True Wireless Stereo Earbuds

Hybrid Audio Driver Designs, Knowles Secures Balanced Armature Design Win in JLab Epic Sport ANC 3

By Peter Cooney / September 6, 2024
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Hybrid audio driver designs are increasingly being used to enhance the audio performance of true wireless earbuds, improving the treble response and helping brands to achieve the rigorous standards for Japan Audio Society Hi-Res Audio certification. In most cases the improved audio performance is achieved by adding one (or more) balanced armature (BA) drivers, alongside […]

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Qualcomm Introduces Two Next Generation Sound Platforms – S3 gen 3 and S5 gen 3.

By Peter Cooney / April 4, 2024
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Qualcomm has announced upgrades to some of its sound platform chips, with the S3 gen 3 and S5 gen 3. Here we look at the major changes made. The S3 is aimed at mid-tier audio devices. Looking at the specs for gen 2 and gen 3 the major upgrades on the previous generation include: 2 x compute power An additional Kalimba DSP (2 instead of 1) Improved DAC […]

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Qualcomm preparing for the rise of multi-use case earbuds

By Joe Murray / April 2, 2024
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Qualcomm’s introduction of the S3 and S5 Gen 3 Sound Platforms marks a significant leap forward in the audio device sector, especially with regards to the development of multi-use case TWS headphones. The new additions to the snapdragon sound platform aim to meet rising consumer expectations for superior audio quality mixed with low latency for […]

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Ambiq Apollo510 Delivers 30x Power Efficiency Improvement to Unleash Endpoint AI

By Peter Cooney / April 2, 2024
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Ambiq Micro was founded in 2010 focused initially on Real Time Clocks (RTC), it launched its first microcontroller in 2015. This microcontroller, known as Apollo and based on Subthreshold Power Optimized Technology  (SPOT) was able to achieve significantly lower power consumption and became widely used in power constrained devices such as smart watches. It has made gradual […]

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Headphones State of the Industry 2024, Updated Forecasts

By Peter Cooney / March 21, 2024
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SAR Insight & Consulting have recently published updated forecasts for all headphone markets, the latest data is now available on the platform. We’ve been tracking the headphone market since the company was founded over 10 years ago and it has been very interesting to see how this market has transformed in that time. The latest […]

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Open-Ear Headphones on the Rise

By Lachlan Cooney / March 10, 2024
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Over the past few years, we’ve seen an increase in open-ear wireless earbuds on the market. In 2021, we saw the release of the Purpods from Mpow and more recently the release of the Ultra Open Earbuds from Bose. Some other notable releases include: Soundgear Sense from JBL in 2023 Open Sport from JLab in 2022 Open EarBuds S50 from 1More in […]

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Bose enters open-ear headphone market

By Joe Murray / March 8, 2024
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November 27, 2023, Harman announced the acquisition of Roon, a music software company most well-known for its Roon app. Roon Labs was founded in 2015, but its journey in music technology began much earlier, in 2004. The founders were involved in developing music software for companies like Sooloos, Meridian Audio, and HP before establishing Roon […]

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Charging Ahead: Solar-Powered Headphones. Future Headphone Market Growth?

By Peter Cooney / February 9, 2024
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The incorporation of Powerfoyle solar technology into headphone design represents a notable advancement in sustainable audio solutions, a trend I touched upon in a previous CES roundup. Among the latest products featuring this innovation is the A6219 on-ear GO headphones, showcased as part of the 2024 Philips Sound Range. This introduction underscores a significant shift towards […]

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CES 2024 Round Up – Sustainability, Smart Homes, AI for Voice, Audio Platforms and Ambient IoT

By Peter Cooney / January 19, 2024
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Getting back to normal? Are we “getting back to normal”, CES 2024 suggest so. This was my 8th year attending in my current role and anecdotally it felt as busy as it ever was pre-COVID. The CEA stated that there were 135,000+ attendees, which is close to the usual 150,000+. As always there was a wide range of […]

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Creative Aurvana Ace Series: Precision in Every Note

By Peter Cooney / November 28, 2023
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The latest headphones from Creative – Aurvana Ace Series – are the first consumer TWS device to use MEMS speakers, supplied by xMEMS. This follows other devices announced with xMEMS speakers such as hearing aids and IEMs. We are still yet to see a fully MEMS speaker based high volume consumer device and this is […]

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