Anker’s Soundcore brand earned a name for itself in the budget audio space, but it makes particularly excellent sleep earbuds. Compared to your regular wireless earbuds, sleep earbuds are uniquely designed to be comfortable and low profile. They’re made with a flatter shape to avoid ear pressure points, ensuring that side sleepers can wear them to bed. I tested the Anker Soundcore Sleep A30 last year, and I thought they were the best sleep earbuds on the market, and Anker showed off two new pairs at IFA 2026 that are even better.
The Soundcore Sleep 4 earbuds are the upgraded version of the Sleep A30, but the truly exciting model is the new Soundcore Sleep 4 Pro. These sleep earbuds are almost a standalone device, limiting the need to use your phone before bed. They have a charging case with a touchscreen and a PPG sensor used to track your vitals at night. I held them and played around with the touchscreen, and I think they can help me leave my earbuds, phone, and fitness tracker behind before bed.
The Sleep 4 Pro earbuds case has a built-in touchscreen
You can set alarms, control audio playback, and monitor your sleep with the case
Anker’s big upgrade for the Sleep A30 was the addition of active noise cancelation (ANC), but it added something grander for the first “Pro” earbuds in the sleep series: a touchscreen. We’ve seen charging cases with touchscreens before, and they’ve all seemed like a gimmick. This one isn’t. Using the case to control features like ANC, sleep sounds, and alarms is more handy than using the companion app. Plus, the easy touchscreen controls allow you to leave your phone on a nightstand or a separate room.
You can view sleep data, change settings, and browse the audio library of default sleep sounds straight from the charging case. The library is included with the app, but you can download them to the case with its local storage and standalone processor. Like its predecessor, the Sleep 4 Pro supports sleep alarms — they play audio directly through the earbuds to gently wake you up. Using the Sleep 4 Pro, setting alarms on the touchscreen case is streamlined. You don’t have to use your phone or the app to do so, saving your eyes from blue light before bed.
Both the Soundcore Sleep 4 and Sleep 4 Pro have wireless charging cases that make recharging more convenient this time. There’s still a USB-C port for wired charging, too.
Sleep 4 Pro earbuds let you take off your fitness tracker
They have a sensor that tracks HR, HRV, and sleep patterns automatically
As I held the Soundcore Sleep 4 Pro, I thought surely the touchscreen would be the most exciting part of Anker’s new earbuds. Then, I pulled them out of the case and noticed the new sensors on the earbuds. There’s one photoplethysmography (PPG) optical heart rate sensor on each earbud, which shines light onto your skin and uses a photodetector to calculate your pulse. It’s the same technology used by your smartwatch or fitness tracker to figure out your heart rate, but now you have it in sleep earbuds with the Sleep 4 Pro.
This could be a great alternative to watches and bands for people who find it hard to sleep with something on their wrist. Instead of wearing a smartwatch or fitness tracker to bed, you can put the Sleep 4 Pro in your ears to handle heart rate tracking and heart rate variability recording. The charging case compiles the data and provides a sleep summary you can conveniently view on the display in the morning.
What’s neat about the Sleep 4 Pro’s optical heart rate sensors is how they are used in real time as you sleep. There’s a BioSync audio mode that takes PPG sensor data into account roughly once every five minutes and adjusts the audio settings accordingly. It can change tempo (BPM), soundscape elements, and binaural beats based on the results. The idea is that the earbuds will try to keep you relaxed with exactly the sounds your mind needs, adjusting the audio on the fly.
This is a clear upgrade over the Sleep A30, which used fixed sound presets and required a smartphone for making manual changes.
The Sleep 4 earbuds are the true Sleep A30 successor
These bedtime earbuds offer everything you need, and nothing you don’t
I also saw the Soundcore Sleep 4, and these sleep earbuds are certainly worth your time. At only $229, the Sleep 4 might be the better option than the pricey $349 Sleep 4 Pro earbuds. The standard Souncore Sleep 4 earbuds are 20% slimmer than their predecessor, improving comfort. Better yet, they have exclusive features even the Pro model doesn’t get.
The charging case uses AI to detect certain sounds, like a baby crying or a ringing fire alarm, and allows them to pass through during your sleep. It’ll tell the earbuds to lower the volume and turn on transparency mode to ensure you hear these crucial sounds. Additionally, the case analyzes environmental noise that can impact your sleep. It presents the data in the app to help you make changes that could improve your sleep quality.
Like the Sleep 4 Pro, the regular Sleep 4 earbuds have Adaptive Snore Masking technology that can use AI and the charging case to block out that annoying snorer nearby. Anker will start selling the Sleep 4 earbuds in October and the Sleep 4 Pro in November, so you won’t have to wait long for them. As much as I like the Sleep 4 Pro’s clever touchscreen case and optical heart rate sensors, the Sleep 4 earbuds make a compelling case for $120 less.
Everything else Soundcore announced at IFA
The Soundcore Space 2 Pro and AeroClip 2 Pro look really, really good
At IFA, Anker also revealed the Soundcore Space 2 Pro. These are a set of over-ear headphones with a THUS AI processor and Bluetooth 6.1 connectivity. They get 60 hours of battery life with ANC off, and half that with ANC on. These figures are with the volume set to 50%, so expect less listening time if you enjoy louder tunes. These cost $200 and will be available Sept. 22.
There are also the AeroClip 2 and AeroClip 2 Pro, which are both clip-on earbuds. Both earbuds have the same THUS AI chip and use open-ear designs that result in a zero-pressure listening experience. The AeroClip 2 Pro uniquely double as a voice recorder, capturing in-person chats, virtual meetings, and phone calls. Pricing isn’t available for the AeroClip 2 Pro yet, but the regular AeroClip 2 will be sold for $170 starting the week of Sept. 22.
