The current fad is undoubtedly Nintendo's Pokemon Go, a game that leverages the augmented reality experience by combining location information and the phone camera.

Now, imagine an augmented experience on audio. Doppler Labs' Here Active Listening System, that originated from Kickstarter, is one such product. These are full wireless earbuds with a twist - they don't play music (it's not their purpose)!

Only 10,000 pairs were produced in Doppler Labs' initial production run. They went for USD 249 each and we got our hands on one such unit for a spin. We give you some first impressions.

Who is it for? 
Folks who want a novel way to listen to their surroundings.

Unboxing
There are 2 colors - white and black of which ours was the latter. 

Now for the unboxing:

Just slide off the outer layer to access the inner box simply marked with the 'here' logo. 

Lift open the cover and we get the Here charging case along with some info on the underside of the box.

Once the inner layer is out, we have 2 compartments - left for the charging cable and right for the spare buds. 

We popped out the packaging contents to reveal:

• Hear Active Listening earbuds
• Silicon tips (S / M / L) 
• Charging capsule
• Charging cable
• User guide + sticker

Design
Now to the Hear earbuds - they weigh a relatively light 10g. Putting things in perspective with other full wireless buds, the Samsung Gear IconX weighs 12.8g while the Earin tips the scales at 7g, though each of their features differs very greatly.

The case is made of sturdy plastic and serves to store and charge the earbuds at the same time. There's a 4 LED power indicator inside while the side of the casing sports the micro-USB port for charging. When closed, a front LED shows whether charging is in progress (orange means ongoing / green when full). The buds last about 5-6 hours depending on usage and the additional power delivers up to 10 hours more.

Features
The centerpiece of the buds is definitely the app. Without the app, these buds simply don't work. The smartphone app works on iOS (v8.4+) and Android (v5.0+) and provides some preset filters .

Once installed and connected, there are 3 tabs to play around with:

1. dB adjustment
You can move from - 22dB (silence) to +6dB (noisiest) and there's a hi-dB Mode that adds a layer of noise to whichever decibel level you choose.

2. Live EQ 
Includes various filters like Bass Boost / Echo / Flange / Fuzz / Noise Mask / Reverb. To give an example, if Echo is selected, any sound you here will be echoed back. How about that.

3. Filter
This tab offers Tune In and Tune Out filters. To be honest, quite a few sounded very similar, if not identical, to each other.

Here goes: 
a. Tune In 
There are a whopping 15 filters: 60s Sizzle / 8-Track / Aphex / Carnegie Hall / Classical Music / Dirty South / Flat / Hallway / Human Speech / Psychedelic / Small Studio / Stadium / Stratosphere / Super Bass / Tiesto Mode. 
I couldn't help but get the feeling that there were quite a few overlaps in terms of sound. Psychedelic fluctuates from a zoom-in and zoom-out sound while Stratosphere actually sounds the same except the intensity is more pronounced.

b. Tune Out (Beta) 
Ok, these 9 filters are in 'Beta' mode and it shows - 
Airplane / Bus / Car / City / Crowd / Office (Loud) / Office (Normal) / Restaurant / Subway.
Bus replicates a noisy bus environment while Crowd comes across like very heavy rain. Office (Loud) adds a whole lot of static sound. Interestingly, Airplane, Office (Normal) and Restaurant sound almost exactly the same - complete silence.

Update (9 Aug 2016):
The buds tended to disconnect every now and then when using iPad (iOS v8) and Sony Xperia XA (Android v 6.0). Most times, reseting them by inserting a sharp object into a hole under the charging case will do the trick.

Overall
This is a very novel concept where the purpose of the buds is to deliver a different listening experience of your surroundings. It is not to listen to music :)

That said, the overall experience is quite unique. I for one, am not used to putting on a noise-controlling device that regulates (or distorts) ambient noise in such an interesting manner. As such, it's a likelihood that trying this out will give polarizing experiences, depending on what each individual expects to hear. 

Availability / The Future
Currently, the Here Active Listening System is not in production. If you want to get it in Singapore, you simply can't 'cos there were only 10,000 units produced thus far.

However, it will be released in a new form by Christmas 2016. It will be called Here One and this version will incorporate music playback (yes!). Pricing is to be determined.

In mid-July, Samsung launched the Gear IconX, their first venture into the truly wireless in-ears domain, in Singapore. Full wireless buds are all the rage in 2016 with around 10 or more manufacturers looking keen to set this new audio category alight. We took a first look in early June when we caught wind of this. Now that we've got our hands on the SGD 298 unit, we took some quick shots of the product.

We will go into an in-depth review subsequently.

Unboxing
There are 3 color variants - Black, White and Blue, of which we were provided the last.

We popped the bottom open and slid out the inner box.

Lifting the bottom tab gives access to the user guide and...

one layer further down lie the rest of the accessories.

Spilling out the packaging contents reveals:

• Samsung Gear IconX buds
• Charging capsule
• Silicon tips (S /M /L)
• Fins (S/ M /L)
• USB connector
• Charging cable
• Quick Start Guide

Design
The Samsung buds are 12.6 grams, meatier than the 3.5g Earin tested previously but seriously, they really don't weigh you down significantly once slotted in the ears.  

The charging unit allows the buds to be stored and charged simultaneously. If you are familiar with Bragi Dash or the Here Active Listening System, it's construct is similar. There are 2 LEDs on the front - red shows charging is in progress, green when full while blinking red indicates a need to charge the charging unit itself.

Features
The technology integrated within these really small buds is quite impressive - ambient sound mode, inbuilt 4GB memory and touch controls all supported by a very useful Samsung Gear app. More on this when the review is out.

Performance + Overall
We will talk more about fit, noise isolation and sound quality this once we test these buds out more comprehensively. 

Update (21 Aug 2016)
We have finally run our tests. Whew. Read on for our comprehensive review!

Where To Buy
If you thought that our review of the Samsung Gear IconX was helpful, feel free to support us by buying from Amazon. Now going for USD 149, here are the affiliate links for the Black , White and Blue variants. 

Credit to Samsung for an evaluation unit.

We took a first look at the B&O BeoPlay H5 earlier this month to see what made these earbuds so special. These are B&O Play's very first wireless in-ears. They will go for SGD 379 from 31 July 2016 in Singapore. And yes, we got our paws on a review unit. Let's check these out.

Credit - B&O Play

Pros (+): Stylish design; Good treble clarity; Secure magnetic latching; Hassle-free charging; Useful Beoplay app.
Cons (-): Short battery life; Lack of voice prompts; Fit could be improved.
Unboxing
There are 2 color variants - Dusty Rose and Black. 
Guess what unit we received :)

Nope, we did not receive the Black one.  Credit - B&O Play

The packaging is typical B&O Play - a squarish and very sturdily built grey box that takes some effort in popping open.

With the top lid off, the BeoPlay H5 buds lie on a solid foam layer with 2 tabs at each side.

Pulling away this layer, you get access to the nicely wrapped up cables from both the earbuds and the charge cube (you'll find out the reason for the name shortly). And then, there's a thin cardboard with a tab that invites us to pull it up.

We spill out the packaging contents for a stock take:

• B&O BeoPlay H5 earbuds
• Charge cube and cable
• 4 x Silicon buds (XS /S /M /L)
• 3 x Comply Foam Sport with SweatGuard buds (S /M /L)
• 3 x Cable clips
• Carrying pouch
• User Guide

Design
The B&O BeoPlay H5 immediately catches your eye with its cable. That's right. It's made of a material commonly found in shoes (braided textile apparently) and it's a pleasant change from the computer-like cables most folks are accustomed for portable audio gear.

Once around your neck, you can actually magnetically latch the left and right buds together to power off the H5 and have a little more assurance that the earphones don't come off when walking. 

The helluva good looking Jakob Wagner-designed buds weigh 18g, comparable to other wireless Bluetooth earphones in the market like the Bose SoundSport Wireless (22g) and Plantronics BackBeat GO 3 (19g).

The carrying pouch is similar to the BeoPlay H3 ANC's where there's an inner layer within for cable / extra bud storage. It ain't sturdy but it does its job in protecting the buds from scratches.

Features
The BeoPlay H5 is supposedly splash and dust resistant. We tested it by flicking some water and it works just fine. Just don't submerge them. For the record, we're currently doing a Wireless Sports Audio series of articles and it was tempting to include the BeoPlay H5 to benchmark. However the positioning of the B&O gravitates it more toward a lifestyle product, given the materials used, accessories thrown in and general fit.

The in-line remote lies on the left side and is meant for playback control. Play / take calls and volume buttons are standard. Skipping to a previous track is still a triple press, though we feel it could be simplified to holding the volume button instead. 

Design-wise, it looks similar to the BeoPlay H3 ANC's but that's where similarities end. It's actually larger in size. The underside is contoured and has a rubberised texture with 3 contact points for easy control when on-the-go.

Pairing over Bluetooth (featuring the latest v4.2) is straightforward. Hold the Play button to initiate pairing (blue LED flashing), select the BeoPlay H5 from your source device and it's done once you see a white LED on the bud. Pairing is to a single device at any one time.

While there are acknowledgement sounds, voice prompts are non-existent. A tad surprising as it's a little hard to tell what is your pairing status or battery life based on LED color and you'd likely have to refer to the user guide. 

For power, you will need the charge cube to lug around. It's a little inconvenient if you're on the move where a common micro-USB cable for other products usually suffices. The good part is you just need to magnetically dock the buds onto the cube to initiate charging. It's hassle-free 'cos there's no need to remove a flap to plug a cable.

The Beoplay app, that runs on iOS (v8 upwards) and Android (v5.0 upwards) supports the earbuds. To highlight what it can do, there's name and color change settings. 

The good stuff includes:

• Firmware updates - the product was at v5.0.0 and there was a prompt to update it to 'improve performance'. I duly proceeded though I couldn't really tell the diff in experience.
• Tone adjustment - otherwise read as EQ settings though it's a pleasantly simple user interface. Just touch the quadrant to choose from an assortment of names such as Warm, Excited, Relaxed and Bright. You can even pinch-zoom to add a spatial effect.

Performance
Let's talk about the different eartip experiences first. 

1. Silicon tips (M-size)
The tips provide an agreeable level of bass vs treble control. The fit is reasonably tight such that it will stay in the ear and ambient noise is partially blocked off...you can still hear but a lesser degree of traffic and chatter. 

4 x Silicon tips (Left) and 3 x Comply Foam Sport tips (Right)

2. Comply Foam Sport tips with SweatGuard (Sx-200)
(To understand Comply Foam tips and the different types available, do read our Comply Foam article.) 
Interestingly, the bass level and ear fit dropped a notch from the silicon buds. We had some good experiences with Comply Foam using the Jaybird X2 Wireless and LG TONE Active previously. As such, it was a surprising to find that the Sport tips did not really lodge within the ear. S and L sizes were also tested with similar results. When walking around, I could hear ambient sound quite well. 

Fit and noise isolation-wise, it was a tad surprising that the silicon buds seemed more effective. The fit in both cases is not at the jogging level purpose as I had to readjust the buds in every now and then. 

I was trying to figure out possible reasons for the nature of the fit. 

• First, I tried evaluating the BeoPlay H5 and H3 ANC together since both are using Size 200 Comply Foam tips. The earbud size and weight is definitely higher on the H5, due to the Bluetooth / battery module, which could add to the tug on the eartips.

H5 on Left and H3 ANC on Right

• Second, as the H5 is an under-ears model, it's worthwhile noting that other Bluetooth wireless buds provide an additional fin (Jaybird X2) or clip (Beats Powerbeats2) or other means (UA Headphones) to lock the buds in place.

All that said, you'd really have to try them on for size 'cos the experience varies from person to person. One hack we tried is to insert a pair of Comply Foam Isolation buds (sold separately) and it worked wonders in terms of fit and noise isolation and providing warmer bass. 

For sound quality, the H5 leverages on the aptX codec that promises CD-quality sound. We had mentioned bass and treble were agreeable. With silicon tips, Coldplay's Adventure of a Lifetime is vibrant and engaging with Chris Martin's vocals coming through clearly. Those who prefer a deeper bass emphasis can try the handy Beoplay app for Tone adjustment. 

Credit - B&O Play

For microphonics (or cable rustle), there are 3 cable clips provided. B&O doesn't really prescribe how you should apply this so it's most logical to place one on. Once applied, if adjusted correctly, the microphonics can be reduced to a point where only turning your head left and right would result in minor sounds.

Both 50mAh (100mAh in total) Lithium-Ion batteries last 5 hours on a full charge of 2 hours through the charge cube. No issues with the charge time but we're already hitting 8 hours on some like the UA Headphones and Jaybird X2. The LED on the cube flashes orange when charging and displays green when powered up.

Overall
The BeoPlay H5 is an audio device where Bang & Olufsen appears to have put emphasis on a simple user experience. The magnetic latch for charging / power off and Beoplay app are well thought out. No doubt the fit and voice prompts could be improved but this is negligible point for fashionistas who'd want a pair of stylish in-ears to be seen with.