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In the last six months, I’ve flown to Argentina for a wedding, Miami for another wedding, South Carolina for the holidays, and Costa Rica for a friend’s birthday. And for every journey, the first thing I packed was my Soundcore Sleep A20 earbuds.
These have easily become my No. 1 travel necessity.
Why sleep earbuds?
Most people probably bring their AirPods or a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones when they fly — and so do I. So, why choose to bring such a niche audio product with limited bag space?
Soundcore’s Sleep A20s are our favorite budget sleep earbuds. They have a 14-hour battery life, so they last through the night — or on a long flight — and the Soundcore app comes loaded with soundscapes and white noise options. The biggest draw for me is how comfortable they are.
My AirPods 4 are lovely for going on walks, taking calls, and listening to music for short periods of time. But the ear fatigue I feel is real. I’m not going to lie and say the Sleep A20s feel like they aren’t even there or anything, but they put a lot less pressure on my ear canal, and I can comfortably wear them for longer stretches of time. They’re also better at passive noise cancellation than my AirPods, with a more snug seal.
Plus, I enjoy having an app dedicated to my sleep sounds, so my Spotify Wrapped isn’t skewed by my top song “Deep Sleep Brown Noise.”
I slept an entire long-haul flight
My overnight flight from New York to Buenos Aires was about 10 hours, and I slept for eight or nine of them. I fired up The Bob’s Burgers Movie until I nodded off, then put on my eye mask and knocked out.
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My ultimate travel companion.
Credit: Miller Kern / Mashable
The great thing about Soundcore’s sleep buds is that they also function as regular Bluetooth earbuds. So I was able to connect them to my iPad to play the movie audio, and then switch to sleep sounds once my eyes got heavy.
I have a few personalized soundscapes downloaded in the Soundcore app, so I let the sounds of crackling fire, rain on a tent, and cicadas lull me to sleep. Once the buds detect that I’ve truly fallen asleep, they switch to white noise.
It was the same story on the flight back home. It was another overnight flight, and I queued up an episode of Bob’s Burgers until I was ready to knock out. I woke up with maybe an hour and a half left in the flight (just in time for the delicious breakfast service of plain Greek yogurt), and my partner said he kept getting woken up throughout the flight. I felt genuinely rested.
A lifesaver for noisy Airbnbs
The Airbnb I stayed at in Miami was across the street from a nightclub. The music there bumped well into the morning and made it nearly impossible to fall asleep. Luckily, I had my sleep buds handy.
I popped those bad boys in, selected my sleep sound made up of meditation music, a dryer, and rain, and fell into restful sleep. The next morning, my partner, once again, said he had slept horribly and kept getting woken up by the club music. I slept through the night, no problem.
The Soundcore app has preloaded soundscapes.
Credit: Screenshot: Soundcore
Or you can create your own with up to three white noise sounds at a time.
Credit: Screenshot: Soundcore
If you’ve got a snorer in the house, sleep earbuds could be the difference between a frustrating, sleepless night and a night of white noise bliss. I visited my mom over Christmas, and she and her partner both snore like you wouldn’t believe. I could hear them from the guest room, so I popped in the Sleep A20s and blocked them out until the morning.
A permanent spot in my travel bag
I’ve brought the Soundcore Sleep A20 buds on every trip I’ve taken since I bought them, and I plan to take them on all my future trips. They’re small enough that I don’t feel like I’m taking up precious carry-on bag space. Because they act as regular old Bluetooth earbuds, I can also use them as an AirPods replacement — they’re way more comfortable, too.
If I happen to be on a loud plane or stuck sharing a space with someone who snores, I know the Sleep A20s will come to the rescue.
This model of Soundcore’s sleep earbuds doesn’t have noise cancellation, but that doesn’t bother me. The soundscapes mask enough for me to sleep comfortably. However, if you prefer noise-cancelling sleep earbuds, my colleague, Bethany Allard, loves the Soundcore Sleep A30 Specials.
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