I had high expectations for these before getting them, but I felt some skepticism due to some critical opinions they have had by time I was about to own them. Using them for the first time, first impressions were very good. The experience was better than expected. First of all, they look better in person,they have a sleek profile no matter what angle you look at them; at some angles it has sort of a unique, retro-futuristic look which I really like.
If you pit them next to premium headphones and don't know the brand, you'll have a hard time knowing that this is the "budget headphone". This is due to the overall seamless design combined with the leatherette headband, following the trend from current flagship headphones. When I put them on at first, I had a feeling of pressure in my ears, like I was wearing in-ear headphones; I got used to it quickly.
All features within the app that controls the Space One work really well with a intuitive, user-friendly design. The features don't feel like a gimmick at all, especially the Easy Chat feature, which has an instantaneous response when tapping the left earcup or talking, and the Wearing Detection; this pair is the first one I know of that allows you to calibrate it, and it's necessary before using it.
They sound better than I expected, the overall sound presentation is energetic meaning they have an enphasis on bass (without ANC or Transparency mode the bass is deeper but with either of them on the overall bass is stronger and brings a bit more low-mid presence at the cost of the bare fullness from vocals and instruments), and emphasis on the highs.
The emphasis on the former sacrifices the presence in the lower mid range meaning there's an absence of enveloping richness you get from voices and instruments, helping to create sort of an illusion of a speaker in front of you. Despite that, there's still a sense of space (laterally, there's barely any depth due to what I pointed out previously) in the music meaning it doesn't sound congested or trapped in your ears and the sound cues from the tracks are distinguished enough to create an immersive experience to the casual listener.
I created an EQ to make them sound as neutral as possible within hardware limitation; it significantly improves the sound quality and it manages to follow the target response. Also, it dramatically improves the depth of the soundstage which improves imaging as well, the ability to discern sound cues in the track. It's especially good when LDAC is enabled as when listening to them and toggling it on or off, the bass is deeper and more textured, and the treble is cleaner, meaning the subtleties from instruments and the sibilance or breaks from voices or other sound cues are more accurately placed in the track with more clarity; basically sudden and high-pitched sound elements are more distinct.
They are very comfortable and reallyreduce ambient sounds when I wear them on the bus or I'm in a place with a lot of people talking at once. Transparency mode works better than I expected, and I found that Easy Chat mode really amplifies the sounds around me. I also found that I get the best experience by placing the headband close to the back of my head, and the further away it is from my ears, the less adequate my perception of the sound quality and performance of the ambient modes would be. This is because the driver is 10mm smaller than the previous headphone (40mm) and the cavity is more spacious. Also the bump in the middle of the driver helps with the treble performance to balance the frequency response.
I noticed that when using them for the first time the battery lasted less than what Soundcore promised, but when charging and discharging them the first few times the battery performs closer to what they say.
The headphones feel nice and sturdy in the hands but the hinges are kind of flimsy. The left one broke after about four months (keep in mind they were bought roughly 4 weeks after release). This was disappointing as I wanted them to last like the previous headphones and even longer due to their Soundcore app support and other future-proof features like Bluetooth 5.3 and LDAC codec; but it still works so it was taken to a repair shop and they put a screw in the end of the headband and taped it to keep the hinge in place, as shown in the picture down below. I have to expand the right hinge all the way to get the best seal possible. A bit of noise can come through as it's almost airtight, but the difference is gone when listening to music.
I assume by the time you (the consumer) are reading this, they seem to have corrected the hinge snapping issue, and I can prove it because my older brother bought it a month and a half after trying my pair and loving them and the hinges on his pair feel more sturdy with a tighter tolerance when grabbing by the headband. By that reason I'll keep it in 5 stars.
