Punches in the same class as headphones twice its price

In the competitive wireless noise-canceling headphone market, most brands have settled on a $300-to-$500 price range for their flagship models. Soundcore, the audio brand of popular accessories maker Anker, chose to go another way. The Soundcore by Anker Space Q45 Headphones offer the same features as flagship wireless noise-canceling headphones — but at half the price.

The BestReviews Testing Lab examined the Space Q45s for audio quality, noise cancellation effectiveness, comfort and battery life. While their performance is not quite as good as the best noise-canceling headphones, they are competitive, and beat some more premium pairs that cost twice as much.

What are the Soundcore Q45 Headphones?

The Space Q45’s travel case is hard-sided and covered in a smooth faux-leather material.

Product specifications

Battery life: 50 hr (44 hr when tested) | Noise canceling: Active | Wireless connection: Bluetooth 5.3 | Charging time: 90 min | Travel case: Yes

The Soundcore by Anker Space Q45 headphones are full-sized, over-ear wireless Bluetooth headphones with active noise cancellation and awareness. They come with a hard-sided travel case, a 3.5-millimeter aux cable for wired connections and a short USB-C to USB-A charge cable. They are made of plastic and aluminum with round circumaural padded earcups that we found comfortable to wear for long periods.

The Space Q45s have an estimated 50-hour battery life, and we got 44 hours out of them during our testing. Their sound profile is somewhat weighted toward the treble end but can be adjusted to your taste when paired with the Soundcore smartphone app. The Q45s support multipoint connections to two devices at a time over Bluetooth 5.3 and also supports LDAC for high-res wireless playback.

See how it compares to other products in its space — check out our reviews for the best headphones.

Price and where to buy

The Soundcore by Anker Space Q45 headphones retail for $150 and are frequently discounted. You can purchase a pair on Amazon.

Why we like it

• Good noise cancellation: The Space Q45s have above-average noise cancellation comparable or superior to other noise-canceling headphones that cost more.
• Comfort: The Space Q45s were comfortable to wear for more than five hours during testing and didn’t pinch or press on our ears or head at any time.
• Battery life: While we didn’t quite reach the 50-hour manufacturer-specified battery life, our tested battery life of 44 hours was more than enough for a long-range international flight and back.
• Range and stability: The Space Q45 headphones maintained a stable Bluetooth connection through multiple walls indoors and beyond 80 feet with clear line of sight.

What we don’t like

• Call quality: We found that the Space Q45s provided mediocre call quality, with both ends of the conversation sounding artificial and flat.
• Sound quality: While the overall performance of the Q45s was pleasing, we noted a lack of definition in the low end while listening to some bass-heavy music and a shrillness to the high end.
• Cable: The included charge cable is too short for practical usage and only connects the USB-C headphones to a USB-A/USB 3 port.

Soundcore Space Q45 setup

The arms of the Space Q45 are made of aluminum and feel durable as they slide into and out of the headband.

Setting up the Soundcore Space Q45s was straightforward. They come in a standard product box with a low amount of non-recyclable materials and are packaged in a hard-sided travel case. However, removing the headphones from the case’s molded plastic insert was a little difficult, and we ended up discarding the insert for regular use.

The headphones have a power/pairing button. Holding it down puts them into pairing mode. Select them from your device’s Bluetooth settings and they should be ready to use. We found the Soundcore smartphone app for iOS and Android to be very helpful in setting noise-cancellation modes and adjusting the sound quality via the equalizer.

Design and comfort

The Space Q45s come in black, white and dark blue and are padded in faux leather on the headband and earcups.

The Soundcore Space Q45s were among the most comfortable over-ear headphones we tested. Most competing headphones have oval or elliptical earcups that end up touching the edges of the outer ear, leading to pressure and pinching after extended use. The Q45s have circular earcups that avoided touching the outer ear during testing and never created pressure or pinching. The ear pads themselves were soft and comfortable to the touch and allowed our ears to breathe during testing but also felt a little flimsier than those of competitors. The light weight of the Q45s didn’t register as uncomfortable on the head even after many hours of wearing them.

Sound quality

The earcups rotate almost 180 degrees in either direction and also fold up to fit in the travel case.

The sound quality of the Soundcore Space Q45s was somewhat light on bass and weighted to the treble. This is the opposite of many competing headphones, which emphasize bass. We found that if we wanted to feel a good bass thump, we needed to activate the bass-boost option in the Soundcore app, especially for genres such as hip-hop and EDM, which benefit from powerful bass.

Conversely, we noted that the high end of instruments and voices could come across as harsh and sibilant. We used the Soundcore app’s EQ to balance the Q45’s frequencies so there would be less emphasis on the high end and fill out the midrange.

While the overall sound quality of the Q45s can be described as good for the price, they are not quite as good as those of competitors. Nevertheless, they have good staging and separation, and with a few tweaks, they can be enjoyable to listen to in most genres of audio.

Battery life and charging

The battery lasted for 44 hours during our testing.

The Soundcore Space Q45s boast a battery life of 50 hours with ANC on. While this claim didn’t hold up during testing, our tested duration of 44 hours is longer than a round trip on the longest commercial plane flight (18 hours and 40 minutes from Singapore to New York City). You won’t need to recharge these headphones during travel at any point, or turn off ANC.

A five-minute charge from empty resulted in 20% recharging using a 20-watt USB-C charger, and reached 50% charge after only 30 minutes. It takes one hour and 30 minutes to recharge to full. The Q45 headphones do not come with a charger, but a third-party USB-C charger, such as one that comes with a laptop or tablet, will be sufficient. We found the included USB-C to USB-A charge cable to be of limited use due to its short length and USB-A plug, which is more useful with older AC adapters or plugging into computers.

Connectivity and compatibility

Onboard controls include a power/pairing button, volume up and down, play/pause, and a noise-canceling mode switch.

The Soundcore Space Q45 headphones connect wirelessly via Bluetooth 5.3. It supports the AAC, SBC and LDAC codecs, including high-definition wireless audio via LDAC. The Q45s support multipoint connections for fast switching between audio sources. We successfully connected two devices, a smartphone and a laptop, to the Q45s during testing and had no problems maintaining both connections. While you can only use one active connection at a time, switching between sources is relatively frictionless. 

The Space Q45s do not support aptX for lossless streaming from certain Android devices. They do, however, come with a color-matched aux cable with a 3.5-millimeter miniplug connection.

Active noise cancellation features

During testing, the headphones successfully reduced the noise of a bustling cafe by a significant amount.

The Soundcore Space Q45 headphones impressed us with their noise cancellation during testing. In a quiet room, such as an office setting, they eliminated sounds like typing. In a noisy cafe environment, they reduced the chatter of diners and loud background music by a significant amount, more than enough to allow you to concentrate on your own audio. On a busy street, they muffled the noise of passing traffic, although not enough that it would be unsafe to use.

The Q45s also offer an awareness mode and a passive “normal” mode, accessible from the app and via onboard controls, that deactivates ANC. This passive mode shows that the build of the headphones physically cuts down on high-end noises quite effectively. Activating ANC tightens up the sound quality of the headphones somewhat, which we found actually helpful in refining the audio. However, bobbing one’s head can affect the seal of the ear pads and, therefore, the ANC as well.

How does it compare to other headphones we’ve tested?

In comparison to other flagship noise-canceling headphones, the Soundcore Space Q45s offer impressive value. Their active noise cancellation was as good as those of the Beats Studio Pro and slightly superior to that of the Sennheiser Momentum 4, although not quite as good as the ANC on the class-leading Bose QC Ultra or the Sony WH-1000XM5. Their audio quality, which is enjoyable overall, is about on par with the Beats Studio Pro but inferior to the Bose, Sony and Sennheiser. However, for extended listening sessions, they are more comfortable to wear than any of those. Most of all, they cost $100 to $200 less, including discounts for all the models involved.

Testing the Soundcore Q45 headphones

The testing team evaluated the Space Q45s on sound quality, battery life, comfort and more.

We tested the Soundcore Space Q45 headphones in the following categories: active noise cancellation effectiveness, sound quality, battery life and charging, comfort and build quality, call quality, connectivity and range. We used objective metrics whenever possible and a grading scale for subjective evaluation when necessary.

We used the headphones in varied environments, including in a quiet room, on a busy street, in a crowded cafe and on public transportation, to evaluate the effectiveness of the active noise cancellation. We listened to a wide variety of genres, from rock to hip-hop to classical, to judge audio quality, including the effects of ANC and any equalizer settings offered. We measured how far the headphones could maintain a connection with a source, and timed setup and pairing.

We wore the headphones for more than three hours without removing them to simulate an extended listening period, and examined them for build quality and weak points. Finally, we timed how long they could play at 50% volume with ANC on until their battery was exhausted, and also timed how much they recharged in five-minute increments.

Should you get the Soundcore by Anker Q45?

If you’re looking for a great deal, the Soundcore by Anker Space Q45 headphones are worth considering.

The Soundcore by Anker Space Q45 headphones provide above-average value. Their active noise cancellation is effective in most situations, and they’re extremely comfortable to wear. While their sound quality is not superior, it is enjoyable, especially with the app equalizer to adjust to your preference. A traveler who needs good noise cancellation, comfort and battery life should consider purchasing the Space Q45 over more expensive rivals.