Philips Sleep Headphones with Kokoon review: science-endorsed sleepy sounds

Philips Sleep Headphones are here to change the way you doze. Or so they claim. This set of wireless headphones built in conjunction with startup and crowdfunding success story Kokoon, packs sensors aling with the drivers to help you nod off, and even track how well or badly you slept.

Philips puts a pretty big price on getting that quality bedtime, with the Sleep Headphones setting you back $249.99/£249.99. That makes it pricier than other sleep buds like the Anker Soundcore Sleep A10, but does match QuietOn 3.1 Sleep Earbuds. So, do they have special powers to help you power down?

• Buy the Philips Sleep Headphones with Kokoon

Design and build: snooze in brief

The Philips Sleep Headphones are not your regular-looking set of headphones, with two earbuds attached to a squiggly cable that meets in the middle of the main unit of the headphones. That’s where you’ll find the USB-C charging port to power them up and a trio of physical buttons. These allow you to adjust volume, skip audio and turn on and pair the headphones to your phone.

Look a little closer at the buds and you’ll spy optical sensors, which are in place for two reasons. The first to help detect when you’ve fallen asleep and will start to fade the audio you’re listening to ease you into that slumber. The second reason is to unlock the built-in sleep tracking, with sleep stats viewable inside of the free Kokoon companion app.

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If you’re having problems getting the earbuds to stay put, Phillips does include five additional sets of ear tips that are thankfully not a chore to slip on instead of the ones in place when you get them out of the box.

When you’re awake and need to store the headphones away there’s a long, fabric case that has started to get a touch grubby in places for me and unfortunately doesn’t double as a charging case for the headphones.

Features, sound and performance: in it for the lulls

I’d say the primary goal of the Sleep Headphones is to help lull you to sleep, and you can do that by listening to your own soothing audio as they do perform just like regular wireless headphones. You do also have the option to delve into the Kokoon app where you can select from a range of sleep-related audio. There’s Shipping Forecasts, the option to listen to the sound of a purring cat or wind down to a story about a boathouse. You can also opt for one of the built-in programmes that aim to coach you to build good sleep foundations to offer long-term improvements.

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Before all of that though, they have to do one thing right – they need to feel comfortable to wear to bed. Philips says they’re designed to work for people who sleep on their side. I am someone who tends to sleep on their side but also has a tendency to lie on my back as well during the night. These headphones are thankfully pretty light and that’s important here and when you are sleeping on your side they feel fine to drift off with.

When I’ve moved onto my back however, their presence is felt more, particularly where the main unit sits at the back of the head. It’s not really uncomfortable, but it was enough for me on a few occasions to want to remove the headphones and go back to sleep. I also had a couple of occasions when one of the earbuds fell out. It just feels that these headphones still need to get smaller.

I do think the sleep soundscapes, stories and programmes do an effective job of helping you to feel more sleepy and that’s a real plus here. It does feel like that library needs to grow because it wouldn’t take too long to get through what’s here.

I really like the idea of the built-in sensors being able to tell when you’ve fallen asleep, after which it’ll start playing white or coloured noise to ease you into that next sleeping phase. I did find that it could jump into action before I was ready for bed, so it doesn’t work perfectly.

It’s weird not talking about sound performance first, but I wouldn’t say that’s the most notable quality of using the Sleep Headphones. Philips says it uses balanced-armature drivers to produce clear sound along with passive noise isolation to block out noise. So there’s no ANC here.

Yes, you do get a pretty clear sound and it doesn’t leak that sound to those nearby, but there’s not much going on in the power and bass department. That makes them ideal for listening to voices, softer sounds or handling calls, but if you wanted to use these headphones in any other scenario other than trying to go to sleep with them, you’ll be pretty underwhelmed with the performance here.

Then there’s the sleep tracking. Like a Fitbit or an Apple Watch, they’ll automatically monitor your time in bed, mark when you fell asleep, wake up and how long it took you to fall asleep. It also breaks down sleep stages, including REM and indicate when the headphones were off your head as well. I wouldn’t say Fitbit and the rest of the sleep tracker fraternity will be quaking in their boots with the performance here though. It rarely captured an entire night’s sleep and there were more than a few nights where it’s clear wearing these headphones for an entire night is a challenge.

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On the subject of battery life, Philips says you can get up to 10 hours of battery night to get you through a night’s sleep. For something that costs as much as it does, I feel it should be better equipped to handle a few night’s sleep before it needs charging. So, yes it can last a night and a new beta feature will disconnect the headphones if they’re taken off to save battery. You’ll ultimately want to make sure it’s fully charged pretty much every night before using it again though. Doing that takes up to 2 hours from flat, so it’s not exactly the zippiest of chargers either.

Philips Sleep Headphones: verdict

The Philips Sleep Headphones seek to serve a problem that many people face and that’s struggling to get to sleep. I’m just not sure this is the answer just yet.

There’s certainly some inventive ideas it brings to the table, notably using those biosensors to ease you into that time you start to drift off. The library of sleep-centric sounds is nice and varied, but maybe still needs more depth.

I do think there’s the foundation of a good sleep aid here, but there’s some things that would need to change. I think the design needs to get smaller, the library needs to grow and I think the sleep tracking needs to be ditched. Its ability to help you sleep is the real pull here and that’s the area along with some design changes and software improvements that will increase its appeal.

If you’re a bad sleeper and looking for the perfect headphone solution, the Sleep Headphones are a step in the right direction, but some performance problems in other areas might keep you up at night wondering why you paid so much for it.

Tech specs

Driver type	Balanced Armature
Bluetooth version	5.0
Bluetooth profiles	A2DP, AVRCP, HFP
Battery life	Up to 10 hours
Charging time	Up to 2 hours
Dimensions	3cm (depth) x 1.5cm (height) x 20.5cm (width)

• Buy the Philips Sleep Headphones with Kokoon