C Crane Co SSV SoftSpeaker-2 Pillow Speaker with Volume Control

I initially thought this was faulty but it does provide good sound under your pillow immediately near your ear. I've come round to it a lot and would recommend but I don't think it's remotely worth he best part of £60.

I'm hard of hearing in my right ear and sleep on my left side. I had been using a rechargeable headband speaker (bought on Amazon) to connect to my TV as I fell asleep. However, I started thinking about sleeping with a battery by my brain all night, so I began researching alternatives.I have an Amazon Echo Dot by my bed, so I plug this speaker into the Dot and place the speaker inside my pillowcase. Then, I tell Alexa to 'connect to TV,' and voila, I've got great sound, a healthier option, and I don't have to wear a headband that gets too warm on my head. Additionally, the long cord is great, and the volume control is just 12 inches from the speaker, making it easy to adjust. This setup is perfect, and I've been using it nightly for several months.

Speaker works very well. However, paying $40 shipping on a $30 product when the actual radio shipped for free was a huge disappointment.

I love Crane products. Very nice speaker that I bought after researching quite a few others. Glad I bought this one. PLUS: The sound is good for a pillow speaker - don't expect it to sound like an IEM or earbuds. The wire is incredibly long - so, you won't have to stretch it. Amazingly, unless you crank it up real high, only YOU will hear the music without any leaking for the person next to you. I plug it into C. Crane Pocket Radio or the mini Shanlin M1 MP3 player. Of course, the output is mono. MINUS: I did remove the cloth cover as it increased the bulk. Without it, the speaker is pretty small and flat and will slip under the pillow case without any problem. Unless you align your ear close or place it over the device, you won't hear the music. So, initially, you would have to spend some time figuring out how to place your head but once you get the idea, it is fine. Except when you turn around - when you have to align it again but hopefully, you fall asleep before that. While it may seem a bit too expensive, you get what you pay for and I am delighted to have bought this product.

Let me start by saying I use about a 2-inch thick piece of self-cut memory foam for a pillow. It's been impossible to make a dent (as the instructions say) and lie with my ear on the speaker without lots of discomfort. I took the advice of other reviewers and removed the cover, only to then find that my mate could hear the audio and found it annoying. I tried the speaker under the pillow as well, but that was a little awkward for want of trying to find where to position my ear so I could actually hear the sound. What I've found works best is to cut out a circle in my foam pillow and let this little speaker sit inside that circle with its cover on. The circle can be under the pillow or on top of the pillow. Actually, I made several so I can sleep on either my right or left side (with my face off the edge of the pillow) and just have to move the speaker to its new "hole" if I flip over. I've also found that using a very thin silk charmeuse pillowcase allows the speaker to slide into the hole in the pillow from the outside without my having to slip it inside the pillowcase. There are many options, and I'm convinced that most people can find a way to make this work for them -- they just might have to get a bit creative.As far as the technical specs go, the sound is excellent for both audiobooks and relaxing music and environment music (frogs croaking, birds chirping, waterfalls flowing...). I like the volume in the cord, but as another reviewer mentioned, it is quite far. You can probably find a way to hack this to your liking as well: I just sleep with my hand loosely cupped around the volume part.So in a nutshell, while I'd like to see some improvements made in the comfort of this product and the volume control placement, it's really quite good and meets the need at a reasonable price. I think most people will be happy. If you're worried about the cord fray issue that some have reported, you can always use a product like Sugru (search Amazon) or good old electrical tape to reinforce it.

I've had this speaker for 7 months and finally decided to write a review. I use it evey night with my iPad, listening as I go to sleep. In the past I tried using ear buds, but they were uncomfortable and kept falling out. This has been a wonderful solution! It's soft so I can even lay on it if I want to. Usually I just lay it on my pillow near my ear. I tend to roll around some before I settle in so it gets moved and twisted around quite a bit. The cord is a little over 6 feet long so there is lots of wiggle room! Sometimes it ends up on the floor by moring. When I travel it gets tossed in a bag to come along. I have been impressed that it keeps working so well in spite of the abuse I give it! I have the model with volume control and would recommend that. This has been a great little device for the money.