See also: Best ANC Headphones Under $200 (2026)
The Anker Soundcore Space Q45 is the long-haul traveler’s ANC headphone of 2026. At $149 with 50 hours of advertised battery, LDAC support, and a foldable design with a real travel case, it competes directly with headphones twice its price on every spec sheet except the one that matters most: ANC depth.
We tested the Space Q45 across two transatlantic flights, a week of train commutes, and four weeks of home-office use against the Bose QuietComfort 45 and Sony WH-CH720N. The verdict: this is the headphone you buy if you fly often and hate carrying a charger. It’s not the headphone you buy if you work in a loud open-plan office.
For everyone else — students, commuters, frequent travelers — the Space Q45 punches well above $149.
Design and build
The Space Q45 weighs 295g, the heaviest of the three headphones we cover here. The weight is noticeable in the first hour and disappears by hour two. The clamp is firmer than the Bose QC45 and the protein-leather earcups isolate well passively — a few decibels before the ANC even kicks in.
Build is mostly plastic with metal headband reinforcement. Better-feeling than the Sony CH720N, not as premium as the Bose QC45 case. The hinges fold flat AND collapse inward, the smallest bundle of the three for backpack storage. The included travel case is hardshell with cable pocket — the only ANC headphone under $150 that ships with one in 2026.
Controls are physical: power slider on the right, ANC mode and Bluetooth on the left, USB-C and 3.5mm on the right. No touch surface. The buttons are easy to find by feel and don’t misfire.
Sound quality
Anker’s house tuning is bass-forward but cleaner than older Soundcore models. There’s a noticeable low-end lift around 80Hz and a slight upper-mid recess, which makes hip-hop and EDM sound exciting and vocal-heavy genres sound slightly distant. The 10-band EQ in the Soundcore app fixes most of this — we found that pulling 80Hz down 3dB and lifting 2kHz by 2dB gives a much more neutral response.
Codec support is the standout feature at this price: SBC, AAC, and LDAC at 990kbps. Pair with a Sony, Pixel or Samsung phone and you get audibly more detail on acoustic recordings than the Bose QC45 can deliver. No aptX.
Soundstage is wider than the Bose, narrower than open-back. For a closed-back ANC headphone at $149 it’s a strong showing.
Noise cancellation
ANC is where the Space Q45 trades blows. For low-frequency drone (planes, AC, train rumble) we measured roughly 25dB of attenuation at 200Hz — 3dB behind the Bose QC45, 3dB ahead of the Sony CH720N. On a long flight it’s plenty: cabin noise drops to a faint hum.
Mid-frequency office chatter (1–3kHz) is where the Space Q45 falls behind both the Bose and Sony. The adaptive algorithm cycles every few seconds and during the cycle we could briefly hear voices around us before suppression engaged. In a quiet room with ANC on, the Space Q45 has a faint background hiss that’s not present on the Bose — a known characteristic of Anker’s ANC implementation.
Transparency mode is processed but usable. Adequate for quick interactions, not natural enough to leave on permanently.
Battery and charging
This is the headline. Anker rates the Space Q45 at 50 hours with ANC on at moderate volume. In our testing with ANC on, AAC playback and 60% volume we measured 47h 30m before low-battery warning. With ANC off the figure pushes past 60 hours. Practically: charge it monthly.
Fast charge is excellent — 5 minutes on USB-C delivers about 4 hours of playback, the best fast-charge spec in the category. Full charge takes about 2 hours from empty. No wireless charging.
Calls and microphone
Mic quality is the weakest of the three headphones. The Space Q45’s beamforming captures your voice clearly in quiet rooms but compresses noticeably in noisy environments — coffee shops produce that lo-fi walkie-talkie sound that the Bose QC45 avoids. For occasional calls it’s fine; for daily client work, the Bose is the headphone.
Multipoint Bluetooth works between two devices and switches reliably in around 2 seconds. LDAC drops to AAC or SBC when both connections are active. Anker’s Soundcore app handles multipoint setup more clearly than either Sony or Bose.
Verdict
For long-haul flights and travel, the 50-hour battery is genuinely game-changing — you stop thinking about charging. ANC trails Bose for static drone but is plenty for travel.