Nocte Guides

A Manta Sound alternative that costs $94 less

We sell a competing product, so read this the way you’d read any comparison written by one side of it. That said: the Manta SOUND is a good mask made by a good company, and if you finish this page and buy one, we think you’ll be fine. The question this page actually answers is narrower — what does the $159 buy that a $65 mask doesn’t, and who genuinely needs it? Most buying mistakes in sleep gear are tier mistakes: paying premium money for a problem a mid-tier product solves, or going cheap on the one feature you’ll use every night.

What $159 actually buys

Being honest about the competition first. Manta built the best-regarded blackout mask in the category, and the SOUND inherits that: the modular eye-cup system is excellent, with COOL and STEAM add-ons that nothing at our price matches. The brand is established, the review base is large and real, the customer service is genuinely praised, and the 60-day guarantee is the same length as ours. If you want the modular platform and budget is not a constraint, the SOUND is a fine buy — that sentence stays true for the rest of this page.

The two complaints reviewers keep raising

• The 3am re-pair. The SOUND powers itself down after a period of inactivity, and reviewers — The Gadgeteer among them, in late 2024 — note that waking in the night means re-pairing before audio plays again. If you sleep straight through, this never touches you. If you’re the person who wakes at 3am and needs masking sound back immediately, it is arguably the single worst failure mode a sleep-audio product can have: the moment you most need the sound is the moment it asks you to operate Bluetooth.
• The bulk. The removable inner audio layer is clever engineering, but it makes the SOUND noticeably deeper than a typical mask. Side sleepers feel extra depth first, because the pillow presses everything back into your face.

Neither of these is a dealbreaker for everyone. They are the two things worth knowing before spending $159, because neither shows up on the product page.

The alternative Manta sells: the PRO at $85

Before comparing anyone else’s mask, it’s worth naming the alternative Manta themselves offer. Reviewers have openly pointed out that the $85 Manta PRO delivers nearly everything the SOUND does — the blackout, the eye cups, the fit — except the audio, at almost half the price. So the honest fork is this: if you were drawn to the Manta for the mask, buy the PRO and keep $74. If you were drawn to it for the audio, the question becomes whether Manta’s implementation of audio is worth the premium over a mask built around audio from the start. That’s where we come in.

Side by side

Buy the Manta SOUND if…

• You want the modular platform. The COOL and STEAM eye-cup add-ons are unique to Manta, and if that ecosystem appeals to you, nothing cheaper replaces it.
• A large review base matters to you. Manta has years of public reviews behind it. We don’t publish a verified review count yet, and pretending otherwise would be silly.
• You sleep through the night. The auto power-down complaint only bites people who wake and want sound back instantly. If that isn’t you, it’s a non-issue.
• Budget is not the constraint. At which point the $94 gap stops being an argument.

Buy the Manta PRO if…

You realised while reading this that the audio was never really the draw. The PRO gets you the Manta blackout and eye-cup system for $85, and you can always add sound from a bedside speaker or come back to an audio mask later. Going by what reviewers say about how much of the SOUND it delivers, it may be the most underrated purchase on this page.

Buy the Nocte if…

The audio is the point, and you’d rather not pay $159 for it. The Nocte sleep mask is $64.99 and was designed around the night the SOUND’s power-down complaint describes: contoured blackout cups sealed at the nose bridge, 5mm flat speakers resting over the ears in one slim piece, a 15-hour battery, and Bluetooth that plays anything — brown noise, rain, a podcast — with no app, no account, and no subscription. Wake at 3am and the sound is one button away, not a re-pairing exercise. Sixty nights to decide, return shipping on us. Why flat speakers matter more the further you roll onto your side is covered in the side-sleeper spec checklist.

And our own caveats, stated plainly, because they’re on our site anyway: the mask is built on the same class of OEM hardware as the budget headbands — what differs is the speaker thickness, the blackout seal, the battery, the washable cover and the trial — it ships direct from the manufacturer in 12 to 18 days rather than two, and we don’t publish a verified review count yet. If any of those is disqualifying, the Manta is the safer buy and we’d rather you make it than regret ours. The wider four-tier picture, including the earbuds above the Manta and the headbands below us, is in Nocte vs Manta, Ozlo and Soundcore.

Common questions

What none of them do

No sleep mask — ours, Manta’s, or anyone else’s — treats, cures, or reduces tinnitus, insomnia, sleep apnea, or any other condition. They are comfort products. If sleep has been a persistent struggle, or if ringing ears are new, one-sided, or worsening, that’s a conversation for a doctor or audiologist before it’s a purchase.

Prices and specifications above reflect public listings and reviews as of August 2026 and change frequently; check the current listings before buying. Manta, Manta SOUND and Manta PRO are trademarks of their owner, which is not affiliated with Nocte and does not endorse us.

Nocte is a comfort product, not a medical device. It doesn’t diagnose, treat, cure, or reduce tinnitus or any other condition. It plays sound many people find makes the ringing easier to ignore at night.