Sleepphones Review – Headphones for Sleep / Meditation
I bought my first pair of Sleepphones by AcousticSheep, the ones I still have today, several years ago. I was interested in using binaural beats at night for light meditating while laying down, falling asleep, as well as blocking out noise from upstairs neighbors.
I’m a very light sleeper, and while I love my noise cancelling headphones, I sleep on my side. It’s pretty much the only way I can fall asleep, and even if I don’t, I end up there. This makes all overhead headphones a non option, and earbuds are too uncomfortable for this (and something tells me it is probably also bad for your ears).
Foam earplugs are cool, but they don’t help with the ability to listen to recordings, or add audio for extra firepower in covering up the sound. I prefer a headphone solution that I can even put over the foam plugs, helping with particularly noisy situations.
With all of these factors in mind, Sleepphones by AcousticSheep seemed like an ideal solution. I was not disappointed.
While sleep phones are obviously branded towards letting you play audio while sleeping, they also provide some unique and comfortable options for those who like to meditate to recordings.
What Exactly Are Sleepphones?
As you guessed, they are headphones designed for sleeping – and sleeping on your side! How did they pull it off?
They embedded headphones into a soft, comfortable headband. It’s one of those things that sounds pretty simple and obvious, but has a lot of challenges involved in actually pulling it off well: making it comfortable, able to fit different sizes, able to adjust the phones themselves to line up with your ears, and of course making a speaker sound decent thru the fabric.
I’d say they did an excellent job. They’ve also improved it quite a bit from the early batch I first had, which I used regularly.
Now given the nature of this site, there are other reasons I was interested in these phones than playing music… which is something I can’t actually fall asleep to. I originally wanted them for binaural tracks, guided meditations, or just white noise to help drown out loudness in the environment.
For those who are interested in sleep learning, or programming during sleep such as with affirmations or goal statements, they are an obvious choice. I’ve found some other cool uses for them as well.
Sleepphones as “Meditation Headphones”
Like me, I’m sure many of you like to do your meditation sessions in the morning after waking up, or before going to sleep.
If you use meditation tracks such as guided or brainwave tracks, these are fantastic for those times of day/night.
It never feels particularly good to me to put earbuds in or headphones on just after waking up. It’s just not something my body is often in the mood for. These on the other hand, if they are not already on, can be very transparent.
As for late at night: ever do a session and fall asleep with earbuds in or headphones on? Not exactly a pleasant experience.
If you are using these, you can fall asleep, adjust into any position and not have it affect you in any way. They are ‘sleep phones’ after all.
Now an obvious question might be if they will just slide off and end up all over your face. It just needs to be fit comfortably with your head and in a reasonably snug position. They did a good job with this and their sizing, which we’ll get into now.
Sleepphones Sizes
After a few developments, they’ve got it down to three sizes which reports suggest are doing the trick. I can also personally attest to them being helpful with this, even if you need to make an adjustment (more on that later.)
The three sizes are:
One size fits most – kind of says it all. The site says this applies to ‘nearly everyone.’
Extra Small – specified as being for petite females especially if their hair is short.
Extra Large – for large/tall men with a head of hair.
Now this might not exactly satisfy you in terms of being certain which applies to you. The website lists very specific measurements for each size in hat size for US/UK, inches, centimeters and more. A video is also included showing you how to measure yourself to make extra sure you are getting what you need.
What if you get them, and it’s not the right fit?
They are very responsive and accommodating if something doesn’t work out well. In the first batch which was not as ‘one size fits most’ as their current designs, I realized one size smaller would work much better for me and how I like it to fit. They simply sent me another one and asked me to send the other back. Very smooth and satisfying customer-support experience, which goes a long way for me.
How Do Sleep Phones Sound?
The Sleep phones deliver on sound, especially for their purpose.
It’s not going to compare with a $300 set of Bose, If you’re going to get into audiophile discussions about bass / treble that’s another universe that I don’t think are really the point of this product.
They did a very good job getting these to sound the way you need them to even through the fabric that makes them so comfortable and sleep-worthy.
Especially if you are using them for sounds to block out snoring or other noise, to listen to brainwave meditations or guided tracks, you should be very satisfied. You can of course listen to music or anything else you want with them as well.
Sleephones Wireless vs. Wired
There is now a wireless version as well as the classic wired version of the phones. Given that they are for sleeping, wireless makes a lot of sense, as it gives you freedom from needing to be any particular distance from you music device.
The feel, sound, and headbands themselves are no different between the two versions, however the wireless is more expensive.
The wireless phones use Bluetooth to connect to the audio player. If you are interested in this version, make sure your audio playback device of choice is Bluetooth compatible. If you use an iPhone or Android, they will both work. You need to “pair” the devices as with all Bluetooth tech, which is a pretty simple process and instructions are included.
In terms of battery life for the wireless sleep phones, they are good for 8-12 hours unplugged, and only require about 2 hours of charging to be fully restored.
Other Versions (Plus Very Cool New One)
There is a “Sleepphones Microphone” version that is wired, but has a microphone built in for phone calls. This is similar to the earbuds you get with a smartphone where you can be wearing them and simply speak, with the microphone picking it up.
If you talk on the phone a lot at home and prefer the idea of wearing the headband to earbuds, I could see why this would be a requested item for comfort.
Sleepphones Simple
This is a new model and a very smart idea.
16 different audio tracks are preloaded right into the phones themselves. These include music tracks, brainwave tracks as well as guided meditations.
No need to plug anything in, connect to any external phone or music player, or deal with anything other than putting on the phones and pressing a button to choose your track (you can see this in action in the video below).
The battery life for this is 18-20 hours, so it’s good for probably 2-3 nights without needing to plug them in to recharge.
I am not certain if you can use the simple version with an external source or if it is only for the built-in audio. I will post the answer to that soon.
Headphones for Sleeping – How well do they work?
After a bit of adjusting to find the right angle that works best, and adjusting the headphones themselves (you can adjust their position within the band easily), I was happy. The phones did exactly what they said they would.
I’ve enjoyed the ability to put on audio tracks that are perfect for night time or sleeping, and just get right into bed without having to worry about being in the right position, remembering to take something off, or worse: falling asleep and seriously regretting it.
Sometimes I like to use white noise, or a similar type of consistent non-abrasive sound (rain or running water) when the purpose is primarily to filter out background noise.
Taking a look at product reviews online, I see the majority have rated it 4-5 stars at major places like Amazon- which is important because everyone has different circumstances, preferences and head sizes. Simply hearing that I liked them is not enough. Also note that there have been different iterations and improvements on the product. Concerns from some of the less favorable reviews have been addressed.
For Snoring
I have never had to sleep next to someone who snores, but I have seen favorable comments for the phones helping. Obviously they will provide a constant layer of sound to help filter out any noise if you use something like whitenoise or a brainwave track.
You also can put soft, high density foam earplugs in underneath the phones (something I use a lot, especially on planes) so that you can increase noise reduction and also turn the audio up a bit louder than you would otherwise. While I don’t think this could totally cover the sound of a loud snorer right next to you, it would take a lot of the edge off of it and appears that it is enough for many customers to finally get a good nights sleep.
Connect to TV
If you get the wireless version and your TV has Bluetooth connectivity, you should absolutely be able to listen to your television right through your sleepphones. Doing it with the wired version would likely require some extension cable for the wire to reach, and possibly converters for your TV output to go to 1/8th inch standard headphone jack.
Eco Friendly
Sleepphones are made from 88% recycled plastic materials. The packaging is also very eco-conscious, a big bonus for the company. They are also made by a family doctor.
Sleepphones Promo Code, Discounts and Coupons.
Sleepphones occasionally has some sales or coupon codes. The best way to get informed about this is to sign up for their newsletter so they can send it to you directly. You can do that on the bottom of the homepage.