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Tech · Anker · 2022

Anker Soundcore Space Q45

Roughly eighty percent of a flagship for a fraction of the outlay, and that gap is in the details.

Below the ANC flagships, materials go first — #2

Overall

7.7

out of 10

Axis scores

Tech is scored on these 5 axes. The total is their plain average — nothing is weighted.

Anker Soundcore Space Q45 — axis scores out of 10Horizontal bar chart of editorial scores out of 10 across 5 axes. Bars run from a shared zero baseline; longer is better. Anker Soundcore Space Q45: Performance 7.6, Value 9.2, Durability 7.0, Ease of use 7.6, Design 7.0.PerformanceAnker Soundcore Space Q45 — Performance 7.6 out of 107.6ValueAnker Soundcore Space Q45 — Value 9.2 out of 109.2DurabilityAnker Soundcore Space Q45 — Durability 7.0 out of 107.0Ease of useAnker Soundcore Space Q45 — Ease of use 7.6 out of 107.6DesignAnker Soundcore Space Q45 — Design 7.0 out of 107.0Editorial score out of 10 — higher is better
  • Performance — How well it does the core job
  • Value — What the same money buys elsewhere
  • Durability — Failure and fade reports past the one-year mark
  • Ease of use — Setup, daily operation, cleaning, maintenance
  • Design — Build quality and how it sits in a room

Specs

Type
Over-ear, closed
Codecs
SBC, AAC, LDAC
Battery
About 50 hrs with ANC on

As published by the manufacturer. We didn't measure these ourselves.

Is it for you

Buy it if

  • A first pair of proper noise-cancelling headphones
  • You lose or break headphones regularly
  • LDAC support matters but flagship pricing does not

Skip it if

  • You are sensitive to cabin pressure that the ANC does not fully remove
  • Hinges and headband plastics need to survive years of abuse

LDAC support, roughly fifty hours of battery, and cancellation competent enough for a daily commute, at a fraction of the flagship outlay. The value case is not subtle. Nobody buying these expects them to match the top of the category, and as a first pair of proper noise-cancelling headphones the proposition is hard to argue with.

Low-frequency noise — road rumble, air conditioning, train drone — is handled close to convincingly. The gap opens in the middle frequencies, where speech and keyboard noise sit, and in an open-plan office you notice the difference against a flagship instead of reading about it.

The money went missing in the materials, and it shows in one specific place: the hinges. Owner reports across this price band concentrate on hinge cracking and headband plastics, not on electronics or batteries.

Comfort over very long sessions is the other caveat. The pads are shallower than the flagships’, putting the driver housing closer to the ear, and people with larger ears report contact after two or three hours.

The app includes a usable EQ and several cancellation modes, a meaningful step up from the software that used to accompany budget headphones. Firmware updates have been regular.

For a commute, a gym bag, or a pair you would not mourn if they were lost, this is the sensible purchase on this page. Eight-hour days are a different question.

Last updated . The scoring method is on how we rank.