The Bose Sleepbuds, which are now being sold for $250, promises wearers restful sleep every night though its noise-masking, not noise-canceling, capabilities.
The wireless earbuds went through a couple of years in early development, with prototypes tested through an Indiegogo campaign. The Bose Sleepbuds are finally commercially available, but the question now is whether people will pay $250 for earphones that do not play music.
Bose Sleepbuds: Wireless Earbuds For Sleeping
The Bose Sleepbuds are the smallest products that the audio company has ever made, measuring just a bit more than 1 centimeter in both height and width and weighing only 1.4 grams compared to Apple's AirPods that weigh 4 grams. The wireless earbuds are designed to not protrude beyond the wearer's ears while feeling weightless and comfortable. They also come with silver-zinc rechargeable batteries that can carry enough power to last 16 hours, along with a charging case that can provide one extra full charge.
Of course, the main draw of the Bose Sleepbuds is its promise of helping its wearers sleep better at night. The wireless earbuds do not offer noise-canceling capabilities, as that still allows voices and sudden noises through. Instead, the Bose Sleepbuds comes with noise-masking capabilities, combining the blocking of noise that may disturb sleep with engineered sounds that mask the other noises that get through.
The soothing sound files are locally stored on the Bose Sleepbuds, transferred over Bluetooth through the companion iOS or Android app. The app offers 10 sounds to choose from, with more on the way, and allows the sounds to be played for certain periods or for the whole time that the wearer is sleeping.
The power and storage limitations of the Bose Sleepbuds, however, means that the wireless earbuds are not capable of streaming music through Bluetooth or storing music files.
Is The Bose Sleepbuds Price Worth It?
For $250, the Bose Sleepbuds are a bit on the expensive side, especially for wireless earbuds that do not play music at all. At that price, customers can already buy high-end wireless headphones.
However, sleep deprivation has many negative effects on a person, including increases chances of attention lapses and an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease. It also does not help that people now need at least 8.5 hours of sleep every night these days due to the rise of social media and smartphones.
Is getting good sleep every night worth $250? Ultimately, that will be up to the customers.
