Its been quite some time since my original post on [The Sleeping Headphones Saga](./photos-personal/the-sleeping-headphones-saga/) so I thought it was time I updated with my current situation my my experiments since then.



# Recap

If the last post is [TLDR;](./photos-personal/the-sleeping-headphones-saga/) then basically the summary is that I (like many others) like to listen to music / audiobooks in bed to help me sleep with. I have been doing it for over two decades now and I thought I would share my experience trying to find the right headphones for my sleeping audio pleasure.

Up to that point I wasnt 100% happy with any of the options on the market and despite trying quite a few, some more expensive than others, I ended up with \$13 Panasonic RP-HS46 as my daily driver for now.

# Pillow Speaker

[![](./pillow-speaker.jpg)](./pillow-speaker.jpg)

So one experiment I have tried since the last post is to buy a [Portable 3.5mm Pillow Speaker](https://www.ebay.com/itm/Portable-3-5mm-Pillow-Speaker-for-iPod-MP3-MP4-CD-Phone-Universal-White-Speaker-/253812585068) you can find lots of variants of it for sale on ebay.

The idea is that instead of headphones going directly in your ear you attach this little speaker to your device then tuck it under your pillow. Then you rest your head on the pillow and enjoy your music / audiobook or whatever.

At just \$5 I wasnt expecting much and wasnt disappointed.

The sound quality is predictably terrible, tho thats not a show stopper if it meant that I could listen to my audio without wires.

Well the problem is that the speaker is actually quite thick (1cm roughly) and hard plastic meaning that you cant put directly under your pillowcase as its way to hard to rest your head on. Thus you are forced to put it under your pillow, which means you have to turn the volume up quite loud to be heard. This was a show-stopper for my light-sleeping partner.

I think this idea could potentially work if the speaker was soft and thin enough that you couldnt notice it under some padding. As it stands however, this \$5 solution is pretty much useless to me.

# BedPhones Wireless

[![](./woman-sleep.jpg)](./woman-sleep.jpg)

In the last post I mentioned that I had ordered the brand new [Dubslabs BedPhones Wireless headphones](https://www.dubslabs.com/products/bedphones-wireless-sleep-headphones-the-worlds-smallest-on-ear-headphones.html) and was hopeful that they were finally going to be the solution to my problem.

Well after 6 months they finally arrived from the US. I went to bed eagerly that night hoping that the wireless soft-ear-pieces were going to be perfect for sleeping.. Well actually before I get onto the negatives lets list the positives:

- Great sound quality
- Love that they are wireless, no more wires wrapped around my neck
- The battery lasts all night, great for someone like me that has a habit of waking at 4am then struggling to sleep again without them.

Okay so thats great.. but for me the natives outweigh the positives:

A minor annoyance that its hard to tell which button does what on the controls without looking at them. The apple headphones controls does this better.

Another minor annoyance its really hard to open the little cover on the charging port for the headphones which is particularly a problem when the light level is low early morning and is exactly the time when you want to be putting them back on charge.

A big negative is that the wire that holds them in place on my ear really isnt very good. I know others have complained about this too and although Dubslabs have supposedly done work on this it really just isnt as good at solid plastic clasp that fits around the ear in the Panasonic RP-HS46.

Another big negative is even though the ear pieces are thin and padded I still find them really uncomfortable when resting my head on my side on my pillow. To be fair this is the same with every pair of headphones, but what I usually have to do is pull one headphone out my ear when I want to rest my head on my side, then when I swap sides of my head I have to swap headphones, I have to do this multiple times during the night every night. I was hoping the bedphones would solve this problem by allowing me to keep them in all the time but unfortunately they dont, they are still to uncomfortable.

# Conclusion

So after all that im still using my trusty Panasonic RP-HS46's. They certaintly arent perfect but they are better than the plain Apple earpods. The Dubslabs wireless headphones were a bit of a letdown for me, but I have donated them to my sister and she likes them so thats good that the money wasnt wasted.

So the quest for the best sleeping headphones continues, until next time..

Ever since I was little I have always found it easier to sleep if I have some sort of background noise. For me it quietens the mind, allowing me to concentrate on the familiar sounds instead of those thoughts that seem to always come out right when you want to relax. I like listening to audio books that I have listened to 1000 times before. My brain knows whats coming up in the story but still concentrating on it allows my sub-conscious to quieten and calm down. Its very much like a breathing meditation for me.

 

# UPDATE - 30.10.18

Note: I have an update to this post that you may be interested in [reading about here](<(./photos-personal/sleeping-headphones-update/)>).

---

Its not for everyone however so as much as I would like to be able to just play my stories using a speaker in the room its not really an option with someone else is using their own silence-based techniques of getting to sleep.

For this reason I almost always have headphones in my ears. I have tried many different types over the years and im still not 100% happy but id like to share my journey.

## Regular Old Headphones

[![](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Apple_EarPods_35446297_03.jpg)](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Apple_EarPods_35446297_03.jpg)

These have been my go-tos for many years. I rock an iphone so mine are apple ear pods. This work just fine and sound great not that thats really important for audio books while you are trying to sleep however.

The problems start when you actually fall asleep with them in however. Because that sit in the ear and are hard plastic if you roll over at night they press against the inside of your ear. I actually started to get quite a lot of ear pain because of this and was one of the main prompters to find a better solution.

Another problem with these headphones is that they are wired, which means that you ca quite easily get tangled up in them. A few times I have woken up with them wrapped around my neck which was a little disconcerting.

**Pros:** Ubiquitous, Cheap (ish), Good sound quality
**Cons:** Painful when sleeping on them, cords risk strangulation

## SleepPhones Headband

[![](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/sleepphones-headphones-headband-2.jpg)](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/sleepphones-headphones-headband-2.jpg)

The first alternative I tried was the [SleepPhones](https://www.sleepphones.com/shopify-collections/sleepphones) headband. These look like they promise solutions to many of the problems listed above.

They dont sit in your ear, rather the speakers sit in a headband that goes round your head, so theres no risk of the ear infection. The single wire to your phone either sits at the front or the back so theres less chance of them getting wrapped around your neck while you sleep.

The headband is really soft and comfortable but I found it hard to work out where the speakers were, so often the headband would shift and I could no longer hear anything.

I found that the cable on them was kind of short which meant that the phone couldn't be placed on the bedside table next to me, not a big issue, but still kind of annoying.

The biggest problem with them however is that I live in Australia and it can get pretty hot at night here and having this warm fluffy headband on all night really dont help with trying to cool you down.

**Pros:** Comfortable, single wire means less things to kill yourself with
**Cons:** I got too hot, headband shifts, cable too short, kind of pricey

## BedPhones

[![](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Bedphones-31u8vwkkxjzale44ympn9m.jpg)](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Bedphones-31u8vwkkxjzale44ympn9m.jpg)

The next ones I tried were [dubslabs bedphones](https://www.dubslabs.com/). These are over-ear headphones means that they dont sit directly in your ear and instead sit on the ear. This means that you dont suffer from the same sort of inner-ear pain as you do with the air pods.

Unfortunately the sound quality is terrible, it isn't really a show stopper for sleeping headphones but still for a professional product I would have expected better.

The biggest problem is the over-ear wire they use to hold them in place was so flimsy that they would continually fall off my ear making them pretty much useless.

**Pros:** Comfortable for long-term use
**Cons:** Poor sound quality, fall out of ear, wired still, strangulation issues

## Panasonic RP-HS46

[![](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/s-l300.jpg)](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/s-l300.jpg)

I bought these guys only a month or so ago and have been rather impressed with them considering the very low (\$12.59 AUD) price tag.

Much like the BedPhones they are over-ear headphones so you dont have to suffer from the in-ear pressure.

Unlike the BedPhones however they have great sound quality, surprisingly great infact considering the price.

Instead of a stiff wire holding them in place they have a hard plastic loop that articulates outwards for easy placing over the ear.

The only negative I have to say is that even though these are low-profile they are still hard plastic so for me its still to uncomfortable to lie on them, so I have to keep changing ears when I want to roll over much like I do with the ear pods.

They are also still wired so although it hasn't happened yet I can imagine that they suffer from the same strangulation risks as the others.

**Pros:** Cheap, great sound quality, low-profile, over-ear
**Cons:** Hard plastic, strangulation wires still


## [NOT TRIED] BedPhones Wireless

[![](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/bpw-man-laying-down-web-smallest-1024x683.jpg)](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/bpw-man-laying-down-web-smallest.jpg)

These are the second set of headphones from [dubslabs](https://www.dubslabs.com/products/bedphones-wireless-the-worlds-smallest-on-ear-headphones.html) in this post and look so interesting I have a pair on them on preorder.

Although I didn't like my Gen2 BedPhones headphones I like the concept that this is company that are making headphones that are designed for sleeping with. Im hoping that this variant solves the sound quality and the flimsy over-ear-wire issues with the Gen2.

One big plus is that they are wireless so that should mean that the risk of strangulation is nill. I Am a little concerned at the battery life on them however. If they dont last the night then im going to be disappointed.

At \$100 USD these really are rather expensive as an experiment but I spend 8 hours a day with them on my ears so I guess its worth the investment.

**Pros:** Wireless, low-profile, soft, designed for sleeping in
**Cons:** Expensive, untested

## [NOT TRIED] Ear Hero

[![](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/122830902_1280x720-1024x576.jpg)](https://www.mikecann.blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/122830902_1280x720.jpg)

I haven't tried these from [Ear Hero](https://earhero.com/store/) yet but they certainty look very interesting. They are very low-profile headphones that are designed for police and other security professionals so they can hear whats going on around them at the same time as listening to the earpiece.

Im intrigued by them for sleeping in because the they look very low profile so I should be able to sleep on them without any ear pain.

Combined with their bluetooth clip for wireless listening they could be the perfect solution.

The only problem is their rather large (\$150 USD) price-tag makes them out of the range for my experimentation for now.

**Pros:** Very low profile
**Cons:** Pricey, not tested

# Conclusion

For me the current winner is the Panasonic RP-HS46, cheap but good quality and comfortable enough to sleep. They still have their issues tho, such a being wired and hard plastic makes lining on them too uncomfortable.

I am however looking forward to trying out the BedPhones wireless when they arrive.

Well thats it for my experiments. Let me know what you think. Do you sleep in headphones? Which do you use? Have you experimented with others? Let me know in the comments below and perhaps ill do a follow-up post.

# Followup

Note: I have an update to this post that you may be interested in [reading about here](<(./photos-personal/sleeping-headphones-update/)>).