Soundcore Space 2 Review

The Soundcore Space 2 arrives in a fiercely contested part of the headphone market, and it is a chance for the brand to show off its technical know-how — provided it can keep a level head on the audio side.

Successor to the Space One and to the higher-end Space One Pro, the Space 2 is a Bluetooth headphone with active noise cancellation, built around a modern chip (Bluetooth 6.1) and all the trappings of a mature user experience. There is no revolution here, but rather a set of well-handled technologies, exemplified by very solid battery life — 50 hours quoted with noise cancelling — and effective isolation. Three colours are offered: black, white and pale green.

The recorded test used firmware version 01.51 with the Soundcore app in version 5.0.14.

Where some rivals try to inject a little originality, Soundcore has calmed down. The Space 2 is not an unattractive headphone, far from it, but it is unquestionably more restrained than the Space One. A properly executed circum-aural design, with pads that surround the ears, it keeps a few stylistic touches from its predecessor, such as the pivot system placed directly inside the shell.

Otherwise the formula is more pragmatic, with earcups that now use a one-piece approach rather than the mushroom-like shapes of before. The headphone is less artistic but slimmer, which makes all the difference once it is on the head.

Soundcore has thankfully not abandoned the folding structure, and build quality has improved slightly. The plastic feel has not disappeared, but there are far fewer creaks and structural noises, particularly with the Space 2 sitting on the head. This is not a premium experience, but it is a serious one. Predictably, the packaging comes down to a USB-C to USB-C charging cable, a 3.5 mm cable and a soft pouch, with no moulded hard case.

With large memory-foam pads and a weight of only 260 g, the Soundcore Space 2 has everything going for it, and in practice the experience is close to ideal, with no deal-breaking flaw.

As well as offering plenty of range in the height adjustment, the headphone does not clamp too tightly and its headband creates no excessive pressure on the top of the skull. Every part in contact with the head is sufficiently padded and the whole thing stays well balanced. It is possible to lean the head forward without the headphone shifting, which is not true of every model on the market. Some perspective is needed, though: the Space 2 does not match the softness of the Bose QC Ultra Headphones (Gen 2), which retain the comfort crown.

As so often with this format, the only real weakness appears in hot weather, since the imitation leather covering the pads is clearly not breathable.

The Space 2 relies entirely on physical buttons, the old-fashioned technology that brings no latency and no hesitation. The recipe works, once learned. The controls are split into two groups of two, one per earcup. On the left sit the noise-cancelling mode button — which can also enable or disable a bass boost mode with two presses — and the power/pairing button. On the right are the playback button, which can also be assigned to a special function ranging from the voice assistant to a nap mode generating soothing sounds, plus the volume pair, which handles track skipping with a long press. In practice, these controls are comprehensive and quickly become intuitive, but they are a little too discreet, and it sometimes takes a moment of fumbling to find the right one. A wear sensor, which can be disabled, sits in the left pad.

On connectivity, the Space 2 is modern but not quite cutting-edge, missing out on the LE Audio standard despite a Bluetooth 6.1 chip that is in theory built for it. Otherwise the manufacturer ticks nearly every box: multipoint, Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair quick pairing, and LDAC codec support. Wired listening is not forgotten, since the headphone includes a 3.5 mm input that works whether the unit is switched on or off. The USB-C port, on the other hand, cannot be used as an audio interface, and — just as irritating — the headphone cannot be used while charging.

The Soundcore app remains a model of its kind: intuitive yet rich in features and adjustments, and effectively an indispensable companion to the Space 2. Between button assignment, the customisable eight-band graphic equaliser, real-time sound level analysis through a graphical meter and the various ergonomic settings, the experience is excellent.

Soundcore has always favoured spectacular tunings for its Bluetooth headphones, and the Space 2 does not break the habit. Progress has been made compared with the first Space One, but the successor still keeps some caricatural traits.

With noise cancelling or transparency mode active, the signature is heavily inflated in the bass and sub-bass. The sound is not veiled as such, but it is heavy, even ponderous, with the slightest bass line giving the impression of having one's head inside a subwoofer. It is a genuine bass-boost experience.

Paradoxically, that exaggeration is one of the only really pronounced flaws in the product, because Soundcore manages not to weigh the signature down any further with other excesses. The mids, and particularly the lower mids, show no particular emphasis, which largely preserves voices. The Space 2 therefore has a downward-sloping profile that is nevertheless fairly linear and not especially erratic.

The treble likewise does not collapse and shows no peak that would clumsily paper over the cracks. The headphone certainly lacks air, a consequence of fairly weak extension with a drop beyond 10 kHz, but it cannot be accused of excessive brightness or aggression, nor of delivering artificial timbres. Working intelligently with the equaliser — dropping the very low frequencies substantially — makes it possible to return without too much difficulty to an almost balanced result, which sets the Space 2 apart from its predecessor: that model was not only excessive in the bass but decidedly uneven across the rest of the spectrum.

With noise cancelling disabled the balance is rather different, lowering the bass boost to a more reasonable level, but at the cost of some imprecision in the lower mids that degrades voices. It is more restful, without being fundamentally more accurate.

Accuracy, in fact, is not a word that attaches easily to this headphone. Its technical abilities are correct and no more: the soundstage lacks width, dynamics are average, and so is instrument separation. A reference such as the Nothing Headphone (a), despite imprecision at the top of the spectrum, sounds richer and more ample. Even so, Soundcore has made some progress over the previous generation.

Sitting mid-pack, the Space 2's isolation rests on a relatively effective treatment, and its strength lies in the evenness of the attenuation from the bass right up to the upper mids. There is no artificial annihilation of the low frequencies that would then leave it defenceless against voices: the headphone does not reach 30 dB, but it is very consistent, at around 20 to 25 dB. Passive isolation is pronounced enough to smother harsh sounds. Some rivals are more spectacular here, starting with premium models such as the Sony WH-1000XM6, and the Space 2 works no miracles against voices, though they are still attenuated.

The transparency mode is only moderately convincing. It remains usable, since it holds together fairly late into the high frequencies, but it clearly lacks naturalness. Beyond a slight attenuation across the mids, especially noticeable on voices, the headphone does not reproduce the surrounding soundscape accurately, particularly where spatialisation is concerned. Not bad, then, but there is room for improvement.

The Space 2 uses three microphones per side plus Soundcore's own AI-based noise reduction. In a quiet environment, capture is nonetheless not especially natural: the voice is not unbalanced, but artefacts already show up on plosives and sibilants. Things deteriorate markedly with outside noise, because while voice isolation is close to perfect, it degrades at speed, becoming strangely robotic and at times unintelligible.

Fifty hours with noise cancelling and seventy without: on paper the Soundcore Space 2 is a champion in its category, even if the Nothing Headphone (a) and its 75/135-hour figures sit clearly above it. In practice, the recorded test clocked no less than 52 hours and 30 minutes with noise cancelling active, and 71 hours without. It may not break a record, but it joins a very select group.

The Space 2 finds itself caught in a pincer movement, notably by the Nothing and CMF ecosystem. On one side, the CMF Headphone Pro holds its own against it on almost every point. On the other, the Nothing Headphone (a) is clearly superior.