Home Upgraded

The best tech and toys for your home

How to turn a Bose SoundLink Mini into a white noise machine

January 5, 2017 by M.B. Grant 1 Comment

Continuing our series of re-purposing Bose SoundLink speakers, today’s post is about how to use a Bluetooth speaker (such as the popular Bose SoundLink Mini) as a white noise machine!

If you have a Bluetooth speaker laying around and you want to use it as a white noise machine, read on!

Previously: How to use your Bose SoundLink Mini as a soundbar for your TV

This is the speaker I use as a white noise machine, but the techniques I describe in this article can work with virtually any speaker.

When our first baby was born 3 months ago, we quickly realized that white noise helped her (and us) fall asleep and stay that way in our small apartment where everyone can hear everyone else. I have several dedicated white noise machines (my favorite is the LectroFan Jr.) but I thought, why not turn the Bose SoundLink Mini into a white noise machine, too? It’s not like I’m using it for music while I’m trying to get myself or the baby to sleep.

Turns out, this was easy to do – and there’s quite a few ways to do it.

(Don’t feel like you have to do it this way or you have to have this exact equipment – I just didn’t want to be vague and refer to features that may or may not exist on specific Bluetooth speakers.)

What speakers does this work with?

I wrote these steps for the SoundLink Mini because that’s what I use, but there’s really nothing particularly special about it. If you have a speaker with AUX in or Bluetooth pairing capabilities, then one or more of the techniques in this article should work for you.

Since most people want to play white noise for hours on end (ie: overnight), you’ll want your phone plugged in to a power source if you’re streaming over Bluetooth or you’ll want to stream over WiFi so your phone’s audio isn’t tied up (explained more further down in this article). Also, if your speaker is portable and rechargeable, you’ll want keep the speaker plugged in or on its base so that it doesn’t die in the middle of the night.

Technique #1: Stream to the SoundLink over WiFi with an Echo Dot and Spotify Connect

I think this is the best approach. It’s “set it and forget it”, versatile, and easy to use. You don’t have to leave your phone near the speaker or tie up its audio output. However, this technique works only if you have access to a WiFi network, so it’s great for home but not so great for travel. You’ll need an Echo Dot to give the SoundLink WiFi capabilities, since the SoundLink speaker can’t connect to WiFi on its own.

This is my default setup for playing music and white noise over my SoundLink Mini.

What you need

  • Spotify Premium account with a playlist containing at least one “white noise” song
  • Amazon Echo Dot
  • 3.5mm AUX cable
  • A speaker with an AUX input jack (SoundLink Mini and Amazon Tap both have this)

This setup looks complicated compared to the others, but it’s great because you can just stream from an online service (such as Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, etc) to your speaker without having to tie up your phone’s audio output, draining your phone battery on Bluetooth, having to keep your phone near the speaker, or having any issues with the Bluetooth connection cutting in and out.

To get a setup like mine:

  1. Set up a Spotify playlist of one white noise “song” and set it to loop. This is my Spotify “white noise” playlist
  2. Hook up an Amazon Echo Dot to your Bose SoundLink Mini (via an AUX cable) to give the SoundLink speaker WiFi capabilities. (If you’re trying to stream to a speaker that has built-in WiFi connectivity like a Sonos PLAY:1, you can skip the Echo Dot middleman part.)
  3. Turn on the speaker
  4. Set it to AUX input
  5. Open the Spotify app and select the white noise playlist
  6. Hit play and set the Device to your Echo Dot

The SoundLink does not have WiFi connectivity by itself; you have to hook it up to something like an Echo Dot to give it that power.

Advantages

  • Easy to set up and use
  • Streaming over WiFi doesn’t drain phone battery like Bluetooth would
  • Can still use phone for calls, watching junk on Facebook, recording videos of your pets or kids, etc while the white noise is going
  • No Bluetooth dropout from interference
  • Control volume from your phone (or any device with Spotify on your WiFi network)
  • Play/Pause from your phone (or any device with Spotify on your WiFi network)
  • Easily switch to music when you’re done with the white noise
  • Don’t have to keep phone near speaker
  • You get all the fun features of Amazon’s Alexa

Disadvantages

  • Requires an Echo Dot to make the Bose SoundLink Mini into a WiFi speaker
  • Not travel friendly: having to bring a Dot and pair it with WiFi in every hotel would be annoying
  • Streaming over WiFi isn’t 100% perfect – I still hear the occasional dropout, though far less on WiFi than over Bluetooth. Some days it goes for hours without a cutout, so it might just come down to connection quality.

This approach isn’t ideal for travel, since you’d have to bring your Echo Dot with and get everything on the WiFi network wherever you go (assuming there even is one).

Technique #2: Stream to the SoundLink over Bluetooth from your phone

This is an alternative way to turn your SoundLink into a white noise machine. If you don’t have (or want to buy) an Echo Dot, you can instead connect to the speaker over Bluetooth. The big disadvantages here are that your phone’s audio output is tied up (you can’t make a call or watch a video on Facebook, for example, without stopping the white noise) and streaming Bluetooth from your phone drains the phone’s battery. You also have to keep your phone near the speaker (or at least in the same room-ish).

To play white noise over Bluetooth:

  1. Set up a Spotify playlist of one white noise “song” and set it to loop. This is my Spotify “white noise” playlist. (Or use whatever music service you like – I recommend something you can play from your phone’s local storage without WiFi so you’re not also draining your battery on Bluetooth streaming.)
  2. Pair your device with the SoundLink mini
  3. Let ‘er rip – white noise will play through the speaker until you tell it to stop

Personally, I find Bluetooth connections kind of unstable. They seem more prone to blips and brief interruptions, which is particularly annoying when you want a solid whooosh of white noise washing over you without pauses.

Advantages

  • Requires the fewest parts – assuming you already have a phone and a SoundLink, you have everything you need for this approach
  • Easy to use – just like how you already use the speaker for playing songs
  • Travel friendly

Disadvantages

  • Can’t play any other audio on your source device, since its audio is being piped to the SoundLink (so YouTube, Facebook videos, recording videos on your phone, and making phone calls are all out while the phone is busy playing white noise through the SoundLink)
  • Drains device battery streaming Bluetooth
  • Somewhat more prone to cutting out – not ideal for a white noise experience
  • Your phone has to stay in range of the SoundLink speaker

Technique #3: Connect via an AUX cable and play directly from your device to the SoundLink speaker

This is my favorite technique for turning a SoundLink into a white noise machine when I travel. The SoundLink travels pretty well so I often bring it with in my luggage. The AUX cable provides a much more stable connection to the speaker than Bluetooth does, in my experience. Once connected, set the SoundLink to AUX mode and play the white noise song like you would any song. Like the Bluetooth technique above, though, this technique also ties up audio on the phone.

Advantages

  • Strong connection unlikely to cut out
  • Easy to set up
  • Travel friendly

Disadvantages

  • Must keep phone close to speaker and connected from a wire – not great for in-bed phone web surfing
  • Drains device battery because it’s constantly playing music

Where to find a white noise “song” to play

You’ll need some kind of white noise audio source, whether it’s on your device (ie: saved to your phone) or on someone else’s server, such as Spotify’s. Honestly, finding a good song that would loop cleanly (no fades, no obvious markers of repetition inside the song) was the hardest part of this whole project.

Why I recommend Spotify

Spotify’s a great place to browse for white noise “songs” because you can find out if they loop or not without spending buck after buck or having to wade through reviews and guess. Spotify has a lot of white noise “songs” to choose from. Some are better than others – a lot of them have an audible fade out/fade in, which sucks and totally defeats the purpose.

After some trial and error, I found Pouring Rain – Loopable with no fade. This is my favorite “white noise” song on Spotify because it sounds great and I can’t hear it looping. I found this song inside a larger collection called White Noise Therapy, which has about a zillion similar “songs” to pick from so you can find your favorite (also good: Waterfalls and Dulled White Noise).

To get a single song to loop on Spotify, you have to make a playlist and put that one song in it. Set the playlist to loop with this arrow button:

Here’s the 1-song playlist I use for Pouring Rain (you may have to set it to loop yourself, I’m not sure if looping on/off is “saved” with a playlist). Since I have Spotify Premium, I downloaded the song locally to use it even when I don’t have a WiFi connection.

Note: I’ve never used Spotify without Premium so I don’t know what the non-Premium experience is like. Presumably, Premium means I can play it as much as I want and without ads, which is essential to having a nice, relaxing loop going.

 

Dig around in your favorite music streaming or music buying app and I’m sure you’ll find something you like.

Happy listening!

Filed Under: Amazon Echo, Bluetooth speakers, Dot, Home audio, White noise machines Tagged With: Bluetooth speaker, Bluetooth speaker white noise machine, Bose SoundLink Mini, Spotify, Spotify white noise, use Bose speaker as a white noise machine, white noise

Amazon Echo Dot is BACK! October release date, new color, and more!

September 14, 2016 by M.B. Grant 1 Comment

The Echo Dot is coming back in October, woohoo!

The Echo Dot is available for pre-order through Amazon.com, with an expected ship date of October 20, 2016. Now you can have an Echo in every room, without having to actually buy an Echo for every room. You can buy 3 Dots for less than the cost of one Echo.

The Dot sold out quickly last spring, and this is the first hint of its return. Considering how fast it flew off the virtual shelves when it was introduced, the Dot will probably sell out again. Hopefully, Amazon has a bigger heap of these things ready to go than they did last time.

echo_dot

It’s back! And it’s got a lower price tag!

These new Dots, branded “2nd Generation”, are mechanically identical to 1st gen Dots except for a white color option and a lower price. A white Echo is being added to the lineup, too, with an earlier release date of September 28, 2016.

echo_and_dot_white_color_option

Get excited! The Echo and Dot now come in both black and white.

Here’s a quick rundown on the Dot:

What’s so great about Dot?

  • All the same functionality of an Echo. Like Echo, Dot is always listening for your commands and responds to you audibly.
  • Cheaper than buying another Echo 
  • Hook it up to a better speaker (such as one of our favorites, the Bose SoundLink) to give that speaker Alexa capabilities and stream music through it over Bluetooth or WiFi
  • Add Alexa functionality to every room of your house

If you’re reading this, it’s probably because you love your Echo and want more of it. The Dot is like getting more Echoes but for cheaper, and the tradeoff is the speaker isn’t as good. The Dot’s speaker is kind of like the speaker on your phone. However, unlike the Echo, you can plug the Dot into any better speaker, and this Voltron-like combination of powers might make Dot + Your Really Good Speaker a better deal for you than a single Echo.

connect_dot_to_any_speaker

Pictured speakers, left to right: Sonos Play 3, Bose SoundLink Mini II, Bose SoundLink Color (these are all great speakers!)

What’s new in the 2nd generation Echo Dot?

  • Lower price!
  • This pre-order is open to everyone! This time around, the Dot can be ordered directly through Amazon.com, by anyone. The previous Dot was only ordered through an existing Echo and there was a stricter limit on the number that could be purchased by a single buyer.
  • White color option 
  • It’s actually available for purchase 😀

The 2nd generation Echo Dot has the same internals as the 1st generation version.

echo_dot_back_oct_20_white_color

Echo Dot, now with the burden of having to choose which color you want.

Echo Dot Bundle Deals

Amazon’s got some sweet bundle deals for the Dot this time around.

Dot bundle deals

You can buy 5 Dots and get the 6th one free, thanks to a bundle deal currently offered by Amazon. (There is also a “buy 10 get 12 free” deal, which is basically the same thing but Amazon is currently restricting buyers to one multipack per customer.) If you have a big place or multiple places, or some cooperative friends, this is an awesome deal.

Don’t forget to enter the promo code when you complete your Amazon order: DOT6PACK or DOT12PACK

echo_dot_multipack

This release of the Dot comes with two bundle deals: buy 5 – get 1 free or buy 10 -get 2 free

What goes well with the Echo Dot?

When the return of the Dot was first made known on Amazon, Amazon was also offering some sweet Dot + other thing deals. Amazon has since discontinued these bundle deals.

Here are some things that I think go well with a Dot.

Hue Philips Starter Kit (3 rainbow bulbs and a hub)

What could be lazier better than telling your lights to turn on or off with just your voice? “Alexa, turn the lights on” is probably the first words our baby will learn because we say it so much around here. The Philips Hue starter kit comes with 3 rainbow bulbs and a hub.

Put the Hue kit and the Echo Dot on the same network and boom – you’ve got voice controlled lights. If you aren’t convinced, check out our detailed Hue Philips Starter Kit review here (we love this lighting system so much, we’ve got it in both our apartment and our weekend place).

echo_dot_hue_philips

Bose SoundLink Mini II

Something the Dot is good for is turning your Bluetooth or WiFi speaker into a voice-controlled speaker. The Echo and the Tap only have so-so speakers, but if you want the best of both worlds (voice control over an awesome speaker), grab something like the Bose SoundLink Mini II to go with your Dot.

bose_soundlink_mini_ii_dot_goes_well_together

Make any speaker into an Alexa-powered speaker with the Dot.

This speaker is incredible, especially for its size. I’ve had my SoundLink Mini for a couple years now and it’s such a versatile, powerful speaker. I highly recommend it to anyone wondering which speaker to pair with a Dot. The SoundLink mini isn’t WiFi by default, but paired with a Dot, it can be. This means you can stream music over WiFi to it (such as through Spotify Connect), which offers better sound quality and connectivity over streaming through Bluetooth.

My “mini” is currently acting as a soundbar for my TV, but when I travel or head down to the rec room I take it with me thanks to its small size and awesome sound quality.

The bottom line

The Echo Dot is back and better than ever! Go get yours before they sell out!

echo_dot_preorder_now

banner_see_it_on_amazon

Filed Under: Amazon Echo, Dot Tagged With: Amazon Echo Dot, Echo Dot 2nd generation, Echo Dot Black, Echo Dot October 2016, Echo Dot restock, Echo Dot White, when is Echo Dot coming back?, White Echo

Recent Posts

  • Roborock S6: the best robot vacuum for hard floors, long hair and messy kids
  • Best lightweight double stroller for traveling with baby and toddler – the Joovy Caboose Ultralight Graphite
  • Google WiFi Review: Finally, strong signal everywhere in our thick-walled home
  • Our 2nd bed from the Internet: cheaper than the competition and super comfortable
  • Review: Echo 2 is still the best at what it does, but there’s room for improvement
  • Nest Cam vs. Yi camera – Yi puts Nest to shame as the superior baby monitoring camera
  • Fisher Price 4-in-1 Step ‘n Play Piano is a musical baby toy that won’t drive you crazy
  • How to turn a Bose SoundLink Mini into a white noise machine
  • Review: Shush the world with these affordable white noise machines
  • Newborn sleep from birth to three months: what worked for us
  • VIZIO SS2521-C6 sound bar packs big sound into a short slab
  • Graco Pack ‘n Play Bassinet vs. Pack ‘n Play Travel Lite with Stages
  • The best speakers for listening to Spotify via Spotify Connect
  • Amazon Echo Dot is BACK! October release date, new color, and more!
  • Review: Keystone KSTAP14B portable AC kept us cool during Seattle’s 2016 heatwave

Categories

  • Amazon Echo
  • Appliances
  • Baby
  • Beds and bedding
  • Bluetooth speakers
  • Computer accessories
  • Deals
  • Dot
  • Furniture
  • Home audio
  • Home networking
  • Home surveillance
  • Home theater
  • Lighting
  • Portable battery packs
  • Reviews
  • Routers
  • Small space living
  • Uncategorized
  • White noise machines

Pages

  • About
  • Privacy Policy & Legal Disclosures

Copyright © 2023 · Genesis Sample Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in