With 30 unique sounds, Adaptive Sound Technologies’ Sound+Sleep High Fidelity Sleep Sound Machine aims to help you block out unwanted noise and fall asleep. To really assess whether the device lives up to its hype—and price tag—we gave the machine to a sleepy reviewer, who used it every night for four weeks. She played around with the special features, tested different sound profiles, and evaluated its overall effectiveness and functionality. Read on to see what she thought.
Design: Lightweight, but bulky
Standing at 7.5 x 5.5 x 4.5 inches and weighing two pounds, the Sound+Sleep machine isn’t the most compact option on the market, but it’s lightweight enough to be portable. Our reviewer did comment on its bulkiness though, saying, “This is the biggest piece of technology in my bedroom right now, and it only has one use.” She wished it were “smaller and slimmer.” While the device must be plugged into the wall (there isn’t a battery-power option), it does feature a 3.5mm audio output, which allows you to connect your own speaker pillow, portable speaker, or headphones—a nice option if you have a partner who doesn’t want to listen. However, our tester said, “It would be nice if there was a Bluetooth connection with this device, so I could connect it with my phone or other speakers.”
Sound Selection: Incredible variety
Offering “10 unique, non-looping sound programs,” each with three different richness levels, the Sound + Sleep machine provides what Adaptive Technologies calls “30 rich and immersive non-repeating sound environments for better sleep, relaxation, and sound masking.” The sounds include a fan, white noise, brook, city, fireplace, meadow, meditation, ocean, rain, and train. “I was surprised by how many sounds were available on the machine,” our tester raved. “Each sound had a level of richness setting, which would layer in more depth—for example, the rain setting starts as a light drizzle, but when you dial up the ‘richness’ you get things like thunder added.”
Sound Quality: Could be better for the price
While the sounds are said to be high definition and naturally recorded, our tester was slightly disappointed. “The quality is decent, but not amazing,” she admitted. “I felt as though the sound was very flat and not as rich as I would expect.” The speaker itself is three inches and designed for an optimal “robust” sound. However, the overall quality led our tester to the conclusion that an app on her phone might be better than purchasing an entirely new piece of technology with no option to connect it to anything via Bluetooth.
Extra Features: Sleep timer is great, but the Adaptive Technology adjustments don’t live up to their promise
The manufacturer-touted standout feature of this machine is the patented Adaptive Sound technology, which “uses a built-in microphone to listen to your environment and dynamically adjust the volume based on ambient noise levels, so you always have the best listening experience.” However, our reviewer wasn’t sold. “The ‘adaptive’ feature—it is a great idea in theory, but in practice it doesn’t work well,” she revealed. “From my perspective, it just made the volume of the sound higher whenever there was noise around my apartment. This felt very jarring as I was trying to fall asleep, so I started to turn that feature off.” On the other hand, she found the optional sleep timer quite useful. “It was great being able to set an amount of time and then set out to relax and not worry about it being on all night,” she said. The timer can be set to automatically lower its volume before turning off at either 30, 60, 90, or 120 minutes, so you have a lot of choices if you decide you don’t want it to run all night. She also felt the ability to program the sleep timer made the machine ideal for a child’s room.
Price: The high price tag is difficult to justify
For around $80, the Sound+Sleep machine is quite an investment. When you consider the fact that it has one primary function—which a lot of smartphone apps can also perform—that seems a bit steep. If you’re looking for a sound machine, you can definitely find more basic versions for roughly half the cost. However, that extra money is getting you an incredible variety of unique listening experiences and convenient features that could make it useful for years to come.
Sound+Sleep High Fidelity Sound Machine vs. Pure Enrichment Wave Premium Sleep Therapy Sound Machine
At half the price, Pure Enrichment’s Wave Premium Sleep Therapy Sound Machine only offers six sound options—considerably less than the Sound + Sleep machine. If you don’t like some of those options, you’re stuck listening to the same noises each night. While the Wave Premium features an optional sleep timer like the Sound + Sleep device, it also leaves the user with fewer options for customization. Other differences? The Wave Premium offers a USB charging port, but not a headphone jack. Both machines must be plugged into the wall, though, and neither offer Bluetooth connectivity. The decision here comes down to exactly what your needs are. For a basic, compact machine to block out noise and help you fall asleep, the much cheaper Wave Premium is the way to go. However, if you’re extremely particular about the noises you listen to and are looking for more customization and variety, the additional spend is going to get you just that. Interested in researching other options? Take a peek at our list of the best white noise machines.
