Catch More Zs While Traveling: Ozlo Sleepbuds’ Comfy Solution to Noisy Nights

Few things make sleeping more difficult than the nightly hijinks of drunk musicians. 

I used to spend several months on the road every year touring with a band, and the most difficult part by far was simply getting some shut-eye. My ultimate solution involved covering my eyes with a bandana, and — more importantly — shoving whatever pair of hard plastic earbuds I could find into my earholes and cranking up some ambient rain. 

It made my ears sore for the following 12 hours. But it was still worth those blessed hours of sleep. Back in those days, I never even considered the idea of soft earbuds made specifically for bedtime. (This is why I’m not an entrepreneur.)

I wish I had, though. The Ozlo Sleepbuds allow me to send ambient sounds into my ears without any discomfort. They also effectively block out loud noise better than a floor fan or external white noise machine. They have become a reliable way for me to get sleep, even in the noisiest situations.

I’ve been testing out these noise-canceling sleep aids for the last few months. They quickly became indispensable for my wife and me, who frequently struggle to get enough of those precious REM cycles each night. We (somehow) managed to avoid losing the tiny things, and found that the incredibly comfy buds helped us get more sleep when we really needed it.

In short: As someone with lots of experience in sleepless nights caused by unwelcome noise, I found plenty of reasons to love the Ozlo Sleepbuds ($300). These earbuds offer enough comfort and Bluetooth features to justify a pair of headphones just for catching more Zs, making them a solid option for anybody trying to gain more control over their sleep habits. 

If you’re shopping for headphones and earbuds, compare the Ozlo Sleepbuds with others on GearJunkie’s guides to the Best Headphones, the Best Running Headphones, and the Best Workout Headphones.

Ozlo Sleepbuds Review

I understand that these are simply a pair of earbuds made into cozy little pillows. However, given that 100 million Americans report problems with sleep, they’re a luxury that some could view as a necessity. 

The Ozlo Sleepbuds are essentially an upgraded version of the Bose Sleepbuds. That short-lived Bose product was discontinued twice, most recently in 2020. Then, three ex-employees of the company revived the idea as Ozlo, managed a successful crowdfunding campaign, and now have a full-blown website. 

There’s clearly a market for these earbuds. Many Reddit users lamented the Bose version’s downfall and welcomed its return as Ozlo. This newer version of Sleepbuds offers some significant improvements over its previous iterations, too.

Improvements & Features

The Ozlo Sleepbuds allow users to stream any audio through them — not just the small library of sounds available through the accompanying Ozlo app. 

A personalized alarm feature proved more useful than I expected. Since my wife and I have different schedules, she could use the in-ear alarm to wake up earlier (without using her phone and waking me up, too).

These don’t provide the high-fidelity of dedicated music headphones, but I had no complaints about the audio quality when listening to podcasts or a range of music. Given that sensitive sleepers can be very picky about white noise, this flexibility is a big positive. It also makes the earbuds more useful outside of just sleeping. I used them several times to listen to podcasts while washing dishes or cooking. 

However, these can’t really double as workout headphones. I did try them on a nightly run, just as an experiment. The buds only work within a close distance of both the charging case and your smartphone. And moving the case around causes frequent audio interruptions. So, it’s best to use these with minimal physical movement. 

A (Shared) Nightly Routine

For several months, especially while I was in Medellin, Colombia, I went to sleep with a single Ozlo Sleepbud in my right ear. Why just one? Well, because my wife was using the left earbud. We’re both side sleepers, and since she has even more issues sleeping than I do, we ended up sharing my pair.

This experiment worked pretty well. I suspect many other couples could find a similar benefit. In our case, we were able to sleep longer on average each night simply by blocking out the barking dogs, crying street vendors, neighbors yelling, and honking vehicles that define life in Medellin (at almost any hour of the day).

I’ve known many friends over the years who took sleeping pills, cannabis gummies, or sleep-aid teas. Those can be effective. But I think sleepbuds offer a lower-impact solution over the long term. 

Form and Function

The buds themselves have a soft, pillowy texture. For me, they were barely noticeable. The Sleepbuds also come with several sizes of ear tips so you can find the most comfortable fit. 

The Ozlo Sleepbuds claim a battery life of about 10 hours. However, the batteries didn’t often last beyond 8 or 8.5 hours during my testing. There were often mornings when I wished I could keep lying in bed with rain sounds to block any attempt to rouse me, but the batteries had already died. 

And while I like the sleek, palmable size and texture of the charging case, it could use a bit of improvement as well. I had some difficulty connecting my iPhone via Bluetooth, which I overcame with the usual trick of simply repeating the same process three to five times until it finally worked. As for charging, the earbuds need to be placed exactly right inside the case, or you’ll return hours later to find them still out of juice.

Luckily, Ozlo includes blinking lights to indicate when they’re actually charging. I soon started paying enough attention when putting them away in the morning to make sure they’d be ready that night. 

Making It Rain

Ozlo’s app comes with a decent library of ambient sounds that are ready to go the moment you download it. While it’s not a huge selection, I liked many of the options available here. I enjoyed the handful of rain and water options, which tend to be my preference for white noise.

But since a consistent routine helps ensure quality sleepy time, my wife and I settled on “Crimson Cloak” as our favored sound. We stuck with it most of the time. 

With these earbuds, though, you can use whatever sounds you like. YouTube, of course, has a seemingly endless amount of options for ambient sounds and music. Ozlo plans to expand its own offerings over time as well. 

In fact, the brand has some ambitious plans. The Ozlo Sleepbuds include “biometric sensing technology to monitor your movement and respiration while you lay in bed to determine when you’ve fallen asleep and help understand your sleep stages.”

The case also has sensors for light, sound, and temperature. The idea is to eventually piece this data together into a morning breakdown of how well you slept and the various factors involved. 

However, this feature has yet to materialize in the Ozlo app. For now, it just says “coming soon.” This isn’t a big deal to me, as I’m not interested in sleep tracking. But for those interested in that kind of data, it’s probably better to opt for a smartwatch or other wearable — at least until Ozlo makes its plans a reality. 

Ozlo Sleepbud Verdict: … Zzzzz

While the Ozlo Sleepbud wants to eventually become a personalized laboratory of sleep tracking, I’m fine with just the basic idea of super-comfy Bluetooth earbuds. Ozlo Sleepbuds feel better than anything else I’ve tried. 

There aren’t many competitors out there, but the Anker Soundcore A20 could be a great alternative. For starters, it costs $150, which is half the price tag of the Ozlo Sleepbuds ($300). It also offers many similar features, with the addition of an alert sound to help find the buds if they get lost in the sheets. 

But the real test of these buds will always be about comfort. In that department, the Ozlo Sleepbuds certainly received top marks from both my wife and me. The only real problem I have now is getting them back from her.