Qualcomm launched Bluetooth SoCs geared to true wireless earbuds and hearables Wednesday. Two versions, the ZCC514X for premier tier headphones, and the ZCC304X for entry-mid-level products, are said to enable improved connectivity, increased battery life, integrated dedicated hardware for the company’s hybrid active noise cancellation technology and voice assistant support. With Qualcomm TrueWireless Mirroring, one earbud is wirelessly connected to the smartphone via Bluetooth; the other bud mirrors the connected bud and is engineered to deliver what the company called a “rapid swap” under several scenarios. If the user removes the connected bud from her ear, the mirroring bud is designed to take over the connection to the phone, to avoid interruption of streaming music or an active voice call -- with no action required by the user, said the company. Qualcomm TrueWireless Mirroring is engineered to manage a single Bluetooth address so only one “device” shows up when the user is pairing their earbuds to a phone, it said. Active noise-canceling has “minimal impact on battery life,” said the company, due to a design that optimizes power consumption for different use cases; play time of up to 13 hours is based on a 65 mAh battery. Extended play time allows a smaller battery in a charging case and more compact case design, it said. The premium version has support for Always on Voice (wake-word) activation for multiple voice ecosystems; mid and entry-tier SOCs have push-button voice activation for multiple voice ecosystems, enabling OEMs to add voice assistant capability more cost effectively, Qualcomm said. It’s the first time voice assistant capability is available on a single-chip solution, enabling voice to become more pervasive at lower price tiers, said the company.
A swath of 68 Denon and Marantz products received Roon Tested accreditation, said parent company Sound United Monday. Owners of the Roon-tested AV, network and stereo receivers; amplifiers; preamplifiers; and CD players are now able to stream music from Roon server or Roon Core devices along with album cover, liner notes, lyrics and credits. Denon and Marantz are offering a free 60-day Roon trial coupon for a limited time; subscriptions are $119 per year/$699 lifetime.
Atlantic Technology is shipping the FS-HR280 headphones, pitching the closed-back, over-ear headset as “noise-isolating.” The design offers noise isolation without “compromising audio performance with active circuits and batteries that add cost, weight and limit listening time,” it said in comparison with noise-canceling designs. The wired headphones can enable hands-free calling with iOS or Android devices with the in-line mic, and the wired cable has controls to play/pause, change and skip tracks, change volume, and reject or make calls on “most” smartphones, the company said. The $299 headphones were selling on the Atlantic technology website Monday for $249.
Ceva announced a collaboration with Munich-based Bragi to develop hearable devices that offer a customizable user experience via app. Target devices are headsets, hearing aids, true wireless earbuds and other smart audio devices, it said Tuesday. The collaboration will combine Ceva’s low-power Ceva-BX digital signal processing architecture and Bragi’s operating system for hearables. The companies hope the effort will lead to flexible products capable of adapting their functionalities to users through post-purchase apps and services. Use cases, said Bragi CEO Nikolaj Hviid, include buying noise-canceling software just before boarding a plane, encrypting communication data for sensitive business conversations, and using headphones to translate from Chinese to English.
Sennheiser bowed $299 true wireless headphones with active noise cancellation Friday. The Momentum True Wireless 2 has seven-hour playback, which stretches to 28 hours using the supplied case, said the company. The earbuds incorporate Apple Siri and Google Assistant; a smart pause feature halts audio playback when the earbuds are removed and resumes when they're placed back in the ears. Availability is April.
Firmware updates announced Thursday for Onkyo, Integra and Pioneer Elite audio products will enable the first “Works With Sonos”-certified AV receivers, said Onkyo USA Thursday. Compatible receivers will have the ability to control the volume via the Sonos app and manage and route up to three Sonos Port or Connect products without a control system, said the company. Ikea lamp and tabletop speakers are also part of the Works With Sonos program, which certifies products that “seamlessly connect” with the Sonos sound system. The badge indicates products meet Sonos' standards for design and sound, says the company website.
NXP Semiconductors will incorporate Fraunhofer’s MPEG audio software developer kit into multimedia systems for set-top boxes, sound bars and smart speakers, said the German research institute Monday. The software package includes legacy MPEG layers 1, 2 and 3; next-generation MPEG-H 3D Audio and the AAC codec family, including xHE-AAC, it said. NXP will test its MPEG-H decoder implementation using Fraunhofer’s MPEG-H audio system trademark program, it said.
Como Audio had raised $289,948 Friday toward an elastic goal of $100,000-$1 million by March 6 in a campaign led by WeFunder. Among founder Tom DeVesto’s reasons to become an investor were the company’s $2 million in sales last year, more than 330 dealers in 25 countries, 50% year-on-year growth in smart speakers and an average 4.2 stars for the company’s four products on Amazon. Minimum investment was given as $300; Como had 221 investors as of Friday.
Sol Republic bowed its third-generation true wireless earbuds, its first with active noise cancellation. The $199 Amps Air Plus claim six hours’ on-board battery life with ANC on, 24 hours with it off. Features include Bluetooth Low Energy, sweat resistance and tap controls for play-pause, track advance and ANC on-off. USB-C quick charge technology delivers two hours’ operation from a 15-minute charge, said the company.
IFi Audio is shipping the xCan headphone amplifier at $299, it said Thursday. The portable amp, with an ESS Sabre digital-to-analog converter, is designed to be used with smartphones and digital audio players but can also be used with computers and smart TVs, said the company. Power is listed as 1000 milliwatts per channel. The amp enables high-res audio over Bluetooth via aptX and ACC. Battery life is 6-8 hours.