CES 2017 saw the announcement of 4 new speakers in Sony's portable wireless range, namely the Sony SRS-XB10, SRS-XB20, SRS-XB30 and SRS-XB40. Last month saw their launch and availability in Singapore. We now look at the unique features of each, but the main focus will be on how they perform collectively.

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.

The Apple AirPods need practically no introduction. These were the truly wireless earbuds that were introduced to much fanfare last September as loads of folks anticipated their entry into the Apple ecosystem. And since then, they finally hit the shops around Dec 2016 and there have been a load of reviews on these.

Now what makes it interesting is to see how these fare against the world! Ok, what we mean is how they compare with its truly wireless earbud peers. 

But first, let's review them. A trip to Holiday Villa Johor Bahru provided a good occasion to test the buds and a spot to take some shots! 

Read - Advent of Truly Wireless Earbuds

Type - Truly Wireless Earphones 
Price - USD 159 / EUR 179 / SGD 238

Pros (+): Supremely comfortable fit; Simple to use; Great battery life.
Cons (-): Non-existent noise isolation

In The Box
The Apple AirPods unsurprisingly come in one color combination - white. That's classic iPod gloss white if you want specifics. 

In typical Apple style, the box is incredibly sturdy and sized at a compact 99 x 99 x 34 mm, ideal for two things - cutting on shipping costs and hardy enough to pass drop tests (not that we tried :). 

The unboxing is like what you'd expect from an Apple product - impeccably neat and premium. The top lid pops upward to reveal a booklet with the distinctive line - Designed by Apple in California. 

Lifting this away will showcase the AirPods charging case nicely wrapped in a protective sleeve.

Popping out the packaging contents, we get:

• Apple AirPods
• Charging Case
• Charging Cable (USB to Lightning)
• User Guides

Design
The Apple AirPods come adorned in signature iPod gloss white and both earbuds weigh 8g, marginally lighter than the Samsung Gear IconX (12g) and Bragi The Headphone (12.5g). What differentiates these from other truly wireless buds is its long cylindrical side that that the other manufacturers clearly do not have. One practical benefit is the earbud weight is more evenly distributed, as the battery takes up the bulk of the space within. And of course, it makes it easier for the buds to be removed / inserted.

If you are familar with the default buds (EarPods) that come with your iPhone, you'll find that the overall AirPods aesthetic is much the same. General differences include the subtraction of the cable (obviously), dual optical sensors and a chrome edge at the bottom complete with a microphone. We'll talk more on their purpose in the Features section.

Charging Case:
The case measures a petite 44 x 21 x 54mm and doubles up as a charger when the buds are stored within. It's nicely styled and its magnetic clasp allows it to shut reassuringly.

Features
While the Apple AirPods look seemingly basic, they are anything but. Once you poke your nose into what they have to offer, you'll realize that there's a myriad of features awaiting especially if you're an iOS user. 

Playback / Voice Commands:
While there are no physical buttons on the AirPods, you can actually double tap the exterior of either earbud to enable a function depending on phone you are using.

• Siri devices - This activates Siri so you can give voice commands to control playback (eg. turn up the volume) or useful information (give directions / weather check). When calls come in, you can pick them and if you find Siri annoying, you can go to the settings to render a double tap as a play / pause function. 
• Other devices - There's a singular function - double tapping the exterior of the buds will play / pause music playback. This is arguably more useful than sending voice commands in a packed train with others staring at you quizzically.

Automatic Ear Detection:
The AirPods can detect when they are slotted into your ears thanks to dual optical sensors on each bud. You can even test out their effectiveness by double tapping the side of the bud when covering the sensors with your fingers vs removing your fingers. Even if you cover just one of the two optical sensors, the AirPods take it that the earbuds are not inside your ear.  

• iOS - On your iPhone, music will pause when you take both buds out of your ears. They will pause and resume playback if a single bud is removed. If you want music to continue even if you remove the buds, you can disable this in the AirPods Settings.
• Android - The play resume / pause function doesn't work when using an Android like what I tested with the Sony Xperia XA. However, there's no way to accidentally double tap the earbud when they are not in your ears.

Chilling with the AirPods at the Holiday Villa infinity pool

Pairing:
If you're used to the manual way of Bluetooth pairing, the AirPods offers a refreshingly simpler method of connecting to your music device (at least if you're in the Apple ecosystem).

• iOS 10.2 / watchOS3 / MacOS Sierra Devices - Apple's W1 chip may sound like a fancy marketing name but pairing is where you begin to discover its usefulness. All you need to do is open the AirPods charging case next to your device and there will be a setup prompt on your screen. It's that easy.   
• Other Devices - If you have another product like an Android phone, you'll need to manually pair via Bluetooth. Turn on your phone Bluetooth, pop open the charging case, select 'AirPods' and you're good to go.

Tip - If you have difficulties in pairing, insert the AirPods back into the case and hold the circular Setup button on the back of the case until the LED starts to flash white. You can then restart the pairing process. 

Status Light Notifications:
The status light LED is only found inside the charging case between the two buds. The charge status reflects the AirPods if one / both are inserted else it will show the Case status. Here's an idea what they indicate. 

• Green - Fully charged
• Amber - Not fully charged / Charging in progress if USB cable connected
• Amber (blinking) - You may need to setup AirPods again
• White (blinking) - Pairing mode

Sound Notifications
There are no voice notifications though there will be tones to indicate when the AirPods are successfully connected to your music device or when the charge in the buds is low.

Microphones:
There are two microphones on each earbud. If you notice the bottom of the AirPods, there is a chrome edge and within it is one of the microphones. The second is a small circular hole located on the outside of the earbud.

Apple does inject some hype about two beam-forming microphones. What does 'beam-forming' mean? You can actually read more on this over here. For the AirPods, the purpose of the beam-forming microphones is to extract voice input from ambient noise so the AirPods user is able to speak loud and clear to the recipient of a phone call. 

App Support:

• iOS - It would not be accurate to say that the AirPods have no app support. In fact, the support is integrated with iOS 10. If you pop the AirPods charging case open, a prompt will initiate from your iPhone and settings can be configured accordingly. The good thing is the AirPods firmware can be updated. Most recent is from 3.3.1 to 3.5.1 on Feb 1, 2017. Any significant change? Can't really tell from our end though feel free to buzz if you find something. 
• Android - There's no dedicated app for Android though to be fair, Apple never did mention such compatibility on the packaging.

Performance

Sound Quality:
The Apple AirPods sound quality is quite decent, that is if you do your listening in a relatively quiet environment. I was feeling nostalgic so I decided to give a listen to Kitaro. If that name does not ring a bell, Kitaro is a Japanese artist that specializes in epic instrumental music (some call it 'new age'). He made an equally epic performance compiled in the Live In America (1991) album and with that, I tried his magnum opus, Matsuri. The treble comes out not quite sparkling but nonetheless clearer than many in-ears while bass from the drums came out reasonably well. I reckon these aren't sealed in-ears which likely contribute to the drop in the impact of the low frequencies. 

Calls:
Making a few calls, I did a sound check in several locations of incremental ambient noise level. One was in at the Holiday Villa JB infinity pool with a few folks splashing around (low ambient sound) and another was in the heart of KSL Mall (high ambient sound). In those locations, I checked how well the recipient could hear me and the result was positive - they could hear me loud n clear, despite the noisy crowds in the second instance. 

Noise Isolation:
Like the EarPods, noise isolation is non existent. Environmental sounds aren't filtered at all and basically, you can safely listen to music while jogging. The flipside is when you're commuting, all the ambient sound from the trains will hit you so you'll have to increase the volume quite a bit to appreciate the sound.

Fit:
This was probably the most comfortable pair of truly wireless buds tested. When slotted in and when the music paused, there were moments where I actually forgot there was something in my ears.

Charging:
To charge the AirPods, all you have to do is slot them in the Charging Case and they are magnetically latched within. If you're wondering how it works, there are two contact points deep inside the two holes of the case that link with the chrome edge of the AirPods to initiate charging.

A full charge of the AirPods through the Lightning cable will provide 5 hours playback / 2 hours talk time while a quick charge of 15 minutes will get you 3 hours / over 1 hour talk time. The charging case states 398mAh of power so we're going to make a guess that that's the total power within the case only. If you use the full capacity of the case in tandem with the AirPods, Apple claims you can get up to 24 hours playback / 11 hours talk time. 

Update (6 June 2017):
I decided to completely drain both the buds + case just to check the charge times. Here are the results based on charging through a MacBook Air USB port. As you can see, the charging speed of the buds is really fast. 
Charging Case (100%) - 1h 25min
AirPods (80%) - 15min 
AirPods (100%) - 22min

Putting all these figures in perspective and considering just the buds at full charge, the playback on the AirPods last above the average. They come up short against Bragi The Headphone (6 hours) but easily edge the feature-filled Samsung Gear IconX (1.5 hours) and Erato Apollo 7 (3 hours). 


Overall
The Apple AirPods are a great pair of truly wireless earbuds to own. They are really comfortable to wear and sound drop offs that some truly wireless in-ears unfortunately have are not experienced in these buds. Now noise isolation may be non-existent and options are limited for Android users but if you are a user of Apple products, the AirPods is certainly a convenient, reliable and stylish option for consideration.




Apple AirPods and Truly wireless earbuds compared

In a subsequent part, we will look at a comparison between some of the best truly wireless earbuds in the market. We will look at some of them within the same price range such as the Apple AirPods, Samsung Gear IconX and Bragi The Headphone. 

Stay tuned!

Where To Buy
The Apple AirPods are available from the Apple Online Store and take a 6 week turnaround to deliver.

Credit to Apple for an evaluation unit.

Razer is a well known name among hardcore PC gamers. In the process of developing and innovating in the gaming mice and keyboards domain, they have also been constantly polishing products in the audio category. April 2017 saw the launch of the Razer Hammerhead BT, a wireless follow up to their Hammerhead Pro V2. Let's check out what this offers. 

Type - Wireless In-Ears 
Price - USD 99 / GBP 99 / SGD 169

Hammerhead BT vs Hammerhead Pro V2
Now before we check out what these wireless buds offer, we do a quick comparison with the Pro V2 to see a quick (and rough) summary of the differences. 

1. Wireless vs Wired
This is a no brainer but still necessitates a mention :) The 130cm cable of the Pro V2 is now a much shorter 63cm that now rests around your neck. 

2. Shirt Clip / Battery Unit
The battery unit lies in the middle of the cable connecting the buds. You can connect them with a shirt clip that you magnetically latch onto your shirt. 

3. General Aesthetics
The cables are now striped green and black instead of pure green. And with the added power, the BT is marginally heftier at 28g while the wired Pro V2 weighs 20g. 


In A Nutshell
Here are 3 points that tell summarize the Razer Hammerhead BT's capabilities:

1. Bassy Sound
The Razer Hammerhead BT boasts 10mm drivers that are aimed at 'Hammering In The Bass'. If its predecessor is anything to go by, you can expect an emphasis on low frequencies. Bassheads will likely love this.

2. Battery Unit (Where Is It?)
For wireless in-ears, many manufacturers usually implement the battery unit either in the earbud piece (like the Bose SoundSport Wireless) or on the in-line remote (such as the Jaybird Freedom Wireless). Razer has taken a different approach. As mentioned earlier, they actually placed the battery unit in the middle of the cable. When combined with the shirt clip, this potentially reduces the microphonics. Oh, and the battery lasts a very decent 8 hours. 

3. Signature Lights!
Razer's signature lighting glow found on their gaming mice can now be found on its in-ear earphones. There's a green pulsating glow from the Razer logo on the outer earbuds during usage and this turns red when charging. Very nice. Now where's the Chroma earphone variant?

Packaging Contents
Taking the contents out, you get the:

• Razer Hammerhead BT
• Shirt Clip
• 4 x Silicon Tips (S / M / L / M double-flange)
• Charging Cable (USB to micro-USB)
• Carrying Pouch
• User Guides

Target Buyers
Bassheads who want a pair of edgier looking wireless buds that still look great.

Pricing and Availability
The Razer Hammerhead BT goes for USD 99 / GBP 99 / SGD 169. 
They are available worldwide from razerstore.com. 

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

Truly wireless earbuds was new product category that was trending in 2015, mass produced in 2016 and now widely available in 2017 from major manufacturers like Samsung and Apple. In the early days, many new companies wanted to jump onto the bandwagon. Names previously unheard of like Erato, Bragi and Earin suddenly emerged to great fanfare and established themselves further by launching second generation truly wireless buds.

Credit - change.org

What is kinda swept under the carpet are the 'brands' that made a ton of money from Kickstarter and shockingly never delivered anything. Yes, you heard that right. One company actually got more than a few backers from crowdfunding platforms and gave absolutely zilch back. So much for commitment.

Truebuds - The Promise
Truebuds's tagline was to deliver the world's smallest stereo cordless earbuds. In terms of specs, this was pretty much on par with the other true wireless earbud projects already launched on Kickstarter such as Bragi, Earin and Erato. 

From Kickstarter - Truebuds page

Everything looked pretty legit. They showcased their team, the design process, design mockups and their founder, Eric Tsoi, was supposedly interviewed by Digital Trends. It was quite hard to believe that anything was going to go wrong. 

From Kickstarter - Truebuds page

After all, other true wireless earbud companies were working to make it a reality and the Truebuds 'team' was actually clearly illustrating how they were coming up with the product from concept to reality. As a disclaimer, there's actually a link called 'Learn about accountability on Kickstarter', appended to every Kickstarter project page.

So What Happened?
Truebuds sent a crowdfunding request to Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

From Kickstarter - Truebuds page

On Kickstarter, they managed to get close to 3,000 backers contributing USD 411K while on the Indiegogo platform, they received USD 517K. All in all, that amounts to an approximate staggering amount of USD 1 million.

From Indiegogo - Truebuds page

And then the actual reality started to sink in.

The signs that something was amiss were the excuses that they couldn't deliver on time due to a few reasons. Their website (http://www.truebuds.io/) started giving a 404 page leading nowhere. Their Facebook posts started churning out generic music industry news updates. Needless to say, there were a lot of comments from irate customers asking what happened to their orders. The founder did not answer to replies despite asking folks to reach out to him. The final straw came on July 6, 2016 when they put out their last post and that's it...there was no communications beyond that.

From Facebook - Truebuds page

What Now?
Needless to say, the customers who bought into this were probably seething and rightfully so. John Joseph from NY started a petition around 5 months ago for the 'prompt return of crowdfunding proceeds to Kickstarter and Indiegogo backers'.

On May 4, 2017, an update said that the State of California Department of Justice was 'taking this matter seriously' and acknowledge that the formal documentation of the complaint was received.

From change.org

Lessons To Learn?
Some takeaways from this episode - 

1. Do Background Checks
Scams operate in all ways. Some are very straightforward. You can research them and the signs are telling when you check their web presence. Others like Truebuds are actually pretty elaborate. They took the pains to show you the creative process and who's in charge of what and even got a reputable media company for an interview. And yet they did not deliver. It does pay to make cursory background checks on any new company / business entity. If in doubt, check online, pick up the phone and make some calls.


2. Scams Can Operate Anywhere 
The Truebuds scam is one that affected anyone who knew of the major crowdfunding platforms like Indiegogo and Kickstarter. This means that its reach was worldwide. Online scams are a dime a dozen and they come through all means. I can even share that bloggers are not spared either. A company called Goodstuff.SG attempted to get online ambassadors to spread the word of its website. Well, this same website shut down within a month. Talk about being unscrupulous.


3. Just Because Everyone Jumps In Doesn't Mean It's Legit
With so many folks throwing their money to the project, does that offer some form of safeguard? Absolutely not. It does of course drop your guard and think that since others are in, hey, why not jump into it? They have 7,000+ Facebook likes. Does it mean anything? On hindsight, probably not. 


The Truebuds story presents an interesting but sad episode. Hopefully, the folks who invested in it will either lay this to rest or move on. If you are one who's impacted, do not be dismayed as there are and will be black hats everywhere in the world. Whether you get the justice or the money back, we hope you will eventually get closure on this matter. All the best to you folks.


Sources:
Petition - Please tell TrueBuds to return the $1m they stole from us on Kickstarter and Indiegogo!
Truebuds Facebook page
Kickstarter page
Indiegogo page
Eric Tsoi's Linkedin page