Why You Can Trust CNET Anker's Soundcore Sleep A10 Earbuds Are $50 Off Right Now
A good alternative to Bose's Sleepbuds 2, the tiny Soundcore Sleep A10 buds are currently $130, or $50 off their $180 list price.
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The tiny Soundcore by Anker Sleep A10 earbuds nestle completely inside your ear, which makes them good for side sleepers.
The Soundcore by Anker Sleep A10 earbuds came out last year, but I only got around to testing them recently. I discovered that they were on sale for $50 off, which makes them worth a strong look if you're looking for a pair of tiny earbuds that you can wear to bed at night that offer "noise-masking" with a variety of "sleep sounds to cover disruptive noises." They're essentially the value alternative to the Bose Sleepbuds II, which retail for $249 but are often sold out.
The Sleep A10 sleep earbuds have a few things going for them. For starters, they're tiny and lightweight -- similar in size to Bose's Sleepbuds II. They fit completely inside your ear (or at least most ears), which makes them suitable for those who sleep on their side with their ear resting against their pillow. They're quite comfortable for in-ear earbuds, although if you don't like having an ear tip covering your ear canal, I can't guarantee you'll be able to wear them all night.
To be clear, there is no active noise canceling. The buds themselves passively block out some ambient noise and then you can choose to play one of a wide selection of sleep noises, including white and brown noise, plus the typical soothing sounds of nature (rain, chirping birds, fire crackling, waves crashing) that help mask external sounds like your partner's snoring. There's also a sleep monitoring feature and a personal alarm clock.
While I liked the fit and design of Bose's ear tips slightly better (the Sleepbuds 2 seem to passively block out a little more noise), the Sleep A10 buds have one big feature that's missing from the Bose: the ability to play music and other audio via Bluetooth from your phone or another device.
While battery life takes a hit if you listen to music (you can only listen to music for a few hours compared to the all-night battery life if you just listen to the sleep sounds), it's an important feature for a lot of people. And the sound isn't half bad considering the tiny size of the buds. They're a little bass shy but they should sound "good enough" for most folks. Unfortunately, you can't make calls with them -- there's no built-in microphone -- but they're among the most feature-rich sleep buds I've tested.
Anker is selling the Sleep A10s on its Soundcore site for $130 with a $50-off coupon (the discount appears to be instantly added at checkout), but the buds are also on sale at Amazon for $130. As I said, they're well worth checking out if you're looking for a pair of sleep earbuds but don't want to shell out $249 for the Bose, which I've tested and which work well. Again, the Sleep A10 buds may not be a perfect fit for everyone's ears -- they're about half the size of traditional stemless earbuds and come with a few different ear tips and fins that you can try to get an optimal fit.