Ozlo - Sleepbuds® 2, Noise-Masking Sleep Earbuds with Bluetooth Streaming, Sleep Detection, In-Ear Alarm, 14-Hr Battery - Blue

As a former user of the Bose sleepbuds, I have been eager to try the Ozlo sleepbuds to see what improvements they offer over the Bose versions. The Ozlo sleepbuds were created by former Bose engineers who worked on the original versions. I loved the Bose sleepbuds, but they had poor battery life, questionable durability, and could not play any content besides a small selection of masking sounds. The Ozlo Sleepbuds are a massive improvement and could be life-changing for light sleepers. === PROS === - Setup is incredibly easy through the Ozlo app. You don’t even have to navigate to the Bluetooth settings on your phone - the app does everything for you. - The sleepbuds are extremely lightweight with a tiny profile. As a side sleeper, I can barely feel them in my ears while I sleep. The pre-installed medium tips fit perfectly in my ears, but there are four other tip sizes included in the box. - The sleepbuds are incredibly effective at blocking out noise from your partner (snoring), upstairs neighbors, city sounds, and more. They aren’t noise cancelling, but the sleepbuds form a relatively tight seal in my ears that blocks out most external noise. Combined with the masking sounds included in the Ozlo app, I have not been woken up by any external noises since I started wearing the sleepbuds. The sleepbuds can get pretty loud, but the volume doesn’t get as high as standard headphones or earbuds. - Unlike the old Bose sleepbuds, you aren’t limited to only the masking sounds included in the app. The Ozlo sleepbuds are capable of playing audio from any app, you so can fall asleep to podcasts, YouTube videos, music, etc. - Battery life is more than enough to get you through a full night - and maybe even two nights. Ozlo claims up to 14 hours of battery life on a single charge. - The charging case has built-in smart features that can track your sleep metrics, including ambient light, noise, room temperature, sleep length, and more. This information has been incredibly useful in tracking the quality of my sleep. === CONS === - I wish the charging case had built-in wireless charging, since I have a wireless charger on my nightstand. The case can only be charged via USB-C, so I now have to keep a cable on my nightstand. - The lights on the charging case seem overly bright, especially for something that is likely going to be used at night when you are trying to fall asleep. There is no way to turn off the lights or adjust the brightness. - Audio quality is decent, but don’t buy these thinking that they are high-end earbuds. Their primary purpose is noise masking, so these aren’t going to have top-tier audio fidelity. === OVERALL === I’m very impressed with the Ozlo sleepbuds. If you previously used the Bose sleepbuds, these are a significant upgrade and have become essential for me as someone living in a city with a lot of street noise. There are a few minor issues that I think Ozlo could improve in a future iteration, but overall, these are high-quality sleepbuds that can significantly improve sleep quality for light sleepers.

I saw these Sleepbuds and thought my wife should try them since her husband snores sometimes. These don’t have any sort of noise canceling or transparency mode but they use your choice of over 60 selectable sleep sounds to mask noise that might disturb a sleeper. You can also listen to audio books, music, etc on your mobile device and set them to transition to sleep sounds when they detect that you’ve fallen asleep. The app has five modes to choose from; Simple, Auto, Sensing, Time Delay, and Manual. I will attach a screenshot to save me from typing the explanations. My wife likes to read e-books on her Kindle in bed with the screen dimmed and the lights off to get her drowsy enough to fall asleep so she has them set to Simple to play the sleep sounds before she’s asleep. We noticed that the app sometimes shows her as already asleep when she’s reading, guessing that’s due to the lack of motion? Sometimes it’s very close to what her Apple watch shows though. She spent a couple nights trying different size earpieces to get the fit correct. Too large left her ears a little tender in the morning, too small and one might fall out during the night. It came with four sizes so she was able to get a good fit. The earpieces are very soft and she says they are more comfortable for overnight use than foam earplugs. She said they are very comfortable even for side sleeping but if you lay just right you can still feel the plastic ear bud a little. One comment she made was that even with them in and sleep sounds playing, she could still hear some louder sounds like toilets flushing, doors closing, showers starting, etc. The app has many features, she likes that the sleep sound volume level can be adjusted differently from her phone’s volume level and it also allows you to set multiple alarm times for different days of the week, choose from three alarms sounds, and set the alarm volume separate from the sleep sound volume. I like that the alarm plays through the sleepbuds so it only wakes her and not me since she gets up earlier than I need to. The Smart Case also has a snooze feature if you need that. The Smart Case charges the Sleepbuds each day, she’s getting four nights between charges on the case. Could probably go five nights but she would be borderline on having them run out of juice during the fifth night so it would be close. The app also gives you environmental data like room temperature, ambient light, and also marks if any loud noises occurred to help you analyze your sleep. It took her a couple nights to get used to having them in but she likes them and plans to continue using them.

I had been a user of the Bose Sleepbuds so jumped on the chance to get these. The biggest shortcomings to the original Bose were bad connectivity (one earbud would suddenly stop working in the middle of the night) and inability to stream my own music or audiobooks. These Ozlo Sleepbuds 2 solve both issues. One critical technology that was not available when the Bose Sleepbuds were around was Bluetooth LE Audio. This form of Bluetooth allows streaming of audio (not just data) over a low energy wireless connection. And this is the part of the magic that lets Ozlo stream your own audio. The case not only charges, but also serves as a wireless bridge. Your phone streams personal audio to the case using regular Bluetooth. And the case then streams it to the sleepbuds using Bluetooth LE Audio. Unlike regular Bluetooth, not all phones support Bluetooth LE Audio. By using the case as a bridge, it ensures wider compatibility with smartphones. PROs • Very comfortable for me as a side sleeper. Some minor adjusting is required from time to time, but as long as your pillow is soft enough, it’s easier to wear these all night than foam ear plugs. • I can stream my own music and audiobooks from any app. Librivox, Kindle and Calm, for example, have a great libraries of audiobooks that are just engaging enough to distract you from your own thoughts, but boring enough to lull you to sleep. • When listening to your own audio stream, you have several options of what happens when your audio stream ends (such as end of playlist, audiobook, timer, etc…). One notable option is that if you fall asleep listening to your own stream, the sleepbuds detect you’ve fallen asleep and will switch to the local sound you’ve selected. This lessens the chances that you will wake up due to a change in volume later when your audio streams ends, though I do wish there was a crossfade option to make it more seamless. • The extra tips are nicely labeled so you don’t have to guess the size, especially once they are out of the bag and you’re trying different ones for fit. • The biggest impact these sleepbuds have had on me is that I can finally listen to my own audio without disturbing my wife. Even if we agree on what to listen to over my phone’s speakerphone, the rustling of the sheets means I miss some of the audio. These sleepbuds ensure choice and continuity in what I’m listening to. CONs • Like the Bose, these are sound masking, not sound blocking. Loud noises like a snoring partner, sirens, etc… are still likely to wake you. But background noises like tend to get lost in whatever you’re listening to. • When listening to your own audio stream, you can use your phone’s buttons to adjust volume. But when listening to Ozlo’s sounds that are transferred to your sleepbuds, you have to use the Ozlo app to adjust the volume. So you better make sure it’s set to your desired volume before you go to sleep. Interestingly, the case has a button that acts like a play/pause if you don’t want to open the app. I wish they had included volume buttons on the case as well. But I really hope they redo this bit of software in a future release since it’s so natural to use the phone’s buttons. • Because the case is a wireless bridge between the phone and sleepbuds, it must be kept within ten feet of the earbuds to stream your own audio. This means you can’t walk around wearing the sleepbuds unless you take the case with you. If you are using one of Ozlo’s sounds that were transferred to your sleepbuds (”local sound”), the case does not need to be kept near you. • The sound lacks bass, especially when comparing them to regular earbuds. It’s not a big deal for sleeping purposes, but it can throw you off the first time you try them and are expecting them to sound as good as a pair of Bose QC, AirPods or such. That said, the sound has good clarity and works well for spoken word audio. OTHER The sleepbuds can track your sleep and give you data on how well you slept. My watch also does this but Ozlo gives more detailed tracking data, especially because the case also monitors the environment. After tracking my sleep for a while now, I find the data interesting but not necessarily useful. I know when I’ve slept well and when I haven’t without needing a device to tell me. If you have trouble sleeping because of loud noises in your environment (snoring, trains, pets, etc…), these sleepbuds will not magically make those noises disappear. But they are great for anyone who wants to listen to their own audio to fall asleep without disturbing their partner.

A sleep-enhancing and monitoring system incorporating comfortable, light-weight earbuds that are customized for side-sleepers and optimized for delivering compatible audio for sleep. Who - Several former engineers and principals from Bose, the well-known pioneer of sound products in the Boston, MA area created a company to further the goals of the now discontinued, Bose Sleepbuds. With a wide variety of expertise and the licensed and highly-valued IP mostly from Bose, Ozlo was created to transform the Sleepbuds concept to a more sophisticated, effective tool for consumers to sleep better and interpret sleep patterns detected through technological advancements. What - Sleepbuds 2 arrive in sumptuous packaging that imparts a feeling of indulgence. Central to the system, is a round case that slides open to reveal the Sleepbuds wearing a pair of the four included sizes of custom silicone tips. Upon opening, there are several status lights that indicate the state of charge of the base and the communication status to the Sleepbuds 2. The case is designed in such a way as to be unobtrusive sitting on a bedside table and effortless to access prior to dreamland. Accompanying the case and the extra silicone tips is a USB-C to USB-C cable that comes free to insert into any of your previously-owned chargers, as none are included. The Sleepbuds 2 are designed to have a very slim profile that fits within the pinna’s conchal bowl that allows for comfortable side-sleeping. When the silicon tip size is selected correctly, it fits very well and provides a good mechanical seal, helping to isolate from external sound, staying in place throughout the night and providing the most accurate lower frequency reproduction. The Sleepbuds 2 partner with a very attractive and sophisticated-looking app that allows for a number of sounds to be selected from and downloaded into the Sleepbuds. Some of the sounds are typically-expected nature sounds perhaps synthesized, but certainly blended with masking sounds like white, pink or brown noise that all have unique spectral balances. One sound called “Dream”, that I’ve listened to for several nights now, evokes a sort of audiologist’s Rorschach test of a combination of what sounds like brown noise (lower frequency hiss) combined with distant and low volume inclement weather warning sirens that fade in and out. Kind of hinted at what it might sound like to be in the lobby of purgatory. Happy dreams? There are plenty of other choices. Some of the sounds are free and others require payment. The quality of the recording engineering is top-notch in my humble opinion. There are no poor looping-edits noticeable. Audio quality is high throughout with an active stereo sound-stage present in most everything I listened to. Also, no abrupt dynamic range changes to startle you. When - Ozlo has been in business independently starting from about 2022 with much of the work on the Sleepbuds 2 starting in about 2025. The Sleepbuds 2 are the supposed culmination of a number of customer-driven suggestions and refinements based on the strengths of the original Sleepbuds. Where – Based in the Boston area for the research and development aspects and ultimately manufactured in China. How - The all-important how is where the magic happens. Through the knowledge applied from all those patents and the microelectronics that yield approximately 14 hours of playback with some usage of a Bluetooth connection and at only about 1.6 grams of weight for each earbud, this hardware and the app software collaborate to identify your sleep patterns and promote better sleep by blocking external disruptive noise and by attempting to calm the mind while getting to sleep. It will be up to you to determine what sounds you find the most effective at doing so and at what volume level you are comfortable with. There is a balance to determine between being in communication with the external physical aural world and being nearly totally isolated from it. For those who feel a need to make a transition into dreamland from conventional content, these earbuds can be streamed to with non-sleep-inducing content and then seamlessly redirected to the sleep-supporting content from the app at the moment the system detects that you have fallen asleep. Other derivatives of similar functions can be selected from the app. In my experience, I found that a little lower volume was actually helpful to alleviate concerns of being too isolated, yet just enough to separate from the mundane noises that might be a distraction from falling and staying asleep. Another feature is the ability within the app of selecting to isolate your sleep from the phone’s distracting messaging, notifications, calls, etc. There are also a number of different alarm noises that you can choose to give you notice that it is time to rejoin the world. Also helpful are the sleep trends section in the app that accumulate and compare your duration of sleep, quantity of awakenings, your duration goal averages, consistency goal, efficiency goals, noise events that could have disrupted your sleep, light in the room while sleeping and your reported feeling of your night’s sleep’s effect upon waking. Conclusion – I would recommend this product to those that have noises to overcome and might require a little help with getting to and maintaining sleep. This product is by no means a panacea for all, but might assist if you need some sleep-detective investigation of the timeline and depth of your sleep that you probably wouldn’t necessarily know without a little help. The upload of data from the Sleepbuds 2 once they are removed from your ears and placed back in their case in the morning is sometimes problematic. It occasionally takes me multiple attempts to get the sleep data to upload to the app on the phone, where it can then be observed. Hopefully that can be improved upon and may be just my phone and it’s settings, but it is by no means a deal-breaker.

The Ozlo Sleepbuds rely on isolating outside sounds by using their unique fit and masking soundscapes which are played via the mobile app. While I found them comfortable to wear I did not feel like they would be very helpful in eliminating the sounds of someone snoring in the same bed or traffic noises from a busy street. They do mask some of the sound but I would not recommend them as a sound isolating device. They are however useful in helping to lure you into a relaxed state for sleep. The auto sleep detect functionality and ability to capture sleep patterns to customize your personalized sleep routine does seem worthwhile. Pros: - Comfortable to use even when side sleeping - Over 50 types of soundscapes to help you drift off - App is intuitive and easy to use Cons: - Bluetooth connectivity goes through the case to the earbuds so the case has to be near the phone with the app open to work consistently - No control on the earbuds – everything including volume needs the app - Relies on masking outside sounds vs active noise cancellation - Mediocre sound quality with very limited equalizer settings Fit and Feel: I found the Sleepbuds easy to insert and the soft silicone wings hold them in place without irritating your ear. Because the earbuds do not use active noise cancellation they rely solely on the ear tips to isolate you from the outside sounds. The trade off becomes getting a tight fit to isolate the sounds without creating pressure on the ear canal. Ozlo provides 4 sized ear tips but the main difference is the length of the wings which hold them in place. I tried all four sizes and decided the best fit for me was the size two. I used my phone’s camera to see how the wing interacted with my ear to help with the choice. Because these earbuds are so small they don’t feel intrusive and are easy to use while sleeping on your side. Use: These earbuds rely solely on the silicon tip to isolate you from external noises. Even with the best fit I found that I could still hear my robot vacuum on the floor. For someone in a loud environment or next to a loud snorer I don’t believe these earbuds will have a big impact on eliminating the external noises. The earbuds combined with the included soundscapes might help mask some of the noise but that will depend on how sensitive one’s hearing is and how loud you can tolerate the earbud’s volume The included soundscapes in the app definitely help in a relaxing manner and the automatic sleep function is an interesting option. According to the app it will give you more insight into your sleep patterns over time so that you can customize your sleep routines. After each night you have to pair the earbuds in the case with your phone to upload the data. The apps shows your Awake, Rem, Core and Deep sleep along with the noise detected, temperature and light of the room. It also will show you trending information as it captures your sleeping data over time. I haven’t used these long enough to judge the accuracy of the information or compare it to other sleep detecting devices. The overall audio quality of the earbuds is fine for listening to a podcast or the soundscape sounds but its only mediocre when it comes to playing music.