REVIEW – I have never considered myself a person who is easily stressed out, but I know that I can have some anxiety in certain situations. I also know that I hold a lot of tension in my shoulders and neck. For these reasons, I thought that learning to meditate could help me. I’ve tried a variety of apps and breathing techniques over the years with no real success. Then I stumbled upon the Solu N.O.W. Tone Therapy System and I knew I had to try it. Let’s see if it’s helped me reach a perfect zen state of mind.
What is it?
The Solu N.O.W. Tone Therapy System is a pair of small rechargeable speakers that are designed to emit special tones that help you relax and meditate in just 3 minutes twice a day. What does N.O.W. stand for?
N.O.W. stands for New Origin Waveforms—the heart of our patent-pending aural neuromodulation process. Each time N.O.W. is used it creates an entirely new audible waveform sequence. The novelty of each new waveform sequence gently pulls your attention to the present moment—the only moment you’re alive and the only possible origin of your future.
What’s in the box?
- Solu N.O.W. speakers (2)
- micro USB charging cables (2)
- Polishing cloth
- User guide
Design and features
The Solu N.O.W. Tone Therapy System speakers (I’ll just call them the Solu speakers from now on) are 3″ x 1.25″ inch and each speaker weighs about 9.6 ounces. They feel well made and look great with their black chrome finish on the sides and the black metal speaker covers on top that have the Solu logo.
Each speaker has a micro USB port for charging and a micro SD card slot that holds an 8GB memory card with the stored audio files.
The bottom of each speaker has a volume button and a power button.
How do you use the Solu N.O.W. Tone Therapy System?
The first step to using the Solu speakers is to charge them. A small LED next to the micro USB ports provides a visual indicator for the charging status. The LED on each speaker glows red while charging and turns off when charging is completed. According to Solu, a full charge provides approximately 50 3 minute audio sessions before needing to be recharged.
Once charged, the next step is simple. Just press the power button on the bottom of one speaker then the same button on the other speaker. After a very brief pause, the N.O.W. tones will start to play. N.O.W. stands for New Origin Waveform tones and they remind me of singing bowls that you might find in new age stores. The tones are very pleasing and soothing. They resonate and vibrate in your head and body that is hard to explain but pleasant.
The tones aren’t predictive, so you won’t ever hear the same sequence more than once and the way that the tones are played, even if you listen to the Solu speakers twice a day every day, I don’t think you’ll ever feel like you’re hearing the exact same sequence.
The N.O.W. tones play for 3 minutes and then stop automatically. You don’t have to press the power button to turn off the speakers. They will turn off on their own.
The default volume is the perfect level if you’re using the speakers indoors but if you want to use them outdoors, you can increase the volume by pressing the + button on the bottom of each speaker.
Hear it in action
In real life, the tones bounce around in your head, echo, vibrate, rumble, etc. It’s super cool and it makes it really easy to focus on the tones which is the whole point of this system. All you have to do is turn them on and focus on the sounds. If your mind wanders and thoughts creep in as they will, as soon as you recognize this happening, shift your focus back to the tones. It’s easy!
What I like
- Well made
- Quality tones
- Easy to use, no app, no memberships
- Soothing and relaxing
What I’d change
- Nothing
Final thoughts
If you’ve ever thought that learning to meditate is hard to do, then you MUST try the Solu N.O.W. Tone Therapy Sound System. These little speakers are in a word: Awesome. They don’t require you to sync with your phone, an app, or pay a membership fee/subscription. You just charge the speakers, turn them on and focus on the sound. That’s it. It’s simple. It’s enjoyable and it only takes 3 minutes a day twice a day.
At the beginning of this review, I mentioned that I don’t think I’m a stressed person. But when I check my heart rate before and after using the Solu N.O.W. system, my heart rate is noticeably lower. Is this proof that this system works to help relieve stress? It seems so. I just like the way it makes me feel when I use it.
Price: $179.00
Where to buy: Solu and Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Solu.
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$179. $179?! They had me until I saw the price.
Agreed! I love the idea but they would need to be more like $50 for me to buy them.
Re: Price––and the value of peace of mind
Thank you Julie for your review, and for your kind words.
And thank you Chris and John for your comments about the price of our n.o.w. Tone Therapy System. I respect your opinions. We all have to make decisions about the relative value of benefits we obtain from the products and services we buy. Perhaps I can offer the perspective of many thousands of satisfied n.o.w. Tone Therapy users––the actual cost of n.o.w. is perceived to be an excellent value, when the benefits obtained from it are felt over time…relative to the cost of obtaining those benefits.
Hundreds of verified purchasers at Amazon who have left 5-star reviews say n.o.w. Tone Therapy is the quickest, easiest and most effective means they have found to reduce stress and anxiety while also seeing improvements in focus and creativity.
And they’re getting these benefits for less than $0.50 a day––that’s 50 cents / day. That’s based one year of use. The cost per day goes down the longer it’s used of course. In fact, once folks start using n.o.w. Tone Therapy they keep using it. Our earliest adopters are still using their n.o.w. sets nearly four years after we launched, so their cost is about 12 cents a day.
Oh, and I should mention we offer a 90-buy, try, return guarantee. Because any meditation practice does take some time duration to build new neural pathways and deliver life changing results, we suggest people really try n.o.w. for an extended period of time to gauge the benefits themselves. In order to encourage this we offer the peace of mind of a full refund. So really there’s no buyer risk, but rather a high potential for a lot of benefit at a very low daily cost.
You may like to hear a full 3 minute demo of n.o.w. Tone Therapy System at our site, or just spend a few moments reading some of the hundreds of 5-star reviews. Perhaps you might see the cost and value of n.o.w. Tone Therapy System in a new light.
Cheers!
Michael Joly
Founder – solu
Co-developer, n.o.w. Tone Therapy System
Julie – a couple questions:
1. Would you say the benefit of this method over a headphone-based sound experience (apps like Brain.fm) is that you feel it more in your body rather than just in your ears?
2. What do your pets think of it?!
Betty, I just looked at Brain.fm and it appears to marketed for better focus while working instead of meditation like the Solu N.O.W. For me, I don’t like putting headphones on because I tend to focus on the way the headphones or earbuds feel in my ears more than meditating. As for Max (my cat), he doesn’t seem to care at all 😉
I tend to use headphone apps both for privacy/not annoying others at work (yes, I’m back at the office), and because some of them are binaural (the stereo effect moves back and forth to trigger something in your brain) which require headphones to work best. I’m curious about this device, though, so may try it.
Hi BettyW, great questions! Because n.o.w. Tone Therapy System is a loudspeaker-only system (no headphone jack or bluetooth) it probably would not be ideal for your use in your office. However…
…we are developing a mobile app version of our Tone Therapy system so you would be able to use ear buds or headphones. We’ll be releasing this early in 2022. Stay tuned, and stay toned! best, Michael Joly | Founder, solu
Is the app available anywhere?