Hi, I’m Ethan Green from nosleeplessnights.com, and in this video, I’m going to be doing
an unboxing (or rather an unwrapping as I should say since they didn’t come in a box)
of the Bedphones by the company Dubslabs.
Now, these are headphones which have been designed with comfort in mind for side sleepers
hopefully.
I’m a side sleeper, so I’m looking forward to trying them out and also to use in bed
if you sleep with a partner, and you don’t want to disturb them while you’re listening
to your podcast or radio, music, whatever it might be.
So, without further ado, let’s pop over to the table, unwrap them, and then I’m
going to test them out over a few nights and compare them to different headphones as well
so I can give you a good impression of what they’re really like.
So, inside the bag here, we have what looks like the instructions, which I’ll have a
look at in a second. What's this?
Oops, it turned out to be longer than I was expecting!
There’s some safety information - it’s just fairly standard I imagine. And then we’ve
got this carry case.
Now, this is the saving grace of the fact that the packaging isn’t very impressive.
It does come in this nice little carry case with a very tight snap lock. And inside there
we have the headphones. And that's it I think. We have what looks like three different pieces.
Yeah.
Okay.
So, we've got the charging cable, which looks like a standard USB to micro USB.
There’s no power adapter.
But that’s pretty standard these days with these kinds of headphones.
What’s in here?
Looks like we’ve got some spare foam to protect the actual speakers, which is nice.
How many have we got?
We have got two there, two there.
Oh that’s good, so you’ve got four spares.
So, this is the interesting bit. The fact that it has a really thin speaker with the foam
padding and they’re very thin there. And then it has this kind of memory wire I think
I read on their website,
that’s what they call it.
That means it's going to be easier to put it into place over your ear and bend
into the position that you need to. And hopefully
it will then stay in place and not fall out when you change positions in the night. But
I will test those a bit later.
Then we have a control here, which I will look through the instructions at, but I can see
a plus and a minus, and a button in the middle. It seems very similar to the Lavince headphones,
which I reviewed just recently.
Let’s just have a look at the instructions. You’ve got an introduction, a greeting from
the makers, how to wear.
I don’t need that at the moment.
I shall test that out when I go into bed, but it seems quite straightforward really.
Just clip them over your ear and bend the wire presumably.
And then here we have a word about the actual control unit.
It doesn’t explain much; you have to work it out for yourself.
It looks like we’ve got for the plus, we’ve got one click for the volume or hold it to
change tracks.
And then the same for the minus button. And then the one in the middle,
it looks like it’s going to be one click for play and pause.
Two for the microphone.
I believe that you can answer telephone calls.
But personally, I’m not going to test that much because when I’m lying in bed, the
last thing I want to do is answer the phone. Or hold it for turning it on and off presumably.
I don’t know why they haven’t actually written those instructions out.
It would have been nice because not everyone finds instructions particularly easy to understand.
Luckily I do, though.
One gripe that I have about these kinds of headphones is when you have one button
for both the volume and the track choice.
I just find that kind of annoying because normally...at least in this case actually,
you can, oh no, actually thinking about it, it doesn’t make a difference.
When you’re clicking the button to change either the volume or the track, it’s fairly
easy, but when you have to hold it to change a setting, especially the volume, it can
be really difficult to find the exact volume.
And in this case, it looks like you hold it to change track.
So, I’ll definitely be testing that to see if it’s easy or not, or if it
ends up jumping through various different tracks. And then the other side - what have we
got here?
We’ve got the Bluetooth pairing instructions, and you’ll notice that there’s no extra
wire with these.
These are the Bluetooth version.
I believe that (Dublabs) also make a wired version, but I haven’t gone for that one.
So, these connect by a Bluetooth, which I’ll be testing out once I’ve charged them up.
Very straightforward, and then here we have something about an app.
Turn off your music automatically with our free app.
Ah, interesting.
So, I’m going to have to download that as well.
Okay, so now I need to charge them up.
Now, let’s see if I can connect them to my phone.
So if I hold down the center button here for seven seconds,
the little blue flashing light tells me that it’s in pairing mode, and it’s scanning my phone.
Let's see how long it takes to find them.
There we go, Bedphone.
Excellent.
That was fairly quick.
Pairing...pair with Bedphone.
Yes, please.
Okay,
connected for calls and audio, I’m just going to turn it off for calls because I really don’t
want to listen to my phone ringing in the night time.
Okay, so it’s connected just for audio.
So, let’s go and turn some music on.
Oh, my fingers don’t seem to be connecting with my phone today!
Okay, so I’m gonna play a song by Alexis French, a piano piece.
The kind of thing I might listen to in the night time.
I've got it on full volume, and I can just hear some sound from here.
Now, it doesn’t really make much sense for me to put this next to my microphone so you
can listen to it because it won’t be the same coming to your microphone as it would
be if it’s next to your ear.
And really, in a second I’m going to go through to the bedroom and listen to it in bed and
test it out properly and tell you what it’s like.
So you’re going to have to kind of take my word for it, but I will nonetheless put it
next to my microphone, so you can just have a brief idea.
So, I’m going to take that off camera and put it right next to my microphone, and if you
are an audio person, this is a fairly cheap $30 Lavalier microphone...(music plays)
So, as I said, there’s not really that much point in playing it through the microphone
to you endlessly, I think the best thing really is for me to
go to the bedroom listen to it.
Listen to different kinds of music, and then I’d be able to talk you through what the
sound quality is really like.
Okay, so I was going to come straight to the bedroom and start testing them, but my neighbors
decided to do some home improvement, and it went on for ages!
So, it meant that I had to wait until the next day - today, to continue testing them.
But it didn’t mean I got a good chance to use them in bed last night and I have to say
after trying them out in bed, I’m kind of on the fence.
One of the problems that I had at first is even putting them on and kind of adapting
the wire to the shape of your ear.
I found that I had to go to a mirror to play around with them to position them over my
ears and I do wonder, I mean I’m gonna test them over the next week or two, and I do wonder
whether that’s going to be an issue that bugs me or not.
Now the second thing that I found was kind of slightly annoying - and I haven’t really
realized - is that they don’t really fit over your ears in a way that blocks out sound.
Now I think, I've actually seen on Facebook, the maker responding to someone commenting
about that. And he was saying the idea is that it’s a safety feature.
So presumably for people who need to look/listen out for small children.
So I guess if you do have a baby or kids and you need to look out for them, then you want
to listen to your music or radio then that’s going to be good for you.
But if you’re using them because you want to block out external noise, then that’s
going to be a bit of an issue because they’re not going to do much of that all.
Now in terms of the music quality, I really liked the sound quality, rather. I think the
speakers, considering their size, are actually pretty good.
Better than a couple of other sleep headphones that I’ve tried, such as the Lavince
and the Sleepphones.
One thing that I would say is that because they don’t sit right over your ear,
the bass response kind of gets lost a little bit.
But having said that, it’s still pretty good. You can hear a nice range of music.
And for podcast and radio, I’ve (excuse me!) I have found that they were really good.
So really, I think where the actual speaker quality is concerned, I can’t complain.
It’s just that fit over your ear that can be a bit of an issue.
Now, something else that I do like is that they connect via Bluetooth.
So, there’s no wire connecting to my audio device.
And I think that is definitely a bonus - having less wire in bed with you.
But at the same time, you do end up with this wire kind of curling over your ear and that
leads me to something which kind of bothered me last night.
And I’m definitely going to see whether it was just a one-off or not.
I actually fell asleep listening to a podcast. And I woke up after about 20 minutes. And I
had kind of this sore feeling on the back of my ear where the wire was, because
it’s a stiff wire, where it was underneath me. And I must have slept on my side in an awkward position pushing
it onto my ear.
It was really quite sore.
It disappeared you know. I took them off, and the pains subsided after a little while.
But it did kind of concern me that I woke up after 20 minutes on my first test feeling
like I was in pain. So I’m going to test them out again for a few nights.
And as I say, I’ll be keeping a close eye out on that.
You know, it’s not a good start
is it!
Now, let’s compare them to some other headphones. This bit might take a while,
so if you’re not interested, skip a couple of minutes to the bit where I’m sitting
on the sofa again, which I’ll be filming in a few days’ time after I’ve tested
them and I’ll give you my final verdict.
So comparatively then, let me take those off and put on some sleep headphones that I tested
just recently, which are these Lavince headbands.
Now, these are obviously very different because they have a headband which goes right around
your head, which you know isn’t ideal in hot weather.
Although they do have like a kind of a thin mesh. But it means that the speaker is kept
right over your ear. And something that I found with the...
(let’s go back to these for a second), the Dubslabs, is that when I was changing position
in the night they kind of loosened or a couple of times they kind of came out of place and
I had to fiddle around with them again.
And because of that design with the wire, I found it was sometimes a little bit awkward getting
the position that I wanted.
Whereas these, you just put them on and you lie down, and they’ll stay there pretty
much all night.
They might move a little bit out of place.
But you know, they’re pretty good for that. And these also mean that the sound is kept
closer to your ear, so they are a little bit better where the sound blocking is concerned.
And actually, considering these cost five times cheaper, the sound quality wasn’t that much
different, which was kind of surprising.
But as I said in my previous video, if you’ve seen it, I’m not a big fan of this ridiculous
block saying 'Enjoying' with the buttons on your forehead.
But yeah, that’s another story.
So, let’s try in-ear headphones.
These are my little AKGs.
I really like these ones because they’re really thin.
And with these, if you sleep on your side, you don’t really feel much either. I mean,
I don’t know whether it’s just because I’ve got giant ear canals and so they kind
of get lost inside.
And they don’t put much pressure on my ears or not.
But I find I can sleep on my side with these in my ears for a reasonable amount
of time. However, I’m not a massive fan of wearing them all night long
because at the end of the day, it's something inside your ear.
And when I change positions, they do fall out pretty easily.
Other in-ear headphones are, for example, these Bose Quiet Comfort, which the sound quality
on these, oops, is amazing.
But they’re really quite big.
So you put these in your ear, try and lie on your side and you can really feel them. It's like,
Oh yeah, too much.
I wouldn’t want to wear these sleeping on my side for long periods of time.
So, I don’t.
But on my back, these are fantastic because they have active sound canceling - noise
cancellation rather - so if you're needing headphones to fall asleep to or listen to music and shut
out the outside world, then I do recommend pretty much any of the Bose range.
The really expensive ones anyway.
But I’m not going to put a link to those in the description, so you don’t think I’m
just trying to promote the Bose headphones.
But yeah, they’re really good.
Now, over-ear headphones.
Let’s just try these fairly standard - what are they called again? The Avantrees.
These are really like just for wearing around the house because they’re Bluetooth and
they’re really comfortable. But for wearing in bed, you kind of get stuck in one position,
so they’re not really ideal for sleeping.
Unless you’re someone who just sleeps totally rigid on your back, in which case
I would definitely recommend over-ear headphones.
But if you’re someone that’s going to move and sleep on your side or on your front,
then any over-ear headphones, no matter how expensive they are, are not going to be appropriate.
Unless, as I’ve said before, if you’ve got a doughnut-shaped pillow, which I don’t.
So, there you go.
That’s a comparison to different headphones, Oh, I've got them all tangled up there!
Now what I’m going to have to do is test these out over several nights,
so I can see if my first impressions were accurate or not.
And also, keep a lookout for that issue with the pain that I felt behind my ear.
It might be that I've just got sensitive ears.
I do wear glasses during the day, so they can kind of get a little bit irritated sometimes.
Maybe I just slept in a funny position.
But it’s definitely going to be something that I really need to know before I give my
final impression.
So, I shall be back in a few days’ time after I’ve tested them out.
It’s now been a week since I first tested them.
I’ve used them every night since, so I’ve now got a really good idea of how well they
work or not.
So rather than me going on a big long monologue,
let me quickly go through some pros and cons, of which, to be honest.
I think there’s going to be quite a lot in each category.
So, let’s talk about the positives first.
For me, the main thing is that they’re really comfortable to use in bed when you’re lying
on your back, particularly.
I think because they have this very lightweight design, and there’s not much to them,
you can hook them over your ear. And then you can listen to music or a podcast or use
your phone or a tablet in bed.
And you really don’t feel them there very much at all.
So, for that, they’re great.
I like the fact that they’re Bluetooth enabled so you can use them without a long wire in
your bed connecting to an audio device.
I found that you can charge them quickly and that they will last the whole night easily.
Something else that I like is the fact that they’re very cool to wear in bed. Because
they don’t have a fabric headband, as many sleep headphones do,
and they’re not big headphones that go over your ears with padding,
they’re actually very lightweight, and you can wear them in bed without feeling any overheating
around your head,
which is great.
One of the most important points about headphones is obviously the sound quality
and the speaker quality.
And I found that for spoken word, these are absolutely ideal.
I could hear the full range of human voice nicely.
It sounded crisp and sounded clean, and that was a real pleasure to listen to in bed.
However, where music is concerned,
I think they’re much better for soft music or classical music, basically anything that’s
not too demanding.
Another point that I like is the fact that they’ve been designed so that you can listen
out for small children if you need to.
Or any other device in your house that you need to listen out for.
Because they don’t go into your ear or over your ear and they don’t have noise cancellation,
they do allow sound to come in, which is going to be ideal for some people.
I like the fact that they have a carry case and they’re very lightweight so that they’re
good for travel.
The inline control unit worked really well.
I was a bit concerned about that when I first saw it when I unboxed it, but actually it
worked nicely.
I did test the call answering as well.
And even though you can talk to someone and it’s clear enough, it’s not a feature
that I really use when I’m in bed.
So, I’m not going to go into that too much.
Now in terms of the cons, I think for me there are several things to bear in mind.
As I said in the earlier parts of the video when I was in bed after the first night of
testing it, I did find that there was a little bit of pain over the top of my ear when I
was using it.
And after using it for a few nights, I found that that happened more than once when I was
sleeping on my side.
Whether that’s just me or not, I don’t know.
But I think it is something to bear in mind. And because it happened to me more than once,
for that reason, I wouldn’t recommend them for side sleepers.
Perhaps you don’t agree with me, and you’re going to try and test them out anyway.
But it’s something to bear in mind.
Now the second thing is that where the sound quality is concerned, even though I found
it's really good for quiet music, and ambient, classical music and for radio and podcasts,
I didn’t find that the bass was particularly spectacular at all.
So, I think if you’re looking for headphones which are going to have a great bass
response, then these might be a little bit disappointing for you.
Another con for me is the fact that they don’t have any active noise cancellation.
And even though one of the things I talked about in the pros is the fact that you can
listen out for small children, I think some people will want sleep headphones to block
out external noise.
If that’s you, these are not going to be the ones for you at all.
Because of the way that they just hover over your ear and they don’t go in or over your
ear, or even sit particularly tightly,
there’s quite a lot of noise bleed, which will come into your ears.
from either a snoring partner or noise outside from your neighbors or traffic outside. And
it also means that the opposite happens.
So, if you’re lying in bed with your partner, and you’ve got your music turned up quite
loudly, then they’re potentially going to hear it I found.
Now, something else that I found is that they’re kind of fiddly to put in, as
I explained earlier in the video.
You know, the way that you have to put them over your ear and then bend the wire and get
them into place.
And then I also found that when you change positions in the night, they kind of come
out of position. And to be fair, that’s a problem that I have with many headphones when
I’m using them in bed in the night time.
The only ones that don’t seem to do that are the fabric headbands.
One final point to bear in mind is that these are relatively expensive headphones.
They cost over $100 and for me that means that you have every right to have high expectations -
both of the sound quality and of the design.
So I think, for me, if you’re on a budget, then I perhaps wouldn’t save up for these.
I would just stick to some cheaper headphones that you can pick up for thirty to fifty dollars
and hopefully those will do the job for you.
If money is no object, then I think despite the cons,
these are worth trying.
Especially because they have a 30-day trial period.
So if they don’t work out for you, then you can send them back and move on and try
and join me in the endless quest to find the perfect set of sleep headphones, which by
the way, I don’t think exist.
So, thanks again for watching.
I hope you enjoyed this video.
If you’re interested in buying them, please use the link in the description below.
Just to be clear, I might make a commission if you do use that link, but that in no way
influences my opinion of a product that I’m reviewing.
So, thanks again for watching, please also subscribe to my YouTube channel to keep in
touch with me and see future reviews.