If you've got just enough money to splurge on Anker's new Soundcore Space One Pro, you won't be disappointed by the 40-hour battery life here, nor its armadillo cosplay and flexible hinge. But when the original Space One cans are still very much available with similar audio chops and 35 hours of battery, it's difficult to recommend that users go Pro.
-
Design
-
Sound
-
Battery
-
Features
-
Value
We’ve clung desperately to the edge of our seats ever since Anker revealed its stellar Soundcore Space One cans would get an upgrade in the form of the Space One Pro. With the Space One Pro slung around our necks for these past weeks, we have to say we like what we hear. How could we not?
At R3,000, the Soundcore Space One Pro presents itself as a similarly stellar solution for anyone looking to give their ears the gift of active noise-cancelling (ANC). Throw in the can’s ultra-comfortable and lightweight build, new flexing abilities, and excellent battery life, and you’ve got a winner. Kinda. The Space One Pro, while great, doesn’t do much to distinguish itself from the original set, which can still be had for R1,700.
Weird FlexiCurve, but okay
Anker hasn’t given up on the all-plastic build prevalent last time around. That’s not a detriment to the Space One Pro — far from it. It not only helps keep the price somewhat attainable while still feeling premium, but it also makes for a lightweight, ultra-flexible build that can be lobbed into a backpack and forgotten about.
Calling it ultra-flexible honestly feels like an understatement. Anker wasn’t kidding around when it said it had shaved off roughly 50% of the build from the last generation — through the simple expedient of a new hinge system it calls FlexiCurve. Do it right, and it’ll tuck into a tiny ball, ideal for carrying in the included carry-bag.
Our review model turned up in the Cream White colourway that makes it susceptible to dirt — something that should be less noticeable with the Jet Black model. Anker’s kept these over-ears fairly simplistic, relegating the USB-C and 3.5mm audio jack to the left cup, alongside the small but tactile power button and noise cancellation toggle. On the right, you’ll find the volume rocket and play/pause button.
Anker has cooked up yet another comfortable pair of cans we didn’t mind wearing for hours at a time. It’s a feat managed by the Pro’s impressive battery and, not least, the soft leather cups and headband. We’re a little miffed that a dedicated hardshell carry case is a separate R500 purchase. It’s not entirely necessary, but we couldn’t help but feel a little worried about sticking these in a crowded backpack.
Something sounds bass-y here
You won’t find Sony or Bose-level audio quality here, but you already knew that when you saw the R3,000 price tag. What you get instead is a decent sound profile that, with the right expectations, should suffice to see you through a playthrough of DK Bananza or something from Queen’s catalogue.
It’s not without its faults. The Space One Pro is a mostly balanced affair that requires some tweaking in the intuitive but still-packed app before it’ll come completely right. Where the original Space One’s 40mm dynamic drivers mostly under-delivered on the bass front, the Pro’s 40mm triple-composite system overcompensates in that department, almost ensuring we never used the bass-boost feature on offer.
We gave Radiohead’s ‘I Might Be Wrong‘ another listen on the Pro (after fiddling around in the app), and that redonkulous bassline comes through clearer than we could have ever hoped for. It’s one of the band’s colder vocal sessions, brimming with musical nuances that are all captured and delivered right to your ears.
It wasn’t quite as competent when it came to something with a little… more to the track. The Space One Pro struggled to keep up with and separate the jazzier elements of Radiohead’s The National Anthem, which can prove to be a bit much for any headphones. It localises vocals well across the board, even if we couldn’t always say the same for instrumentals.
Even so, the Space One Pro surpassed our expectations for a R3,000 pair of headphones. Fortunately, that extends to the Pro’s ANC capabilities, which were pleasantly solid in our testing. It’s not perfect, but it managed to cut out most of the deeper noises (like the traffic rumbling by), even if it occasionally let some hustle and bustle closer to home slip through.
More impressive was the Pro’s transparency mode, which successfully let the voices in our immediate vicinity through, all while sounding natural and not cutting across our music first. We didn’t use the mode for especially long periods, which might have necessitated turning the volume up a bit and defeating the purpose, anyway, but for short bursts, the Pro kept up.
Our biggest gripe was easily the Pro’s lack of a wear-detection sensor. If you’re serious about seeing what these headphones can do in terms of battery life (and they can do a whole lot), you’ll need to pay close attention when taking these badboys off. There’s nothing telling them to stop playing, so they don’t. It’s not a major dealbreaker in our books, but for a pair of supposedly Pro cans, we definitely missed it.
Stayin’ Alive
Like the last pair of Space One cans, where the Pro shines brightest is its battery life. Anker’s claims of a 60-hour battery life are certainly impressive, but for a Stuff nerd that never turns the ANC off? Get real. Fortunately, the Space One Pro fielded a decent performance in that regard, snagging roughly 38 hours on a single charge.
It’s almost impossible to let these run out of battery (unless you forget to turn ’em off, because they won’t do it for you), but if it ever did, you can rest assured the Space One Pro will be back in no time. Only ten minutes of huffing the Eskom juice was more than enough to keep Anker’s Pro efforts alive for hours.
Anker Soundcore Space One Pro verdict
We came away from our time with Soundcore’s Space One Pro pleased with what it had to offer, with the nearly 40-hour battery life and increased flexibility serving as the star of the show. That’s not mentioning the great sound quality and ANC the Pro throws at you in spades. Is it worth the R3,000 price tag? Affirmative.
That said, the original Soundcore Space One is still very much available and well worth the R1,700 it costs to buy ’em in 2025. The Pros, unfortunately, don’t offer enough of a boost to warrant the R1,000+ hike, even if they do remain a reasonable option for somebody who has money burning a hole in their pocket.
