Best travel accessory: I’ll never fly without my favorite sleep earbuds again

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In the last six months, I’ve been to Argentina for a wedding, Miami for another wedding, South Carolina for vacation, and Costa Rica for a friend’s birthday. And for every trip, the first thing I packed was my Soundcore Sleep A20 headphones.

These have easily become my #1 travel necessity.

Why headphones for sleeping?

Most people probably bring their AirPods or a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones when they fly — and me too. So why choose to bring such a specialized audio product with limited bag space?

The Soundcore Sleep A20s are our favorite budget sleep headphones. They have a battery life of 14 hours, so they last all night – or on a long flight – and the Soundcore app comes with soundscapes and white noise options. The biggest draw for me is their comfort.

My AirPods 4 are great for walking around, taking calls, and listening to music for short periods of time. But the hearing fatigue I feel is real. I’m not going to lie and say the Sleep A20s feel like they’re not even there or anything, but they put a lot less pressure on my ear canal and I can wear them comfortably for longer periods of time. They’re also better at passive noise cancellation than my AirPods, with a tighter seal.

Plus, I like having an app dedicated to my sleep sounds, so my Spotify wrapped is not skewed by my signature song “Deep Sleep Brown Noise.”

I slept through an entire long-haul flight

My overnight flight from New York to Buenos Aires was about 10 hours and I slept eight or nine of it. I shot Bob’s Burgers movie until I doze off, then I put on my eye mask and doze off.

My ultimate travel companion.
Credit: Miller Kern / Mashable

The good thing about Soundcore earbuds is that they also work like regular Bluetooth headphones. So I was able to connect them to my iPad to play the movie audio and then switch to sleep sounds once my eyes got heavy.

I have a few custom soundscapes downloaded in the Soundcore app, so I let the sounds of a crackling fire, rain on a tent, and cicadas lull me to sleep. Once the headphones detect that I have actually fallen asleep, they switch to white noise.

It was the same story on the flight home. It was another night flight and I queued up an episode of Bob’s Burgers until I’m ready to knock out. I woke up with maybe an hour and a half left in the flight (just in time for the delicious breakfast of plain Greek yogurt), and my partner said he kept waking up throughout the flight. I felt really rested.

A lifeline for noisy Airbnbs

The Airbnb I stayed at in Miami was across the street from a nightclub. The music echoed there until late in the morning and made it almost impossible to fall asleep. Luckily, I had my sleeping pills on hand.

I brought these bad boys in, selected my sleep sound of meditation music, dryer, and rain, and fell into a restful sleep. The next morning my partner again said he slept horribly and was constantly woken up by the club music. I slept all night, no problem.

The Soundcore app comes with preloaded soundscapes.
Credit: Screenshot: Soundcore

Or you can create your own with up to three white noise sounds at once.
Credit: Screenshot: Soundcore

If you have a snorer in the house, sleep headphones could be the difference between a frustrating, sleepless night and a night of white noise bliss. I visited my mother over Christmas, and she and her partner both snore like you wouldn’t believe. I could hear them from the guest bedroom, so I jumped in the Sleep A20s and blocked them out until morning.

A permanent place in my travel bag

I’ve brought the Soundcore Sleep A20 headphones on every trip I’ve taken since I bought them, and I plan to bring them on all my future trips. They’re small enough that I don’t feel like I’m taking up valuable space in my carry-on. Because they act like regular old Bluetooth headphones, I can also use them as a replacement for AirPods – they’re much more comfortable, too.

If I find myself on a noisy plane or stuck sharing space with someone who snores, I know the Sleep A20s will come to the rescue.

This model of Soundcore’s sleep headphones doesn’t have noise cancellation, but that doesn’t bother me. The soundscapes mask me enough that I can sleep comfortably. However, if you prefer noise-canceling headphones, my colleague Bethany Allard loves them. Special offers Soundcore Sleep A30.