audiosplitz: News

CES 2018 - Sony's 2nd Gen True Wireless Earphones

January 10, 2018

To kick off the 2018 with a bang, the yearly Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas always plays host to some really interesting gadgets. Sony usually makes it a point to stamp its mark with some great tech. They duly obliged by showcasing quite a few audio products, but we choose to focus on just this - the Sony WF-SP700N true wireless earphones.

Type - Truly Wireless Buds
Price - TBC

Sony WF-SP700N

Sony is starting to get into the groove with the launch of its 2nd generation pair of true wireless earphones.

What's Special?

1. In its category, they claim these are the first in the world to offer the noise-canceling and splash-proof (IPX4) functionality. Can't disagree with this.

2. Google Assistant - Sony says they are planning to bring this compatibility to these buds and given the prevalence of AI-driven products, this certainly adds to its value when giving voice commands on the move.

3. Ambient Sound - This mode allows external sound in to blend with music playback. Definitely a useful feature should you want to jog safely with nearby traffic.

Other Specs
Battery life - 3 hours
Weight - 7.6g each
Weight (Charging Case) - 45g
Accessories -

Charging case
charging cable (micro-USB)
4 x Silcon earbuds
2 x Arc supporters

Significance
All the big players are now established in the truly wireless arena. What does the future hold? With Apple, Google, Amazon determined to fight it out in the voice assistant domain, manufacturers of true wireless earbuds will likely head toward implementing these in their products within the next year.

Pricing and Availability
These buds will be available in Asia-Pacific from Q2 2018. Pricing is to be confirmed.
4 colors will be available - black, pink, yellow and white.

If you liked what you read, do feel free to support us by buying from Amazon through this affiliate link.

Update (8 May 2018)
The Sony WF-SP700N will be available in Singapore at Sony Stores from 24 May 2018 for SGD 299. When you purchase a unit, you will get a free Fitbit Flex 2, in the form of a redemption letter.

Beats

Red Headphones for SG National Day!

August 03, 2017

Singapore's National Day that falls on 9 August is just around the corner! Folks take time to get festive by sporting the colors of red and white in the streets and this year is no different. What better way to set a patriotic tone than to sport red headphones to go with your attire? That said, here's five stylish headphones /earphones to set the mood for the occasion.

1. Beats Solo3 Wireless
Price - SGD 398 (USD 299)
The (Product) Red campaign in raising awareness for HIV has been going on strong for 11 years now. In the process, you get some great looking red colored products. The Beats Solo3 Wireless is already a great looking pair of on-ears to begin with and certainly made even more striking by the red finish.
Read - Beats Solo2 Wireless review

2. Bose SoundSport Pulse Wireless
Price - SGD 319 (USD 199)
Bose made its foray into wireless sports in-ears last year and upgraded the original SoundSport Wireless (SGD 239) with the 'Pulse' functionality. This adds a heart rate sensor and relays this information to the Bose Connect app. It looks pretty much the same as the non-Pulse version and comes in a single color variant - *drumroll* Red!
Read - Bose SoundSport Wireless review

3. Jaybird X3 Wireless
Price - SGD 215 (USD 129)
Jaybird's latest buds are generation 3 of their huge selling X-series of sports in-ears. They upgraded from the original (named Bluebuds X) with the Jaybird X2 and now the latest incarnation comes with app support. The red variant is called Road Rash and looks pretty darn striking.
Read - Jaybird X3 Wireless review

4. Plantronics BackBeat FIT
Price - SGD 129 (USD 84)
The Plantronics BackBeat FIT has been around for a while and while there are some new colors that were launched in late-2016, the original red version with a greyish hue looks great. Like the name implies, it fits great and makes for a great companion when jogging.
Read - Plantronics BackBeat FIT review

5. Sony MDR-XB950BT Extra Bass
Price - SGD 269 (USD 198)
Sony's Extra Bass series of headphones has been quite a seller for them and the sheer volume of reviews on Amazon (2000+) for the XB950BT can attest to that. They have a newer version called the XB950B1 but hey, there's nothing like the classic version, eh? They, of course, have a red variant.

Doppler Labs

Here One Launch in Singapore

June 02, 2017

Doppler Labs launched the Here One truly wireless smart earbuds in Singapore today at a media launch at the We The People Kickstarter Store in Millenia Walk.

It was a fitting location given its origins. We actually reviewed their first commercially available and Kickstarter-backed product back in Aug 2016. That was called the Here Active Listening System . It did not play music. Instead, they delivered an audio augmented reality experience.

And today, Here One is their next generation product that still maintains the AR experience fusing it with listening to music. Let's check out what the Here One offers.

Type - Truly Wireless In-Ears
Price - USD 299 / SGD 459

What's The Big Deal?
The specs are quite comparable with its truly wireless peers. We're looking at buds of a 12g weight that can last for 2 hours playback. There's a charging case that offers 3 more rounds of charge for the buds.

However, these are not a pair of run of the mill earphones. To do the Here One justice, we'll focus on what differentiates these buds from the rest.

1. Smart Noise Cancellation
Doppler Labs' buds incorporate what they term as Real-World Sound Control that allows the ability to dynamically increase / decrease specific sound types. For example, you can suppress the ambient sound of a plane's engine or if somehow you want to increase it, you sure can. This is controllable through their app. This is quite different from traditional active noise cancelation (ANC) where all ambient sounds are lowered.

2. Speech Enhancement
You can reduce background noise and amplify human speech. For example, you can enhance a nearby conversation.

3. Machine Learning
Interestingly, the machine learning engine behind the buds, called Smart Suggest, is able to use your location, past use and preferences to provide suggestions. If you're in a subway, the app will supposedly push a suggested sound profile for your approval.

Sophia Velastegui, Chief Product Officer of Doppler Labs presenting the Here One features.

Who Is It For?
The most obvious usage is for folks who listen to music but at the same time can conveniently double the device as a hearing aid.

Pricing And Availability
The Here One is priced at USD 299 / SGD 459.

If you are in the US, they are currently available through their online store.
If you are in Singapore, they are available from 5 May at selected retailers including truewireless.sg.

Doppler Labs, LRT and We The People teams striking a pose.

Bang & Olufsen

B&O Beoplay P2 - Summary

April 28, 2017

27 Apr - News Release - B&O Play launches the ultraportable Beoplay P2 wireless speakers. Below is its corresponding press release.

Update (17 July 2017)
Here's our review of the B&O Beoplay P2.

And if you don't have time to read it, here are 3 points to summarize what the P2 is about:

1. Fits in the Palm of Your Hand
If you wanted a smaller footprint than the BeoPlay A1 and A2 Active, then the Beoplay P2 (140 x 80 x 28mm) weighing 275 grams might just do the trick. Ideal for music on the go.

2. One Button. Tap and Shake Controls.
The one button on the bottom is for power. All other playback controls to play and skip tracks can be activated by tapping / shaking and if you want more customization, you can check out the Beoplay app.

3. Affordability
This is B&O Play's smallest speaker yet and its most affordable too at USD 169 / SGD 259.

==Press Release==

Double tap on the anodized aluminum grill to play or pause music. Shake to skip a track. Beoplay P2 is an intelligent and unapologetically beautiful portable speaker that easily slips into your bag or pocket to take anywhere – always ready to amplify moments with goosebump-inducing Bang & Olufsen Signature Sound.

B&O PLAY continues to empower the transformation of everyday moments with the introduction of Beoplay P2. Beoplay P2 is the smallest and most intelligent member of the B&O PLAY range of wireless Bluetooth speakers and is designed by award-winning Cecilie Manz for a spontaneous and spirited approach to life. It comes in premium materials such as pearl-blasted aluminium and real leather, with customizable and intuitive control features via Beoplay App and, despite its minimal footprint, renowned Bang & Olufsen sound engineers have packed Beoplay P2 with power and stamina to punch out the rich, clear and crisp sound that you would expect from a B&O PLAY speaker.

“Music plays a big part in amplifying everyday moments, so we made a personal speaker that you don’t want to leave your home without. Beoplay P2 is a stunning piece of Danish design, a study in stupendous craftsmanship and the accumulation of 90 years in sound and acoustics with a sound quality that is second to none in this category”, says Director of Concept and Design in B&O PLAY Matthias F. Ørum-Hansen.

“We decided to remove all switches and buttons for a beautiful exterior and a simple and magical user experience that can be customized in Beoplay App. With just a double tap or shake, you can play, pause and skip track, launch your favourite personal assistant, change sound profile in ToneTouch and you can set up Beoplay App to wake you up with the same music that concluded a beautiful evening - reliving your latest goosebump moment as you wake up and get ready to chase the next”.

A highly tactile and refined appearance
Like a pebble you find on the beach, the appearance of Beoplay P2 is rounded, smooth and desirable and fits perfectly in the palm of your hand. A basic geometrical shape with a defined rim separates the pearl-blasted anodized aluminum top from the soft and warm polymer that make up the underside. The curvature of Beoplay P2 has undergone endless fine tuning to give it a highly tactile and refined appearance. The perfect shape to slip easily into a pocket or bag with a genuine leather strap to add an extra layer of portability.

“The closer a product gets to the body, the more refined and detailed it should be. Beoplay P2 is smooth and desirable, a compact with great sound and a companion wherever you go”, says designer Cecilie Manz.

Leveraging learnings from Beoplay A1

The sound character in Beoplay P2 is rich and spacious with a 360-degree dispersion that provides listeners with the same beautiful sound experience wherever they are located. Beoplay P2 builds on more than 90 years of Bang & Olufsen sound expertise and the engineers have leveraged the learnings from its award-winning bigger brother Beoplay A1 that set new standards for portable Bluetooth speakers in 2016:

• The Bang & Olufsen acoustics looked to Beoplay A1 for the reproduction of bass out of such a small product. They elaborated on Beoplay A1’s mid-woofer and designed a new one for Beoplay P2 using an anodized aluminum cone structure.

• The tweeter in Beoplay P2 is the same ¾” fabric soft dome used in Beoplay A1 assuring excellent detail and smooth reproduction of the highest frequencies.

• The DSP is advanced, highly capable and enables the use of high slope filters and advanced character control to facilitate the excellent personal sound amplification experience in Beoplay P2.

• Two 15W RMD Class D Amps are used with a peak power of more than 2X50 watts do drive it all – to assure you get the beautiful sound always associated with a B&O PLAY product.

Built-in microphone

Beoplay P2 has a built-in microphone for taking calls out loud, and the rimmed design on the speaker’s bottom edge enables the microphone to provide uniform 360 speech sensitivity. This enables the person listening to recognize voices perfectly, no matter where people are speaking in proximity to the microphone.

A leather sleeve for extra protection

As an extra accessory to protect Beoplay P2, you can purchase a black lambskin leather sleeve. The Beoplay P2 sleeve provides a layer of protection to keep your Beoplay P2 safe when you are on the go, while still maintaining the beautiful and authentic B&O PLAY design.

Price and availability

Beoplay P2 comes in Black, Sand Stone and Royal Blue and is available at USD 169 / GBP 149 / SGD 259. In the US / UK, it will be available on www.beoplay.com/P2. In Singapore, the Beoplay P2 will be available in Bang & Olufsen Grand Hyatt and Takashimaya stores from May 12, 2017 onwards. You can buy the P2 from Amazon via this affiliate link.

The Beoplay P2 Sleeve is available for a suggested retail price of USD 39 / GBP 29 / SGD price is to be confirmed.

The Beoplay P2 is also available on Amazon for USD 169.

Update (17 July 2017)

Read on for our review of the B&O Beoplay P2.

Bluetooth

Bose SoundLink Revolve Speaker - A Summary

April 17, 2017

When you think of Bose portable speakers, the SoundLink Mini likely comes to mind with its signature rectangular prism frame. This week, Bose now introduces one in a different shape - that of a conical tower in the form of the Bose SoundLink Revolve (5.97" x 3.24" x 3.24"). We summarize what the big deal is about.

Type - 360 Omnidirectional Wireless Portable Speaker
Price - USD 199 / SGD 329

Trivia 1 - Practically every smart speaker (like Amazon Alexa, Google Home) takes a similar tower form factor and is a 360 omnidirectional wireless speaker.

Trivia 2 - The SoundLink Revolve (1.46lbs) is actually lighter in weight than the SoundLink Mini II (1.47lbs).

In A Nutshell
Aside from the usual tech specs, here are 5 points that tell summarize the Bose SoundLink Revolve Speaker's capabilities

1. 360 Omnidirectional Sound
Smaller speakers tend to have directional sound waves, resulting in a very obvious difference when you listen right in front of the speakers (as intended) or behind. By contrast, the SoundLink Revolve uses omnidirectional sound that aims to immerse a listener with the same sound experience within a similar radius.

2. Controls / Voice Prompts
There's the full array of accessible buttons lined on the top like Power, Bluetooth (for pairing) and volume controls. The multifunction button (circled below) serves in playing music, taking calls and holding it will activate Apple Siri / Google Now. There's even a new button for input source toggling - this includes switching from Bluetooth to AUX-IN to even USB Audio (Just plug your USB device eg. laptop to the micro-USB port).

The voice prompts, like most other Bose products, are useful especially during device pairing.

3. App Support / Speaker Pairing
With two units of SoundLink Revolve, they can be combined through the Bose Connect app. They can gel to increase the overall sound loudness or to provide a fuller stereophonic sound. Even when used as a standalone speaker, the Bose Connect app gives you information like battery life, support from 18 languages (Ok, Bose has somehow increased this from 11 languages) and firmware updates.

Pairing through Bluetooth can be done more conveniently with the app. Two devices can be connected to the SoundLink Revolve at any one time. If you want to pair via NFC, that's also possible though you don't actually need the app for this.

4. Water Resistant
The SoundLink Revolve is splash-resistant (IPX4 rated to be precise) so there shouldn't be any worries when drizzles come. Be warned - Just don't dunk them your swimming pool 'cos splash resistance is NOT the same as water resistance! So do take caution on what you read when you see the term 'water resistant'.

5. Connectivity
The SoundLink Revolve includes an understandably sparse AUX-IN for a wired connection to a music player and a micro-USB port for charging the speaker. This is probably the most common set of ports for portable speakers unless sometime in future, every music player is wireless (no 3.5mm jack) and full wireless charging is supported. Perhaps this ain't so far away if you think of the iPhone 7 and Samsung Galaxy S8.

Packaging Contents
All out, you get the:

Bose SoundLink Revolve
AC Adapter
Charging Cable (USB to micro-USB)
AC Power Adapters

Target Buyers
Those who want a 360 wireless speaker, flexible to bring to the great outdoors or to park at home.

Pricing and Availability
Now, there are actually two models in two colors (Lux Gray / Triple Black) currently available in the US and an optional charging cradle so you don't need to touch any cables. Singapore availability will be confirmed by their distributor, Atlas SV.

Let's break them down:

SoundLink Revolve (USD 199.95)
- 5.97" x 3.24" x 3.24" / 1.46lbs / 12 hour battery life

SoundLink Revolve+ (USD 299.95)
- 7.25" x 4.13" x 4.13" / 2lbs / 16 hour battery life / Includes carrying handle

Update (24 Apr 2017) - In Singapore, the Revolve (SGD 329) and Revolve+ (SGD 499) are available for pre-orders at atlas-sv.com.

Bose SoundLink Revolve speaker vs Revolve+

SoundLink Revolve charging cradle (USD 29.95)
- If you use the default micro-USB charging cable, you need to insert and remove this everytime you charge. With this cradle, you can conveniently dock the speaker and lift it off once done. It would have been great if they had actually included the charging cradle (like the Bose SoundLink Mini II) instead of selling seperately. Oh well. Anyway, it fits both SKUs.

Where To Buy
The Bose SoundLink Revolve can be purchased from bose.com.
Alternatively, if you feel this review helped in your assessment of this product, you can buy it from Amazon through these affiliate links.

Bose SoundLink Revolve (USD 199)

Bose SoundLink Revolve + Charging Cradle bundle (USD 228)

Headphones

Master & Dynamic MH40C1 Concrete Headphones

April 02, 2017

AKG

3 Things Learnt From Galaxy S8 AKG Earphones

March 23, 2017

As the Samsung Galaxy yearly launch approaches next week, the question on many minds is will the Galaxy S8 drop the 3.5mm jack like what Apple did with the iPhone 7? Well, according to a leak from Korean website, Giddlehd.com, it appears that Samsung has decided to keep the 3.5mm jack and bundle the S8 with AKG-branded earphones. These AKG in-ear earphones come with an in-line remote and a straight 3.5mm jack.

Update (24 Mar) - Included new shots from Techrum.

If this is indeed what will be bundled with the Samsung Galaxy S8, here are 3 things we learnt:

1. Quickly Leveraging on AKG Branding

Samsung announced the acquisition the Harman group for a (measly) US $8 billion in mid November and completed the takeover last week. This comprises of its (highly profitable) automotive tech, general audio and professional audio visual solutions lineups. AKG forms part of the general audio portfolio, alongside others like JBL and Harman Kardon. It is quite refreshing that Samsung is swiftly acting to introduce AKG to its existing ecosystem of products and including this audiophile branding with its flagship smartphone.

2. The 3.5mm Jack Is Not Dead

No it isn't. Despite Bluetooth headphones overtaking the wired variant in terms of sales in the US in July 2016, the reality is that many headphones are still wired and people will continue to use them. After all, there are a ton of audiophiles (and normal folks) that have bought wired headphones for a better sound experience before the rise of wireless. Why alienate them? If true, then it's good that the Korean chaebol has stuck to its guns and kept the 3.5mm jack.

3. Inspiration from Xiaomi Mi In-Ear Pro Headphones?

If you compare these AKG earphones to the Xiaomi Mi In-Ear Pro Headphones, there are some similarities. Below the Y-connector, the AKGs appear to be using a braided cable, for a more tangle-free experience, below the Y-connector but right above that, silicon cable is used. The eartip mesh looks strangely familiar too. If you consider that Xiaomi delivered a really good pair for a darn good price, it makes sense that some design pointers were taken in to give a nice touch to the AKGs while keeping the overall Galaxy S8 bill of materials (BOM) cost reasonable.

Leaks aside, next week (29 Mar to be precise), we will find out together what audio gear the Galaxy S8 eventually comes with.

Update (30 Mar 2017)
The AKG earphones will be bundled in the Samsung Galaxy S8 box but can also be purchased separately at USD 99 from April 2017.