Marsona 1288A Programmable Sound Conditioner
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List Price: Our Price: $107.00 You Save: $22.95 (18%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Health Care See more product details |
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Product Reviews of Marsona 1288A Programmable Sound Conditioner
Product Review: Marsona 1288 Programmable Sound Conditioner
Summary: 2 Stars
I was disappointed with quality of sound and variety of settings for the price paid. Granted you can "tweek" using the tone and volume settings however it just never measured up to the quality I expected paying over $100 for the unit. It always seemed to have a raspy, sometimes bordering on obnoxious, tone no matter what setting I used. I also expected it to have more in the way of programmable settings versus just putting a critter sound in the background. Alas. Marsona 1288A Programmable Sound ConditionerProduct Review: Needs Improvement...
Summary: 2 Stars
I ordered the Marsona based upon a friend's recommendation of the Travel model. I assumed that this would be a superior edition with more options than the smaller, less expensive Travel model.
In attempting to enjoy the usage of this unit for the past several weeks, I find a higher degree of disappointment than I had expected. Despite having "layering" ability - adding, say a croaking frog or loons onto a "base" soundtrack, it comes across as more gimmicky and unnecessary, actually complicating the purpose of a sound machine or "conditioner" - to help disguise outside noises which might interfere with sleep or relaxation. The layering became more of a distraction to me, and I found virtually none of the programmed choices for the base sound to be as soothing as the Brookstone model it was to be replacing. The choices for "surf" and "lake shore" were actually rather annoying, not as pleasant or soothing as the Brookstone model's "surf" sound, which unfortunately had a downside of a really stupid illuminated face - just what you don't need when trying to sleep: Light.
While the Marsona has a very small L.E.D. indicator for the sound selected, it's overall appearance is very un-stylish and rather 80's hokey plastic, despite manufactured in the U.S. I found the volume control to be insufficient in that a little went a long ways. The tone slider control only made the sound worse.
There has to be something else out there that's better than this model to assist in diminishing unwanted noises, particularly traffic, a partner's snoring, etc. This item did not work well for me.
Product Review: So-so
Summary: 2 Stars
Am unsure whether I'll return this or not.
This device has ~8 background sounds (2 rain, 2 waves, etc). I don't notice the problem with looping mentioned by others. There are ~8 overlay sounds which can be combined with the background noise- mainly various birds. Several of the bird sounds are a little unpleasant; when I first heard the owl I thought one of my kids was hurt.
My main gripe with this product is that when you keep it close by, there is a clear static background hiss at most volumes which becomes very annoying. I think if you were to keep it tucked further away into a corner that would not be an issue.
Thinking about it now, this device really doesn't do anything that a couple of $15 nature CDs can't do, & the CDs would likely have better sound quality.
Product Review: Sound Quality and Overlay
Summary: 2 Stars
This unit is not worth the money.........The overlays that you can select are horrible and would keep one awake ! Even with the straight sound, there are mild intrusive overlays that creep in (they come and go in a consistant manner so must be built into the program) I think I'll try Hammacher Schlemmer next since this Marpac doesn't cut it!Product Review: The best of its type I've found
Summary: 4 Stars
Years ago I bought the Model 1288 and returned it because some of the sounds were obviously "loops" and instead of relaxing me to sleep, they kept me awake because my mind locked on to the repetitiveness. This version, the 1288A, uses digital synthesis to create the sounds and is better. The sound are realistic. The speaker is slightly smaller than the one in the original but sounds just as good. A bit more low-frequency response would be nice, but it's still fairly authentic-sounding. I have noticed that the "rain" sound still is in the form of a "loop" but it's much less obtrusive and still helps me sleep. I suspect the other sounds are the same way but I haven't detected it yet.
Where this unit really shines is when using the output jack to another device. The outputted frequency response is fairly wide-range and stereo. I've plugged this into my multichannel system and when using the 5-channel stereo mode with the lights off it feels like I am outside during a rainstorm or at the beach.
This is a good product for anyone who likes to relax or sleep to natural sounds.