We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-09-28 · 8 min read · Independent comparison
If you want to play music and your own voice directly to a baby in the womb and turn pregnancy bonding into a shared family ritual, choose Pixie Tunes Award-Winning Baby Bump; if you need headphones that keep playing music while you swim, surf or train in the water, choose SANOTO Swimming Headphones. These two products sit in completely different corners of the "music headphones" world, so the right answer comes down to one question: are you buying for a bump or for a body in motion?
• Pixie Tunes biggest strength: a purpose-built belly speaker system — two ultralight 0.5oz speakers, medical-grade reusable silicone adhesives, a stereo splitter so a parent can listen along, and a volume ceiling designed to match a parent speaking aloud to the womb.
• Pixie Tunes biggest trade-off: it is a single-purpose pregnancy device, not general-purpose audio gear — no water resistance, no wireless freedom from cables, and it lives or dies by how you use it during pregnancy.
• SANOTO biggest strength: true underwater listening — IPX8 sealing rated for submersion up to 10 meters for over 2 hours, a built-in 8GB MP3 player, and up to 12 hours of playback in MP3 mode.
• SANOTO biggest trade-off: you must switch to MP3 mode before going underwater, because Bluetooth simply cannot travel through water — and it is an adult sport device, not a baby product.
• Pick Pixie Tunes if you are expecting and want to play music, lullabies or recorded messages to your baby and share that moment with a partner or siblings.
• Pick SANOTO if you want music in your ears while swimming, running, cycling or surfing, and you need gear that survives sweat, rain and full submersion.
Pixie Tunes is a pregnancy bonding system first and a pair of speakers second. The core idea is simple: a baby in the womb can pick up sounds from around 20 weeks, and fetal memory starts forming near 30 weeks, so the brand built a way to feed those sounds in deliberately. You get two small speakers — 1 inch each, with a 0.75 inch tweeter — that attach to the belly using medical-grade reusable silicone adhesive pads. There are no belts, straps, buckles or special clothing involved. Each speaker weighs 0.5oz, so the whole point is that you forget you are wearing it. The dual dynamic drivers run in stereo, and the included stereo audio splitter means mom or dad can plug in and hear exactly what the baby is hearing.
Who should buy it? Expecting parents who want a structured, repeatable way to play music, sing, read or talk to their baby, and who like the idea of a partner listening in through the splitter. It also makes a genuinely unusual gift for a mom-to-be. Who should skip it? Anyone shopping for everyday headphones, gym audio or anything water-related. The Pixie Tunes is explicitly not water resistant, runs on battery power with a single power level, and is controlled via app and touch rather than being a grab-and-go pair of earbuds. If your goal is personal listening, this is the wrong tool.
SANOTO Swimming Headphones: Who It's For
The SANOTO S710 is built around one hard engineering fact: Bluetooth uses the 2.4 GHz band, and water absorbs that signal. So instead of pretending wireless works underwater, SANOTO gives you two modes. Above water you use Bluetooth 5.4 with a 10 meter range. Below water you double-click the function key and switch to the built-in MP3 player, which holds 8GB — enough for around 1500 lossless tracks — and supports MP3, FLAC, WMA, WAV and APE files. That mode switch is not a quirk to work around; it is the entire reason this product functions in a pool.
The waterproofing is the headline: IPX8, rated for submersion up to 10 meters for more than 2 hours. That covers swimming, surfing, diving, sweat, rain and splashes. In-ear design with a closed sound cavity and vibration-based bone conduction drivers is a deliberate choice here — the closed back means deeper bass response and better noise isolation than open-ear bone conduction designs, which is why the brand frames it as an immersive underwater listening experience. The silicone ear hooks flex to fit different head shapes and are meant to work alongside swim caps, goggles and earplugs. They are also designed to keep water out of your ear canals while swimming.
Side-by-Side: Which Should You Choose?
• Best for pregnancy bonding and playing music to a baby → Pixie Tunes Award-Winning Baby Bump. Two stereo belly speakers, reusable skin-safe adhesives, and a volume ceiling designed around a parent's speaking voice.
• Best for listening to music while actually swimming → SANOTO Swimming Headphones. IPX8 submersion up to 10 meters for over 2 hours, with MP3 mode built in.
• Best for sharing the experience with a partner → Pixie Tunes. The included stereo audio splitter lets a parent hear the same audio being played to the bump.
• Best battery life for long sessions → SANOTO. Up to 12 hours in MP3 mode and up to 8 hours in Bluetooth mode, versus a battery-powered bump speaker designed for short, deliberate sessions.
• Best for sweat, rain and intense training → SANOTO. Silicone ear hooks that stay put, plus water resistance the Pixie Tunes simply does not have.
• Best for gifting → Pixie Tunes. It is framed as a pregnancy must-have gift, and the recorded-message feature lets siblings and relatives join in.
• Best for flat-out portability → Pixie Tunes. At 0.5oz per speaker with no belts or straps, it disappears on the body — though it is not water resistant at all.
• Best for file-format flexibility → SANOTO. The 8GB player reads MP3, FLAC, WMA, WAV and APE, so you can carry lossless audio without a phone.
For a general shopper searching "music headphones," I would buy the SANOTO Swimming Headphones. In my opinion it is the more versatile purchase: Bluetooth 5.4 for everyday listening, a real 8GB MP3 player for the water, 12 hours of MP3-mode battery, IPX8 sealing and a 1 year warranty. It solves a problem most headphones cannot touch. That said, if you are expecting a baby and your goal is to play music, sing or send recorded messages to your bump, the Pixie Tunes Award-Winning Baby Bump does something the SANOTO cannot do at all — and it does it with a safety-first volume design and a partner splitter. Buy the Pixie Tunes for the pregnancy, buy the SANOTO for the water. Check the current price on Amazon before you commit.
how to make headphones music louder
Check the source device volume first, then any in-line or app-level control. On the Pixie Tunes, volume is handled by a built-in selector switch plus app and touch control, and the maximum level is intentionally capped to roughly the loudness of a parent speaking aloud to the womb. On the SANOTO, volume is push-button controlled, and the sound is delivered through closed-cavity bone conduction drivers.
how to fix stereo headphones
Start with the basics: reseat the cable, try a different device, and confirm the correct output mode. The Pixie Tunes uses a wired auxiliary connection plus a stereo audio splitter, so if one side drops out, check the splitter and the speaker connections first. The SANOTO is fully wireless with no headphone jack, so if one earbud is silent, verify the ear tip is seated and that you are in the correct mode.
how to test stereo headphones
Play a track with clear left/right separation and listen for each channel independently. With the Pixie Tunes, connect through the included stereo splitter so you can hear exactly what is going to the bump. With the SANOTO, test in Bluetooth mode first, then double-click the function key to switch to MP3 mode and confirm both earbuds still output correctly.
how to make stereo headphones
You cannot convert a mono source into true stereo, but you can feed stereo into a device designed for it. The Pixie Tunes runs two channels through dual dynamic drivers with a stereo splitter for a second listener. The SANOTO delivers stereo audio through its bone conduction drivers in both Bluetooth and MP3 modes, so a stereo file plays as stereo.
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