u/Ancient_Cedar9684

Really wanted a NEOREST NX2 until I saw the price

Went pretty deep down the TOTO rabbit hole when I first started looking at smart toilets. The NX2 was basically the one I wanted. I loved how clean the whole thing looked, and I was really into everything TOTO does to keep the bowl and nozzle clean.

Then I looked up actual prices. Nope, not spending that much on a toilet.

Kept looking around and ended up grabbing a HOROW X70 instead. I was skeptical going in, the price gap is honestly ridiculous, but it hit most of what I cared about, so I figured I'd try it.

A couple of the features I figured I wouldn't care much about turned out to be the ones I notice the most. The automatic lid is one. Seemed pointless before I had it. Now I catch myself standing in front of regular toilets waiting for the lid to open.

The foam thing is another. I assumed that was mostly marketing when I bought it, but I actually like having it. Same with the self-cleaning stuff, electrolyzed water, UVC, whatever they're calling it. I don't think about any of that when I'm using the bathroom. I just notice there's less for me to scrub.

Never used an NX2, so I have no idea if sitting on one would make it obvious where all that extra money goes. It's probably nicer in ways that don't show up on a spec sheet.

But after living with the X70 for a while, I don't feel like I bought the cheap version of what I wanted. It's a nicer toilet than I expected for the money.

Still wouldn't mind trying an NX2 sometime. Just not in my own bathroom.

I used to think choosing earbuds for sleep was mostly about sound quality, ANC, or battery life.

After trying to sleep with different earbuds, I think the real test is much simpler:

Can you lie on your side with your ear pressed into a pillow and forget the earbuds are there?

That’s it.

A lot of regular wireless earbuds sound good during the day, but the second you roll onto your side, the shape becomes the problem. Even if the earbud sounds great, it starts pressing into your ear, shifting around, or creating that hard pressure point between your ear and the pillow.

For sleep earbuds, I feel like comfort matters before everything else.

The order I’d personally look at now is:

Low-profile shape
Side-sleeping comfort
Stable Bluetooth streaming
Enough battery for the night
Noise masking or ANC
Built-in white noise, rain sounds, or brown noise

ANC is helpful, but I don’t think it should be the first thing people look at. If the earbuds hurt after 20 minutes on your side, the ANC doesn’t really matter.

Same with sound quality. Great bass is nice, but I’m not doing a critical listening session at 1am. I just want audiobooks, podcasts, white noise, brown noise, or rain sounds to play without the earbuds stabbing my ears through the pillow.

I’ve also noticed that “sleep earbuds” and “regular earbuds you happen to sleep in” are very different things. The shape matters way more than I expected.

EDIT：For context, I’ve been using SomniPods 3 recently and also looked at Ozlo and Soundcore Sleep A30. Ozlo seems very comfortable but expensive and less focused on ANC. A30 has more smart features and ANC, but for me, side-sleeping comfort still mattered most.

The pillow I used

I really wanted a Neorest until I saw what it actually costs

The real test for sleep earbuds is not sound quality. It’s the pillow test.