Design and features:This model has controls for volume, music player play/pause, next/previous track, call connect/disconnect, noise canceling/ambient sound monitoring, and digital voice assistant activation. It has an automatic pause feature - audio pauses when the headphones are taken off of ears and resumes when they are put back. It has five noise cancellation and five ambient sound monitoring levels, and it supports unspecified digital voice assistants when used with Bluetooth connected devices that have those features. The free soundcore app for Android and Apple mobile devices adds additional features.
Sound quality:We found the Space One provides excellent active noise reduction and delivers sound quality that falls in the acceptable range - it reproduces music and voice reasonably well despite the obvious shortcomings in its sound. The overall sound can be summarized as bassy, but otherwise thin and sizzly. With the noise canceling mode engaged in the soundcore app and the equalizer set to Soundcore Signature (the default setting) the bass (as in bass drums, bass guitars, stand-up bass, etc.) has good impact and goes deep, but is prominent and boomy. The midrange (voices, guitars, horns, etc.) is thin, somewhat grainy and a bit congested (think sonic traffic jam) and sibilant, a touch plasticky, and depending on the program material can be somewhat overwhelmed by the bass. The treble (cymbals, the upper range of violins, etc.) is extended but is prominent and sizzly (sounds that should have a delicate shimmer have a sound reminiscent of bacon frying), and somewhat smeared. The sound has a good sense of liveliness and is somewhat open--sound-wise it almost seems like you don't have anything covering your ears. These headphones do a decent job of recovering room ambience in the upper midrange, but ambience recovery is so-so elsewhere. The soundcore app tonal presets and EQ adjustments have a noticeable effect on the sound. These headphones provide excellent noise reduction across the entire frequency range with the low frequencies reduced the most. A very faint rushing sound can be heard in quiet environments when there is no audio program to drown it out.
Comfort and Fit:We found that these headphones produce a sense of moderate pressure around the ears.
As typical of over-ear models the ear pads might feel hot and/or sticky after prolonged use.
Large
Users with larger heads might find that the headband does not have enough adjustment range to allow the ear cups to rest properly over the ears and/or that the headband presses uncomfortably on the top of the head.
Users with larger ears might find that the over-the-ear fit of the ear pads feel cramped, or that the ear pads sit on, rather than around their ears; in that case the less-than-ideal fit around the ears might interfere with the ear pad seal and reduce the bass response and/or noise reduction capabilities of the headphone.
Stability
Some users may find that when they lean far forward the headphones feel unstable and shift forward.
Other noise
When wearing this model while walking the muffled vibrations from each foot step can be heard slightly through the headphones regardless of whether or not the headphones are in noise cancelling mode.
When the audio cord is used the sound of it rubbing on clothing may be faintly heard through the headphones.
