audiosplitz

Wireless Sports Audio Series

April 16, 2016

Sports wireless earphones are in such massive demand now. To put things in perspective, Jaybird specializes in this niche and its success in this category allows it to rank among the top five brands in the premium headphone segment by revenue in 2014, according to The NPD Group. How about that?

We had the opportunity to test some 5 really astounding sports earphones these past few months.

In a 4-part series, we will review 3 models we recently laid our paws on. We'd already checked out 2 of 'em, namely the LG TONE Active and the Jaybird X2 Wireless. To make it sweet, we'll round them all up in a verdict.

Update (14 Jul 2016)
Initially, the Wireless Sports Audio Series was supposed to be a 4-part series of articles. We had the opportunity to try even more buds. After all, why limit it? We'll not even call it 5- or 6-part. We'll make it modular to accomodate more articles :)
Bose SoundSport Wireless - added 14 Jul 2016
Jaybird Freedom Wireless F5 - added 13 Sep 2016

1. Beats Powerbeats2 Wireless
After 2 years in the market, this is still the defacto wireless sports earbuds that Beats provides in a multitude of colors. Beats / Apple's getting all the big names like LeBron James and Taylor Swift in to promote the SGD 310 clip-on model.
Price: SGD 310
Type: Clip-on
Battery life: 6h
Full review

2. Jaybird X2 Wireless
Just acquired by Logitech, the lightweight 13g Jaybird X2 Wireless is their current flagship model for good reason.
Price: SGD 259
Type: Over-the-ears / Under-ears
Battery life: 8h
Full review

3. LG TONE Active (HBS-850)
LG's surprise hit, the TONE series of space age neck-styled earphones have clearly captured the imagination of the masses, with a whopping 10 million units sold thus far (and counting). The HBS-850 is their first sports-inclined model to hit to shops.
Price: SGD 189
Type: Around neck
Battery life: 9.5h
First look / Full review

4. Sony NW-WS413
We took a first look when Sony launched this SGD 149 unit a month back. The biggie about it is that it's waterproof and not just splashproof. You can actually go for a swim with it!
Price: SGD 149
Type: Over-the-ears / Inbuilt storage
Battery life: 12h
First look / Full review

5. UA Headphones Wireless - Engineered by JBL
First announced at CES 2016, UA and JBL's collaboration produced their first pair of Bluetooth earbuds sporting the distinct UA logo. Just released last month in Singapore, we'll check out how they fare.
Price: SGD 289
Type: Under-ears
Battery life: 8h
Full review

6. Bose SoundSport Wireless
First announced in June, we found it timely to include Bose into the wireless sports audio ecosystem.
Price: SGD 239
Type: Under-ears
Battery life: 6h
Launch / First impressions

Stay tuned for the reviews!

Wireless Sports Audio Series
Part 1 - Beats Powerbeats2 Wireless (24 Apr 2016)
Part 2 - Sony NW-WS413 (3 May 2016)
Part 3 - UA Headphones Wireless - By JBL (29 May 2016)
Part 4 - Bose SoundSport Wireless (14 Jul 2016)
Part 5 - Jaybird Freedom Wireless F5 (13 Sep 2016)
Comply Foam - Sport, Isolation and Comfort Tips
The Verdict (TBA)

Bluetooth

Logitech Acquires Jaybird

April 14, 2016

Apple

Taylor Swift's Viral Apple Music Video

April 04, 2016

Apple

Advent of Truly Wireless Earbuds

April 03, 2016

2016 looks set to be the year where truly wireless earbuds make their mark.

Popularized in the movie Definitely, Maybe (2008), you can see Ryan Reynolds' persona wearing a pair of wireless earbuds. This was nothing short of awesome to movie goers who wanted a simple and convenient audio device. This marked the beginning of a dream of how to make these earbuds mainstream. And FYI, those earphones were in fact the Sennheiser MX W1 which functioned with the help of a wireless transmitter (RF 2.4 GHz band to be precise) that was connected to the 3.5mm jack.

Fast forward 8 years to 2016.

Kickstarter saw the initiation of several projects leveraging on Bluetooth technology to push music to two separate earbuds. Over the coming months, we'll take a look at each of these products and the features that they promise.

Earin
The first mover advantage goes to Earin, the first to hit mass production in late 2015. It was quite an eye-opening experience to review this model. It currently retails at SGD 349 / USD 199 on Amazon, weighs a mind-boggling 3.5g per earbud and it sounds great.

Bragi
The Bragi Dash is now available on their website. Audio transparency, tap-to-play and heart rate tracking? Check to all. It now goes for USD 279 on Amazon.

Read - Bragi The Headphone review

Kanoa
The Kanoa looks set to provide a good balance of features vs price. It boasts audio transparency and aptX that promises CD-quality sound. Currently, the 2nd batch is set to ship in May 2016 for a relatively fair USD 179 (shipping cost is additional).

Doppler Labs - Here Active Listening
The Here Active Listening earbuds weight a decent 10g, comes with a smartphone app that gives preset filters and fits inside a sleek charging case. You can't get a unit as yet but you can join the waitlist.

Update - 3 Aug 2016
Read - Here Active Listening review

Truebuds
Supposedly the 'smallest' Bluetooth earbuds, they weigh 8g, features a rather decent 6h battery life and comes with IP53-rated water and dust resistance. Upon pre-ordering the unit for about SGD 149.99, the estimated date to ship is sometime in Summer 2016.

Update (Mar 2017)
Take heed! Truebuds is likely a scam. After crowdfunding a million bucks, no product was delivered.
Read - Truebuds: Beware of Kickstarter Scams!

Apple / Beats
The enigma of them all. The iPhone 7 looks set to go without the 3.5mm jack. With that, there are a few folks who surmise that Apple / Beats is going with the full wireless approach with their upcoming earbuds. This will be a very interesting proposition given that Beats have not developed any pair of earbuds since the Apple takeover in 2014. Will they go full swing with a totally new product? Stay tuned.

Update (9 Sep 2016)
As expected, Apple has launched its own truly wireless product, the AirPods.
Read - Beats' and Apple's 2016 Audio Lineup

Update (7 Jun 2016)
Samsung Gear IconX
Samsung have officially joined the party. With that, they take the truly wireless earbuds product category into the mainstream. Launching their wireless earbuds with fitness tracking and 4GB storage stashed within, these earbuds (12g combined) will start sales in Q3 2016. They now sell at Amazon from USD 189.

Read - Samsung Gear IconX - First Take / Review Part 1 / Review Part 2

Update (18 Oct 2016)
Erato Apollo 7 This is a Kickstarter funded product and its design has gotten accolades in the form of the 2015 Red Dot Honorable Mention Award. As there's no mobile app support, this is a hardware driven product but it doesn't stop it from holding up well against its peers. Selling from USD 299 on Amazon.

Read - Erato Apollo 7 review

Apple

Streaming Music Outpaces Digital Downloads

March 26, 2016

It's a first.

According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), US streaming music revenues have officially surpassed digital downloads for 2015. From USD 1.87B in 2014, streaming music racked up a 29% rise to hit USD 2.41B in 2015.

Definitions
By the streaming category, the RIAA is talking about revenues from subscription services (such as paid versions of Spotify, TIDAL, and Apple Music, among others), streaming radio service revenues that are distributed by SoundExchange (like Pandora, SiriusXM, and other Internet radio), and other non-subscription on-demand streaming services (such as YouTube, Vevo, and ad-supported Spotify).

Trends
From the chart below, you can see that streaming music (34.3%) marginally beats digital downloads at (34.0%). Marginal is the word but the trend looks favorable to the long term success of streaming music.

According to RIAA, paid subscriptions formed the biggest and fastest growing portion of the streaming market. What is significant is that they mentioned Apple Music and TIDAL's entrance that makes this space so hot. Interestingly, market share by active users, downloads and revenue, is something quite different as Pandora and Deezer, as at Q3 2015 were champions in their respective countries of US and France, according to App Annie. What remains to be seen is the impact of the new entrants in the long run.

Is it a Big Deal?
Sure it is. Every era has a champion. Take the 1980s. The cassette was king. The 90s saw the rise of Compact Discs (CDs). Record companies thought the status quo was fantastic. A few pennies to press discs and the casing, some to the artists and the majority to expand their vast empires. Enter the 2000s and MP3s. Napster and iTunes arrived and so did the massively successful iPod.

Now, we're in the 2010s. Spotify arrived not too long ago and finally the combined powers of the streaming music companies have toppled digital downloads. From 2011 to 2014, the revenue from streaming music experienced a 6% year-on-year increase and in the past year, we see a 7% increase. The rise of streaming music is here to stay. Make no mistake about it.