It’s nice to fall asleep without distracting street noise, and maybe with a little relaxing music or white noise to keep things from being too quiet. It’s even nicer if you can do so when you’re traveling or sleeping next to a partner with different sleep preferences. That’s what the Soundcore A10 Sleep Buds are designed for, and they’re currently $88 (originally $169.99) after a 48% discount on Amazon, the lowest price it has been over the last four months, according to price tracking tools.
But there are some caveats to be aware of, so keep reading before adding them to your cart.
The Sleep A10s are smaller than regular earbuds, designed not to stick out of the ear or cause pressure for side sleepers. They also block outside noise much like earplugs do, but without any Active Noise-Canceling (ANC) technology.
The Sleep A10s have two modes: “Sleep” and “Music.” Sleep Mode will do its best to detect when you fall asleep and reduce the volume of your audio to conserve battery life. Within Sleep Mode, you are bound to playing bedtime sounds (like white and pink noise) from Soundcore’s app, which also has a sleep tracking function. In Music Mode, you can stream from other music services like Spotify, just like regular earbuds, but it won’t automatically lower your volume.
The biggest downside to these earbuds is the battery life. The mode you pick is key here, because the battery may not last a whole night of sleep depending on which mode you’re in. You can get about 10 hours at 50% volume with Sleep Mode. This means that people who need constant music or white noise to stay asleep might struggle, while those who only need help falling asleep will be covered.
Also, the Soundcore Sleep A10 earbuds are likely discounted because Soundcore is gearing up to release the Sleep A20s, a newer model that you can get for $89.99 (originally $149.99) as an early bird special on Kickstarter. Therefore, if you’d rather have the latest and greatest version, you may be better off ordering the A20s.
