Morphee

8.30 / 10
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The Morphee is a beautifully designed sound machine that makes do without a screen or wireless interface. Packed with 210 expertly-designed sessions, some narrated, some music only, and some pure nature sounds, it offers a wealth of choice. The battery life is decent, but you'll need to hang on to a microUSB charging cable or USB-C adapter for a little longer. You'll love the classy design and the pleasant sound. And if after your 100-nights trial you're not happy, you can return the Morphee for a full refund.

Specifications
  • Brand: Audiozen
  • Connectivity: Audio out
  • Battery: 3 hours
Pros
  • 210 sessions
  • 100-night trial
  • Compact design
  • Simple, tactile operation
Cons
  • Antiquated microUSB charging
  • Pricey for what it is
Buy This Product

The Morphee is a portable relaxation and sleep aid that works without a screen or wireless interface. It's operated using physical keys and buttons. Loaded with a total of 210 sessions, consisting of music, nature sounds, and guided meditations, it offers almost endless relaxation.

If you've been looking for a distraction-free noise machine for the bedroom, the Morphee could be the key to relaxation. Let's find out whether it could work for you.

Our First Impressions of the Morphee

Morphee unboxed with charging cable, box, and instruction manual

The Morphee is a two-piece device consisting of a sound unit and a wooden cover that doubles as a base. It comes with a microUSB charging cable, a USB wall plug, and a detailed instruction manual called "the blue book of sleep."

When you first open the box, you'll find the Morphee in its closed state. As you pull the beechwood cover off the sound unit, you'll notice the weight. It surprised us and subconsciously also registered as a sign of quality. You can comfortably carry the Morphee in one hand, and it should fit onto even the most crowded nightstand.

Morphee focus on charging and audio port.

While the sound unit is made of plastic, including the three golden keys, it looks and feels elegant. The solid wooden cover/base offers a nice contrast and adds to the classy feel. A black rubber ring around the side of the sound unit ensures a snug fit with the wooden cover/base. It's tight enough to hold the sound unit securely in place, but it's not too hard to pull them apart.

When it sits in its base, the sound unit's speaker pops out just above the rim of the base. You can also plug in headphones using the 3.5mm audio port. What you won't find is a WiFi or Bluetooth option.

Morphee instruction manual

The instruction manual is printed on thick quality paper. Each page was designed with great care, containing detailed descriptions and lovely illustrations. Overall, this product makes an excellent first impression.

How Does the Morphee Work?

Morphee close-up from top with status light on

Operating the Morphee is intuitive and pleasant. Three large keys, a status light in the center, two pairs of buttons (on/off, play/pause, and volume up/down) and a male/female voice switch on the rim of the sound unit make it easy to toggle sessions, duration, and narration.

Here's how you set up your first Morphee session:

  1. With the first key (top left), you choose a theme for your session. You can pick from eight different themes including body scan, breathing, movement, visualizations, cardiac coherence, napping, relaxing music, and nature sounds.
  2. With the second key, you pick one of eight sessions for each theme. You have 210 sessions to select from, as your choice between male or female voice and 8 or 20-minute duration means you have four variations for each narrated session. Moreover, the visualization theme contains 16 completely different sessions; half read by the female voice (Jessica) and the other half by the male voice (Tim). Some session descriptions in the included booklet are oddly specific. For example, the first nature sounds session reads "Burmese cat, asleep in an apartment in Paris." You'll also find the sounds of a fireplace, the jungle, birds, a storm, the beach, the night, and plain white noise.
  3. The third key lets you set your session duration, either 8 or 20 minutes.
  4. For the narrated sessions, you can switch between the female and male voice using the respective switch on the rim of the Morphee.
  5. When you're ready, press the on/off button, followed by play, and adjust the volume.

When you make a change as a session is in progress, the Morphee will pause and the status light will come on. Press play again to start over with a new session.

If you prefer, you can also plug in headphones to listen to your Morphee session. If you'd rather use earbuds, you'll have to look for another sleep aid, such as the Amazfit ZenBuds.

Does the Morphee Work for Kids?

My Little Morphee front view

Yes, absolutely. Morphee is great for children aged 8 or older. For younger kids, you could try the My Little Morphee, instead.

It's ideal for children aged 3+ and contains 192 meditation sessions to regain calm and fall asleep. Like its big brother, it's beautifully designed and easy to operate. To go on one of 128 audio journeys, kids can choose from eight different animals, each representing a theme, such as enthusiasm, happiness, or wisdom. In addition, kids can dial into one of 32 meditations, 16 nature sounds, or 16 relaxing songs.

My Little Morphee bird's eye view

A big play/pause button on top of the My Little Morphee controls playback.

My Little Morphee side view

Using the wheel on the side, kids can turn My Little Morphee on or off and control the volume. The switch controls the duration of either 8 or 20 minutes. Below the controls on the side, you'll find an audio and microUSB charging port.

What's Inside the Morphee?

Morphee opened up to expose circuit board and battery

The Morphee's sound unit was put together using metal screws rather than glue. We took this as an opportunity to check out the guts of the device. What we found was a circuit board, a standard 3.7V Li-Ion battery, and a solid piece of metal taped to the bottom of the unit. That definitely explains the weight, but other than that doesn't seem to add anything of value. We took the metal piece out to see whether the Morphee would be less stable or sound different, but we didn't notice a difference.

We pulled the 4GB microSD card from its slot on the circuit board and inspected its contents. It contains Morphee's sound files in MPX file format. In theory, you could switch the default sessions for your own recordings, but we didn't try that.

If you're not afraid of using a soldering iron, you could also switch out the battery, should it ever break on you. And with the chunk of metal removed, you have extra space in the unit to add a much bigger battery, if you wish. Although we handled the unit carefully, the soldering points of two of the three battery wires came off. Our in-house expert said the soldering was done poorly and the white glue on top of it made it harder to fix. Keep this in mind before you open up the unit or if it suddenly stops working; chances are a wire comes loose eventually. Since we had to fix the soldering job anyway, we actually upgraded our unit to a bigger battery.

Related: Best Soldering Irons for BeginnersInterestingly, the circuit board has some unused slots and the microUSB charging and audio port sit on a separate board. Unfortunately, we couldn't find further details about the board or the chip. It's clear, however, that, at least on the inside, the company used cheap components to put this product together.

Should You Buy the Morphee?

Morphee close-up from the side

The Audiozen team put a lot of effort into designing the Morphee. On the outside, everything looks classy, feels great, and works smoothly. On the inside, we uncovered where the company cut some corners, but nothing concerning.

It's unfortunate that Audiozen didn't opt for a bigger battery, nor a USB-C charging port. At a maximum of 20 minutes per session, the Morphee's battery should last you for up to nine full sessions or at least for a full week before you need to charge it.

What should matter more, however, is whether the Morphee sounds good. Both the female and male narrations sound pleasant, and Jessica and Tim are native English speakers. All the sound recordings are of good quality, which lets you focus entirely on relaxing. If you're looking for a white noise generator, however, the Morphee's selection might not be to your satisfaction; the focus lies on guided sessions, rather than basic noise.

Related: White Noise iPhone Apps to Help You Fall Asleep

That leaves us with the content quality. According to Audiozen, "all the sessions were carried out by a team of sleep professionals, supervised by Florence Binay, a sophrology expert specialized in sleep." We have some experience with guided meditation and thoroughly enjoyed the body scan, napping, and breathing sessions. Our favorites, however, were the nature sounds, particularly the cozy fireplace in Rättvik, Sweden and the water hitting the beach in Anse noire, Martinique.

Overall, we think the Morphee is an excellent addition to your bedroom or living room. It also makes for a great gift. And if you purchase directly from Morphee.co, you'll get free shipping and a 100-night trial, which gives you enough time to try out all the sessions Morphee has to offer.