Anker Soundcore Space 2 review: All-day comfort, all-week battery

The Anker Soundcore Space One was one of our favorite budget headphone picks, delivering good noise canceling, LDAC support, and a full-featured companion app for just $100. The Space 2 builds on that formula with adaptive four-stage ANC, Bluetooth 6.1, up to 50 hours of battery life, and new AI features — but it also costs $130. That $30 bump puts it between the budget tier and mid-range flagships from Sony and Bose, making it a compelling option for anyone who wants most of the features of a $300+ headphone without the price tag. Whether you’re a Space One owner weighing the upgrade, a first-time buyer deciding between this and the cheaper original, or someone waiting to see if a Space 2 Pro follows, this review will help you decide.

What’s it like to use the Soundcore Space 2?

The Soundcore Space 2 is a plush, comfortable pair of headphones that’s easy to wear for a couple of hours. They also have an extensive feature set and sound customization options.

Design

The Soundcore Space 2 doesn’t look or feel like $130 headphones, and I mean that as a compliment. The build is primarily plastic with a metal frame underneath, and the result doesn’t feel cheap. At roughly 261 grams, the headphones are light enough to wear all day. That clamping is strong, and it pays off in passive isolation, but it also means heat buildup is real. My ears were sweaty after about an hour of continuous wear.

Both the headband and ear cups use plush memory foam padding that reminds me of the Bose QuietComfort headphones. The ear cups are deep and roomy — my ears didn’t touch the drivers or the inside walls at all, which is a welcome improvement over budget headphones that tend to skimp on interior space. I could comfortably wear the Space 2 for a full workday, but I’d recommend taking a break now and then to let things breathe.

The headphones swivel flat and fold up compactly for travel. Unfortunately, Soundcore only includes a cloth pouch for a carrying case — no hardshell here. There’s also no IP rating, so these aren’t headphones you’d want to take to the gym or wear in the rain.

Controls are all physical buttons. On the left ear cup, you get a dedicated NC button for cycling ANC modes, along with a power button, LED indicator, USB-C charging port, and 3.5mm audio input. The right side houses volume up/down buttons and a multi-function button that handles play/pause, track skipping, calls, and assignable features like the voice assistant. They’re straightforward and easy to use. The headphones also include a wearing detection sensor inside the left ear cup, though it’s disabled by default — you’ll need to peel off a protective film and enable it manually in the Soundcore app.

Features

The Soundcore Space 2 is supported by the Soundcore app (iOS and Android), and the app experience is largely what you’d expect if you’ve used any recent Soundcore product. The home screen gives you quick access to ambient sound modes (Noise Cancellation, Normal, and Transparency), Sound Effects, and Controls customization.

You get a handful of EQ presets — Soundcore Signature, Acoustic, Bass Booster, Bass Reducer, Classical, and more — along with a custom 8-band EQ. There’s also HearID Sound, which walks you through a hearing test and a preference test to build a personalized EQ profile. If you don’t want to fiddle with sliders manually, it’s a good shortcut to a tuning that suits your ears. A 3D Sound toggle is also available for spatial audio — it’s fine for movies and video content, but not something I found myself reaching for with music.

The Safe Volume section gives you a real-time decibel meter that monitors your current listening level. You can set the refresh rate, and there’s a toggle to limit high volume. Wear detection is here too — the headphones can automatically pause music when you take them off and resume when you put them back on. It’s disabled by default and needs to be enabled in the app under More Settings. There’s also a calibration option to fine-tune its accuracy.

The multi-function button (MFB) can be customized in the Controls section. You can assign the long-press action to your phone’s voice assistant, Anka (Soundcore’s AI assistant), Real-Time Translation, or Nap Mode. Nap Mode is oddly buried in the button configuration rather than having its own section in the app — you wouldn’t know it existed unless you went looking. Once activated, it plays built-in ambient sounds and white noise with ANC forced on, which could be useful for resting on a flight or even sleeping.

Anka is Soundcore’s in-house AI assistant that handles general questions, weather, news, and casual conversation. It’s activated via the MFB or a “Hey Anka” voice wake command. If you already have a voice assistant you prefer, this probably isn’t for you. AI Translation is more interesting — it offers real-time and face-to-face translation modes powered by Azure AI, supporting English, Spanish, French, German, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, and more. It does require a Soundcore account to set up and Dual Connections to be disabled, which adds some friction to an otherwise promising feature.

How does the Soundcore Space 2 connect?

The Soundcore Space 2 uses Bluetooth 6.1 and supports SBC, AAC, and LDAC for Hi-Res audio. It also supports multipoint for dual-device connections. Notably, LDAC remains available even when connected to two devices simultaneously, which is cool since multipoint typically forces a fallback to SBC or AAC. The headphones support Google Fast Pair on Android 6.0+ devices. They do not support Auracast.

There’s an included 3.5mm cable for wired listening; however, the Space 2 does not support USB-C audio — the USB-C port is only for charging. When wired via a 3.5mm cable, Bluetooth automatically turns off, and only the NC button remains functional for switching ANC modes.

How long does the Soundcore Space 2’s battery last?

In our standardized battery test, the Soundcore Space 2 lasted 53 hours and 21 minutes with ANC on. That’s about 10 hours more than the Space One delivered, and it’s well ahead of most competitors in this price range. You can realistically get through a full work week on a single charge. Quick charging is also supported: 5 minutes of charging provides up to 4 hours of playback

How well do the Soundcore Space 2 cancel noise?

With ANC enabled, the Space 2 attenuates an average of 84% of outside noise. Looking at the chart, ANC provides the most benefit at low frequencies, where sounds like airplane engine rumble and transit noise live. In our office, I couldn’t hear anyone speaking in the same room as me. The passive isolation is also excellent, which means the ear cups do a good job on their own, even without ANC.

For headphones at $130, this is impressive noise canceling performance. It’s not quite at the level of the Sony WH-1000XM6 or Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones, but it’s closing the gap — and it’s well ahead of most competitors in this price range.

How good is the Soundcore Space 2 Transparency mode?

Transparency mode is toggled via the NC button. The headphones cycle between ANC and Transparency by default; Normal mode (ANC and transparency both off) can be added to the cycle by enabling it in the app.

The Space 2’s transparency mode is just okay. It lets environmental sound through, but there’s a noticeable hiss layered on top — similar to the noise present in ANC mode without music. It gives the pass-through audio an artificial quality that’s hard to ignore.

How do the Soundcore Space 2 sound?

The Anker Soundcore Space 2 sounds boxy out of the box. The default tuning lacks presence and clarity, giving everything a dull, closed-in quality that’s hard to ignore.

Reviewer’s notes

Editor’s note: this review uses a hover-enabled glossary to describe sound quality based on a consensus vocabulary. You can read about it here.

Can you use the Soundcore Space 2 for phone calls?

The Space 2 uses a three-mic array with an AI noise-reduction algorithm for calls. In ideal conditions, the microphone sounds great: voice comes through clear and natural. Noise rejection is also very good, handling both indoor office noise and outdoor street noise well, while preserving your voice clearly in the mix. Wind conditions are the weak spot — your voice sounds a bit muffled, though still understandable. Overall, this is a solid microphone for calls.

Soundcore Space 2 microphone demo (Ideal conditions):

Should you buy the Soundcore Space 2?

If you’re shopping for budget noise-canceling headphones and comfort is a priority, the Soundcore Space 2 is a solid buy. The ANC is strong for the price, the battery life is exceptional, and the feature set punches well above its weight at $130. Sound quality out of the box is the weak spot — you’ll want to spend some time in the EQ to get the most out of these — but that’s a solvable problem. If you’re not in a rush, it might be worth waiting for a sale for when these drop under $100, which you can monitor via our price tracking widget below.

Soundcore Space 2 price history

If you’re looking for alternatives, read our best wireless headphones or best noise-canceling headphones lists.