easy chat by covering the left ear cup… cause the second that you start talking, easy chat will get activated. Nonetheless, I love that the Space Ones have easy chat cause its great especially if you’re flying with your headphones and its cool at soundcore gives you both options.
But finally here’s the microphone test, now overall I feel that both of these headphones have decent sounding microphones on them to take phone calls with while in a quite room.
but I do feel that the Sony WH-CH720N do a better job of focusing on my voice.
But when it comes to blocking out noise pollution, both of these microphones do struggle a little bit.
And the same thing can be said when it comes to blocking out chatter.
So overall, I feel that both of these headphones have decent sounding microphones on them to talk phone calls with… but you want to do so in a quite environment, cause they do struggle to block out noise pollution
But with all of that being said, if you’re trying to choose between the Soundcore Space one and the Sony WH-CH720N… they are both good options… but with the Soundcore these block out more noise, they have a longer lasting battery life, they have easy chat, and they have wear sensors. But personally I do prefer the Sony WH-CH720N here because they have better build quality, they fit more naturally, they look sleeker and they sound better.