White noise machines have become increasingly popular in homes and even the workplace to mask noises and disturbances, allowing users to get some much needed sleep or a chance to focus on work. When it comes to purchasing a white noise machine, like any purchase, we want to make sure we are getting something that is good value for money, does it’s job as expected and is reliable – essentially we want to get the best device that’s on the market. Regardless of what you’re buying, it’s never fun to realise you purchased something of poor quality, or see something a few weeks later which has more features that would have been better suited to your needs.
At Sound of Sleep UK, we only stock premium sound machines that have been designed in the USA by Adaptive Sound Technologies Inc. High quality devices that come with years of reputation and reviews. To put it simply, we only sell the best machines on the market. But you may be thinking, what makes a great white noise machine?
1) Non-looping – Creating a white noise or fan sound isn’t an easy task, or I should say, creating a good one isn’t anyway. You can’t simply record a particular noise and set it on an infinite loop. Why? Well, although you won’t notice it initially, you will eventually clock on to where the loop starts and ends, or you may hear a particular noise and then realise it occurs every 30 seconds. This is incredibly distracting and for many users, it’s not something you want to focus on when you are trying to clear your mind and get some rest. Without giving away the secret sauce, our range of products have microprocessors that process a number of tracks that dynamically generate a sound. When these tracks are combined, it creates a unique, non-looping, dynamically generated fan or white noise sound. It’s clever stuff which has taken years of incremental development to get right.
2) No moving parts – A lot of customers come to white noise machines as they have been using a traditional full size fan in their bedroom for many years, which produces white noise and has helped them get to sleep. They often come to us because by the time the winter comes, if the heating isn’t on full whack, the fan is just too cold. There are white noise machine manufacturers who have decided the best way to create a white noise machine is to get a traditional fan, and shrink it down in to a small box. At first glance this sounds like a good idea. It sticks with what works and removes the very difficult process of making the device non-looping while sounding authentic. This is where the good bits end, sorry! There are major drawbacks to having a fan in a box. The first being the limited range of sound. At the end of the day, it’s a small fan in a box, no matter what adjustments you have, it can only oscillate at a different speed. The range of sound is going to be very limited and you might find that you just can’t find the right sound for you. Maybe there’s too much treble and harshness, or maybe it’s too bassy for your tastes. The device I’m going to recommend has 10 separate fan sounds and 10 separate white noise sounds, we can confidently say you’ll find the right sound for you. The biggest problem with a fan in a box isn’t even the wasteful energy consumption, it’s the reliability.
3) Reliable – When things contain moving parts, they often break down. There is friction, heat and forces to worry about. A well designed and built circuit board can last indefinitely, but motors in a fan can start making a whining noise, or the bearings in the fan start to go making a grinding noise, or dust starts to form on the fan and overheats it. Have you ever had a hairdryer break or had a laptop get very hot when it used to be ice cold? That’s the fan either being caked in dust, or the motor having degraded performance. I would place a bet that more calculators work from the 80’s than hair dryers do! For a reliable white noise machine, it makes sense to stick to a well designed circuit board and high quality speaker. But wait, it’s not that easy. Circuit boards and speakers are not made equally. I have personally tested many low end white noise machines and without even considering the cheap plastics and looping sounds, the speakers have always been incredibly tinny! It is more like sound torture than sound therapy! This is due to low quality components, which as we know are not going to be half as reliable as their high quality counterparts. All it takes is for a cheap capacitor to pop or the low quality speaker to tear and the machine is useless. This leads me on to the final step in finding the best white noise machine.
4) Reputation – A good reputation is what builds a good company, and to get a good reputation you have to manufacture great products and look after your customers. Even if you found a device that was non-looping, and had a half decent speaker, what do you do if it breaks down in 13 months? There are a huge amount of cheap imports, who have no reputation and don’t care for one. They change their product name each year to wipe away poor reviews and to start a fresh. They sell cheap units to the masses who don’t realise the false economy of cheap products. Sound of Sleep UK sell products that are rated at the top of review websites, YouTube videos, health magazines and most importantly by our many customers. We’re so confident in our white noise machines that we offer a 30 day, no quibble returns policy. If you don’t like it, just send it back and we’ll send you a full refund. We do this because we feel customers should have a chance to fully try a product, which is especially difficult in this online world. Our products are that good we get very few returns, but we will happily assist you if you do wish to send it back. A lot of low end imports state they have a warranty, but results are extremely mixed depending on from what seller or marketplace you bought the item. For all our products we provide a full 2 year warranty! If your power cable is damaged 23 months later, we will send you one out free of charge. We care about our customers and provide support and assistance for all our products. If you lose your power cable on holiday in 25 months, don’t worry, we not only hold spare parts but have them at very reasonable prices (£5 including shipping for a new power cable). Our products have a fantastic reputation and we do all we can to look after it and our customers.
That leads us to the question everyone is asking. What is the best white noise machine in the UK?
That bit is simple. It’s the Lectrofan. It’s in over 1 million homes. You can find it here.