Anker’s latest sleep buds promise to block out snoring partners for longer

Anker is revamping its sleep-focused true wireless earbuds with the new Soundcore Sleep A20 model. It’s announcing the earbuds today to coincide with what is apparently “World Sleep Day” but you won’t be able to buy a pair of the earbuds until its Kickstarter launches on April 16th. Or, if you’d prefer to buy them through more traditional means, they’ll be available via Amazon from May 20th. They’ll ultimately sell for $149.99, but Kickstarter is pricing them at $89.99 for early birds.

Like with the previous A10 earbuds, there’s no active noise cancellation here. Instead, the earbuds are equipped with what Anker calls “Twin-Seal eartips” which it claims can block out three times the noise of typical silicon eartips. The earbuds are also designed to play white noise from an “included sound library” in an attempt to further block out external distractions. Anker claims their compact design means they’re comfortable even if you’re someone who likes to sleep on their side.

Battery life is the A20’s most tangible improvement over its predecessor, with the earbuds now offering up to 14 rather than 10 hours of white noise playback in “Sleep mode,” and up to 80 hours total with their charging case. If you’d like to fall asleep to the sound of music being streamed from your phone, battery life from the earbuds drops to 10 hours, though that’s still an improvement over the 6 hours offered by the A10s.

Other improvements over the first-gen sleep earbuds include a built-in alarm that’s designed to wake you without disturbing anyone sleeping next to you, and support for “automatic sleep monitoring with sleep position tracking.” And if you lose them, you can use their companion app to have the earbuds play an alert to help you fish them out of your bedding.

All told, it’s a sensible set of upgrades for Anker’s earbuds, which are launching in the wake of its main competitor Bose choosing to discontinue its rival Sleepbuds II earbuds. Three ex-Bose employees are now striking out on their own with the Ozlo Sleepbuds, which are in production according to their Indiegogo page ahead of an anticipated April ship date.