What makes a good white/pink noise speaker?
June 12, 2017 1:23 PM Subscribe
Baby + tiny city centre apartment makes white noise an absolute godsend and the only reason anyone gets any sleep around here. Unfortunately I'm a clumsy fool and I stepped on and destroyed the tiny Bluetooth speaker I'd been using so I'm looking for a replacement but I have no idea what criteria I should be looking for in a speaker that's only going to play one sound (aside from being reasonably cheap)
The tiny (and tinny) speaker I had been using seemed fine and I was about to buy another similar one BUT in the interim I plugged my anker soundcore sport XL into the iPod and it's so much better. Obviously it's a bigger, more powerful speaker and therefore louder but even at quieter volumes the sound still fills the room so much more completely and the baby sleeps much, much better with it than with the other one.
The anker's my listening to stuff in the garden/garage speaker though and I don't really want to give it up (not permanently anyway. I'm happy using it right now rather than staying awake for days while I figure something out). Also I don't need a wireless, battery powered speaker in this situation so I figured I'd look for some second hand laptop speakers or something.
The problem is that I have no idea what, if anything, I should be looking for to best replicate that room filing sound. I've compared the anker to a couple of other similar sized speakers and it's noticeably better than all of them. The main difference I can see is the 'passive bass radiator' on the back of the Anker. Does that mean something with a seperate woofer will work or is it simply a question of more watts? Or something else entirely?
My entire family thanks you in advance for your wisdom and advice.
The tiny (and tinny) speaker I had been using seemed fine and I was about to buy another similar one BUT in the interim I plugged my anker soundcore sport XL into the iPod and it's so much better. Obviously it's a bigger, more powerful speaker and therefore louder but even at quieter volumes the sound still fills the room so much more completely and the baby sleeps much, much better with it than with the other one.
The anker's my listening to stuff in the garden/garage speaker though and I don't really want to give it up (not permanently anyway. I'm happy using it right now rather than staying awake for days while I figure something out). Also I don't need a wireless, battery powered speaker in this situation so I figured I'd look for some second hand laptop speakers or something.
The problem is that I have no idea what, if anything, I should be looking for to best replicate that room filing sound. I've compared the anker to a couple of other similar sized speakers and it's noticeably better than all of them. The main difference I can see is the 'passive bass radiator' on the back of the Anker. Does that mean something with a seperate woofer will work or is it simply a question of more watts? Or something else entirely?
My entire family thanks you in advance for your wisdom and advice.
I have a dedicated white noise machine, the LectroFan, and it's honestly pretty great. I like it so much I recently bought the LectroFan micro for travel purposes, and it also works as a bluetooth speaker. The both seems to be pretty well optimized for white noise production. I've slept with the windows open in Temple Bar in Dublin with that thing.
On preview: LECTROFAN!
posted by mskyle at 1:33 PM on June 12, 2017
On preview: LECTROFAN!
posted by mskyle at 1:33 PM on June 12, 2017
I have a Cambridge Sound Works Oontz and I'm pretty happy with it. Good sound for the price.
posted by Cranialtorque at 1:46 PM on June 12, 2017
posted by Cranialtorque at 1:46 PM on June 12, 2017
We use an analog white noise maker with our kid. I like it.
posted by thursdaystoo at 2:00 PM on June 12, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by thursdaystoo at 2:00 PM on June 12, 2017 [4 favorites]
+1 for the Dohm white noise machine. We love that thing. Baby stays asleep even when rogue Amazon packages arrive after bedtime and the dogs bark.
posted by permiechickie at 2:24 PM on June 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by permiechickie at 2:24 PM on June 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
I had your problem (I like to use MyNoise White Rain as long as we're recommending noise thingies) and got a pair of Logitech Z200s. They sound pretty good for the price.
posted by neckro23 at 3:14 PM on June 12, 2017
posted by neckro23 at 3:14 PM on June 12, 2017
Best answer: It's the frequency range, how low to how high it goes. There can be lots of ways to achieve this. But as far as low frequencies go it has to be a bigger speaker for the most part. It's physics.
Unfortunately everyone fudges the truth on the packaging. So it will often say 20Hz to 20kHz, because that's the range of human hearing.
'passive bass radiator', ports etc. are one way to give the impression of more low, although not necessarily accurate, frequencies without a bigger speaker (they often make a bunch of noise in the low end). This is fine for your purposes, you don't really need accuracy just noise, but it's rare that any small speakers really have the "room filling sound" no matter what they claim, as you've seen.
So anyway, the idea with White Noise (which covers all frequencies equally regardless of how we hear them) masking is that the sound coming out of the speaker masks the other sounds around you by covering them up and confusing them in your ear. So if your speaker is not putting out low frequencies then you won't be hiding low frequencies (far away music, doors slamming down the hall). The frequencies that we're the most sensitive to are in the range of cheap small speakers, that's why even cheap noise generators work fairly well even though they don't cover a lot (think AM radio, clanking on pans).
If you want "room filling sound" for your purposes any big speaker will do, it's not a question of something fancy at all, it's size. A powered set of speakers or a small stereo system from the Goodwill. Get a boombox and burn a CD of White Noise and put it on repeat.
posted by bongo_x at 3:50 PM on June 12, 2017
Unfortunately everyone fudges the truth on the packaging. So it will often say 20Hz to 20kHz, because that's the range of human hearing.
'passive bass radiator', ports etc. are one way to give the impression of more low, although not necessarily accurate, frequencies without a bigger speaker (they often make a bunch of noise in the low end). This is fine for your purposes, you don't really need accuracy just noise, but it's rare that any small speakers really have the "room filling sound" no matter what they claim, as you've seen.
So anyway, the idea with White Noise (which covers all frequencies equally regardless of how we hear them) masking is that the sound coming out of the speaker masks the other sounds around you by covering them up and confusing them in your ear. So if your speaker is not putting out low frequencies then you won't be hiding low frequencies (far away music, doors slamming down the hall). The frequencies that we're the most sensitive to are in the range of cheap small speakers, that's why even cheap noise generators work fairly well even though they don't cover a lot (think AM radio, clanking on pans).
If you want "room filling sound" for your purposes any big speaker will do, it's not a question of something fancy at all, it's size. A powered set of speakers or a small stereo system from the Goodwill. Get a boombox and burn a CD of White Noise and put it on repeat.
posted by bongo_x at 3:50 PM on June 12, 2017
Here's a link to The Sweethome reviewing many options.
We have one of the Dohm machines and it works great. I find it less harsh than an electronic source/speaker setup. I resisted buying it as it seems frivolous for to purchase as a single use device.
But we mainly use these Honeywell humidifiers that use a fan to blow air across a damp wick. They sound almost exactly like the Dohm with a less pleasing fan motor hum - but they work great as humidifiers in the dry winters. We keep them on year round for white noise and just don't fill the tanks in summertime.
posted by sol at 6:25 PM on June 12, 2017
We have one of the Dohm machines and it works great. I find it less harsh than an electronic source/speaker setup. I resisted buying it as it seems frivolous for to purchase as a single use device.
But we mainly use these Honeywell humidifiers that use a fan to blow air across a damp wick. They sound almost exactly like the Dohm with a less pleasing fan motor hum - but they work great as humidifiers in the dry winters. We keep them on year round for white noise and just don't fill the tanks in summertime.
posted by sol at 6:25 PM on June 12, 2017
When my wife worked overnights while living in the city, the dohm mentioned above was her link to sanity.
posted by dbx at 9:01 PM on June 12, 2017
posted by dbx at 9:01 PM on June 12, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by brainmouse at 1:31 PM on June 12, 2017 [2 favorites]