I Stopped Recommending AirPods After Trying These $80 Earbuds
A friend asked me last month what earbuds to buy. My automatic response used to be 'just get AirPods Pro' because the seamless Apple integration and good ANC made them an easy recommendation. Then I paused, remembered I'd been using the Soundcore Space A40s for the past two months, and gave a different answer. These $80 earbuds had eroded my confidence in reflexively recommending Apple's $250 option. Let me explain why — including where the A40 falls flat. Why Budget Earbuds? I'm not anti-Apple. I use a MacBook and iPhone daily. But I've lost two pairs of earbuds — one fell into a sink, one fell out during a bike ride — and paying $250+ each time feels increasingly unjustifiable. When I saw the A40 reviewed by a few audio channels I trust, with specific mention of the LDAC codec support and 50-hour total battery life, I ordered a pair expecting to be mildly impressed and slightly disappointed. I was more than mildly impressed. Sound Quality: Punching Above Their Weight The Space A40 uses a dual-layer diaphragm driver and supports LDAC, Sony's high-quality Bluetooth audio codec that transfers up to 990kbps (about three times the bandwidth of standard SBC). If you have an Android phone with LDAC support or an LDAC-compatible device, the audio quality jump over standard Bluetooth is audible. Bass is full and controlled, not muddy. Mids are clear — vocals on acoustic tracks and podcasts sound natural. Highs are present without being piercing. Compared to AirPods Pro 2: the A40 has more bass presence and a warmer overall signature. The AirPods have more balanced, neutral sound by default. If you like bass-forward listening (hip hop, EDM, pop), the A40 wins. If you prefer accurate sound for classical or jazz, the AirPods are cleaner. The A40's Soundcore app includes a parametric EQ and HearID — a feature that plays tones and adjusts the sound profile to your specific hearing. After the HearID calibration, music felt tailor-made. ANC That Actually Does Something The adaptive noise cancelling on the A40 adjusts based on your environment — it detects ambient noise levels and applies more or less cancellation accordingly. On a bus or subway, it noticeably reduces the engine rumble and crowd noise. In a coffee shop, it dampens the background hum enough to focus. In a quiet room, ANC in maximum mode produces a slight pressure sensation that some people find uncomfortable — I turn it off when I'm at home. Against wind? Not great. Walking outside on a breezy day, the ANC microphones pick up wind noise that sounds like interference. The AirPods handle wind better. For commuting or office environments, the A40's ANC is excellent. For outdoor use, it's just okay. Comfort and Fit The A40s come with five sizes of ear tips (XS, S, M, L, XL). The default medium fit me perfectly on first wear. After four hours of continuous use, I had zero ear fatigue — they're light, the ear tip material is soft silicone, and the ergonomic shape keeps them in place without putting pressure on the ear canal. I've worn them during workouts, walking, and long video calls without issues. They're IPX4 rated: safe for sweat and light rain, but don't submerge them. Battery Life: The A40's Superpower 10 hours of playtime per charge with ANC on, 13 hours with ANC off. The case adds another 40 hours. That's 50 hours total — which means I charge this thing once a week at most. By comparison, AirPods Pro 2 give about 6 hours per earbud charge with ANC on, 30 hours total. The A40 wins this comparison by a significant margin, and battery life is the thing I actually notice day-to-day. Running out of battery mid-commute is genuinely frustrating; with the A40, it basically never happens. Multipoint Connection The A40 can connect to two devices simultaneously. My phone and laptop are both connected at all times. When I get a call on my phone, audio switches automatically from laptop to phone. When I go back to YouTube on the laptop, audio switches back. This works reliably — I'd estimate a 95% success rate with auto-switching, and the 5% of the time it doesn't switch automatically, I just pause on one device and play on the other. Where It Falls Short Genuine Problems Worth Knowing The case lid is loose — this is a well-documented complaint across reviews. It can open in your bag or pocket, and earbuds can fall out. I bought a silicone case cover for $8 on Amazon to fix this, but I shouldn't have needed to. Call quality is just adequate. In quiet environments, the A40 handles calls fine. In loud environments, callers report that I sound like I'm in a wind tunnel. The AirPods Pro have noticeably better call microphones. No wireless charging on the base model. You have to pay extra for the wireless charging version, which seems like a cash grab at this price point. Touch controls on the earbuds can register accidental presses. Adjusting your earbuds mid-session triggers volume changes or skips. Transparency mode works but has a slight hiss in the background. Not terrible but noticeable in quiet environments. No Apple H1/H2 chip means no seamless device switching within the Apple ecosystem — you have to manually manage connections via the Soundcore app. Who Should Buy This? Buy them if: you commute by bus or train and want solid ANC without paying AirPods prices, you have an Android phone and can take advantage of LDAC, or you're tired of charging your earbuds every day. Skip them if: you make a lot of calls in noisy environments, you're deeply in the Apple ecosystem and want seamless switching, or you need earbuds for outdoor windy conditions. At $80, the Soundcore Space A40 offers sound quality and battery life that genuinely compete with earbuds at twice the price. The loose case lid is annoying and should have been caught in QC, but it's a solvable problem with a $8 accessory. I give these an 8.5 out of 10. If Soundcore fixes the case and adds wireless charging as standard, this rating goes to 9.
Read more