Sleep earbuds aren’t for everyone, but when you need something to block out the world—or worse, snoring—without putting your ears through some kind of pain trial with regular wireless earbuds, they’re huge. I’m a big fan of Soundcore’s Sleep A30, for example, since they’re comfortable and the ANC is strong, but Soundcore is far from the only option out there.
Ozlo, which was founded by the people who brought you Bose’s Sleepbuds, just released its Sleepbuds 2, and there are a few major perks over the previous generation. Probably the biggest improvement on paper is battery life. Ozlo says the Sleepbuds 2 now get a max of 14 hours of battery life on a single charge when listening in local mode. Local modes, for those who haven’t had a chance to use wireless sleep earbuds yet, download audio onto the earbuds themselves to avoid battery drain caused by Bluetooth streaming. For context, the Soundcore Sleep A30 get about 9 hours of battery life in local mode with noise-canceling activated.
The Sleepbuds 2 have a big battery life, but they’re not big size-wise; in fact, they’re a good deal smaller than Soundcore’s Sleep A30, weighing just 1.6g compared to the Sleep A30’s 3g and are shorter and flatter at 11mm tall compared to the Sleep A30’s 28mm height. That smaller sizing could make them even more comfortable, though it’s hard to say without trying them myself.
On top of beefing up the battery and reducing the size, Ozlo has added new sleep modes that can help tailor audio to how you like to fall asleep. One mode automatically triggers noise-masking sleep sounds after a podcast or music playback ends. Other modes can trigger sleep sounds when onboard sensors detect that you’ve drifted off. Helpfully, “Simple” mode deactivates Bluetooth after 10 minutes of playback and switches to local, so you can conserve battery.
Like previous Ozlo sleep earbuds, the Sleepbuds 2 track sleep efficiency and duration, but the new buds also expand on tracking abilities. Ozlo says its Sleepbuds 2 introduce new Sleep Patterns, monitoring metrics like movement and breathing. A new charging case also has built-in sensors that can track room conditions, like noise, light, and even temperature. There’s no subscription here, thank god.
Not having used these sleep earbuds myself, I can’t say for certain how well those features work. Other sleep-focused wireless earbuds I’ve used in the past, like those made by NextSense, which come with EEGs onboard, didn’t work nearly as well as I would like, and that’s with a whole separate biosensor built in.
As long as we’re comparing to other sleep earbuds, I should note that the Ozlo Sleepbuds 2 don’t have active noise cancellation, unlike the Soundcore Sleep A30. Ozlo says that its noise-masking sounds compensate for that, but that’s something I’d have to hear (or not hear, I guess) for myself to believe.
Ozlo’s Sleepbuds 2 are available now, starting at $279, and come with four different sizes of silicone ear tips. They also, for a limited time, come with a sleep mask and travel case.







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