RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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In a year where price hikes and the enshittification of tech products are more common than is ideal, the Ozlo Sleepbuds 2 are a very pleasant surprise.
I'm not going to lie — I doubted Ozlo. Maybe it was the the $50 price jump of the original Sleepbuds last year, or maybe it was the fact that the original buds were leaps and bounds more expensive than other popular options (yet lacked any noise cancelling or sleep tracking features).
Yet, here I stand corrected. The Ozlo Sleepbuds 2 are available for $279. While still firmly at the luxury price point for sleep earbuds, they're $80 cheaper than the post-price bump $349 OG Sleepbuds, and cheaper still than the first gen's $299 launch price. Rather than using this as an excuse to pare down, Ozlo scaled up, adding comprehensive sleep tracking while retaining the streamlined performance that put the first Sleepbuds on the map.
So what's the result? I spent many a night's sleep to find out.
The Ozlo Sleepbuds 2 at a glance
They look nearly identical to the first generations Sleepbuds, but pack important upgrades.
Credit: Bethany Allard / Mashable
What I liked: The addition of sleep tracking is a huge upgrade, especially thanks to the comprehensive analysis in graphs and charts (more on that below). The battery life is 14 hours per charge (compared to the 10 hours of the first gen), which makes the earbuds more functional for listening before dozing off. The extremely comfortable design is left virtually untouched, which is great. Improved Bluetooth connectivity left me with zero issues in connecting to the app. Ozlo also kept its sleep sound library, which is the best of any sleep earbud I've tried.
What I didn't like: Though the battery life per charge improved, the case can only hold a few days of charge max, which pales in comparison to the five to seven days you can get with Soundcore's Sleep A30 Special earbuds . At this price point, a feature like noise cancellation would've made sense, and while I didn't find myself missing it, it might be a con for some users. Finally, these earbuds lose the first generation's on-ear touch controls, which I did like for snoozing alarms. The friction probably does me some good in avoiding snoozing, but it's a bummer to see it gone.
Specs and key features
Battery life : 14 hours per charge, with case holding up to three nights of sleeps per charge
Alarm: Set and schedule multiple private alarms
Controls: Smart case button for phone-free controls, including Sleep Sound playback or alarm snoozing
Sleep tracking: Biometric and environmental tracking from the earbuds and smart case, with detailed reports available in app
Ear tips: Four sizes of silicone ear tips
Sleep modes: Customization between different kinds of audio playback and sleep timers customized to user experience
Phone-free features: Can use sleep sounds and alarm without a phone connection
Sleep Shield: Feature set that blocks incoming notifications, calls, and streaming while you sleep
Sleep sounds: Library of over 30 soundscapes and masking sleep sounds
The Ozlo Sleepbuds 2 performance
Comfort
Any sleep earbud needs to excel in the comfort category, especially if you're a side sleeper. Thankfully, the Ozlo Sleepbuds 2 do exactly that. Though they're nearly identical to the first-generation earbuds, I still found myself appreciating the ultra-low profile and silicone ear tips. You'll get four sizes total, with the wing tips connecting to the ear tips. The material is soft, allowing for a snug fit that's hard to detect, making for maximum comfort.
Sleep sounds
These sleep earbuds don't feature active noise cancellation, so the sleep sound library — which includes nature-based soundscapes, "mask" sounds, and nocturnes — needed to bring the incredibly soothing heat, and bring it, it did.
You can choose from over 30 options on the Ozlo app.
Credit: Screenshot / Ozlo
And up to 10 sounds saved locally onto the earbuds.
Credit: Screenshot / Ozlo
With the app, you can save up to 10 sounds locally on the earbuds at once, swapping out from the library of more than 30 sounds. Sounds include names like "Warm Glow," "All Aboard," "Jade Static," and "Mountain Air." I legitimately felt my eyelids getting heavier as I cycled through them during the daytime while I tested the earbuds. None stood out as too grating (which I can't always say for Soundcore's sleep library). The volume levels felt very appropriate for sleep, with the soundscapes striking the right degree of balance: busy enough to block out either the sound of a room or a busy brain, but not so busy as to be distracting.
Customization
The Sleepbuds 2 can be as simple as a fancy device to listen to a pre-bedtime podcast, before switching to soothing sounds to get you through the night. Even in that simplest use case, it offers quite a bit of customization.
The five different sleep modes customize when (and if) your sleep sounds kick in. Auto, for example, plays the sound as soon as your own content finishes. Sensing (my preferred mode) starts the sleep sound once the earbuds tell you're asleep. You can also manually activate the sleep sound — from the case, with no phone required — or set a timer if you prefer not to rely on any auto-play.
How do you prefer to drift off? Ozlo gives you options.
Credit: Screenshot / Ozlo
Credit: Screenshot / Ozlo
Sleep shield is another new feature to these earbuds, and basically acts as a "do not disturb," blocking notifications, texts, and calls while you're sleeping. Not so new is the built-in alarm, which is a true game changer if you share a room but not a wake-up time with someone else. As someone who usually uses a Loftie alarm clock , I'm very picky about the sounds that wake me up — these earbuds deliver. That said, if you're loyal to iPhone alarm sounds , you do have the option of using your phone's built-in alarm.
Finally, all of these customizations are made even better by the imp...
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