Sleep earbuds are a growing segment — initially pioneered by Bose, more value-oriented brands are starting to get into the space, and Soundcore’s Sleep A20 are one of the most well-known entrants. At around $180 retail, they’re certainly not “cheap.” I bought a pair a few months back and have been using them regularly.

(Because it will be concern #1 for many buyers: As a stomach and side sleeper, I was pretty skeptical of Soundcore’s marketing that said I’d be able to sleep with these things in my ears all night, but it turns out it was pretty doable!)

Soundcore Sleep A20 quick facts / specs

• Noise cancellation: Passive (non-ANC) 2-layer isolating ear tips, plus “noise masking” sounds in Soundcore app
• Battery life: Up to 14 hours playback in “sleep mode,” up to 10 hours in “Bluetooth mode”
• Charging: USB-C charging case (wired charging only)
• Eartips: 6 included eartip sets (3 sizes each in breathable and sealed designs)
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth 5.3
• Sleep tracking: Hardware-enabled with MEMS micro-motion sensors
• Controls: Tap earbuds to stop or start playback, enable / disable sleep mode, more controls customizable in app
• Price: $180 retail

Soundcore Sleep A20 pros

• Comfortable (even for stomach / side sleepers): I’m a lifelong stomach sleeper. I’ve logged enough nights with the A20s at this point to say that, with a little adjustment of my head position on occasion, I can fall asleep with these in my ears — and keep them in the whole night.
• Battery life: You’ll put them back in the charging case every morning anyway, but it’s hard to imagine these things dying on you mid-slumber unless you never charge the case. They last a long time!
• Sound selections: The Souncore app is not my favorite, but the selection of audio on offer for sound masking, ambient, nature, and other environmental noise for the A20s is great! There are dozens to choose from. You can even mix up to three tracks at various volume levels and play them back at the same time.
• Good isolation: There is no active noise cancellation on the A20s, because they have no microphones (so no, you can’t use these for calls). But, the double-flange eartip design with locking wing seals reliably in both of my ears. Once you add a masking noise or music, the outside world is pretty much gone!

Soundcore Sleep A20 cons

• App: Soundcore’s app isn’t the worst I’ve used, but the layout is needlessly complicated, menu flows make little sense, and understanding how sounds work in “sleep mode” versus Bluetooth mode is going to be entirely lost on most people. Anker isn’t a software company, and it shows.
• Sleep tracking: Regularly thinks I’m asleep when I’m just laying very still while listening to an audiobook in bed. It’s just not a very good algorithm. I wouldn’t buy these for sleep tracking, you’re better off with an Apple Watch or other dedicated fitness tracker solution. The automatic sleep mode “switching” isn’t very reliable, either.
• Audio quality: Audio isn’t terrible, but it is firmly mediocre. And because the A20s are designed to be as small as possible, they have effectively zero bass response. Not surprising, given the physical constraints at play here!
• Charging case: It has magnetic seats for the earbuds, but it’s too fiddly to open. The sliding clamshell design is trying to be “interesting,” but it just ends up being annoying as you rotate the case in your hand to figure out which way to press to get the thing open. (And no wireless charging at $180 is kind of a bummer.)
• Pricey: For earbuds you’re not going to use for everything (e.g., calls, music), $180 is definitely a chunk of change to pony up versus a bag of 200 3M foam earplugs that offer much better isolation.

Can you stomach or side sleep with the Soundcore Sleep A20?

This is the million-dollar question, and I can’t answer it for you. I can just give you my experience. Everyone’s tolerance for and sensitivity to an object inside their ear is going to be different. Some people can’t even manage to sleep with ultra-soft foam earplugs in, because anything touching the ear at all is a no-go. For those who find earplugs go too far into the ear canal, at least, the Sleep A20s may be a better solution — they get into your ear canal about as far as any other silicone membrane earbud (like the AirPod Pros).

My concern was less the “something in my ear” and more “something pressing against my ear while the side of my head is on the pillow.” As a stomach sleeper, I certainly can’t drift off with an AirPod wriggling around as it gets compressed against into my skull. The Sleep A20s are designed to be as low-profile as is reasonably achievable, and I think that design brief was executed successfully. While there are certainly some positions where the earbud is pressing uncomfortably into my ear, I just adjust my head a bit or flip over, and that usually resolves the issue. I also sleep on a pretty well-compressed feather pillow, which is definitely doing things on “hard mode” (literally) as far as these earbuds are concerned.

I’d be lying if I said there weren’t some nights I just chose to take the earbuds out. Maybe I’m having a harder time falling asleep than usual and even the slightest potential discomfort is enough to keep me from drifting off. But I’d do the same with foam earplugs, so I don’t really think that’s on the Sleep A20s.

Soundcore Sleep A20 non-sleep uses

Judging the A20s by the standards of “normal” earbuds is pretty pointless — they aren’t designed for audio quality and they have no microphones. This eliminates a pretty significant number of use cases that would be typical to a high-end earbud. But that’s not to say they can’t be used for non-sleep activities. The A20s are good for:

• Chores or focus work at home or the office
• Public transportation
• Airplanes
• Meditation
• Misophonia

When it comes putting some focus tones on when I need to get a task or chore done, the A20s are really great! I do also have the AirPods Pro, and their active noise cancellation is better in certain scenarios like public transport. But their much shorter battery life and higher ear fatigue factor (I honestly forget I have the A20s in sometimes) make them less suited for multiple hours of continuous use. My AirPods Pro die in my ears frequently, because I’ll just leave them on ANC mode with nothing playing. With the A20s, this isn’t an issue.

Soundcore Sleep A20 app features, sleep tracking

The Soundcore app is not good — it is slow, buggy, and the layout is unnecessarily complicated. There are some good features in the app, but the app experience itself is one I could write 2000 words deconstructing (thought it’s not worth my time). Here’s what you need to know about the app’s features, including sleep tracking:

• There are 48 looping sounds to choose from in the Soundcore app. Everything from white noise, to birdsong, to air conditioner (yes, really). You can choose up to three looping sounds to play at the same time and mix their relative volume. So, you can mix the sound of an air conditioner with cicadas and boiling soup (again, yes, really).
• The “AI Brainwave Audio“, as far as I can tell, includes three premixed selections of environmental ambience (Starry Sky, Ocean, Forest) upon which you can add various elements, adjust EQ, and enable a “Spatial Audio” mode (which, I’ll add, seemingly does nothing).
• There are nine additional premixed “Soundscapes” to choose from, including various white noises, ‘bedtime wind down’ blends, and ‘peaceful sleep’ mixes. These are all just premixed versions of some of the 48 base loop sounds you can choose from.
• All these audio mixes live in the “Audio Library” area of the device controls, and also on the Soundcore app’s main “Discover” tab.
• There is a “Sound Effects” tab to adjust the earbud EQ if you so desire.
• You can change the double or triple-tap action on each earbud to various actions (Switch mode, Volume +/-, Next, Previous, Play/Pause, None). There is no single-tap action.
• Sleep recording happens automatically, but you can also set sleep recording to start manually under the “Sleep” tab of the Soundcore app. I have no idea why you’d do this. Sleep tracking accuracy is very poor (it grossly overestimates sleep). I wouldn’t use it.
• There is an alarm feature — you can set up to five alarms.
• You can automatically set the earbuds to sleep mode when they detect you are sleeping (in my experience, this does not work reliably). Sleep mode enhances battery life (from 10 hours to 14 hours) by disconnecting the active Bluetooth audio connection. You can only play stored Soundcore sounds on the earbuds in Sleep mode — you can pick up to three sound mixes to save on your earbuds locally.
• You can disable Bluetooth audio alerts (low battery, power off, etc.) in the app.
• There is a find earbuds feature in the Soundcore app, it plays a loud noise in each earbud. There is no “find case” feature (unlike AirPods).
• The app regularly loses connection to the earbuds. It’s very annoying.
• The app widget on iOS simply does not work, it just acts as a shortcut to open the app. Functionally useless.

Soundcore Sleep A20: Final thoughts

I’ve been using the Soundcore Sleep A20 now for several months now, and I really do like them for drifting off to sleep with an audiobook or white noise. They (usually!) stay in my ears the whole night, the battery life has never been a problem, and I’ve learned exactly how to position my head on the pillow to sleep with them comfortably.

Were they worth $180? That’s a tougher question. I never seriously contemplated returning them, and I continue to use them 4-5 nights a week. I also use them occasionally during the day time when I just want the white noise feature, since it’s a lot faster than putting in my AirPods and finding a white noise track on Spotify — I just double tap the Sleep A20 to enable “sleep mode,” and white noise immediately starts playing. I could see this being useful for someone who wants white noise to focus at home or the office, but doesn’t want to wear bulky over-ear headphones (not to say the Sleep A20s provide that level of isolation, because they don’t).

Overall, I think these are a reasonably well-executed product, and I use them successfully as advertised — to help me to get to sleep. What that’s worth to you, though, is a personal question.

Buy: Anker Soundcore Sleep A20