Get them here
Soundcore Space One Pro: https://amzn.to/3MS5RoQ
Soundcore Space One: https://amzn.to/3B7XByt
So the Soundcore Space One Pro offer very impressive active noise cancelation, they have a super long battery life, they’re fairly durable and they have a fun bass heavy sound signature… But the Soundcore Space One Pro aren’t as PRO as id expect them to be. So today we’re going to see how the Pro’s compare to the Soundcore Space One… which actually have some features I wish the Pro’s had.
Regarding pricing, the Soundcore Space One have a retail price of $100 but they like to go on sale for $80 on a regular basis, and the Soundcore Space One Pro have a retail price of $200 and I expect these headphones to eventually go on sale as well. Nonetheless, if you want to pick either of these headphones up they’ll be linked down below, or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button.
So first there are the cases, unfortunately both of these headphones come with carrying pouches. Now I expect the Space One’s to come with a pouch or with nothing at all cause these are entry level ANC headphones. However, I do expect the Pro’s to come with a hardshell cases cause hard cases are normal for mid tier ANC headphones now. So either of these two headphones, if you plan on traveling with them I do recommend that you get a hard shell case, and the good thing is that both of these headphones are fully collapsable so they should be able to fit most cases out there.
But with the cases out of the way, lets talk about the headphones themselves, now both of these headphones have the same general design, but they are very different from one another. First off the Space One’s are mostly made of light weigh plastic, and these headphones feel very flimsy compared to the Pro’s, where as the Pro’s are much denser an they feel a lot more durable. However with both of these headphones you can feel them wobbling a little bit when you’re handling them and also, so its a constant reminder that these headphone’s construction isn’t as refined as come other headphones out there. But strangely enough, I highly prefer the leatherette on the base Space One’s over the Pro’s. With the Pros the leahtette feels very plastic and synthetic, where as with the base Space One’s, this leatherette feels almost like silicon or soft touch.
Now when it comes to fit, the Space One have a neutral amount of clamping force where as the Space One Pro have a slightly firmer fit to them. Now both of these headphones are big head approved, but the Space One Pro might be better for working out cause of their slightly firmer fit, and like I mentioned earlier, they’re more durable as well. But also like I mentioned earlier, the Space One Pro are denser than the Space One cause they weigh in at 283 grams, which isn’t bad, but they are a little heavier than your average Mid tier or premium ANC headphones. Where as the Space One weigh in at 264 grams. So with the Space one’s you’re not going to notice them shifting around on your head when you’re walking around and they are a little easier to forget that you’re wearing them while sitting at your desk or while in bed. And then there are the ear pads on these headphones, both of these ear pads have big diameters to them, so if you have large ears they should both have you covered, but the Space One’s are a little more spacious than the Space One Pro, cause they pro’s are little more shallow. So if you have ears that stick out a lot, then you’ll might want to go with the Base Space one. So objectively, the Base space one fit better than the Space One pro cause they have a looser fit, they’re lighter, and their ear pads are more spacious… but subjectively I prefer to wear the Space One Pro’s cause these look much sleeker compared to the Base Space one.
Now when it comes to battery life, both of these headphones are monsters. Both the Space One and the Pro’s have an advertised battery life of 40 hours with their ANC turned on… which is great for commuters and flyers. And with their ANC turned off the Base One’s are good for 55 hours and the Pro’s are good for 60 hours.
And when it comes to charging these headphones, they both charge via a USB C port as they should. But these USB C port are strictly used for charnging and you cant use these USB C port as a wired connection. But both of these headphones do have a 3.5 millimeter audio jack and they come with an audio cable so you can use them with a wired connection that way… and you can use these headphones passively if you want.
But when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, both of these headphones can be connected to two devices at the same time regardless of eco system so you can easily hot swap from one device to another which is good if you have an iPhone and an android device.
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 you’re using an iPhone or an android device, and when it comes to audio codecs, both of these headphones have support for SBC AAC and LDAC which is Sony’s own in house high res audio codec. However if you want to use LDAC you do have to be an android user cause iPhones top out at AAC, and if you do decide to use LDAC, that is going to take an additional toll on the battery life.
But with all of that out of the way lets talk about sound. Now with both of these headphones you can go into their app and you can either choose from a few premade eq’s or you can make your own. But in general, both of these headphones sound good enough to get the job done… and both of these headphones can sound a little narrow cause they don have the best instrument separation, with both of them they put an emphasis on the vocals and bass and the instrumentals take a back seat. But when it comes to overall performance, these headphones still sound very different from one another. The Space One’s sound a little more harsh cause the highs are a lot more emphasized and the bass is much more intense and it resonates a lot, but it can be over powering and it can muddy the rest of the music. Where as with the Pro’s these also have a bass heavy sound signature, but they do a much better job by comparison of controlling the bass and the highs aren’t as harsh, so the pros sound more balanced and less artificial. So overall, both of these headphones are better options for people that like a more bass heavy sound signature, cause their instrument separation isn’t as good… but with the Pro’s you are going to get a better listening experience case they do a better job of controlling their bass and they sound more balanced.
Now when it comes to the media controls on these headphones, they’re both using the same physical buttons which is fine, but the really strange thing here is, the Base Space One’s have wear sensors, so when you take them off they’ll automatically pause your music and when you put them back on they’ll start playing your music again… and I dont really care for wear sensors on my headphones, but I find it very strange that the Space One Pro dont have wear sensors.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these headphones. Now both of these headphones block out an impressive amount of noise for entry level and mid tier ANC headphones… but so that you can see for yourself, we’re going to jump into the ANC test.
ANC Test
So like you may have just seen, the Pro’s are able to block out a little more noise than the base Space One. Specifically, they do a better job of dealing with noise on the higher end. Now even though both of these headphones block an impressive amount of noise, they do so with a little more cabin pressure compared to other headphones on the market. Now the cabin pressure on these headphones isn’t a problem… but more premium headphones are able to block out the same amount of noise, or a little more, with less pressure on your ear drums which overall just leads to a more comfortable experience.
Now both of these headphones also have an ambient mode and you can go in adjust how much noise these headphones let in and the microphone array on both of these headphones do a really good job of rejecting wind noise when walking out doors. However, the ambient mode on the Pro’s sounds a lot more natural than the ambient mode on the base Space ones… but regardless they both work well. But another major difference between these headphones is easy chat, now on both headphones you can activate easy chat with just your voice like this.
Easy Chat
So with both of these headphones, you can activate easy chat with just your voice, but I dont like it cause it very easy to accidentally activate it and you can’t manually deactivate easy chat so you have to wait the full 5, 10, or 15 seconds. But with the base Space one, you can manually activate easy chat by covering the left ear cup and when you let go, the headphones will go back to normal again.
And again, I prefer to manually activate easy chat cause there are never any mistakes, and I again, I find it very strange that the pros dont have this option and I really wish that they did.
Mic Blue Quite Room
But finally heres the microphone test, and I feel that both of these headphones have decent micprohnes on them to take phone calls with while in a quiet room.
Mic Pro Quiet
However, I do think the Soundcore Space One Pro have slightly better clarity to them while in a quiet .
Mic Pro road
And both of these microphones do a really good job of dealing with road noise, cause right now these microphones are doing a good job of reducing all of this noise pollution. Cause for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone, you’re going to clealery hear all of this road noise, but if we were to switch back over to the soundcore space one pro, it is severely reduced.
Mic Blue road
But oddly enough, I think the Base Soundcore Space One’s do a better job of dealing with this road noise.
Mic Blue chatter
And I also think that the Base Soundcore Space One’s do a better job of dealing with this chatter.
Mic Pro Chatter
Cause with the Space One Pro, I feel that these are letting in more chatter and they have a little more interference with my voice. So overall I think the Space One Pro have better clarity to them while in a quiet room, but the Base Space One’s do a better job of dealing with noise pollution.
So with all of that being said, both of these headphones give you a really big bang for your buck and they are both great options for frequent flyers and commuters cause they both block out a lot of noise and they both have a super long battery life. And their pros do have their improvements like better sound quality, better build quality, and they look much sleeker as well. But I find it odd the the Base Space One’s have wear sensors, you can manually activate easy chat, and they block out almost as much noise. So yes, the Space One Pro’s have their improvements over the base model, but they aren’t as pro as I would expect.