Acoustic Sheep’s SleepPhones market themselves as “Pajamas for your ears”. I can see why – the material of this comfy headband feels pajama-like, and they do keep your ears warm at night. What this headband really does, however, is contain two small headphone drivers which allow you to listen to music while you try and get to sleep. Read on to find out if the SleepPhones actually work!
The headband is made from synthetic material that is very soft and comfortable. The SleepPhones are available in three colors: Soft Grey, Midnight Black, and Soft Lavender. Inside the headband, the two small headphones speakers are noticeable but not painful – even when sleeping on your side. Acoustic Sheep recommends wearing the SleepPhones in one of three ways. The first way is to wear the headband like a headband, with the speaker wire sticking out of the back. The second method (which worked best for me in terms of keeping good sound quality) was wearing the SleepPhones as a sleeping mask, covering your eyes to block out excess light. The final method for wearing the SleepPhones is sort of the reverse of the first method – this time with the speaker wire coming from the front side of your head.
Unfortunately, the headphone speakers are tethered to a cable which is used to plug into your radio or MP3 player. When this cable is pulled or bumped, it can move the speakers around inside the headband. It can be a bit of a challenge to make sure the drivers stay in place next to your ears as opposed to moving out of place. When this happens, you will not hear much of anything as the drivers are very position-dependent. The solution to this problem is to shell out the extra cash for the wireless SleepPhones, which retail for $99.99. These model uses Bluetooth technology that should help alleviate the cable problems.
This is why the SleepPhones work best when used as a sleep mask. In this position, there is still the opportunity for the speakers to move around a bit, but everything is in line with your ears, so a little movement is not as noticeable. When using the SleepPhones in a more traditional, headband fashion, the speakers don’t cover all of your ear, making even the slightest movement more apparent with a loss of audio. I should also mention that if you sleep in the same bed as someone else, be careful with how high your volume is, as the SleepPhones speakers can be fairly loud to outsiders. I had to keep the volume of my music very low as to not wake my wife.
Despite the cable issue, the question that still has to be answered is if the SleepPhones do what they tout? Do they help you get to sleep better? In short: Yes. While wearing the SleepPhones, I did notice that I was able to get to sleep more quickly than without listening to any music. Of course, I did wake up once in a panic because I accidentally pulled the speaker wire with my arm in my sleep, causing my iPhone radio dock to come crashing down onto my floor, but I digress.
Conclusion
Overall, I love the idea of the Acoustic Sheep SleepPhones more than the actual execution of the $39.95 dollar base model. While they do a decent job of providing you some music to fall asleep to, the base model has a big problem in the way of its speaker cable. However the issues I experienced with it would be remedied by paying a little extra for the wireless model. If I didn’t encounter such issue with the cable, I would have easily ranked these a star higher.
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