Sleep therapy is a profitable industry with a lot of companies trying to get a piece of that pie. All thanks to the never-ending quest for a better night’s rest that affects a majority of the population. Not everything is worth investing in. In fact, most of everything out there is more of a gimmick than anything else, which is why consumers wind up spending a lot of money until they find something that works well for them. Thankfully, what we get to talk about today, the 1MORE ComfoBuds Z True Wireless In-Ear Headphones, seem to work quite well for certain types of sleepers.
It is important to point out that these buds are a specialty product. They are meant for sleep therapy and not for anything else. Not really, at least. They aren’t a good solution for listening to music during the day (which we’ll expand on in a moment), and they can’t take phone calls as there are no integrated microphones. There are no ANC features. They are simply a solution to be used within a quiet sleep environment to make sleep a little more possible for some.
Design
Visually, the design of these in-ear headphones is similar in ways to typical true-wireless in the market. It’s kind of hard not to be. You have two (small) buds, and a charging case to place them in. It comes with a USB-C cable for charging and four silicone tip sizes.
Where it differs is the overall size of the buds. They are quite small in size. So small, that for the most part, they do not protrude from your inner ear at all. This is such an important feature in any pair of buds that want to go to bed with you. You don’t want anything poking out that is going to create traction points for your pillow(s) or anything else to catch onto them and pull them out of your ear. This includes any kind of wires (which immediately filters out a lot of in-ear headphone models in the market that claim to be for sleep). These buds are small and seem to stay put in your ears, even as you toss about.
Features and Performance
They feature 30 different soothing sounds that can be loaded to the phone and used. This is like any sound machine that generates the same, only these buds bring it directly to your ear. The benefit of this is that you also have tips in your ears, which helps to isolate some of the environmental noise. Again, there is no ANC function with these buds. So you won’t get any electronic enhancement to this effect. It is simply caused by having the buds shoved in your ears like a very light pair of earplugs.
The sounds are loaded to the phone via the 1MORE Music app, 6 at a time. You can drop one and replace it with any of the sounds within the library of 30. You can also control the time for which the soothing sounds will play (30, 60, 90, 120, or 150 minutes)–also just like a normal standalone sleep sound machine would offer. This way, you can set them to only play for a half-hour, an hour, or other time limits.
These sounds seem well put together. Given, some of the sounds are not as realistic due to the frequency range of the buds. Despite this, the few sounds affected by this still do a good job of relaxing you. If you choose not to use the soothing sounds, you can simply open your favorite app for music or podcasts and stream that instead.
When it comes to music, this is where the range of the buds is instantly noticed. There is little to no bass at all coming from them. It is mostly mids and highs. This is why I mentioned that they aren’t a good choice for normal music listening during the day. Lower frequencies can be distracting to some (ie, bass from a car driving by, the slamming of gears/arms of a garbage truck, someone stomping around upstairs, etc). Instead, these buds focus on crisp soothing audio, which favors the mid-highs and highs more than anything.
Crisp audio is exactly what they deliver. Similar to what you’d find with some of 1MORE multi-driver solutions, the highs are so incredibly rich and easy to listen to. So everything from rain and wind sounds to classical music, makes its way neatly to your ears.
Battery life is minimal for these. Likely due to their size and weight more than anything. They are comfortable in the ear because of this. You get around 2.5 to 3.5 hours of (playback) use before having to charge them again. So no matter what you have them set to do, they won’t be playing the entire night. If you are traveling, the case does its job to keep them charged in between uses, extended the time before you have to plug them into the wall again.
The physical distance between the buds and the phone is average. Although this is more than enough since your phone is almost always going to be right by you as you are sleeping anyway.
The App
The app is a bit buggy though when it comes to the soothing sounds, pausing sometimes when you turn your phone’s screen on/off or click on other things. Especially the latter, as the audio will go in and out as you click around (in case you decide to check any last-minute notifications on your phone before officially checking out for the night). Not that you should be on your phone right before bed either way. This doesn’t seem to happen when playing music via any other apps (when using it for music instead of the soothing sounds).
If you get a phone call, it switches to your phone since the buds can’t take calls (obviously). However, we did notice that (for us) when this happens while you are using them for music, the music will mute and the soothing sounds will begin to play in the buds as you are talking on the phone. Then when you finish your call, the sounds stop and nothing else happens. You have to manually trigger your music again.
So it does feel like the app still needs a bit of work. Especially, since the app seems to be doing most of the work. The buds are simply acting as buds. It does have a lot of potential. It just feels a bit unfinished for the purpose of these buds.
Our Conclusion
These buds do compete well with options like Bose’s Sleepbuds (which are far more expensive than these). The crisp highs really do help the soothing sounds or certain music genres to assist in relaxing you. The only thing you need to worry about is the volume (everyone is different).
We found that they are not so good for side sleepers. They (mostly) may not protrude from the ears, but there is still something in there. So if you spent most of your time on your side, there will be pressure being applied to the inside of your ear. So these (like all bud solutions we’ve come across) are best for those who spend most of their time sleeping on their back.
I also found it fascinating and a bit humorous that one of my colleagues pointed out that if you have hairy ear canals, it could result in a tickling sensation as you roll around in bed. This is more of an observation than anything else.
The only thing the company needs to work on is the app. Since (again) it seems like the app is doing most of the heavy lifting, it is important for it to perform as expected at this price range.
On one final note, we find it important to consider putting your phone into airplane mode while using these. Both iOS and Android offer do-not-disturbs modes that attempt to minimize or block any notifications or calls during set hours. However, if you live a busy life like most of us do here, you likely have noticed that some notifications and sounds can sometimes still sneak through. Or, they can still briefly interrupt music causing short pauses here or there. So if you are serious about your sleep, it may be wise to enable airplane mode during your use.
Additional Images:
Specifications:
- Single Earbud Weight: 2.7 g
- Charging Case Weight: 34 g
- Gross Weight: 39.4 g
- Earbuds Dimensions: 24 x 9.2 x 14.2 mm
- Case Dimensions: 60 x 30 x 38.5 mm
- Single Earbud Battery Capacity: 30 mAh
- Case Battery Capacity: 410 mAh
- Earbuds Charging Time: 75 Minutes
- Case Charging Time: 65 Minutes
- Working Temperature: 0 c – 45 c
- Frequency Range: 2.400 GHz – 2.4835 GHz
- Playtime: Earbuds Fully Charged:
- BLE Playtime: up to 3.5 Hours (14 Hours of charge with case)
- Bluetooth Playtime: up to 2.5 Hours (10 Hours of charge with case)
- Speaker Impedance: 22 ohm
- Bluetooth Range: 10 m (Open Space)
- Bluetooth Version: Bluetooth 5.0
- Bluetooth Protocols: A2DP / AVRCP / BLE
- Input: 5V 1A
Co-Authors: Jeffrey B.
Are you a manufacturer or distributor that would like us to test something out for review? Contact us and we can let you know where to send the product and we will try it out.
Don’t forget to subscribe for a chance to win cool prizes!
