Soundcore Space Q45 Photos and Features
The Soundcore Space Q45s may be in a much larger box than the Space A40s but the box itself has the same look. They have a large picture of the headphones across the front with a white background. The new Soundcore logo is in the top left corner and they have the noise canceling repeatedly used across the front of the box with it in the description in the top right under the model name, the large font that says “noise canceled playtime extended” in the center, Adaptive ANC logo, and the 98% noise reduction mentioned down at the bottom right. That doesn’t even include the sound waves in the background that go into the headphones and come out tamed down as well. The back of the box has a few pictures of the Q45s being used and then Soundcore lists out a few of the main features.
Inside the box, the Soundcore Q45’s come in their carrying case which means very little extra packaging is needed. Up under that, they do have a layer with the documentation which is all bagged up. Like with the A40, the Q45s don’t have the usual card asking for your feedback but you do get the legal info paper and a quick start guide specific to the Space Q45.
The Soundcore Q45’s carrying case is a hard carrying case that should keep the headphones safe and have a black faux leather finish with the sound core logo on the front in Chrome. They do have a loop to hang them on the side near the zipper and the zipper wraps all the way around so that the case opens up. Inside Soundcore has put a plastic tray in to help you position the Q45’s so they fit in the case and keep everything from moving around and there's a small section in the bottom right corner so you can store the charging cable and the included male to male headphone cable. The top has a soft fabric finish but there isn't any padding so the hard case must keep things safe. The Soundcore Space Q45 headphones and the carrying case together weigh 503 grams and while the case is perfect for being tossed into a backpack or luggage the case isn’t exactly pocketable, not that I would expect a full-sized headphone to be pocketable.
Here are the two cables that Soundcore ships the Space Q45 with. You get the same USB Type-A to Type-C cable that the Space A40s came with which is relatively short, at least not long enough to charge them while using them. Then you get a 1/8” or 3.5mm TPS cable with male connections on each end which will turn the Space Q45’s into a wired headset.
As for the actual Soundcore Space Q45s are what I would consider to be a mid-sized over-ear headphone meaning just barely large enough to go around your ears not sitting on them. They share some of their styling with the Soundcore Life Q35s that came before them like the headband design. The outside of the earcups however only share having the Soundcore logo on the outside of the cup and even that is changed with their new shorter logo. If you look closely they also have Space Series printed on the left earcup as well. They have a flat black plastic housing and a glossy ring around the outside. The Q45, like the A40, is only available in black right now but they have white and navy blue options coming later this year. One of the big changes is how the headband meats the earcup with the round aluminum hinge which can turn flat in one direction and close to 45 degrees in the other direction. It can also fold in towards the headband as well.
The headband design looks similar to the Q35 with an aluminum band in the middle which is what absorbs the flexibility when you pull the earcups apart and then plastic sleeves on the ends that pull out an inch on each side for adjustability. The underside of the headband is plastic on the sides and has a faux leather section in the middle with a ¼ inch of padding on the underside of the aluminum band.
The underside of the earcups is where most of the action is, the left earcup has a USB Type-C connection on the bottom for recharging the Space Q45’s back up. Soundcore has the total playtime for the Q45s at 50 hours from a full charge with adaptive noise canceling on and 65 hours with it turned off. They also have fast charging with 5 minutes of charging providing 4 hours of playtime which is twice as fast as the fast charge for the Space A40s. The left earcup has the power button which is also the Bluetooth connection button and has a small status LED behind it as well as a second button around on the back that lets you flip through the noise canceling options. The left earcup has one microphone section which you can see from the array of pinholes near the status LED. The right earcup has a 1/8 headphone jack and two microphone sections. Officially the Q45 uses two microphones for its actual microphone with what they call AI-enhanced clear calls to help pick out voices and cut back on wind noise but the hybrid adaptive noise canceling system uses four microphones in total to help cut out background noise. For buttons, the right earcups (left in the picture below) has a small play/pause button and then your volume up and down button which is on the back side and is much longer.
Both earcups have a thick memory foam padding and faux leather which helps cut out outside noise. I love that the left and right labels are printed on the inside of each earcup out of view when you don’t need them but are extremely visible for when you look. For drivers, they have 40mm drives which is the same size that the Life Q35s have but like the A40 these are what they are calling double-layer-diaphragm drivers with a metal-ceramic material.
Earlier the Space Q45s inside of their case came in at 503 grams, well without the case the headphones alone weigh 295 grams which for a point of reference the Sony WH-1000XM4’s are 254 grams so the Space Q45s are a little heavier but not completely out of line.
