Sound + Sleep SE Noise Machine - White Noise Machine - Non-Looping Environmental/Nature Sounds for Sleep & Relaxation - with Timer & Headphone Jack - White/Silver

The only thing that worries me about this machine is that some reviews say it can stop working suddenly after a few months. This machine has been so great, I would hate to have to be without it while a new one was shipped. Hopefully, mine is OK and will work for a very long time. We have been married for 40 years. My husband snored on and off for most of the time. But it was never a real problem and a nudge would get him to turn over and the snoring would stop. However, over the past year, his snoring has gotten very loud and is very constant. He snores every night and a lot of the time it is 'buzz saw' in loudness. Turning and changing position does not do anything to help. He tried the nose strips, but that did no good. It was a difficult situation as although he was the one snoring, it really was my problem as I was the one who could not sleep with the noise. I researched various snoring solutions such as mouth pieces and other devices that might help snoring. But even though he appreciated that I could not sleep, he is not the type to be gung ho about finding a solution or purchasing and trying some of these devices. His basic 'answer' to the problem was that some day his snoring would stop. After a year, I really doubted that was going to happen. I don't think he appreciated how totally his snoring kept me awake with so many totally sleepless nights! He was the snorer, but it became my job to find a way to deal with it. It came to the point that we had to sleep in separate bedrooms most of the time. Our kids are grown, so we did have a couple of empty bedrooms to use. Although I could get a good night's sleep, a separate room was not a comfortable solution overall. Also we travel a lot and have to use the same bed when guests come to our house. So I had to find a way to deal with his snoring when traveling and at home. I researched the white noise and sound machines. This one got such high ratings I figured it was the one to try. From what I had read, I thought the actual 'white noise' would be the best. But I am so glad I bought this one that had many sounds. The machine has done it's job almost from the first night we used it. There was one big adjustment however. The first night I put the machine on my nightstand. It helped somewhat, but since the snorer was on the other side of me, I could still hear him quite a bit. I read about these noise machines and it said to work best, the machine should be between you and the noise. Thankfully this machine is not very large. So I actually placed it on the mattress up against the headboard between my husband and myself. Now the sound is truly between me and the source of the noise. I placed it so the controls are at the top of the machine and I can easily push the buttons to adjust the level of sound. It only takes up a little more than 4 inches of space and on a king size bed, that does not bother us. In testing out the various sounds, I actually found the basic white noise to be rather irritating. I like the rainfall sound the best. I put the richness setting at level one as it adds a little diversity and a rumble of thunder once in a while. I have awakened at night several times to think it was actually raining before I realized it was the machine. I play the machine all night long. I think your mind adjusts better to listening to the sound when it is on all the time. I start out at a minimum level. But when the 'buzz saw' starts, I crank up the sound until it drowns out the snoring. It does take a little adjustment to get used to the rain sound constantly and especially when I have to make it very loud. But the adjustment has been quick and relatively easy and allows me to get a good night's sleep. Part of the problem with the snoring was that it could be extremely loud one minute and moderate the next. The constant change in noise levels really had me edgy and nervous as when the snoring was quiet, I kept mentally waiting for it to get loud again. My nerves were always on edge wondering what level of snoring loudness would be next. With the constant level of the rain fall noise, it helps me to not worry about the level of snoring noise. If the snoring gets loud enough to wake me, I now just amp the rainfall level up a few notches (sometimes more notches than than 'a few') and I can go back to sleep. I read some of the reviews that said the machine was not loud enough. I can't help but agree with other posters that those machines must have a defect of some sort. When I put my machine on the loudest level, it is extremely loud. Even with my buzz saw, I never need to crank it up to the loudest level. I am happy that this machine is small as we will need to take it with us when we travel. I do hope my sleep machine lasts a long time. But whenever it does stop working, I will be getting a new one. It really has been a wonderful device to help with my noise problem. I don't think I really thought it would work as well as it has and solved our situation so easily.

I bought this sound machine after reading the reviews and after spending waaaay too many hours trying to find "THE PERFECT ONE." I needed something with enough volume, yet compact enough to travel easily. This one is perfect. The machine can be turned up incredibly loud (actually, uncomfortably loud, but I suppose that's good if you have hearing problems), yet turned down very low for a sleeping baby. Another perk is if the outside noise grows louder, the machine registers this and raises its volume, as well (but this feature can also be tuned off so the volume remains the same regardless of external noises). As for size, it doesn't take up too much room in a suitcase; there was still plenty of room for all of my belongings for a week's worth of travel--on second thought, I am female and have a giant suitcase--and usually part of my husband's--sooo...maybe I'm not the best one to ask about size. There are 10 different sounds. Our favorites are rainfall and white noise (the reason for the purchase). There is also a timer with three settings, I believe, but we never use it since we need continual noise; this machine is one of the few that allows the sounds to play continually. All in all, my husband and I LOVE it. HOWEVER, last week we did experience some major frustration. We bought the machine in the beginning of May 2011 and by the first week of July (and with only minimal use) it died. And I don't mean it went out fighting. It just DIED. I used it for a nap in the afternoon on vacation and when I pressed the button at bedtime...nothing. Not even a bzzt. That's when I reread the reviews and saw how many people had this same issue. Since it was already past the 30 day mark, Amazon could only refund me 80%. I almost took it. However, I decided to give the company a try. Online, I found the manual and decided to try the recommended "plug in your machine and then hold the start button for 3 seconds." This did not work. So, with a pessimistic attitude I called the company...and spoke to Ira, who was amazing! It turns out that there was an issue with these machines around Christmas and I most likely had this older model since it was bought from a third party on Amazon. He had me try one thing before sending me out a new machine. He had me unplug the machine, depress the start button BEFORE plugging it in and KEEP IT DEPRESSED WHILE PLUGGING IT IN and continue holding down the start button for about five seconds until music started--and it worked! He said that's how they restart them at the factory. It just needed to be reprogrammed. Before hanging up he wanted to make sure I was still ok, so he said to unplug it, wait a few minutes and then plug it in again. Of those machines that had issues, only a few had continual problems when they were unplugged and moved from outlet to outlet (ie. from the livingroom to the bedroom, etc.). He said that if there was going to be a problem with my machine I SHOULD know it within a few days. He extended my warrenty from one year to two and was constantly making sure I was ok with keeping my "defective but now working" machine. He said restfulness was the goal and worry and stress over their product was not what they wanted. Ira REPEATEDLY said if I wanted them to they would ship me out a new machine THAT DAY. He was so nice and I felt so at ease talking to him, that my husband and I are fine with keeping the machine. It's been working fine since the restart yesterday, and Ira told me that at any point to call them back and they would send me out a new one right away. I know what some of you are thinking. She fell for the used car salesman ( no offense, used car salsemen), but trust me he was really passionate about the product and what the company's goal is (I believe he said he helped design it and is one of the owners). He was very honest with me about all my questions, which really surprised me. So, as for the product, we love it and are so glad we didn't loose it. As for you? Yes, you may end up with the defective older model, but this company will do anything they can to make sure you get a working one, quickly, and that YOU are happy with the end result. And that counts for something.

I received my EcoTones Duet in the mail yesterday, and I was unbelievably excited to try it out in light of the overwhelmingly positive reviews it received here. I tried it out last night--and this thing seriously came through for me in a time of pretty desperate need. I live in a great vintage apartment on the first floor, which means that I have great but very noisy and squeaky hardwood floors...and so does my upstairs neighbor. He moved in about a month ago and has loves to a) stomp around louder than I've ever heard anyone stomp (both barefoot AND in his hard-soled shoes), b) have loud sex with a loud (and usually high-heeled and stomping) female visitor, and c) talk loudly on speakerphone for hours at a time (usually well into the small hours of the a.m.). Add to this the fact that I'm a shockingly light sleeper and a musician, so I wake up later than he does, AND add the radiators in my apartment that sound like someone is standing in the room hitting them with a hammer, AND add the fact that I live above the boiler room in my building into the mix, and you have a pretty miserable sleeping situation. I've been running on about 2-3 hours a night for the past month or so, and it's been ruining my productivity! I finally hit a breaking point yesterday, so this machine couldn't have come at a more perfect time. I ordered it on a Friday and it came on Sunday...totally amazed by Amazon Prime! My boyfriend left to hang with his dudes for the evening, and I went to bed early...before my upstairs neighbor and before the radiators came on. I was worried that the machine wouldn't be all it was cracked up to be, and I'd find myself unable to fall asleep AND woken up by my boyfriend coming back in after a night with the guys. I'm happy to report that I slept through it all, which is pretty much a life-changing miracle. This company and this product REALLY understand people who have a hard time sleeping, and I love that the display lights can be turned off. The sounds are really high-quality and don't lend themselves to obsessing about hearing patterns (although the meditation sound is too distracting for a musician to listen to). The volume is impressive, although you need to make sure to check your volume when you go from sound to sound, because they aren't consistent across the board. Rainfall is louder than Brook, for example. Big pluses: - It's super small and compact, and there's a nice cord keeper. - The adaptive sound feature does a great job of screening out the really disruptive noises. I slept with my window open last night (yay spring!), and I really liked that I could still hear the nice outside noises, like a breeze and some distant intermittent cars going by, but not the noises that I find irritating or disruptive to my sleep, like loud motorcycles or people walking outside or talking in the yard right next to the apartment building. For example: the adaptive feature made it so that I didn't hear my boyfriend flush the (industrial strength) toilet in the bathroom right by the room or the really loud stomps from upstairs, but I could hear some creaks and some of the quieter footfalls. The noise from the machine made it so that the noise from upstairs didn't dominate my consciousness, so I didn't get angry about it, and I processed it as simple background noise. - The sounds are really great to hear...I love the fireplace one. They're all super-relaxing, and the machine is easy to use. One note to consider: - I've tried the rainfall and the brook sounds for sleeping; I used the rainfall all of last night. I had it in adaptive mode, and sometimes the swell in sound as it covered a big noise was a little abrasive, so I'd kind of surface from my sleep (but I'm a CRAZY-light sleeper). I solved the problem this morning by switching to brook. You may need to experiment with what sounds work best for you in adaptive mode; don't just assume it'll be disruptive if one sound isn't working for you. I'm hoping to buy another one for my living room soon (since it's right under the neighbor's favorite speakerphone yelling spot). I got the best sleep I'd had in months last night, and I didn't even hear my boyfriend come in (that never happens, ever, even with the previous white noise machine I had). To be clear, though, this machine DIDN'T cancel out all of the upstairs noise entirely, but it took all of the edge and irritation off of it, kind of helping my brain incorporate it into a background noise, rather than leaving it out in the open for my tired mind to fixate on. I bought it after a reviewer said that it had stopped him from plotting against his upstairs neighbors, and I'm SO glad I did...I no longer feel like I'm a prisoner in my apartment. Give this a try; you'll be glad you did!

7/17/19 Updated Review. The replacement machine arrived and failed to work properly out of the box. Neither of the richness settings worked for any of the sound stories. I tried the factory reset procedure but still the richness settings wouldn't activate. I've tried a total of 4 of these machines over the past couple years. One failed to work properly out of the box and three stopped working properly in less than a month. Buyer beware! 7/15/19 Updated Review. I ordered another one of these after reading positive reviews. It worked flawlessly for about a month. Then both richness settings stopped working. The machine is plugged into a surge protector and I haven't moved it, so I doubt the problem is on my end. Luckily I had one day left in the return window, so I have requested a replacement. I love this sound machine but so far, unfortunately, it is still my experience that these things only work properly for a couple weeks. And it's too bad. This sleep machine would be the best on the market if it worked for a reasonable length of time. ----------- This machine is great...when it works. I sent it back for a refund because it developed static and buzzing after a few weeks. I had it on a surge protector, kept it free of lint or dust, and kept it in one location instead of moving it around. I believe it is a defect in the machine and not something caused on my end. Positives- Sound quality was excellent before it degraded. Random sounds (richness settings) prevented detection of looping sound tracks. The adaptive feature was instantaneous and worked as described. Compared to the 3 other machines I own (Marpac Dohm, Homedics SS200, and Homedics HDS 2000 Deep Sleep II) the ecotones had the best sound quality for relaxation and sleep. Negatives- Static/buzzing developed after a few weeks, just as other reviewers have reported. The only other negative aspect was that some of the random sounds for added richness triggered the microphone to increase volume, which was somewhat jarring. The solution was easy though. Just turn off the adaptive feature if you want to sleep. For anyone interested in the train sound story (that’s why I bought this machine), there is a squeak in each “clickety clack.” I didn’t notice it when I listened to sound samples online so I wondered if it was a defect in the sound card. I called the company and the person I spoke with checked my machine’s serial number and said my machine wasn’t among the batch of machines with known sound card issues. Therefore he concluded what I was hearing was probably part of the sound story. I eventually grew accustomed to the squeak, but for anyone who anticipates using the train sounds, please know that mine had a repeating squeak. And it was more prominent than any recurring sound loops on either of my Homedics machines. This was the sound story that developed the worst buzzing so perhaps the squeak was a defect after all. [Deleted the part about the slit on the bottom of the machine as I have been informed this is not a defect. Please see D Haggerty comment below.] Conclusion- I hated to send back my ecotones. I miss it because the looping sounds of Homedics machines are very noticeable. But my Homedics are more reliable to use for sleep because they don't emit static or buzzing like the ecotones did. A refund seemed like a safer option than risking more problems with a replacement. Had my machine come from a batch with known problems, I might have tried a replacement. But since my machine came from a batch without known problems with sound cards, I was concerned about a design flaw and recurrence of static/buzzing with a replacement. I have enough problems sleeping without a sleep machine waking me up with buzzing sounds! If AST can tweak the design to eliminate corruption of sound stories, I'll gladly buy another. I think ecotones has potential to be the best sound machine on the market. It just isn't there yet. I've never returned an Amazon purchase before. Thank you, Amazon and AST, for making it so easy!

Let me start off by saying that the fact you are even researching this thing makes me sorry for you. Those of us who are cursed with superior hearing or whatever affliction does not allow us to enjoy simply laying our head on a pillow and quickly drifting off are not to be envied. I had looked at several machines in the past, and almost paid $150 for one in the hopes I might finally drown out the myriad (but perfectly normal) sounds that keep my slumber at bay every night, but eventually I settled on this one due to the combination of features, cost, and size. Born with uncanny hearing, my entire life has been spent wishing I would lose much of my hearing like all my older brothers did while endlessly firing shotguns and rifles out back, but instead I am able to hear a flea fart as far as 957 feet way- any further and I am finally spared the knowledge of what just took place. As an added torment God decided to give me a brain that would not only hear that well, but also contain a compelling need to decipher the exact intent of that sound. For example, if there is a radio ystation 3 miles down the road playing a song in which there are lyrics, not only will I hear that song, but my brain will try to figure out the words! Suffice it to say, much closer sounds make for a darn rough time of falling asleep ever night. Hence my purchase of the Ecotones Sound + Sleep machine. Having used this for about a year I feel I can give some pretty accurate results as to how this thing performs, which no doubt is why you are still reading this. Here are the pros and cons I experienced so far: PROS: 1. Low cost. There are a lot of products out there, and a lot of prices. I felt this was a reasonable price to pay for a decent chance night's sleep, not knowing if it would actually work. If it did, I could gladly pay double. 2. Size. This thing's a little bigger than say a clock radio, so it fits next to my bed without taking up a lot of space. In fact, mine is sitting on a box under the bedside table so it's not in the way at all until it's time to vacuum there. 3. Portability. At this size it could be brought just about anywhere if one was to travel. 4. Ease of use. The controls are very straightforward; in fact, I can reach down in total darkness and adjust the volume etc. just by feel. 5. Versatility. Understanding that each person's idea of what is soothing will vary, the machine includes a pretty wide variety of sounds in the hope at least one should work for you. I have found 3 sounds that I tend to switch to as need be. CONS: 1. Anticipative Sound Control Option. Actually a pretty impressive feature, this machine has a microphone that can pick up sounds, and immediately respond by increasing the volume for a short time to mask that sound. Unfortunately for me, much like the flea-fart curse, my brain already notices those sounds. and while the machine is indeed very responsive, it's not quite responsive enough to increase the volume BEFORE my brain has a chance to realize that a cricket in the field a mile behind my house just coughed. If only the engineers at Ecotones could build their machine to ANTICIPATE said coughs and increase the volume in advance of them, this feature would be perfect. For anyone closer to normal, it might just work fine. 2. Clicking buttons? The world of electronics allows for many, many types of electrical buttons and switches. I only wish that the engineers that designed this machine had chosen SILENT ones! It's not that they're loud, in fact they're not much louder than a crow's heartbeat at 60 meters, but they are audible. Each little click of that button as I raise or lower the volume does indeed make me wish they opted for silent push-buttons on this thing. Not a deal breaker, but it would be a huge improvement. 3. Sound options. Given this machine has a limited choice of sounds, I was somewhat disappointed not to find at least one verse from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, preferably from the scene where Leatherface is chasing the girl across the field with his 6' blade... - just kidding! I do genuinely believe that there might have been a couple more soothing choices than what was chosen, but like I said, there are three is use frequently. What really, really would have helped is listed next: 4. Tone. My favorite sounds are the rain and ocean sounds, which are quite well done except for one feature- tone. If only I could turn down the tone on these sounds, everything else would immediately be forgiven. Again, my brain at work. Deciphering. Analyzing. Pondering. Wishing those sounds were a teeny bit subdued, not quite so bright and sharp. Adding a tone control to this machine would make an immense improvement, allowing each owner the ability to really customize it to their need. All in all, I think it's a pretty cool little machine which does help a lot. Adding a tone control would take it to the next level which I'd grab in an instant.

I highly recommend this sound machine and am giving it five stars even though I had problems with it almost immediately — want to know why? Please read on. Before buying ASTI's Sound Sleep machine, I did my homework. My goal was to find the best sound generating machine on the market, hoping it could help my boyfriend who has bad tinnitus, frequent insomnia, and on top of all that, noisy neighbors. I also thought I might like it too, since I also have mild tinnitus, and insomnia sometimes, and I use a CPAP machine so any distraction from that is welcome, and also a construction project just started across the street from me (I also snore when I'm not using my CPAP machine, so I thought it might help with that noise, too). So, I researched professional product reviews of sound machines, and hands-down the Sound Sleep machine was the clear winner. The reviews placed it as the best, noting its superior sound quality, its realistic and nonrepetitive sound stories, its amazing adaptive sound technology that instantly responds to noises in the environment, its gradual soft fade out on its sleep timer, and its many other great features. I studied the website of the manufacturer (Adaptive Sound Technologies Inc.), which is "soundofsleep" dot com, which by the way holds a wealth of useful information, and from there I was directed to Amazon to make my purchase (you can't buy directly from ASTI). So, my next stop was Amazon. I read many great reviews, but I also made sure I looked at the "most helpful critical review," and its comments — I find that often the most helpful information is buried in all the comments to critical reviews, and in this case it was a gold mine of very useful information. In a nutshell, it was determined that a batch of the sound sleep machines had a bad memory card installed, and this was the cause of the small number of bad reviews. The manufacturer immediately responded to each bad review, offering to resolve each problem free of charge and replace each defective machine with a brand-new one, and also they unilaterally decided to extend their warranty to guarantee all of their memory cards for the life of the product, for all machines they have ever sold. They corrected the technical problem, and all the ones they ship to Amazon now have a good card, and they believe they've cleared out all the bad stock from Amazon now. Well, that seemed perfectly reasonable to me — even the best companies and the best products have problems now and then, and what really matters is how the company responds to it and takes care of it, and it sounded like they addressed the problem and were doing a great job with customer service. So, I bought one — ordered it last Monday, and it arrived the next day (Tuesday, November 3). I was delighted with it and slept like a baby with it on ocean setting that night, however I did notice a faint, brief crackle in ocean mode, on low richness setting, that I almost thought at first was just one of the sound effects. But then I noticed it for sure the following night, Wednesday, so then Thursday morning I listened to it carefully, and sure enough, there was an intermittent crackle. I realized then that I must've gotten one of the bad ones that hadn't been cleared out of stock yet, so that morning I emailed ASTI customer service (Jack Conway) and told him my problem. He responded to me right away and told me he would replace my machine with a new one. Now, I happen to be lucky in that I work not far from ASTI headquarters, so the next morning (Friday) I brought the machine in to work with me, called Jack and arranged a meeting, and that morning drove over to see Jack in person to get my new machine. I must say that he and everyone else there were so nice! Jack greeted me like Santa Claus emerging from his workshop, and immediately took my defective machine, and handed me a brand-new one, and then asked if I'd like to test it out. So right then and there, we opened the box and he plugged in my new machine and we tested it and it sounded great. He said they stand behind their product, and if I have any problems in the future, he said "you know where we are, and just let us know and we will take care of you." Now that's great customer service! So now, some words about the machine itself — and please note that I plan to come back and update this review as time goes on, especially after my boyfriend has a chance to use it, which he hasn't yet: When I got back to my office on Friday with my brand-new machine, I plugged it in at my desk and left it on for the rest of the day, and it performed brilliantly — no problems whatsoever, and not once did I notice any sense of repetition or looping. I think I had it on for about six hours, and it was just as if someone had gone out into nature and recorded six hours of sounds just for me. I tried out every single sound story and every richness setting, and the sound was so lifelike, so clear and amazing. Everyone who stopped by my desk wanted one! And, it responded well to surrounding noises — even a door slamming which I thought was pretty far away. I also found that it was very relaxing while working, which I hadn't even thought of before; it really made work more pleasant, so now I'm even toying with the idea of getting one for my office, too! At home, I find it's very nice to have on while I'm working at my home computer; it makes for very pleasant background noise, and I find it amusing when it tries to shush me if I sneeze or cough. :-) At bedtime, it is indispensable. I set the sleep timer and float away on the ocean waves, my favorite sound story for bedtime. I fall asleep before it shuts off, so today before writing this review, I set the timer so I could check how it turns off: a couple minutes before shut off time, it starts to gradually get quieter and softer, until it gently fades away to complete silence by the time it shuts off. Perfect. I also love how I can turn off the display lights at night, so it's completely dark. And I also love how the speaker is on top, so no matter which way you face the machine, you are never turning the speakers away from you. But the adaptive mode is its most amazing feature, besides the incredible sounding sound stories: it literally responds instantly to sudden rises in volume in the room, and it doesn't just turn up the volume — it also dynamically can throw in things from its collection of sound story sound effects to create a natural sounding reaction that's very helpful in masking the sudden disturbance (for example: in rainfall, it might raise the volume of the rain and add a clap of thunder). Some tips on operation: if it seems to be having trouble hearing and responding to a sound disturbance, turn the unit so the microphone faces the sound, and if possible move it closer to the sound source. Also note that, if it doesn't seem to be masking a certain sound enough, try a different sound story, and/or try turning the volume up. For example, the other night a train went by rather loudly, and at first the machine didn't seem to respond to it, so then I turned the microphone so it faced the window, and I turned up the volume, and then it responded to the train so well, I couldn't hear the train at all. As for the sound stories themselves: Waterfall: at level I, this sound story is an electric fan, which is pretty intense and sounds more like a biplane to me. At level II, it's a thundering waterfall, very similar to white noise. At level III, they add in things like wind, splashes, and just a richness of sound to give it more depth and dimension. You really do feel like you're standing next to a thundering waterfall in the wilderness. Fireplace: one of my favorites. At level I, it's a steadily crackling fireplace, with the occasional sound of a log gently collapsing. At level II, it has more crackling and more logs falling, and the occasional soft distant sound of a tea kettle whistling, or cats purring. At level III, it switches to a roaring campfire in the woods, with lots of crackling and logs falling, and occasional sounds of wind whooshing through the trees, and occasional birds. Ocean: my hands-down favorite for going to sleep. At level I, it's ocean waves. At level II, they add in occasional birds and seals. At level III, they add on top of that occasional fog horns and buoy bells. Meadow: this sounds like a stream gently flowing through a meadow at night with lots of crickets chirping. (Note: when I met with Jack Conway, he said the crickets were recorded in his own backyard!) That's mostly what you hear, at all the richness levels, but with more richness they seem to add in wind through the trees, occasional birds, and rain, I believe. This one is great if you like to fall asleep to the sound of crickets, and of course the water sounds are very soothing, too. Train: you hear all the normal train click clack sounds, and with more richness they add in things like lonesome train whistles and bells. I find this sound story kind of ironic, since trains might be a noise you are trying to cover up! But it's a nice steady mechanical sound if that's what helps you relax. And I can vouch for its realism, because I hear real trains pass by my house day and night (as mentioned above). City: like Train, this one seems like a sound you would be wanting to cover up, and again like Train it is very realistic, with the steady hum of the city and other realistic noises thrown in. I'm not fond of this one myself, but then I have a coworker who grew up in the city, and when he heard this one he said it would definitely be one of his favorites, and would help him sleep. So, to each his own. Rainfall: this is a definite favorite (and Jack Conway's favorite, he said). The recording of the rain is so absolutely crystal clear, you feel like you're standing outside in a rainstorm. It is so realistic, with the rain, the occasional thunder, and other storm sounds like the rushing of wind, that it will be loved by anyone who loves the sound of the rain and a good storm. With increased richness, you get more depth and thunder, and vice versa. You can tell they used primo equipment to record all their sounds, especially the rain: my boyfriend is a professional musician with a home recording studio, and once he made a recording of rain outside his door, and he has the best recording equipment you can get, and I swear the quality I hear in this sound story is on par with the quality of my boyfriend's recording. Outstanding, and great for sleeping, and great for masking a wide variety of sounds. Brook: this is the wonderful sound of rushing water in a brook in the woods, with the occasional sounds of water splashing and birds and other nature sounds. This is one of my favorites for during the day. Could also be a great one at night, if you like that steady rushing and babbling water sound. My coworker friend who liked the City recording actually said that Brook would be his top favorite. It is very soothing and relaxing. With that steady rush, it would also be good at masking a lot of sounds, similar to Rainfall and Waterfall, but perhaps not as intense as those two. Meditation: this is the steady drone of some kind of musical instrument, with sitars and other musical sounds thrown in with added richness. Personally, I am not fond of this one, but again everyone is different. Another friend at work said that her husband would like it, not for sleeping but for use in actual meditation, and she commented that the sitars sounded like whale song to her. So, I'm sure someone might like this for meditation and/or sleeping or relaxing. White noise: this has three different settings with different pitches: brown noise at level I, pink noise at level II, and white noise at level III. I am not fond of this one myself, but it would be perfect for someone who likes blank white noise, such as falling asleep to the television when it's just static. I'm thinking it might be good for tinnitus masking — I'll have to wait and see what my boyfriend's experience with the machine is. And there you have it — my first week's experience. In summary, I highly recommend this sound machine, and believe it is indeed the best one on the market, and great for a variety of uses, and the company itself has outstanding customer service with satisfaction guaranteed. I will update my review after I've had more time with it, and after my boyfriend gets a chance to use one, too.

After two back-to-back sea deployments, I have a lot of trouble sleeping without some kind of "white noise" in the background. You spend every moment of the deployment with some kind of noise going on in the background, and I haven't been able to let that go. The sound of complete silence when I'm laying in bed, trying to fall asleep, means I won't fall asleep for a long time! I can't stop focusing on every little noise I hear. In all honesty, the background sound is quite comforting. I enjoy not being able to hear every little creak the house makes. For anyone else who feels this way, I recently came across the most amazing bedside white noise machine I've ever used. This one. For a long time, I used Marpac's Dual-Speed Sound Machine based upon a recommendation from a friend. It worked as designed for several years and was a great product! However, I was recently looking for a change--specifically, a white noise machine that can also mimic rhythmic sounds of nature and everyday life. The biggest problem with devices that offer features like this is that the human brain quickly detects and desires to find sequence and order in nature. Many sound machines suffer from the problem of repeating sounds--your brain will quickly discover where a sound stops and repeats, and once that point has been found, the background sound is totally useless at that point. Enter the SOUND+SLEEP system. The product is not cheap, but it's well worth the investment. The sound system offers not only simple white noise, but a wide variety of sounds found in other settings--a cross-country train, laying on the beach listening to the ocean, the crackle of a fireplace, the whooshing of a windy waterfall, the background bustle and hum of city life. In addition, it offers an Adaptive Sound feature that enables you to change the intensity of the sound. For instance, the train setting--at the lowest adaptive level, it's the sound of a train quietly going down the tracks. Enable the highest adaptive level, and you'll also get the occasional squeal of the train wheels on the track, the sound of a road train-crossing bell dinging, and some low-level engine noise. On the ocean setting, you can go from quiet wave sounds, all the way to hearing loud crashing waves mixed in with quiet waves, along with seagulls, seals, and ship foghorns blowing. The most amazing part of the device is how they've managed to prevent your brain from detecting a sequence in the sounds. Every time you turn on the sound machine, it never plays sounds the same way twice. The variation is completely random. Overall, I have had some of the best nights of sleep over the past few days, aside from having to get up super-early for work. My favorite settings so far are the ocean, the train, and the meadow. The meadow sounds almost like you're camping in the woods, complete with frog singing, whooshing of wind through pine tree needles, and owl sounds. Five BIG STARS! Highly recommended! smile emoticon

I first bought this unit in August after a Brookstone machine that I had used for about 5 years began to break. My initial impressions were that I was impressed by the overall quality of the machine, but my first night of sleep left my less than enthusiastic. I typically use the rain storm sounds, and the version that I had received in August had an annoying loop after about 5 seconds that I was able to discern. Since I had bought the machine on the promise that most of the sounds had a longer recording time, I was pretty disappointed. I next tried the 'brook' sound, which I found to be nice, but for some reason the sound included a frequent wooshing-sound (like wind blowing) that I found distracting and tended to wake me up. I settled on the waves and waterfall sounds, which were peaceful (although there were annoying birds on the waves), but not quite as good as my Brookstone that I replaced. Last week, the unit would not turn on and the AC adapter started making a high pitched sound. I contacted the manufacturer the next day and I must say I was very pleased with their service. They 2-day UPS'ed another machine to my house and had me send the old one back free of charge. I was pretty impressed that they would do this. The new machine includes some new sounds, including an electric whirring fan sound. When I turned it on, I checked the thunderstorm recording and found that this appears to have been upgraded...I can no longer discern a pattern and I find that the "Richness" is a nice touch on this sound. No richness = simple rain storm. One click of richness = some light wind blowing from time to time. Two clicks = wind and some thunder. I haven't bothered to check the other sounds as I am now very content with my rainstorm sound and sleep well with it. I'm giving this item 3-stars because of my experience with the machine. I was very underwhelmed with the first unit I received and disappointed it broke so quickly. However, the newer unit I got from the manufacturer is awesome and the service was terrific. I would recommend this product on the grounds that the manufacturer stands behind their product and the newer unit I received has so far been terrific.