I tested sleep earbuds for over a month: Here are the 3 best pairs

If you want sleep earbuds that give you the flexibility of streaming audio or simply acting as fancier earplugs, the Anker Soundcore Sleep A20 will get the job done — and for half the price of our upgrade pick. They're not without some quirks, but on the whole, they offer the best feature to price point ratio.

I tested the Ozlo Sleepbuds right before I tested the Soundcore Sleep A20 buds, and honestly, it was hard to pinpoint any stark differences in performance, which considering their $150 price difference, is pretty impressive on Soundcore's part.

The Soundcore buds promised more battery life per charge, which I didn't really notice as both buds easily hit the eight-hour range. However, I did notice that the case held 80 hours of charge, meaning I didn't have to charge it for a week, while I had to recharge the Ozlo case after two nights of using the earbuds. The Soundcore buds also connected with my device with noticeably less lag than the Ozlos.

So where did they show their lower price point? Maybe this is more personal preference, but I wasn't a huge fan of the sleep sound library on the Soundcore app. A lot of the sounds felt too busy and too loud, even at lower volumes. One night, when I was testing out a feature that switches the audio from Bluetooth streaming to white noise when the earbuds detect you've fallen asleep, the sound of the white noise literally woke me up because of how loud it was. Admittedly, this was because of the volume I set it at, but only because the volume sounded fine (low even!) on the podcast I was streaming, and I didn't exactly expect the white noise from the Soundcore app to be significantly louder.

When playing around with the controls later in the daylight hours, I found the highest volume literally hurt my ears — thankfully, setting it that high is avoidable, but it did feel like these headphones could've used a better safeguard in terms of volume. After all, it's not like you can quickly adjust the volume when you're unconscious. In terms of the automatic switching feature, I found that it usually jumped the gun. Sometimes, I'd just settle down to close my eyes and the earbuds would switch over (an issue I didn't experience with the Ozlo earbuds).

In terms of flaws, those were the only major ones I noticed. The buds stayed in my ears just as well as the Ozlos, and felt just as comfortable to use while lying on my side. Though both earbuds use silicone tips, the Soundcore ones feel the slightest bit tackier — it didn't bother me, but my partner couldn't stand the feeling, so if you deal with any sensory sensitivity, it's something to be aware of. My audio streamed reliably (if, again, a little on the loud side), and the touch controls worked perfectly when I used them but never accidentally triggered at night while I slept. In general, I didn't find myself using the touch controls to adjust the volume or switch between modes all that much, but they still felt like a nice addition.

The Soundcore earbuds also offer sleep data, which can be stored on the earbuds for up to a week (with a sync required to get the info in your app). I've never used any sort of sleep-tracking device before, but from the few times I've used sleep-tracking apps from my phone, these earbuds offered more accurate and detailed data on how I slept, from how long to how many times I tossed and turned.

Read our full review of the Ozlo Sleepbuds.

If you want the luxury sleepbud experience and the best white noise selection available, the ex-Bose engineer-designed Ozlo Sleepbuds may just be worth investing in.

I won't sugarcoat it — these sleep earbuds aren't cheap. At $299, they're twice the price of our top pick, six times the price of our earplug pick, and way, way more expensive than a pack of 100 foam earplugs. So do they live up to their price?

As an upgrade pick, yes. While I wouldn't say they're twice as good as the Sleep A20 earbuds, they do offer a noticeably elevated experience. For starters, they're the slightest bit more comfortable, despite having larger wing tips to keep the earbuds in place. The silicone ear tips feel like those on the AirPods Pro, which are smooth without having any uncomfortable grip to them. The app itself is thoughtfully designed, with the volume controls and white noise selection sitting front and center at the top. Finding other features, like the alarm and sleep timers, requires minimal digging, making it exactly the kind of app I want to use shortly before falling asleep.

The white noises themselves, or "Sleep Sounds" as Ozlo calls them, hit the right balance of being loud enough to cancel out any sounds around you, without being so full that they're too distracting to actually fall asleep to. The app offers plenty of customization in how (and if) you want to use these sounds at all, whether you want them to play as soon as you take your earbuds out of the case or if you want to listen to your own audio first, then have the sounds kick in when you fall asleep. Only want them to play for some of the night? There's a setting for that as well, in addition to a simple timer that lets them kick in anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours. When I tested a feature that automatically switched sounds as you fall asleep, there was only one night where it didn't work correctly — considering it's still listed as a beta feature, I was impressed.

Speaking of beta features, my biggest gripe with these earbuds is that they don't offer any sleep-tracking data — yet. I understand that part of the $300 price tag is the promise of updates to come, but considering the $150 A20 buds have this feature, it feels pretty odd to release headphones this expensive without them. Even a $250 price tag (which is what the Bose Sleepbuds II cost) would feel more appropriate with the product that's available at this point. All of that said, a rep from Ozlo told Mashable that the sleep data update is still at least a few months out, while the Ozlo app itself has a "My Sleep" tab, with a notice that the feature is "coming soon."

Despite that omission, the overall experience of using these earbuds feels more thought out and seamless than the Soundcore buds. I could snooze the alarm with Ozlo, where I didn't have that option with Soundcore. I could navigate the app more easily and toggle different features without having to switch between Bluetooth and sleep mode. Sure, Ozlo's buds still aren't perfect: For a couple of nights in the testing period, I did have minor issues connecting to the Ozlo app, but I stopped experiencing those issues following an update that came up toward the end of my testing period. The battery life on the case also only gets you through a couple of nights, but if you can keep them plugged in regularly, you can work around this issue.

With these gripes, I wish they were at least slightly more affordable, but overall, the Ozlo Sleepbuds do seem like a product intent on continuing to improve a solid starting point, and that ultimately offers the most frictionless experience. If you're interested but not quite ready to invest $300, they offer a rental program for $22 per month, as well as an option to buy with an HSA or FSA.

If you like to keep it simple (and want to avoid using electronics before bed), a pair of reusable earplugs is a great way to block out sounds at night. The Loop Dreams are on the pricey side, but their durability, comfort, and noise-blocking abilities make them worth the price.

Priced at $50 for a pair of earplugs, I wanted the Loop Dreams to perform like a dream — so I was thrilled when they delivered.

Full disclosure: Prior to testing these earplugs for this roundup, I owned a pair of original Loop Quiet earplugs (the Loop Quiet 2 earplugs retail for $27.95 and can be found on sale for $19.95). I generally used those for sleep, and so I had high expectations for Loop's Dream earplugs, specifically designed for sleeping, to elevate the experience.

I'm going to be honest — the Loop Dreams don't block drastically more noise and feel significantly more comfortable, but to be fair, the Loop Quiets set the bar high. That said, having used both models, if you're only planning on using the earplugs during your sleeping hours, the Dreams are worth it for getting the best possible sleep experience. They never fell out of my ears, where the Quiets sometimes do. The foam ear tips are covered in silicone, and the outer closed loop shape is more tapered and smaller than the original Quiets as well, which have a more blunt tip. In general, these made the Dreams feel even more comfortable to wear and get a better seal for blocking out noise — more than once, when my partner rolled over to say something to me without realizing I was wearing these earplugs, I didn't hear a thing.

Yes, they're a good deal more expensive than the Quiets, but if you truly want to give yourself the best comfort and noise-blocking while you sleep, the Dreams are the way to go. And compared to either of our earbud picks (without white noise on, of course), I found that they blocked out sound even better. Considering all you have to do is learn how to put them in properly (which takes the slightest learning curve), they're also by far the easiest of our three picks to use.

Beyond being no-fuss, a benefit I especially appreciated with using earbuds is that it minimized the temptation to spend more time on my phone than I really needed to right before bed. Best of all, despite how well they block room sounds like a partner sleeping or an air conditioning system, they let through more piercing sounds like that of an alarm, which was comforting both for waking up on time every day and for the reassurance that I'd wake up fine in the event of an emergency.

So sure, they're expensive — and their ear tip replacements aren't the cheapest either — but for the most straightforward noise-blocking solution that works well, and doesn't invite more screen time, I prefer the Loop Dream earplugs.