QuietOn’s sleep headphones are at the forefront of an innovative product category for people who struggle with sleep problems, and the QuietOn 3 buds are one of the most notable models in the line. They’ve received rave reviews for reliable noise cancellation and amazing battery life, so when the company released a new version, it got my full attention.

QuietOn 3.1 sleep headphones are designed for a specific purpose: to prevent distracting noise while sleeping with active noise cancellation, without the ability to listen to the surrounding sound. While a pair of noise-isolating earplugs is the traditional solution, these expensive headphones offer a long-term solution to sleepless nights. However, unlike the slightly cheaper Bose Sleepbuds II, they don’t broadcast soothing, noise-masking cycles all night while you’re fast asleep.

Are sleep buds worth the price to improve your sleep pattern? Read on to find out.

QuietOn 3.1: Price and availability

The QuietOn 3.1 sleep headphones will start shipping in November 2022 for €259, or about $289. They are slightly more expensive than a regular pair of foam earplugs, but they offer a longer battery life. You can buy them directly from QuietOn’s online store (opens in new tab). Unfortunately, they are not available on any of the major marketplaces like Amazon or BestBuy.

QuietOn 3.1: What I like

Like its predecessor, the QuietOn 3.1 sleep headphones look like a pair of true wireless headphones, only smaller and lighter without the typical speaker and Bluetooth components. Yes, you can’t use this pair for bedtime music or even ambient sound. That’s because QuietOn 3.1 has a mission, which is to cancel out low-frequency noise with active noise cancellation.

Headphones are great for this. Foam tips passively drown out noise, while active noise-canceling technology blocks out residual noise. Unlike other noise-cancelling headphones that have smooth silicone tips, the ear tips are made of durable foam.

The headphones themselves feel almost intangible. However, you need to make sure that they fit perfectly in your ear canal, which requires choosing the right size of ear tips. Fortunately, the sleep buds ship with a selection of different sized ear tips so you can choose the one that’s right for you.

Once you’ve found the right fit, insert the bud into your ear and let the foam expand and fill your ear canal. This is an important step because the earbuds will only work properly if they sit perfectly flush with your ear canal. The expansion of the foam feels strange at first, but you’ll get used to it as you twist the buds to seal them in place. Then you can lie on your side without worrying about something getting into your eardrums.

Once the buds are inside your ear canal, you’ll need to wait about 20 seconds for the ANC to activate. The noise canceling capabilities of the headphones are similar to most of the best noise canceling wireless headphones before you start playing music. There is a vacuum of noise in which the world around you has just been silenced. It doesn’t completely deafen you, and even though a sound layer has just been removed, you can still talk to your partner next to you.

Earplugs are adept at canceling out neighborhood noise, snoring, distant traffic, and the hum of an air conditioner. If you need silence at night, free from most of the distracting sounds lurking in the low frequencies, these are a real game changer. This means that the buds only have to deal with drowning out the noise and enough juice to do so.

Speaking of which, the QuietOn 3.1 buds have impressive durability. The manufacturer claims it can last up to 28 hours from the charger, and that’s true as far as I can tell. In the morning, the earplugs leave enough charge to give you a more restful sleep after the sun goes down. Once the buds have run out of juice, they can be dropped back into the refill box to refill, which takes no more than half an hour.

In my experience, after four nights of sleep between charges, the buds never ran out of juice. Since I put them in the charging case every morning, they rarely ran out of battery at night, and I only had to charge them once every week and a half. And that’s par for the course, given that they don’t need to do anything but calm things down.

QuietOn 3.1: What I don’t like

Unlike other sleep headphones, there is no way to listen to music with the QuietOn 3.1. Bose’s line of Sleepbuds offers a combination of passive noise cancellation and access to a catalog of noise-masking sounds that can lull you to sleep.

The buds’ noise-canceling technology isn’t perfect, as it can only block low-frequency sound. As a result, I could still hear people talking. If you’re trying to sleep in a room with the TV on, chances are the soundtrack will leak through the ANC screen and disturb your sleep.

Finally, the buds don’t come with an accompanying app where you can configure ANC settings or track sleep. The buds can also be upgraded with a simple method to activate the hearing mode. The current model requires you to move the box closer to each bud so that they are in your ears. However, getting the hearing mode to activate with the QuietOn 3.1 is difficult and requires a lot of patience.

QuietOn 3.1: The Competition

The QuietOn 3.1 buds aren’t alone in the sleep headphone space, but they’re the closest in terms of form factor and performance. For $249, the Bose Sleepbuds II silence the world around you and play sound loops to help you get a good night’s sleep.

Another option is Kokoo’s pair of Nightbuds, which work with an accompanying app to lull you to sleep and track how much sleep you get on a given night. Like the QuietOn 3.1 buds, the Nightbuds fit comfortably in your ears, but the app has a limited content library and you’ll need to charge the buds often.

QuietOn 3.1: Should You Buy It?

You should buy it if…

• You are a light sleeper
• You live near a busy street
• You’re not comfortable with the white noise offered by competing solutions

You should not buy it if…

• You’re on a tight budget
• You prefer sound masked by white noise or nature sounds

QuietOn 3.1 headphones promise a better night’s sleep at a great price. While the price may deter some, I find these headphones to be comfortable and a bedside staple for getting a good night’s sleep. If you’re a light sleeper like me, these headphones can help you sleep through the night without hearing anything.

However, if you don’t have a lot of noise around you, or you’re just a deep sleeper, you can find cheaper alternatives that provide a set of passive earplugs to do the job. Otherwise, the QuietOn 3.1 headphones are a great investment if you need some peace and quiet but struggle to sleep because of outside noises.