At the beginning of our relationship, my spouse and I discovered that we had very different sleeping habits. She slept with the TV on, while I preferred only the white noise from a small fan. Tinnitus made having some noise masking solution in the bedroom a must for both of us.
I struggled to get used to the TV being on while trying to sleep. The sound wasn’t so bad, but the light and commercials screaming at me were bothersome. She needed more engagement than a fan or white noise generator produced.
We tried various earbuds. She did better with them. I wasn’t able to adjust to sleeping with something in my ear. She tried a headband that had embedded speakers in it, but that was uncomfortable for sleeping in. Eventually we stumbled across a “pillow speaker” at some old-time electronics store. It was just a little hockey puck sized speaker. You plugged it into your phone via the built-in 3.5 mm jack. Then you slipped the disk into your pillowcase.
The Radio Shack pillow speaker worked, but it had some issues. It wasn’t very loud. To hear it well enough, you had to put the speaker on the topside of your pillow. If you rolled over in the night, your ear would be uncomfortably smashed against the hard case. It was also just a plain speaker and didn’t have any controls of its own. This made operation at night an ordeal. Changing the media or adjusting the volume required unlocking your phone and using its controls.
We kept an eye out for improved devices throughout the years. When phones lost their headphone jacks, we had no choice but to find something that used Bluetooth. We found a unit that offered several improvements over the puck design. The new speaker used bone conduction tech to boost the sound volume and quality. It was also housed in a soft-sided case that wasn’t supposed to mangle your ear. Control buttons on the device made life easier too.
The conduction-based pillow speaker actually worked well. It’s loud enough to go underneath your pillow and still be able to hear it. Its soft sides made it more comfortable, but it still hurt if you rolled straight onto it in the night. Its biggest issue was the Bluetooth signal. If the speaker descended too far into the recesses of your pillowcase, it would disconnect from your phone.
While randomly browsing Amazon one night, I found the unicorn of pillow speakers. I reflex ordered it without showing it to my wife first. It had our entire wish list of features according to the description. Reviews were positive. If it even got close to the ad’s hype it would be a perfect upgrade.
The Avantree Slumber 2 showed up a couple of days after I ordered it. As soon as I got it out of the box, I could tell it was a winner. There are 4 speakers surrounded by a soft rectangular pillow that is just the right length for a pillowcase. The controls, Bluetooth, and battery are housed in a small case connected to the speaker assembly via 3.5 mm. This means the Bluetooth signal stays nice and strong all night since the unit remains outside of your pillow.
The sound is fantastic. I usually have mine connected to my phone. I listen to podcasts and audio books more than anything else. The speakers sound so good that use them for other stuff too. I pair my Switch 2 for playing in bed. I also frequently connect to my laptop for an excellent personal movie experience.
You can’t feel the speakers under your pillow while you sleep. They flex and move with you. The controller has nice big buttons that glow in the dark. You can play and pause, skip tracks, or adjust the volume. You can also enable a timer that will stop your chosen media player in 30, 60, or 90 minutes.
The Avantree Slumber 2 can run from battery when you travel. It can also play while being charged from its USB-C cable. The battery lasts through the night on a single charge but won’t make it through two. The controls are in-line meaning that USB-C connects on one end while the speaker pack connects on the other. Theoretically you should be able to use it as a Bluetooth connector for any 3.5 mm speaker set. I haven’t tested using them this way yet.
We’ve had the Slumber 2 speakers for a couple of months now. It is made of high-quality materials, sounds great, and maintains a strong link with your device. If you want a speaker embedded into your pillow, there are no downsides to this model that I can find. It does its job perfectly.
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