What brown noise actually is
Brown noise is a steady, textured sound that leans heavily into the bass. Compared with white noise it drops the bright, hissy high frequencies and holds more of a low, rolling rumble. People often describe it as warmer and rounder, a bit like distant rainfall or a soft waterfall heard from another room.
Because so much of the sound sits low, brown noise tends to feel calmer and less sharp than white noise. That is why it comes up so often for concentration, winding down, and settling in for sleep. There is no single right choice here. It is worth trying each one and keeping whichever your ears prefer.
White vs pink vs brown noise
The three are close cousins. The difference is where the energy sits across the frequencies, which is what makes each one feel brighter or deeper.
In Driftly, white noise is free, so you can hear the baseline before you decide. Pink noise and brown noise are part of premium.
- White noise: a full, even hiss across all frequencies. Bright and steady.
- Pink noise: softer and more balanced than white, with the harsh edge taken off.
- Brown noise: the deepest of the three, low and warm, with the least high-end.
Brown noise in Driftly
Brown noise lives in the Focus category in Driftly, alongside white and pink noise. You can play it on its own, or mix it with up to ten sounds at once and set the volume of each one, so a little brown noise can sit gently under rain, a soft breeze or a campfire.
Sounds are saved on your device and play offline, and playback keeps going with the screen off. When you are using it to fall asleep, the sleep timer can fade the sound out gently over anywhere from 1 to 720 minutes, so nothing plays all night unless you want it to.
Free to start, one payment to go further
You do not need to pay to get a feel for Driftly. The free tier includes four ambient sounds, White Noise, Soft Breeze, Campfire and Forest Rain, plus a free guided meditation, three breathing exercises, the sleep timer, the alarm, and saved mixes.
Brown noise and pink noise are part of premium, which is a single one-time purchase with no subscription. Premium opens up all 29 sounds across 11 categories, every guided meditation with two warm voices from 3 to 30 minutes, four sleep stories, the full breathwork library and the premium scenes.
There are no ads, no accounts and no sign-up. Your practice history backs up privately to your own iCloud on iPhone, and via Google backup on Android.