The SoundLAB Pillow Speaker is one of the greatest pillow speakers available, despite being one of the most affordable. Despite its appearance as a piece of early 1990s PC equipment, the ‘ivory’ plastic casing is quite nicely made. The speaker grills on the sides ensure that sound isn’t muffled too much by your bedding. The lack of a battery ensures that it won’t overheat due to a lack of air and cause a fire hazard, and the headphone wire is long enough to comfortably reach from a phone on your nightstand.
The sound isn’t great, and if you’re going to listen to audiobooks, an under-pillow speaker with crisper trebles is preferable, but if you’re one of the many people who fall asleep listening to white noise, or rainfall, there’s no need to spend more.
However, unless you invest in a headphone converter, which might cost more than the SoundLAB Pillow Speaker alone, you won’t be able to use it with many recent phones.
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Price and availability of SoundLAB Pillow Speaker
The SoundLAB Pillow Speaker is available through
Performance
We weren’t expecting much from SoundLAB, which specializes in low-cost headphones and mirrorballs (along with the motors that rotate them), but the Pillow Speaker isn’t bad – especially considering the price.
If you’ve been considering purchasing a white noise machine, this is a great low-cost alternative. Simply download free software like Rainy Mood or White Noise Lite, plug in the SoundLAB Pillow Speaker, and relax.
Sound isn’t muffled as much as it is with devices like the Sound Oasis Sleep Therapy Speakers, and high frequencies are kept remarkably well even through your pillow, thanks to the speaker grilles on the side. It’s one of the best pillow speakers for audiobooks we’ve tried, and ambient noises like rain are portrayed with excellent clarity. It won’t be able to compete with a standard speaker in terms of volume.
It doesn’t slide around like some pillow speakers because of the somewhat textured surface, and it stays put.
Design of SoundLAB Pillow Speaker
The SoundLAB Pillow Speaker is flat, without a brand device with no logos or branding (which makes sense for a device that sits out of sight). Construct the texture, cream-colored plastic that seems like it came from an old PC. Its rounded triangle case is 87mm in diameter and 26mm deep, with grills on each of its three edges emitting sound (which are designed not to be smothered by your pillow).
It doesn’t require batteries, which is a significant benefit for an under-pillow speaker. The lithium-ion batteries used in wireless Bluetooth speakers can be extremely dangerous if they overheat; if one cell in the battery overheats, a chain reaction known as ‘thermal runaway’ can occur, potentially igniting the flammable electrolyte solution.
Instead, it employs a simple 3.5mm headphone jack. This connects to a long cable that measures 68cm in length. This offers you plenty of room to reach a phone on your nightstand or the floor near your bed, but it also means that this speaker won’t work with phones like the Google Pixel 3 or iPhone 7 unless you buy a headphone jack converter.
Worth buying or not ?
You’ll have a hard time finding a decent quality under-pillow speaker for less money. There’s no need to spend more money on a more expensive speaker for soft ambient audio.
You won’t be able to connect your phone unless you already have an adapter. The SoundLAB Pillow Speaker’s higher frequencies are feeble, so your favorite narration won’t sound their best. For a better alternative, check out the Roberts Radio Pillow Talk Speaker.
Advantage
- Extremely low cost
- For the price, the sound quality is excellent.
- The cable is long.
Disadvantage
- Require the headphone jack.
- There is no volume control on the line.
Conclusion
The SoundLAB Pillow Speaker isn’t fancy, but it could be just what you need if you’re having trouble falling asleep at night and find sleeping with headphones uncomfortable. It doesn’t reproduce high frequencies as well as the Roberts Radio Pillow Talk Speaker, but it’s so inexpensive that it’s difficult to criticize. It may not do your favorite music justice, but it’s perfect for listening to ambient soundscapes from apps like Calm.
