Anker Soundcore Sleep A30 Special Earbuds
The $200 Soundcore Sleep A30 Special earbuds feature a triple noise reduction system that blends Active Noise Cancellation, passive isolation, and adaptive snore masking to cut down on sleep interruptions. Anker is partnering with Calm to make Calm Sleep Stories available through the Soundcore app.
I’m a big fan of the previous A20 model (Amazon). They’re comfortable (even for side sleepers), they effectively mask noise so I can sleep, they can be easily controlled with taps (no need to go into the app), and the battery lasts a long time because the sounds can be stored on-device rather than streamed via Bluetooth. The A30 (Amazon) adds support for “AI Brainwaves,” which I remain skeptical of, but it should be a good improvement due to the ANC alone.
Previously:
Update (2026-01-09): My thanks to the commenters for pointing out that the A30 was already shipping months before CES. What’s new is the A30 Special:
Soundcore is refreshing its Sleep A30 earbuds with a new “Special” edition that addresses two of the original model’s key weaknesses: battery life and price.
The Sleep A30 Special maintains the active noise cancelation that set the original apart from the A20, but extends battery life significantly while dropping to $199.99—$30 less than the original’s launch price. According to Soundcore representatives at CES 2026, this updated model will eventually phase out the first-generation Sleep A30.
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Very odd that this story dated January 5th says that the Sleep A30 Earbuds are available starting today. I received mine from Amazon on December 15th, and there are reviews going back to August (most reviews are in Nov/Dec though). So I don't think this was really introduced at CES.
By the way, so far I like it. I never tried the earlier model (in fact I'd never heard of this line until December). I haven't tried the AI Brainwaves though. I mostly use it in Bluetooth mode, though that definitely does use up the most of the battery in a night. It does a really good job of detecting that I've falling asleep, in fact maybe too good, sometimes the silence wakes me up again (seriously).
I have in the past actually slept with over the ear "can" headphones. These are a lot more comfortable, though of course not quite as good at blocking noise.
This is an interesting product to me, as I love my AirPods Pro but they will disappear wherever socks go if you dare fall asleep with them.
Over ears are good but then you wake up confused why there’s a thing on your head.
They really don’t need to be fancy, they just need to be good noise blocking wireless headphones that don’t fall out. Which seems to be a challenge all its own.
The Sleep A30 was definitely not introduced at CES, as Jim said.
They launched a Kickstarter for it back in June (16th). https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/soundcore/soundcore-sleep-a30-the-first-smart-anc-sleep-earbuds
Which to me always seems like the worst way for an established company like Anker to do business. As always with Kickstarters, the comments still have people asking about delivery. Even though it is now shown at the CES booth and can be picked up by anyone on Amazon.
The A30 and the A30 Special are not the same product. The A30 was launched in 2025. The A30 Special was launched at CES. The Special has better battery life but is otherwise largely identical to the regular A30.
So 200$ are not enough, they have to "partner" with some shitty subscription noise-as-a-service? The computer industry is truly in shambles, top to bottom.
