Soundcore Space A40 SE earbuds

Since my old Anker Soundbuds Sport fell apart, I looked around for true wireless earbuds and chose the Soundcore Space A40 SE. These have active noise-cancelling and have a long playback time.

Specifications

• Playtime: 10h
• Playtime with charging case: 50h
• Fast charging: 10 mins in case for 4h
• Mic: 6 mics
• Bluetooth: 5.2
• Weight: 4.9 g for each earbud
• Charging the case: USB-C or wireless charging
• Audio codecs: SBC, AAC, LDAC

Usage

• Pairing: Enable Bluetooth on your phone or computer and have it ready to search for devices to pair. Open the case and take out the earbuds - they are in pairing mode when taken out of the case. Look for Soundcore Space A40 and add that device.

• Manual pairing: If the normal pairing does not work, this alternative is suggested. Leave the earbuds in the case and open the case. Press and hold the button on the case for 3 seconds until its LED flashes. Now find and pair with the earbuds (which are still inside the open case) on your phone or computer.

• Control: There are no LEDs or buttons on the earbuds. Instead tap on the earbuds (the flat part which has the Soundcore logo) to control it. The default controls for the taps can be changed using the phone app (see below). The default settings are:

  • Single tap on R earbud: increase volume
  • Single tap on L earbud: decrease volume
  • Double tap on R earbud: play/pause
  • Double tap on L earbud: next
  • Tap and hold for 2 secs on R earbud: use voice assist

• Tips: The earbuds have the M size tips on by default. There are 4 other ear tips in the box: XS, S, L, XL. I tried the fit test on the app (see below) to check if the tips were of the right size for me - but the test made no sense to me. I found that the S tips fit me better, so I switched to that.

• App: All configuration of the earbuds are done with the Soundcore Android app available here.

  • Controls: Customize what actions to perform on single tap, double tap and long tap.
  • HearID: Sit in a quiet place and take this test to determine the curves for your left and right ears. This curve can be used to customize the EQ curves for your ears. Highly recommended.
  • Fit test: Under Settings is this test to determine if the size of the ear tips are right for your ears.
  • Sound Mode: Here Combine audio and connection quality is what you want. The other option LDAC is only suitable if your phone supports that and it will drain the battery quickly.
  • Touch Tone: Plays a tone on any tap. I find this useful to know if my tap was registered or not.