Bose SleepBuds II: MUST HAVE

At the tail end of 2017, SCDW reported on the original Sleepbuds after Bose acquired Hush that had pioneered the technology. Now, a few years later, here is the second iteration of the Bose Sleepbuds, with technology clinically proven to help people fall asleep.

This product is solely for helping a person fall asleep, they aren’t earbuds to listen to music or take calls. It is simply there to help you fall asleep night after night. Combining a new acoustic and electronic design, a new enclosure and proprietary ear tips, these buds block, cover and replace audible distractions – be it snoring, loud neighbours, traffic outside etc.

To help you fall asleep and drown out the distracting noises, there are 14 noise-masking tracks mirror the frequencies of night-time disruptions, hiding them under soothing layers of audio. If you have trouble sleeping due to anxiety or stress, 15 Naturescapes help calm with walks down a Country Road, Shore Line, Boardwalk, and beyond; 10 Tranquilities help lower stress and tension with tones to Lift, Drift, Dream, and more.

The buds have a 10-hour battery with an additional 30 hours when using the charging case and are both sweat and water-resistant.

The Sleepbuds II will be available from October 13th for £229.95, which may seem a little expensive for a set of earphones that are only good for one thing. But in truth, can you put a price on a good night’s sleep?

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Bose QuietComfort Earbuds: MUST HAVE

Bose headphones have been pretty much the go to headphone for years, more recently battling it out with Sony’s WH-1000XM4s for the crown of over-ear noise cancelling headphones.

In the in-ear space though, Bose has recently released its new QuietComfort Earbuds, said to be the most effective in-ear noise cancelling earbuds ever. Quite a bold claim. The buds debut proprietary advancements in hardware and software to continue the two decade legacy of QuietComfort headphones by introducing new StayHear Max tips that create a soft-yet-tight seal.

The buds use multiple microphones to sense, measure, and send any remaining noise to a chip loaded with a Bose exclusive new algorithm. Paired with tiny transducers, the system creates an opposite signal in less than a fraction of a millisecond. And depending on the environment or personal taste, the Bose QC Earbuds have 11 levels of noise cancellation from “transparency” that keeps you aware of your surroundings, to full noise cancellation that lets you tune out completely or hear every detail from your content and conversations.

Each bud measures just over 2cm long and weighs 13 grams combined, the pair can give 18 hours of total listening time — 6 hours fully charged and an additional 12 using the charging case. The Bose QC Earbuds will be available from October 5th for £249.95 and can be pre-ordered below.

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Bose Sleep Buds – for a perfect night’s sleep

Disjointed sleep patterns can severely affect mood and is linked to multiple health issues. After a long day at work, the last thing anyone needs is a sleepless night due to partners snoring or unwanted street noise.

A company called Hush had started marketing an ingenious product that combined soothing sounds into earplugs to help people sleep. At the same time Bose were testing early prototypes of noise masking earphones (in-ear headphones wired to an iPod attached to a user’s sweat band).
In 2016, Bose acquired Hush and the teams joined forces to create and perfect the ultimate noise-masking earbud. The buds have in-built flash memory with a variety of 10 soothing sounds (six of which found in nature) pre-loaded helping the wearer muffle unwanted noise. As the buds are connected to a mobile app, the wearer won’t miss their morning alarm and an added benefit – your sleeping partner remains asleep. The earbuds are capable of providing charge for two nights worth before needing to be charged in their bespoke charge/carry case.

But how do these earbuds actually work?

In most noise-cancelling headphones adding a second frequency that is out of phase when compared to the first cancels out the troublesome sound, however noise masking is different. “Masking works because of the way different sounds combine in our inner ears; if they have the right match of frequencies and one (the masking sound) is just enough louder than another (the disturbing sound), your inner ear and brain cannot detect the disturbing sound.”

Through the app, all elements can be altered from types of sounds played to volume and length of the sounds heard. Bose has taken a different approach with this new product, by asking for feedback on a product through crowdsourcing site Indiegogo. Through this process the company aims to learn more about sleep and any flaws users may find before bringing the product to the mass market later in 2018. These earbuds aren’t a replacement for wireless headphones, they have been created to help people take charge of their sleep, but will people want to wear earphones as they sleep? There is no word on how much these will cost but if other Bose products are anything to go by expect the Sleep Buds to be around the £250 range.