Photo Credit: Apple

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized the first over-the-counter hearing aid software for the Apple AirPods 2 Pro.

Apple advertised its AirPods Pro 2 as a personalized hearing aid that would be “available in an upcoming software update.” These earbuds are capable of boosting specific sounds in real-time, including parts of speech or elements within a users’ environment. The hearing aid feature will be available this fall for the AirPods Pro 2 model across more than 100 different countries.

“Hearing health is an essential part of our overall wellbeing, yet it can often be overlooked,” says Sumbul Desai, M.D. “According to the Apple Hearing Study, a staggering 75% of people diagnosed with hearing loss go untreated. We’re thrilled to provide breakthrough software features with AirPods Pro that put users’ hearing health forefront and center, bringing new ways to help test for an receive assistance for hearing loss.”

The AirPods Pro 2 can assist people with mild to moderate hearing loss. Using the personalized hearing profile from Hearing Test, this new feature seamlessly transforms AirPods Pro 2 into a clinical-grade hearing aid. After setup, the feature enables personalized dynamic adjustments so users have the sounds around them boosted in real-time.

It helps users better engage in conversation and keeps them connected to the people and environment around them. “This first-of-its-kind software-based Hearing Aid feature brings users the ability to fine-tune their experience at any time, making access to hearing assistance easier than ever at an approachable price point.”

Users can set up the Hearing Aid feature with an audiogram created by a hearing health professional. Both the Hearing Test and Hearing Aid features are grounded in science and were validated through rigorous scientific studies. More than 30 million American adults report some degree of hearing loss—which can be caused by aging, exposure to loud noises, certain medical conditions, and other external factors.

With the FDA authorization of Apple’s Hearing Aid feature, this is the first software-driven hearing aid solution. Users set up their hearing profile using an iPhone, while hearing levels can be accessed from the iOS HealthKit app to customize.

Photo Credit: Kickstarter

Following a conspiracy theory circling online that Vice President Kamala Harris was ‘fed’ debate questions through audio earrings—the company that makes them is leaning into the rumor.

After the debate, the CEO of Icebach, Malte Iversen, shared a link on LinkedIn with the title, ‘She was fed the questions — Internet accuses Kamala Harris of using Nova H1 audio earrings as debate controversy erupts’ with his own commentary, stating: “We can neither confirm nor deny.” Iversen has since deleted the LinkedIn post, but not before Icebach decided to lean into the online rumor to generate hype for these audio earrings. Here’s a (low-res) screenshot of the since-deleted post.

On the Icebach site a new ‘Special Edition for Presidential Debates — Soon Available to Everyone’ has appeared, along with the following paragraph.

“Following the presidential debate we have been contacted by numerous TV shows for interviews. After thorough discussions we have decided that we will grant one live interview to clarify the rumors and myths surrounding our wonderful products. Our chosen interview is Jimmy Fallon, a trusted Bavarian in heart. Please refrain from any interview requests if you are not Jimmy Fallon. Thank you!”

“The Nova H1 audio earrings are the first wireless earphones embedded in earrings. Made from quality freshwater pearls, each pair of Nova H1 audio earrings is truly unique and exquisite.”

It’s worth noting that these audio earrings first appeared online in 2021 as a Kickstarter project. The funding period from February 16, 2021 to March 18, 2021 sought €42,000 and received €103,703 from 323 backers—making the Kickstarter a successful funding raise. Here’s how the company describes them to potential investors.

“Like conventional earrings, the Nova H1 are placed on the earlobes and project the sound from inside the pearl straight into your ear canal. Thanks to our worldwide patented ‘Directional Sound Technology,’ the sound travels from the earlobe to the ear canal avoiding sound leakage and keeping your conversations and music private and secure. Two tiny high-end microphones are integrated into each earring providing the user with crystal clear phone calls and wind-noise cancellation.”

The Kickstarter advertises three hours of play time, with a portable charging case that allows them reach up to 20+ hours of music streaming before the case battery runs out. Each earring is said to weigh around 7g, with a button located on the back of the earring for input controls. Users can answer phone calls, play or skip songs, activate a digital assistant—all wire-free. Each audio earring contains one speaker and two mics for a total of two speakers and four mics in each set.

Photo Credit: Icebach Sound

All has been quiet from these audio earrings since the successful 2021 Kickstarter, so perhaps no publicity is bad publicity in this case. While the CEO has deleted his LinkedIn post, we’ve preserved it here.

Photo Credit: Sonos

Sonos updated its app in May, much to the chagrin of long-time customers who complained of missing features. Part of the negative feedback is the app redesign took away several longstanding features—leaving Sonos users with broken routines.

After the update, a megathread on reddit highlighted many of the issues people were having with the new Sonos app. Users complain of the removal of ‘shuffle all’ from the combined library, the removal of timers and alarms, no more volume numbers, lack of EQ control, and everything taking more steps to accomplish in-app than previously.

“I have been a Sonos user for at least a decade; I have 32 Sonos devices in my home, using Sonos Net. I dealt with the S1 to S2 transition, accepted the end of life products I had, moved on and bought new gear. But I am floored at how bad this is. My assumption is that there isn’t a single dev on the Sonos team that said, ‘yep this product is ready for launch,’” reads one comment about the update.

“It is clear that this was a misguided executive decision to meet some deadline tied to either the headphone launch or to calm down shareholders after some poor quarterly numbers. Clearly the opposite of the desired outcome has occurred. Sonnos looks like a joke and has alienated those of us that matter the most—whether they realize it or not.”

Three months after shipping that disastrous update, Sonos CEO Patrick Spence is apologizing to those long-time customers. A blog post titled, “Update on the Sonos app from Patrick” starts with a personal apology and a note that “there isn’t an employee at Sonos who isn’t pained by having let you down.” Spence says the company’s number one priority is getting the app fixed for its users, with new updates arriving every two weeks since the big change in May 2024.

This is the first public acknowledgement from Sonos that the app redesign hasn’t gone as planned, with fresh promises to bring the app to parity. It comes after Sonos jumped into the headphone ring to compete with Apple’s AirPods Max with its own take on premium headphones, the Sonos Ace.

Photo Credit: Beats

Beats by Dr. Dre announces the return of its Beats Pill speaker, tapping LeBron James and Lil Wayne for its latest ad campaign.

Apple and Beats by Dr. Dre have announced the long-awaited return of its iconic Beats Pill speaker, which is available to order now through Amazon, Apple, and the Beats website for $149.99 — about $50 cheaper than its predecessor. To celebrate the relaunch on June 27, Beats has tapped global icons LeBron James and Lil Wayne to star in its latest ad campaign.

In addition to the cheaper price tag, the new Beats Pill is about 10% lighter than the older model, with a 20-degree tilt for better “on-axis sound projection.” The Beats Pill promises up to 24 hours of battery life and a “Fast Fuel” charging option that provides two hours of playback following a 10-minute charge. The speaker will be available in Matte Black, Champagne Gold, and Statement Red.

“The Beats Pill is back and better than ever — now packed with outstanding sound, all-day battery life, and convenient features,” says Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats. “From the beloved Pill characters to cameos in the world’s most watched music videos, the original Beats Pill was a pop culture phenom and we’re thrilled to bring back a fan favorite updated with the latest features in an iconic design.”

“We’re excited to bring Beats Pill back to our portfolio,” says Chris Thorne, CMO at Beats. “There’s no better way to relaunch an iconic product than to team up with two icons that have been part of our family since Pill’s inception.”

“The Beats Pill has been a staple in the James household from day one,” said LeBron James. “It’s an iconic product, so it’s exciting to be part of its relaunch for a new generation.”

With new acoustic upgrades like a redesigned tweeter and re-engineered racetrack woofer, the new Pill promises to deliver “better sound than ever before.” The speaker features USB-C charging, native iOS and Android compatibility, a removable carry lanyard, soft-grip silicone backing, and an IP67 dust and waterproof rating.

Photo Credit: Sonos

Sonos announces its highly anticipated foray into headphones with the launch of the Sonos Ace on June 5, with a $449 price tag. Here are the details.

Sound aficionados have long been asking for audio brand Sonos to make its debut into the world of headphones, and that day has finally come: beginning June 5, Sonos Ace over-the-ear headphones will be available in either black or white with a price tag of $449.

Though a tad pricey, as a leading innovator in sound, Sonos boasts its headphones will transform the personal listening landscape, competing with the likes of the Apple AirPod Max — and so far, the response among the tech crowd has been very positive.

Select press outlets in New York were treated to a demo of the Sonos Ace Bluetooth 5.4 headphones this week. The over-the-ear headphones are similar in design to Apple’s AirPods Max, though the Sonos Ace weighs notably less. Each ear cup features a 40mm driver, with a total of eight microphones for noise control. Much like the AirPods Max and Sony’s WH-1000XM5, the Ace touts Active Noise Cancelling and Aware modes, head tracking, and Dolby Atmos spatial audio.

“They’re here! Fans have asked us for years to bring the Sonos experience to headphones — and we knew our first foray into the category needed to champion the type of innovation and sound experience Sonos has become synonymous with,” said Sonos CEO Patrick Spence in the company’s announcement. “Sonos Ace leverages everything we’ve learned over two decades as an audio leader to bring stunning sound, sleek design, and long-standing comfort to one of the largest and most popular audio categories worldwide.”

Just like Apple’s AirPods Max integrate seamlessly with Apple TV boxes, Sonos Ace will offer integration with the Sonos Arc soundbar, with support for older Sonos soundbars and speakers coming later this year. Also coming later this year, Sonos Ace will feature “TrueCinema,” using your Sonos’ speakers or soundbar to “3D map” your room to simulate the acoustics of that space while wearing the headphones and using spatial audio.

Sonos touts its headphones as responsibly made, featuring replaceable ear cushions made from circular materials that allow the company to use “17% less virgin plastic, and a 75% recycled felt travel case made from plastic bottles.”

Whether the timing of the launch is ideal for Sonos is questionable. Despite the warm response to the headphones’ upcoming debut, the company is currently under fire from its customers after an update to its mobile app omitted several previously available features, including accessibility options.

Apple’s AirPods Max are a cornerstone of Apple’s premium content+hardware ecosystem, which includes Apple Music’s Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos (photo: MaxWdhs)

After years of investing in lossless and spatial audio, Apple Music and Amazon Music have cemented premium audio as a key part of their offerings. But the market leader, Spotify, is still plotting its entry into high-definition and spatial audio, raising questions about the streaming landscape’s trajectory in 2024 and beyond.

Nearly three years have passed since Apple Music and Amazon Music announced (on the same day) far-reaching premium audio expansions, extending both to spatial audio and lossless formats. Almost simultaneously, Spotify users uncovered a HiFi icon on select versions of the app. And with the Stockholm-based platform having revealed plans earlier in 2021 to adopt high-fidelity audio, a launch seemed imminent. 

As frustrated users frequently lament on social media, though, Spotify has yet to move forward with these plans. Inversely, Apple Music and Amazon Music are framing premium audio as a major reason to choose their services. “Hear sound all around,” reads central text on Apple Music’s subscription landing page, with the Amazon Music Unlimited counterpart encouraging listeners to “experience spatial audio” and enjoy “the HD difference.”

But a distinction in the approaches to premium audio – an all-in strategy on the one hand versus, at least to date, no strategy whatsoever on the other – suggests a significant competitive differentiator between the services. Following uncertainty about the interest in and reach of lossless and spatial audio, it’s become abundantly clear that higher-quality listening options are here to stay.

Report Table of Contents

I. The Premium Audio Imbalance: Apple & Amazon vs. Spotify

II. Graph: Premium Audio Today: A Quick Look At Who Offers What (and for How Much)

III. Spotify’s ‘Supremium’ Tier: The Long-Rumored Package At a Glance

IV. Spotify Playing Catch-Up With Premium and Spatial Audio – Will Premium Audio Be a Gamechanger for Apple Music and Amazon Music in 2024?

V. By the Dates: A Timeline of Premium Audio’s Streaming Integration

VI. Source Documentation

If you’d like to download this report, simply send an email to support@digitalmusicnews.com.

left – FG9R | Right – Revstar

Yamaha has new models of acoustic and electric guitars that are Made in Japan. Is it time to buy one? Let’s explore.

Yamaha is known as a leader in affordable quality instruments. But they sometimes release guitars that are made in Japan with a higher level of quality assurance and higher-end components. Yamaha’s team offered me two of these high-end ‘Made In Japan’ guitar models to review: the FG9R (‘R’ for rosewood, also available in mahogany), and the Revstar RSP02T (the P90 model). Both guitars provided for this review had to be sent back to Yamaha. 

TLDR version:

• • The acoustic guitar is selling for $4,100, which puts it in the higher-end price range of acoustic guitars. Does it hold up to competitors in that class? The answer is yes. 
  • The Revstar is currently available for a little  over $2,000 on Sweetwater. While that is still in a premium pricing category, it’s more affordable than most Gibson models in its class. Should you buy this guitar? I don’t think it would be a bad purchase, but I’m less enthusiastic about suggesting it. 

Both models come with premium hard cases. They are brown leather (or faux leather), similar in style to the cases that Gibson sells with their premium guitars (electric and acoustic).  

The FG9R is a surprisingly loud guitar with a deep, punchy, and bassy sound. The powerful and booming low-end reminded me of a Martin D-28, but it has noticeably more punch and note clarity than the softer tones of the D28. Another punchy guitar tonally to compare the FG9R would be a Taylor acoustic but in a reverse way. The FG9R has clarity and power like a Taylor. The high notes are also pronounced, but the mid-range is underwhelming whereas that is where a Taylor can often thrive. The mahogany model may be more pronounced in the midrange if it’s anything like the Gibson Hummingbird (which is also mahogany). But, I overall like the FG9R and I think that anyone who buys it will be happy with it.

The only big downside of the FG9R is that the tones clash with one another. Your mileage may vary. I can be heavy-handed when I play certain chord progressions. But if you’re not strumming hard, I don’t think you will ever experience this. 

Some people may be reluctant to spend this amount on a Yamaha, and they have a reason to feel this way. For a long time, Yamaha has been seen as an affordable option with lower quality. This provides a hidden advantage: touring artists can bring a nice guitar on the road without it being a big target for thieves. 

Both models feel worth their price tag, but it is easier to recommend the acoustic. The FG9R’s tone seems more unique to me compared to the Revstar. The Revstar, while sounding and feeling great, is still just a well-made electric guitar with P90s and could be more easily replicated by a more affordable model.  

With the rise of audio technologies such as Dolby Atmos on streaming platforms, spatial audio has become unmissable for all artists. Whether we discuss the perspective of well-established musicians or emerging artists, there’s no denying that the music industry is evolving, and leaning more and more toward a potential new standard of audio experience.

Sweetwater has been a long-term partner of Digital Music News, which is proud to share this news.

Apple Music launched the Dolby Atmos format on its platform in 2021, making waves in music streaming by giving significant visibility to new immersive audio formats. The following year, the platform reported that most of their listeners (80%) had switched to the spatial audio format. What does that widespread adaptation mean for music professionals?

Spatial Audio Well On Its Way to Become A New Standard

First things first: spatial audio is special because it matches a human’s natural perception of sound. At any given time, the human mind perceives and registers multiple sources of noise from our environment. There are several sources of sound when we walk down a street, for example. But when we listen to music in a stereo format, we receive only two sources of sound. With spatial audio, sound sources instantly jump to 37.

Thanks to its partnership with Apple Music, Dolby Atmos is now one of the most well-known formats. Developed by Dolby Lab, it allows the listener to be surrounded in immersive 3D sound. However, that is only one of the many gifts spatial audio brings to the table.

It goes without saying that any spatial audio format has to be taken seriously by all music professionals — especially artists and producing teams.

But there are two primary reasons why industry professionals should stay up to date on the spatial audio trend, and fully embrace it.

• • • To fit the requirements of music streaming platforms and maximize chances of getting playlisted, Dolby Atmos mastering is quickly becoming crucial for artists. Over the last couple of years, the audience for spatial audio mixes seems to be growing. Reports also suggest listener engagement for this format is higher than older formats.
    • With spatial audio, artistic vision can attain entirely new dimensions of listener experience. Major labels are in a rush to re-record and remaster back catalogs of some of the most influential artists. However, these actions of remastering tracks are not binary. Re-coloring music and dividing parts of it is highly subjective and specific equipment is required to get the job done right. All in all, spatial audio is taking up more space. It is giving artists more freedom to engage and attain specific aesthetics that fit their creative vision during studio mixing.

Staying Ahead Of The Curve: The Best Practices

So what now? Spatialized audio does make significant new promises for the creative process. However, to ensure that mixes fit an artist’s unique goals and ideas, the right equipment is crucial. Whether we talk about a home recording studio or a more professional space, the right setup is key. Every artist, producer, or music professional has their expertise and specialty. But when we talk about technical recording details in a studio, not everyone is capable of tackling it effectively.

When setting up a studio with the intention and the gear to create music in these new formats, you need to rely on the right people to guide you and set it up.

This collaboration-led excellence is what Sweetwater had in mind. After starting as a recording studio, gearing up to be on the cutting edge of technology, they created a commercial audio offer that could potentially benefit any music professional. From designing to building, the equipment can be expertly handled and utilized. However, the way these tools are leveraged is what will make or break the final track.

It’s all about learning from experience and artistic perception — something Sweetwater launched in their studio with workshops and masterclasses. But what happens once the tracks are finalized as perfectly as possible?

Making Sure That Music Is Rendered The Right Way

If we’re working on creating better music, higher-quality audio, and finding a better way to convey emotion through music, listeners should be able to hear it anywhere. When composing and mixing in a studio, we consider how it would sound at home or in cars. However, venues such as stores, restaurants, or even elevators are often overlooked. This new technology and format demands novel requirements of how we play music in outdoor venues and businesses. If these places aren’t equipped with the right hardware to deliver new formats, how can we render the music the way it was created?

With a focus on solving this problem, Sweetwater launched their Commercial Audio service. This bespoke service designs, builds, and installs the entire sound system in accordance with architectural and budgetary limitations. For obvious reasons, nobody expects contractors or business owners to be well versed in sound systems’ and speakers’ technical aspects and placement in various spaces. Sweetwater will take the initiative to create the right spatial audio atmosphere for any public place.

Spatial audio has introduced a new vision of how music is formulated, created, and broadcasted. As a result of this evolution, the general perception of music is also gradually shifting. Demand for this format continues to grow, leading to inevitable implications for the music industry and the broader retail side.

About Sweetwater

From a recording studio to the first online retailer of commercial audio in the US, Sweetwater has made the journey deeply rooted in professional music. Having gone through the discovery of spatial audio and the testing and setting up of new equipment, Sweetwater has gained extensive experience of spatial audio, and how it will impact the industry. One of the first steps that should be taken is picking up the right hardware for listening to audio. That focus will vastly impact the creative process in a studio — and amplify the final listener experience.

With the capability of setting up sound systems in recording studios, hair salons, and even Olympic stadiums, Sweetwater is here to support upgrades and developments. Recording arts is a job in itself; yours is music!

Photo Credit: Toa Heftiba

Sonos has disclosed a 7% reduction in its workforce in the latest layoff round to hit a tech company.

Sonos says it is also committing to further reducing its real estate footprint and re-evaluating its program spending. The layoffs and decisions regarding who is impacted are subject to local laws and consultation requirements. In a regulatory filing shared with Digital Music News this morning, Sonos says it is committed to right-sizing its cost basis while still investing in its product roadmap to help drive future growth.

Sonos further estimates that it will incur anywhere from $11 million to $14 million in restructuring costs and related charges. Around $9 million to $11 million of that will be related to employee severance and benefits. Most of these costs will be incurred during the third fiscal quarter, as revealed by the company’s SEC filing.

The 7% of workforce impacted translates to about 130 employees. “In the face of continued headwinds, we have had to make some hard choices, including eliminating some positions and re-evaluating program spend,” Sonos CEO Patrick Spence told employees. Sonos employed around 1,844 people in October 2022. It previously cut its headcount by 12% in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sonos successfully litigated a patent infringement suit against Google, winning $32.5 million in its smart speaker patent battle. That legal battle started in 2020 when Sonos accused Google of copying its technology after a partnership between the two companies was established in 2013. As a result of that case, Google was required to change how some features work on its own lineup of Nest smart speakers and displays.

“This is a narrow dispute about some very specific features that are not commonly used,” a Google spokesperson Peter Schottenfels said in a statement about that verdict. “Of the six patents Sonos originally asserted, only one was found to be infringed, and the rest were dismissed as invalid or not infringed. We have always developed on the merit of our ideas. We are considering our next steps.”

Photo Credit: Apple

Apple unveiled its Vision Pro headset with a $3,499 price tag. The experimental tech is ushering in what Apple calls the era of spatial computing.

During its WWDC 2023 conference, Apple finally gave the world its first peak at its newly announced headset. Now tech journalists are getting their first hands-on experiences with the device. It’s a new category of tech that runs what Apple calls visionOS. Users go through a set up process, scanning their faces and ears to begin using the Vision Pro.

Navigating the new visionOS relies entirely on detecting eye movement, hands, and voice navigation. Tapping your fingers in space on an object selects it, while pinch-to-zoom does exactly what you’d expect. You can open multiple apps and arrange them in the space exactly as you’d expect, though the learning curve for people not familiar with virtual reality controls may be a bit steep.

“Just as the Mac introduced us to personal computing, and the iPhone introduced us to mobile computing, Apple Vision Pro introduces us to spatial computing,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said during the WWDC reveal. “Built upon decades of Apple innovation, Vision Pro is years ahead and unlike anything created before— with a revolutionary new input system and thousands of groundbreaking innovations. It unlocks incredible experiences for our users and exciting new opportunities for our developers.”

The headset features two ultra-high resolution displays that can transform any space into a personal movie theater “with a screen that feels 100 feet wide and an advanced spatial audio system.” Apple Immersive Video offers 180-degree resolution recordings with spatial audio. The headset also features something called EyeSight, which detects when someone is in the room with a person—letting the person wearing the headset see them.

The technology even works for people who need vision correction with ZEISS Optical Inserts to provide eye tracking accuracy. But what about the spatial audio experience?

Apple says it has developed an advanced spatial audio system that creates the feeling of sounds coming from the environment around the user to match the sound in the space. Two individually amplified drivers inside each audio pod deliver the personalized spatial audio experience based on the user’s own head and unique ear geometry, using an iPhone to create the ear scans.

Photo Credit: Humble Bundle

Soundtrack Loops produces royalty-free samples, loops, and music for films, creative artists, beat makers, producers, DJs, and music lovers. The company recently announced a charitable partnership with Cherry Audio to create a donation-focused ‘Humble Bundle’.

Proceeds from the sale of ‘Level Up Music Creators Power Pack’ will go to Music Will (formerly called ‘Kids Who Rock’).

Music Will runs the largest non-profit music program in the U.S. public school system, providing instruction, instruments, and professional training to K-12 and collegiate educators. The platform brings musical instruments and lessons to children that are less fortunate or might not have access to the critical learning tools. Its teachers currently serve over 500,000 students in more than 600 cities and towns across the country.

Soundtrack Loops’ cofounder Jason Donnelly revealed how the partnership developed with Cherry Audio’s Dan Goldstein. Speaking to Digital Music News, Donnelly said, “Together, we made it possible to provide Music Will an outlet to raise funds. It has been inspiring to see where the money is going, and how talented these kids are.”

Cherry Audio offers an extensive catalog of virtual instruments that are inspired by classic synthesizers, with high-end features that suit demanding music productions.

Speaking about Cherry Audio, cofounder of Soundtrack Loops Matthew Yost revealed, “Cherry Audio’s original synth plugin is highly coveted by music producers.” According to Yost, the synth is popular because of its ability to execute a retro or vintage synth that can sound extremely modern.

According to Humble Bundle, ‘Level Up Music Creators Power Pack’ has already raised over $10,000 for Music Will. Level Up is only available until April 26th.

For as little as a dollar, Level Up brings sample sound packs with thousands of loops, a software synth, a software euro rack synth, and Cherry Audio plugins. For $25 or more, buyers can get the complete music production suite with pro-level DAW, virtual synths and instruments, SFX, and over 15,000 loops and samples from soundtrack loops.

The music production suite also includes Cherry Audio’s Mixcraft Recording Studio to record and mix tracks, Memory Mode synthesizer, PS-20 synthesizer, CA2600, Galactic Reverb, and Voltage Modular Ignite.

Producers get access to loops, vocals, one-shots, and MIDI for a variety of genres, types, styles and formats. They can also select their desired format before downloading, and opt for a 9-item bundle, 22-item bundle, or the top-tier 47-item bundle.

This isn’t the first time Soundtrack Loops has formed a charitable partnership for Humble Bundle, and Yost divulges the secret behind keeping sound packs interesting.

“Every time we’ve had these Humble Bundles for charity, we are always adding new stuff, we’re not regurgitating the same old content. The Level Up Humble Bundle contains state-of-the-art, high-definition sound packs, and is everything producers need for original music productions.”

If you’re planning to attend NAMM, Jason and Matty from Soundtrack Loops will be privately showing off their new VST, Double Scoop. They can be reached at jasond@soundtrackloops.com and matty@soundtrackloops.com.

Sound Credit CEO Gebre Waddell pictured at the 65th Grammy Awards, where he announced a $30 million advance facility for North American users’ neighboring rights royalties

Sound Credit’s Version 6 brings decentralized architecture, enhanced collaboration tools, AI-powered data enrichment, improved contract and catalog management, expanded export options, and many other features. Their goal: capture more metadata at the source, connect more artists with lost royalties, and help record labels, publishers, administrators, and indies accurately register for royalties.

Among the many dark sides of digital music distribution is the mountain of metadata that’s frequently left behind. Music files are unaccompanied by proper metadata and credits information during the creation process. With general-purpose file transfer services such as Dropbox, WeTransfer, and Google Drive lacking essential metadata recording fields within their collaboration tools, artists and studios often fail to accurately record metadata at the source.

Due to this missing focus on metadata infrastructure, the already enormous pile of lost and missing credits keeps getting bigger.

To say that this discrepancy in metadata is costly would be an understatement. The music industry estimates that over $1.4 billion of unclaimed royalties are left on the table every single year. As we’ve covered in depth, this broken metadata management system also distorts streaming data, robbing artists of crucial opportunities they could have received with proper crediting for their work.

In that soup, Sound Credit’s Version 6 is decentralizing the ingestion process, combining file transfer capabilities with metadata collection on the cloud.

Sound Credit says it has developed over 200 integrations with various supply chain points, and registers relevant information with royalty payment systems in real-time. The company partnered with DMN to give the music industry a comprehensive look at their latest Version 6 release.

The update allows more metadata to be captured from anywhere and at any time — from the moment content is recorded, and through every phase of production that follows. All the collected metadata is then aggregated into one central hub.

With a desktop app, mobile app, plug-ins for any DAW workstation, and even a kiosk, Sound Credit encourages contributors to enter credits before, during, or after a studio session.

The goal is to connect musicians with royalties by allowing easier access across apps, kiosks, and desktops. According to the company, all of these modalities can now ‘talk to one another,’ akin to a ‘Google Docs for Metadata’ or a ‘Dropbox for file storage and sharing’ — albeit with considerably more polished and specialized collaboration capability.

Sound Credit’s Workstation Plug-In collects credits immediately in the recording process.

With this decentralized cloud-based architecture, Sound Credit joins an ongoing mission to collect metadata at the place of origin — so it doesn’t get tangled later on. Placing everything on the cloud removes the possibility of inaccurate metadata entry. It also reduces the chances of that data remaining inaccurate for an extended period and mucking up everyone’s downstream payments.

Sound Credit’s founder and CEO, Gebre Waddell, explained that Version 6 emerged after pinpointing crucial problems faced by artists. “This upgrade provides premium features that raise the bar on prevalent standards within the music data landscape,” Waddell says.

Sound Credit’s ongoing mission is to collect metadata at the place of origin — so it doesn’t get tangled later on.

With Version 6, fluid interactions and better collaboration opportunities appear to be taking center stage.

Users can invite people for collaborative metadata entry on a central storage and sharing hub, with all information collected from multiple endpoints and poured into one spot. Waddell touched upon this community aspect surrounding Version 6. “You can invite people and chat with them. You get notifications on your phone and desktop. It brings a sense of community and high flexibility so people can implement Sound Credit their way across a range of devices.”

Unlike general-purpose file transfer services, Sound Credit provides essential metadata recording fields within collaboration tools.

According to Wadell, Sound Credit’s Playlist feature ‘completely shifts the way the music industry transfers files internally within the industry.’ This feature builds the bridge that connects recordings to the metadata behind them.

Uploading a track to a playlist automatically creates a project on the platform, displaying a ‘credit count,’ so users can start adding credits via desktop app or mobile. Everyone with access to the playlist can stream tracks on their app as if they’re on a streaming service, except this service is limited to those with access.

Every track on a playlist displays a ‘credit count,’ so users can start adding credits via desktop app or mobile. Wadell says, “It all happens with virtually no effort, in seconds.”

With a simple switchover to Sound Credit from a DAW, users can upload and immediately have a shareable playlist on their own private streaming service page — one that’s connected to a Sound Credit project. Everyone with access, including engineers, producers, record labels, or anyone else that’s part of the process, can view and update credit information. Any new credit entered will update on the cloud, and all collaborators with access to the music file will receive a notification. In essence, by always transferring with Sound Credit, users receive a gateway to every feature that captures data at the source — one collaborator at a time.

With streamlined uploads and playlist creation, the platform’s AI steps into the mix. AI-powered detection of artists and titles connects recordings to correct projects.

The AI mood detector scans lyrics and other metadata to determine a song’s musical mood, and an explicit content detector flags specific words and contextual references. This AI-powered data enrichment allows precise categorization, delivery of the right music, and accurate metadata.

With ease of access via any device, quick ISRC and GriD code generation, and the ability to export anywhere, Version 6 focuses on expanding metadata associated with music IP.

Sound Credit Version 6 enters the market with a complete core code rewrite that elevates the user interface, now boasting the visual polish of Salesforce and Hubspot — i.e., established multi-billion-dollar SaaS platforms.

According to the company, the platform’s previous versions contained more than 4 million lines of code. That spelled a serious rewrite process of the core Sound Credit code, though Waddell says substantially more collaborators are now using the platform. At present, Sound Credit counts 45,000 total users, with 15,000 active users.

The interface is simple and unfussy, making accurate metadata a matter of drag-and-drop for track reordering. Users can also conveniently view the number of credits entered for any given song.

The update also offers a Catalog Management feature for archiving older files in a ‘vault,’ allowing simplified segmentation to focus on current projects.

Sound Credit’s kiosk prioritizes current projects, placing them in separate ‘buckets’ for various studios and collaborators. Allowing specific access to relevant and involved parties leads to faster exports, assisting the data collection process at one core point of storage.

With expanded exports, Version 6 includes publishing label copy and song registration with ASCAP, BMI, and SOCAN. Sound Credit is also the first platform of its kind to provide split sheets with legally binding e-signatures.

When Version 4 was released in January of 2022, the platform had a patent-pending data hub method that would allow users to export to multiple formats after entering credits. This included union forms, label copy, and lyric sheets. With Version 6, Sound Credit is adding more compliance, contracts, and legal documents to the platform.

That includes producer agreements and side artist releases that help establish clear titles for recordings. There’s also a new, more simplified flow for union form exports — AFM B4, AFM B9, and SAG-AFTRA Session Reports — all of which can be exported directly from Sound Credit.

Sound Credit’s patent-pending export section allows users to Enter Once and Export Everywhere

“Sound Credit is critical for compliance, especially in this environment of all the things happening from the NMPA, the MLC, and numerous other organizations,” Waddell said, adding, “This is reducing liability and downstream workflow, benefitting artists, musicians, and songwriters.”

According to Sound Credit, the company has invested heavily in patents, aiming to further grease the wheels of metadata management and music file transfers.

Newly headquartered in a wholly-owned, historic, early 19th-century building adjacent to the Mississippi River in downtown Memphis, Sound Credit has longstanding partnerships with major music labels and publishers like Warner Music Nashville. Over the years, the company has garnered serious buy-in for its crediting solutions.

The release of Sound Credit’s Version 6 and a greater awareness of metadata appears like a step forward. At the very least, artists, labels, publishers, producers, songwriters, and other IP owners and collaborators have a better shot at getting paid and recognized for their music.

At the 65th Grammy Awards, Sound Credit’s CEO Gebre Waddell announced a partnership with PPL, which will now allow Sound Credit’s North American users to collect neighboring rights royalties. PPL represents over 100,000 performers and record labels, including John Legend, Anderson .Paak, and Rita Ora.

The Aeros Loop Studio is a Swiss Army knife of music-making utility that helped me jumpstart my creativity. Here’s a peek at how this looper gave me the ‘kick in the pants’ I didn’t know I needed.

I recently had a plateau-breaking burst of creativity in my music-making journey. For the first time in over a decade, I’m earnestly writing songs again. So what helped me return to playing with a new, purpose-driven enthusiasm that I was sorely missing? The Aeros Loop Studio by Singular Sound. The company provided the looper to DMN for us to run it through its paces and it has not failed to impress. 

I previously tried simple loopers like the Ditto pedal. I found I couldn’t get much use out of these more limited devices, which I falsely thought represented every looper at my skill level. What a wrong assumption that was and one I was happy to have corrected.

It’s unfortunate that I let my first bad experience with a device turn me off to the idea of looping. Now that I’ve experienced the Aeros Loop Studio, I realize what I was missing out on. 

This looper lets one person be the whole band. A user can have six simultaneous layers of sound (with two layers) and multiple song parts. With expandable storage, you can save everything you make, including your sketches, in-progress ideas, or your final recording. Then it’s a cinch to jump back in any time and use the loops you’ve made in a live setting or pop the SD card out and drag the files into the DAW of your choice.

In reviewing the device for Digital Music News, I’ve found many ways the Aeros Loop Studio adds to my flow. Using a DAW has always been a frustrating and fruitless experience for me. I’ve stared at StudioOne’s settings for hours and couldn’t figure out how to get it to use my I/O inputs. Beyond something simple like GarageBand—they’re just too complicated for me to figure out. 

Even with Garageband, it’s hard to make it sound good just by recording my instruments by plugging them into my Audient interface. All the layers and sounds clash, regardless of my adjustments or what virtual amp is used (or absent). Alternatively, recording by micing my amps is an option–if I owned microphones and could place them optimally. The audio set-up and teardown isn’t in my wheelhouse, which contributes to being unmotivated to record. 

I’d rather be playing guitar and bass, listening to the tones I enjoy. So how do I take what I can do and turn it into any type of recording I need? With the Aeros Loop Studio, of course. 

The Aeros has two ¼ inputs and two corresponding ¼ outputs. I can hook up the Aeros’ inputs to two separate instruments simultaneously with this setup. That means I can play a bass line, then pick up my guitar and play some guitar over it. When I do this through the Aeros Loop Studio, I can prevent the sounds from clashing and get a great-sounding mix of what I’ve recorded into the loop. I also love that I can easily adjust individual track volumes using only the Aeros’ interface. 

Beats have always intimidated me. Being DAW illiterate, this was a hurdle I knew that I would face if I wanted to be the ‘one person band’ that I envisioned. I would love to find a low-cost drum machine with a next-to-no learning curve that fits my needs, but I still needed some kind of beat–and I don’t have a beat machine. Easy solution? I went to soundtrackloops.com to buy three packs of beats and samples. I cannot recommend them enough, and DMN is happy to be working with them. 

Before I had the Aeros, I didn’t have the motivation to tackle this. It always seemed like an intimidating thing that I would get to ‘eventually.’ The Aeros Loop Studio made that day come. 

The inspiration has continued beyond beats. The Aeros even motivated me enough to finally reach my goal of starting to incorporate synth into my songs! Arturia kindly gave me a license to Analog Lab V—and I highly recommend it. I’ve been layering in simple arpeggios I made using the tool. 

The biggest change the Aeros has brought is my enthusiasm for writing music. I no longer feel like there is this huge barrier to me making music, even casually. If I like something I make in the Aeros, I can easily pop the SD card into my computer and drag and drop my projects into Garageband (or any other DAW) and continue to edit it from there.

Once I started using the Aeros Loop Studio, it only took me about three weeks to get myself acquainted with and familiar with it. Most of that time can honestly be attributed to only having time to play on the weekends. Multiple times I’ve tried to give myself the kick in the pants I need to create music.

I’ve bought audio interfaces, new instruments and effects, tried to learn music theory—none of these were the solution I needed. After using a high-end looper like the Aeros, I’ve been able to break through my decades-long creativity plateau. The Aeros has encouraged me to actively try to ‘make music’ again instead of aimlessly venturing between jam session to jam session for over a decade. 

Who could benefit from the Aeros Loop Studio? Songwriters who want to sketch out ideas. Producers and production music houses that want to play around with ideas. Music hobbyists, DJs, and anyone who wants to be a one-person band will find this utility an indispensable part of their workflow.

The Aeros is $629; here is a link to the Singular Sound store to buy one!

Photo Credit: Sweetwater

Ready to take your home setup to the next level as a content creator? Whether you’re writing music, streaming video games, or making videos–Sweetwater has the gear content creators need to take their production quality to the next level.

The following was created in collaboration with Sweetwater, a company DMN is proud to be partnered with.

Sweetwater has become the number one choice for many musicians and audio creatives for instruments and pro audio equipment. But the company also carries an amazing selection of cameras, lighting, and software to help you create better content for your viewers. Even if you haven’t recorded your first episode or track yet–this resource should help you get started.

Ready to Podcast? – Here’s What You Need

Podcasts have quickly replaced terrestrial radio programs for many people. The ease of creating a podcast is just one aspect of that–maintaining a successful podcast means having the right gear. A simple podcasting setup will include a microphone to capture voice, an interface to get audio to and from the computer, podcast software, and headphones.

The microphone is the first big step and beginners are often served well with Sweewater’s variety of USB microphones. It eliminates the need for extra gear since the microphone connects directly to a laptop or desktop. For more experienced podcasters, a real broadcast mic paired with a modern interface ups your game to professional overnight. 

A great basic beginner podcast microphone is the Blue Microphones Yeti USB microphone. It boasts four selectable polar patterns to give you flexibility to record in any environment. The figure 8 pattern allows podcasters to capture themselves and their guests with one microphone. 

Prefer Livestreaming? – You’ll Need Plenty of Light

Livestreaming has become the go-to way many music creatives support themselves online when they’re unable to tour or perform  live. The right setup for capturing both your sound and video becomes imperative for successful livestreams. No one wants to stick around if your sound is wonky and the video is choppy or buffering. 

Even if you’ve never streamed a day in your life, Sweetwater has plenty of gear that will help you get started. Logitech’s StreamCam Plus is a great entry webcam that offers 1080p capture at 60fps, making it a fantastic choice for live performances. It also features intelligent facial tracking, so you can stay centered while streaming on platforms like Twitch, TikTok, and Facebook. For those who need something while on the go, the GoPro HERO 10 and HERO11 waterproof action cameras are great choices.

Need to set up your own soundproof booth to help you record your livestream or podcast? Don’t worry, Sweetwater has you covered there, too. From acoustic room kits to proper lighting—you can elevate your home studio to professional quality with the help of Sweetwater specialists. 

Making Video Content for YouTube and TikTok?

Creating engaging content for your online audience means making every shot count. Leveling up your video production can help you reach new audiences you never thought possible for your next YouTube or TikTok video. Establishing a video brand online is hard work because videos must be compelling and shot well—not easy without the right gear. 

No matter your experience level, Sweetwater’s in-house video experts are available to help you get your production started. They can also help identify any pain points you’re experiencing in audio and video editing–or help you replace an older piece of equipment with something that will boost your production quality. 

So whether you’re a podcaster, musician, Twitch gamer, or someone who loves making videos about music history for other music nerds on YouTube, remember this—Sweetwater has you covered. Have questions? Ask Sweetwater. 

Photo Credit: Screen Post

A new update for Pixel smartphones finally brings spatial audio support to a limited number of devices. Namely, the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 series now supports the new feature–older Pixel devices are out of luck.

Spatial audio works to simulate a 3D soundstage in which users feel as if sounds are positioned around them. It’s a feature Apple beat big on with the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max–and which Google has struggled to implement for its own ecosystem until now. Google has been playing with spatial audio support for Android since the Android 13 beta, introduced in September 2022. 

Which Google Pixel phones support spatial audio?

In an update introduced in January 2023, Google finally made spatial audio support available for these devices:

• Pixel 6
• Pixel 6 Pro
• Pixel 7
• Pixel 7 Pro

Users with these devices can now experience spatial audio with apps like Netflix, YouTube, Google TV, and HBOMax. As long as the source material has a 5.1 or higher audio track attached and the user has headphones or earbuds to experience the spatial audio on offer. 

Google has been working hard to refresh its seamless media player experience with more recent versions of Android. The company says it is working closely with Spotify to enable users to easily switch playback between any Spotify Connect device from the Android media player.

Google is also working on a system of notifications to allow audio to seamlessly follow a user throughout their day. “You’ll be able to tap to start listening to a podcast in the car, continue on your phone and headphones and finish on your TV at home,” Google says. “As you move your physical location, you’ll see media notifications on your phone or other devices asking if you’d like to transfer the audio over to a nearby device.” These ‘new’ features are the result of a lawsuit that Sonos won, forcing Google to rethink how its media experience works on its connected devices.

Image: https://pixabay.com/photos/christmas-gift-new-year-holidays-3015776/

As we close out 2022, I wanted to share a handful of items that I personally got some enjoyment out of. We’re cutting it close on timing for this to be relevant, but a late gift is still a nice gesture. So, if you know someone who loves music or makes music, I hope this gift guide helps readers find some great ideas for people they care about.

Disclaimer: Some of these items (individually disclosed below) were provided at no cost in exchange for editorial coverage. I don’t care if you buy any of these or not, which is why you won’t find any affiliate links in this article. 

1) Yamaha TT-S303 Turntable (provided for this gift guide)

Vinyl is a fantastic way to enjoy music. Collecting records is fun, and the top royalty-generating way to listen to music. Holding something and appreciating the art it comes with provides a different, more intimate experience than digital streaming. 

Sonically, depending on the source material, many (including me) will tell you that the fidelity is unmatched on vinyl. I think that at around $500 — give or take $50 — this is a good option. 

It’s similar to Pro-Ject models within the same price range, but includes a more user-friendly tone arm with anti-skirt technology. This model also includes a built-in phono amp and speed adjustment from 33 to 45 RPM. That makes this a simpler standalone unit than the Pro-Ject I had previously been using, which required external phono and speed control. I like that. 

There is a downside. Yamaha’s Turntable comes equipped with a Moving Magnet (MM) cartridge and a built-in phono. I personally use a moving coil cartridge. Without getting in the weeds of it, the moving coil is a better type of cartridge, but it requires a setting to be adjusted on the phono amp. If you have an external phono, that’s easy to do. But, as far as I can tell from hours of research, it’s not possible on the Yamaha TT-S303. 

There may be moving coil cartridges that are compatible, but mine (Dennon DL-110) isn’t. 

I would consider this to be a solid beginner turntable, or even an upgrade for someone who may have purchased a lower cost turntable and wants something more serious. However, if your giftee might eventually get more into the hobby, I would get a Pro-Ject instead for the upgradability. 

2) Rock And Roll Warrior — a book by David Libert  (provided for review)

David Libert is an industry gem who has been active in the music industry since the mid-1960s. Scoring big with the hit “See You In September” with his group, The Happenings, he found himself taking on more and more of the business responsibilities of the band after the initial success from the hit had calmed down. This inspired his decades-long career of working with some of music’s most notable artists. 

David’s goofy sense of humor is on display in every page of the book. It’s one of the most ‘fun’ autobiographical books I have read, and I consider it a ‘must’ for anyone who works with talent, tours, or simply wants to know more about the inner workings of the music industry. 

3) Fender Fat Finger

I recently came across this little guitar gadget on Sweetwater, and I had to try it out. It’s a very simple gift, it makes for a great Hanukkah present (or stocking stuffer for the snowflakes who feel that every celebration in late December should be called ‘Christmas’). 

For only around $20, this makes a great gift for anyone who plays guitar or bass. The device claims to increase sustain. I noticed it to some extent, but the really nice thing about this is that sometimes, you just need an inexpensive gift for musicians. This is the perfect thing to get for someone who plays guitar or bass, particularly if you don’t know what to get for them. If nothing else, it’s unlikely that they already have one.

4) Little Korg synths

These are more or less toys for music makers, or people who want to start experimenting with making music and sounds. They (like the last entry) are relatively inexpensive (around $50) and provide ongoing fun. I have a couple that I keep in a desk drawer and bust out 1-2 times per month to play around with for 20ish minutes. There are sure to be people who get more enjoyment than that, but as someone who does not play keyboard, piano, or synth, I get a great deal of enjoyment out of these. 

5) Inside by Bo Burnam

Bo Burnam’s Inside is a special on Netflix. It’s also a contender for my favorite piece of media (including music, movies, and games) of the new millennium. 

Bo is able to take deep societal issues and communicate them in ways that nearly anyone can understand. He addresses how emotions are monetized and how this is psychologically impacting us as a species. I don’t want to spoil it too much, though I think that everyone should watch the special. However, the gift I am recommending is the vinyl record. Preferably ‘Inside – Deluxe’ which includes fantastic outtakes such as Bezos 3 and Bezos 4, and 1985. 

Here is a preview of what you are in for: 

If your giftee is not into vinyl, just hop on to Netflix and watch Inside together. Time together, appreciating great things, that is a gift in itself. 

7) Snark rechargeable

If you know a stringed instrument player, they probably have one or more of these. But, now they make them with rechargeable batteries. It’s a great ‘small gift’ that any string player will appreciate. 

6) Yamaha — Home Theater in a Box System YHT-5960U (provided for this gift guide)

Home Theater in a Box is a product type that has become increasingly hard to find. So a quality offering from Yamaha is a welcome addition — especially in our modern age of 3D mixed audio and more immersive sound design. 

This system is powerful for the price, thanks largely to the very nice amplifier that comes with the set. However, it does lack Atmos. So people who are really going for the latest in 23 audio may want to go a different direction. But, for people who will be happy with 5.1 (which I think is most people in a home theater setup), this is a good pick at a good price.  

Something I used to bely about HTIBs was the sub-par (often proprietary) amplifiers. These would be designed with proprietary ports and other inconveniences that prevented them from myriad use cases. For example, I may buy a HTIB and years later want to upgrade the speakers or just the amp. If the speaker ports are all proprietary, I cannot do that.  

With this system, you get an amp/receiver that will connect to anything and everything you need. It also uses traditional speaker wire. 

The sound quality is pretty good. It may not produce the same fidelity for stereo music that you would get from a nice 2-channel (or 2.1 system), but it does sound great for the price (around $700).

Something to note is that the amp when sold by itself is close to $600. So if you have any desire for 5.1 surround sound, I think that the HTIB provides a great value. 

7) Soul Asylum, Grave Dancers Union (30th anniversary)

A great Minneapolis rock album, Soul Asylum’s Grave Dancers Union is a fantastic album. It includes “Runaway Train”, which won the Grammy for Best Rock Song in 1994. It’s a great album, and a ‘must’ for alternative rock fans. 

Furthermore, this is a fantastic remastering! As someone who has been listening to this for most of my life (“Runaway Train” was the first song I knew all the words to) these songs have never felt so alive and textured. The soundstage has a great deal more depth compared to other versions I’ve heard, and the separation between the instruments allows every element to have individual clarity and vibrance. 

There are only 5,000 copies of this pressed to black-and-gold marbled vinyl (very clever). With how highly regarded this album is, it’s sure to be a valued collectors item for some. I myself bought two copies so I could listen to one and preserve the other. 

That’s all I have for you. I hope that this gift guide helps you find something special for that someone special in your life that either makes music, or loves music.

pCloud is targeting serious music clientele with collaboration, encryption, and metadata. The company is introducing unique features like a native music player, previous file-version access/reverting, metadata recording, DAW compatibility, and ease of use with Splice — alongside other differentiators.

This Black Friday, pCloud is also offering 85% off all Premium Lifetime Plans. Users can access all of pCloud’s most exclusive features and gain insane amounts of storage — for a one-time payment that lasts a lifetime.

pCloud is a securely-encrypted virtual drive that allows users to access, synchronize, and store all types of files on the cloud. With extensive storage space that matches the likes of Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and other cloud-based storage platforms, pCloud is now making notable moves to stand out as a critical tool for the music industry.

With encryption and protection for crucial, high-value music files and an extensive list of collaboration tools, pCloud has gained a footing amongst the existing cloud-based mega-platforms. The platform aims to disrupt the cloud market share for musicians by providing critical secure storage solutions to the music industry. Now, pCloud is partnering with DMN to expand its footprint further.

Music industry-specific features are opening up new avenues of file management, metadata recording, collaboration, and access to music files. Among its music-specific features, pCloud’s Native Audio Player for all devices allows users to listen to albums, playlists, and enjoy playback shuffle alongside other integral features. With a built-in video player, users can also indulge in video streaming with no limits on file size and speed. 

No matter your industry, losing files costs time, money, and other resources. When we talk about the music industry, those files come with excruciatingly high price tags, sometimes worth millions of dollars (if a price tag can be placed on lost, stolen, or leaked music). These require seamlessly-encrypted security — and nothing less will do.

With its music-industry-specific storage and foolproof security, pCloud is going for ‘Dropbox killer’ status. With TLS/SSL channel protection and 256-bit AES encryption for all files, users can be assured of five copies of every file living on different servers. The music-centric segment of pCloud is custom-built for teams to come together for seamless file management across platforms and DAWs, with the option to purchase an extra layer of protection from pCloud—if needed.

pCloud’s file sharing and collaboration tools include the ability to customize shared links, branding them for more elite exposure and value. Users can also apply expiration dates, password protection, and more.

The ‘invite to folder’ feature unlocks the ability to modify properties of shared links after considerable time has elapsed, and also terminate links whenever needed. With statistics tracking on every shared link, users can keep tabs on crucial data, including the number of times a file is downloaded or how much traffic it receives.

The SYNC feature connects local and cloud folders in a two-way, mirrored fashion. Any changes performed in one place are automatically applied to the other one. 

In this way, two sound engineers or artists can work on the same project simultaneously, from across continents, and achieve the same collaboration efficiency as they would if they were seated side by side — in the same studio.

The platform allows automatic upload of critical files from any device and HDD extension through pCloud drive. Users can also choose selective offline access to modify files while auto-syncing across multiple devices. This creates a hub of storage to house all relevant file versions, metadata, and information needed for track production.

pCloud also expedites metadata detection of artists, albums, composers’ names, songs, producers, and other identifying information. Id3 v1. tags are currently supported, and pCloud has confirmed that extensive upgrades will be released soon.

Most professional sound designers, beatmakers, and producers report needing more than 1 TB of storage space to effectively manage and maintain their projects, DAW plugins, extensions, and sound effects.

Accordingly, pCloud has introduced ‘lifetime plans’ with a one-time payment. Users can upgrade to up to 12 TB of lifetime space — with 16 million subscribers already tapping an elaborate list of features and functions.

pCloud’s free account from their dedicated music page presents users with 500 GB of storage for three months. Premium plans start at $199 for 2 TB of storage, the second tier at $399 for 4 TBs of securely-encrypted storage, and the highest tier unlocking 12 TB of total storage with a $1,190 price tag. All plans can be availed with pCloud’s signature one-time payment, valid for the user’s lifetime.

pCloud Marketing Specialist Rafael Pashamov emphasized the platform’s unique DAW compatibility, saying, ‘We have designed pCloud to be able to work effortlessly with any DAW. Since pCloud Drive functions as a Virtual Drive, it acts with no difference than any other Drive on your Device with Any DAW.’

pCloud’s highly-developed file-versioning allows restoration of lost versions or previous instances. It’s also applicable to all kinds of files. With automatic upload on mobiles, an intuitive tool saves phone storage by making everything accessible on any connected device. The platform also integrates seamlessly on any OS, while preserving folder structures online.

Company reps reference pCloud’s unique ‘Rewind’ feature as ‘like using a time machine.’ ‘Rewind’ is applicable on all free and premium plans, allowing users to set specific date/time stamps, so they can revert to them for later use. 

Elevating ‘Rewind’ is a paid upgrade ‘Extended File History’ or EFH. This allows users to reach up to a year back in time and fetch older versions.

Having easy access to an entire library of projects and components streamlines project execution in the music industry. This feature is being appreciated by users and is being called a ‘huge advantage.’ Users can easily pull any relevant file from pCloud with their folder structure, drag and drop components onto the track, and create their latest hits.

The platform also works with any DAW when using pCloud. Organizing files for music is especially important; by gathering and managing instrument files, drum kits, sound samples, and loops, pCloud has quickly become the go-to for music industry professionals.

pCloud is also sorting the longstanding nuisance of lost Splice samples. Although extensively used by composers and music managers, reusing these samples sometimes requires redownload and repayment. With pCloud, all acquired Splice samples are stored for later use.

Pashamov confirmed that ‘users can effortlessly use all samples and sounds they collect from Splice — which is used by EVERY producer. The sheer convenience of organizing your project files and beat components into sound libraries of drums, kicks, hi-hats, snares, 808, etc., pulling the pCloud Drive from the DAW itself is highly impactful.’

More than just a critical piece of tech for music management and storage, pCloud features also ensure seamless management for other documents, files, and photos.

Users can allow offline access across all devices using their pCloud account. The file gets cached with an encrypted-sharing concept, preserving it to become available to listen to, open, and modify. With encryption features that company reps call ‘the best on the market,’ pCloud also brings a crypto folder to protect the most sensitive and valuable data. Subscribers can also commandeer autonomy to choose the data center, USA vs. EU.

One of the biggest highlights of the platform? pCloud owns the data centers and servers housing the users’ files on the cloud, which means no third-party makes any connection with user files. Unlike other cloud-based storage platforms, the user’s encryption key is stored on the user’s device, blocking access for pCloud employees.

Musical content creators may also appreciate human support, often missing on bigger platforms. pCloud says they connect users to real people for 24/7 technical support. Every request and query is responded to and resolved within a few minutes of initiation—with a maximum recorded request-resolve time of 48 hours.

Photo Credit: Jerin John

After a firmware update, several Apple AirPods Pro 2 users are complaining about audio sync and drifting issues. Here’s what we know. 

The audio drifting issue being described is one where the sound shifts between the two earbuds, either from L to R or vice versa. The audio moves back and forth between the two earbuds, even when spatial audio and dynamic head tracking features are turned off. In a reddit post from two weeks ago, one user says this is their second pair of AirPods Pro 2 to experience the issue.

“This is my second pair of AirPods Pro 2 and the audio still seems to shift/drift all over the place, sometimes it can compress the volume of a song and then randomly raise the volume. Can anyone explain why this is happening could it be a software issue or a hardware issue?” the user asks the r/AirPods community. 

“I actually exchanged my AirPods Pro 2, to see if it was a hardware issue with that pair, but I get the same issues with the new pair,” another user commented. 

Another user responded to the same thread and says the issue seems to be with noise canceling. “Noise cancelling or Adaptive Technology results in weird shifting of the sound stage and random volume changes in some frequency ranges. Some tracks are impacted far more than other tracks and there seems to be some dependency on external conditions,” another user says. 

While there seem to be plenty of people experiencing this issue, Apple has yet to acknowledge it publicly. Some people on social media who are discussing it say Apple representatives they’ve spoken to about it say this is the first they hear of any problems. Right now, it’s unclear whether this issue is a software or a hardware flaw. It’s not one that’s incredibly widespread, since only a few people are talking about it on social media.

Photo Credit: Bence Boros

Google is working on a royalty-free open media format to rival Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision.

The internal plans, called Project Caviar, were shown to specific hardware manufacturers earlier this year, according to a report from Protocol. Google’s presentation called the project a way to build a “healthier, broader ecosystem” for premium media experiences. As it stands, anyone who uses Dolby’s formats must pay a licensing fee to do so. 

YouTube is the primary focus for introducing a competing standard with Dolby. The largest video platform in the world does not currently support Dolby Atmos or Dolby Vision. Google’s efforts in the video realm have been primarily focused on codecs. It helped to found the Alliance for Open Media, which oversees the royalty-free AV1 video codec. 

Protocol reports that Project Caviar is different than Google’s past audio projects because it’s not a codec. It focuses on 3D audio and HDR video formats that use existing codecs but offers a “rich and immersive media playback experience.” The clear aim is to give YouTube creators access to Dolby Atmos-like experiences without the need to pay Dolby’s licensing fees.

Dolby makes most of its money through licensing with hardware manufacturers. Dolby Vision nets upwards of $3 per TV produced with the technology. We don’t know what Dolby charges hardware manufacturers to license its Dolby Atmos tech because the company hasn’t publicly disclosed it. But Xbox owners who want to experience Dolby Atmos on their console pay a $15 license per console to do so.

Google and many other companies under the Alliance for Open Media are also seeking an alternative to Dolby Atmos. Members include Amazon, Netflix, Meta, and Samsung, among other smaller companies. The consortium is currently working on a new audio format called Immersive Audio Container–meant to deliver a 3D audio experience with existing open codecs. Apple has thrown its support behind Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos–so is a format war at hand?

Photo Credit: Tim Foster

The next high-end Sonos speaker is code-named ‘Optimo 2’ and will play sound in nearly all directions.

Sonos is working on a new high-end flagship speaker, code-named “Optimo 2,” as the company shifts its focus back to upscale audio devices. The Verge described early work-in-progress images of Optimo 2 as showing a substantial departure from Sonos’ existing product lines. The new device is taking a position to be the best-sounding speaker the company has produced — quite a lofty claim, even for Sonos.

Unlike the Sonos One, Five, Arc, Beam, and Roam, the Optimo 2 is encased in a “funky, dual-angled shell,” with an array of drivers that project in different directions. Optimo 2 is said to include twice as much RAM and around eight times more flash memory than any previous Sonos speaker, designed to become an all-purpose go-to speaker for users looking for a one-stop-shop WiFi and Bluetooth speaker.

Optimo 2 will feature automatic sound tuning with built-in microphones to optimize its performance in various settings. The same mics will also support Sonos Voice Control, and the speaker’s array of drivers will allow the Optimo 2 to showcase Dolby Atmos audio. 

The Verge reports that the this speaker is the lead product in a trio of devices in progress, including an Optimo 1 and an Optimo SL, which will not include built-in microphones. Aside from the mics, little is currently known about the differences between the three Optimo devices. Significant updates to Sonos’ software will unlock additional functionality for all Optimo speakers.

It’s still too early to say whether any of the above will change during the Optimo product development. Interestingly, news of the upcoming line follows the delay of Sonos’ Sub Mini until Q1 2023. The company reported turbulent third-quarter earnings earlier in the month, which may account for the delays and Sonos’ shift of focus back to high-end devices.

The company is still locked in its patent battle against Google, which now involves a countersuit from Google over several of its patents.

Photo Credit: Beats

Kim Kardashian announces her partnership with Beats to design new colorways for Beats Fit Pro.

For a partnership that marks Beats’ first time releasing a custom Fit Pro collaboration, Beats x Kim “sits at the intersection of fashion and functionality,” with muted earth tones matching the signature aesthetic of Kim Kardashian. The fashion icon announced the collaboration today after subtly teasing it last fall when she wore a beta version of the earbuds. She explains that she pitched the idea for the partnership to Beats after having her own pairs of earbuds painted to match her wardrobe. 

“I wanted to break away from the idea that headphones have to be colorful to make a statement,” says Kardashian. “This collaboration is special because it allows you to blend in or stand out, and Beats is known for creating products that showcase individuality.”

“Kim brought her signature minimalist style to the first-ever Beats Fit Pro custom headphones,” says Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services. “We’re excited to offer Beats’ most innovative headphones in a whole new, gorgeous color palette to music fans and fashion lovers alike.”

The Beats x Kim collaboration earbuds come in three neutral, matte hues: Moon (light), Dune (medium), and Earth (dark), with a matching case in the same smooth shades. The collaboration will be available starting Tuesday, August 16, online and in stores starting Wednesday, August 17. The earbuds are functionally identical to existing Beats Fit Pro models and will sell for the standard Fit Pro price of $200.

While Kardashian’s partnership with Beats may not be the first flesh-colored earbuds on the market, they might be the best quality. The weight of her name combined with Beats’ own could make these a highly sought-after pair of earbuds for Kardashian fans and Beats enthusiasts alike. Apple has been working hard to make Beats a platform agnostic earbuds brand, too. 

Photo Credit: Akhil Yerabati

AirPods will switch to USB-C charging in 2023 alongside the iPhone 15, according to analysts.

Apple is expected to debut a new model of AirPods later this year, likely the last to feature the lightning cable. “I predict Apple will launch USB-C capable charging cases for all AirPods models in 2023,” says Apple analyst Ming-Chu Kuo. “However, the charging case of the new AirPods Pro 2 launched in 2H22 may still support Lightning.”

The supply chain analyst has been closely monitoring when Apple plans the switch to USB-C charging for its suite of accessories. Back in May, Kuo predicted Apple’s accessories like the Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad, and others would begin using USB-C charging soon. The sooner the iPhone itself makes that transition, the rest of Apple’s accessories will follow. The iPad Pro was the first of Apple’s major hardware to switch to USB-C charging in 2018.

Why switch to USB-C over Lightning charging?

One reason why Apple is making the switch is due to regulation. European regulators are looking at making Apple adopt the common mobile standard, which is now USB-C. USB-C offers transfer speeds of up to 40Gbps, while Lightning only supports 480Mbps. Another area where the two standards are different is power delivery.

USB-C is capable of supporting power delivery of 100W/3A and up to 240W/5A. While Lightning port power delivery caps at 12W/2.4A, which means these cables don’t support fast charging.

European regulators looking at making Apple switch to a universal standard charger means these changes are all but guaranteed. If Apple’s newest model of AirPods release with a lightning charging dock, they may just be dead in the water for consumers who are paying attention. What’s the point of buying an accessory that will be replaced within six months with a new charging standard? The AirPods Max already uses USB-C as the standard, so you’re safe there.

Photo Credit: Freebird / CC by 2.0

Gibson has won a permanent injunction against Dean Guitars for its trademarked guitar shapes. Here’s the latest.

On May 27, 2022, a Texas federal jury found that Armadillo (Dean Guitars) infringed on seven of its trademarks. Those trademarks included electric guitar body designs and headstock designs. Specifically, the Flying V, Explorer, ES, and SG body shapes and the ‘Dove Wing’ headstock design, the ‘Hummingbird’ name, and ‘Moderne’ trademark.

Gibson filed the lawsuit back in 2019 and accused Armadillo of trademark counterfeiting. The lawsuit alleged that the company was trying to mislead consumers into believing guitars manufactured by Dean were affiliated with Gibson. Dean denied those allegations, insisting that it had offered V and Z-shaped guitars since 1976.

Jurors rejected those claims and found in favor of Gibson that its designs were protectable and its trademarks valid.

Now on July 28, the court issued an injunction permanently enjoining Armadillo from the manufacture, advertisement, or sale of its guitars that infringe on Gibson’s ES, SG, Flying V, and Explorer trademarks and the Hummingbird wordmark.

“Gibson is once again very pleased with the outcome after years of simply trying to protect their brand and business through well recognized intellectual property rights, rights that have been Gibson’s for decades. Gibson’s guitar shapes are iconic and are now firmly protected for the past, present, and future.”

Gibson calls the injunction a win for Gibson fans, artists, dealers, and related partners. The company says it can now continue its attention on leveraging its iconic past and investing in future innovations with confidence. Gibson may have only won $4,000 in damages in the original court case, but this injunction means far more for the brand.

Dean will have to go back to the drawing board for some of these designs to prevent them from being in breach of Gibson’s registered trademarks. Kiesel guitars also received a cease and desist letter from Gibson over its Ultra-V model for its similarities to the Flying V trademark. Kiesel also spoke with a guitar enthusiast YouTube channel and mentioned receiving a cease and desist over the company’s CS6 California Single body.

Photo Credit: Daniel Romero

Apple has agreed to settle a lawsuit over a patent dispute with headphone manufacturer Koss.

The lawsuit was filed over Apple’s AirPod earbuds and its Beats headphones back in July 2020. That filing alleges that Koss began the development of a wireless earbud product in the early 2000s. But due to the economic situation post-2008, its true wireless earbuds never saw the light of day for consumers.

“Unfortunately, the economic reality of Koss’s market position did not permit it to bring its Striva-based product vision to the masses. In particular due to events abroad, Koss’s supply chain and customer base were thrown into upheaval in the late-200’s and early 2010’s,” the filing reads.

After Apple’s entry into the true wireless earbuds market with the AirPods, Koss informed the company of several of its patents it was infringing upon. Koss says it first met with Apple concerning patent infringement in 2017 and again four times. The trial for the case was set to begin on Monday, but both companies told the federal court that they had resolved allegations of infringement.

U.S. District Judge Alan Albright dismissed the case with prejudice the same day – meaning it cannot be refiled. Neither Apple nor Koss provided any details about the settlement. Apple isn’t the only competitor Koss went after following the rise of the true wireless earbuds market. Bose and Skullcandy have also been sued by Koss and those cases are now pending in other courts.

According to the 2020 filing, Koss asked for royalties from the sales of AirPods and wireless Beats headphones in the Apple case. Apple’s position was that it did not infringe on any patents held by Koss because those patents were invalid.

The company also filed a counter-suit against in San Francisco courts, alleging the original complaint included confidential information about the licensing negotiations the two companies were engaged in.

The new filing suggests both companies have settled “all matters in controversy between them.”

Photo Credit: Brett Jordan

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) responsible for the wireless standard has announced a new low-energy audio specification.

Bluetooth LE Audio focuses on power efficiency while providing better audio quality. The new spec was first announced in 2020 and it has taken the Bluetooth SIG nearly two years to complete the spec. There are no products available that use the spec yet – but that’s coming in just a few months. The Bluetooth SIG says it expects to see consumer devices with Bluetooth LE Audio implemented by the holiday 2022 season.

“Our members overcame the many challenges placed on them these past few years to complete the largest specification development project in the history of Bluetooth SIG. LE Audio extends the boundaries of what’s possible for the wireless audio market,” says CEO of the Bluetooth SIG Mark Powell.

The new LC3 codec is designed to be a more efficient way to transmit audio via wireless connection. That means higher quality audio than the baseline SBC codec. The Bluetooth SIG claims it will offer slightly better audio quality at less than half the bit rate. A lower bit rate means less power consumption for longer battery life and more listening time.

Bluetooth SIG says that the classic SBC codec usually encodes a 1.5 Mbps audio stream to a 345 Kbps (0.345 Mbps) stream. The Bluetooth LE Audio codec (LC3) can compress the same stream to 160 Kbps (0.160 Mbps) with better audio quality than the SBC codec.

The new LC3 codec is just one of many improvements for the new Bluetooth LE Audio spec. Another new feature is the ability to connect multiple audio devices to a single source in a feature called Auracast.

Auracast will allow you to connect two pairs of headphones to a single phone, or several earbuds to the same TV. Bluetooth SIG says users will be able to search for audio sources like WiFi networks, scan QR codes to connect or use NFC-enabled surfaces for easy connection.

Photo Credit: James Jadotte

The US Customs Service has ruled Google is continuing to violate Sonos’ patents, violating its importation ban imposed by the International Trade Commission (ITC).

“Today, the US Customs Service ruled publicly that Google has been violating the importation ban that the ITC imposed after finding that a host of Google’s products infringe five foundational Sonos home audio patents,” Sonos Chief Legal Officer Eddie Lazarus said in a statement.

“US Customs Service confirmed that Google was flouting the importation ban and continuing to import infringing products in violation of that ban. This finding marks yet another example of Google continuing to misuse our intellectual property and acting in wholesale disregard of the law. We remain committed to defending our IP and will continue to do so on behalf of our own technology and the broader innovation landscape.”

Sonos sued Google for patent infringement back in 2020 after the two worked together on smart speakers. Throughout numerous legal battles in the case, Sonos came out on top. In January 2022, the ITC ruled that Google could no longer import phones, laptops, or speakers because they violate five Sonos patents. Google has continued to import these products for sale in the United States, despite the ITC ban.

Sonos contacted the US Customs Service and asked them to investigate why Google was still importing the devices. In January 2022, Digital Music News reported on a vast array of Google smart hardware losing features that were baked into the ecosystem from day one. A shortlist of Google devices affected include:

• Google Home Mini
• Nest Mini
• Google Home
• Nest Audio
• Home Max
• Home Hub
• Nest Hub
• Nest Hub Max
• Chromecast
• Chromecast Audio
• Nest WiFi Point
• Chromecast Ultra
• Chromecast
• Google TV
• Pixel Smartphones (All Generations)

The US Customs Service report suggests the updates were made to avoid violating Sonos patents. But the report also finds that some or all of the devices infringe on at least two Sonos patents.

“To avoid further importation exclusions, Google must either further degrade its customer experience or pursue a fair licensing agreement with Sonos,” a Sonos representative told Paul Thurrott. So Google has refused to license Sonos’ patents, and the Android smart speaker ecosystem may be looking at further degradation if it doesn’t license those patents soon.

Photo Credit: Alvaro Reyes

YouTube Music recommendations are now sliding into Android 12 quick settings. Here’s how the feature works.

First spotted by 9to5Google, the recommendations appear when a user connects an audio device like headphones or a Bluetooth speaker. The YouTube Music icon appears along with three recently played tracks, albums, or playlists.

The new feature intends to make YouTube Music analogous to Android devices – especially Google’s Pixel series. Samsung has already teamed with Spotify for its default music streaming service; a significant get for Spotify. Samsung commands around 24% market share of the Android-only ecosystem.

YouTube Music recommendations are appearing consistently after connecting headphones on Android 12 devices. Some Spotify users are even reporting seeing them, so they’re not limited to just Google’s ecosystem. The design of the recommendations notification appears similar to the ‘Listen Again’ shelf from Google Assistant.

Don’t like the new YouTube Music recommendations on Android 12? Here’s how to disable them.

You can stop these new notifications from appearing on your device by following these easy steps.

1. Open the ‘Settings‘ app and tap ‘Sound & Vibration.’
2. Scroll to the ‘Media’ section and toggle off ‘Show media recommendations.’

These YouTube Music recommendations should no longer appear as a quick setting on your device. If you want to re-enable them at any time, you’ll need to toggle the feature on again.

Google is having to rethink the way it deals with speaker connections after a legal dispute with Sonos. Sonos sued Google over patent infringement, alleging the giant stole its patent multi-room speaker tech for its own Chromecast devices.

To comply with an ITC ruling, Google has already made changes to its smart speakers. Users must adjust speaker volume individually now instead of by group. Users also lost the ability to change volume by using the phone’s physical volume button. Casting functions were also affected on non-Google smart devices with Chromecast built-in, such as those by Lenovo and JBL.

Photo Credit: Sonos Customer Twitter

A Sonos shipping glitch has sent more merchandise than people ordered to their doors – and charged them for it.

Sonos is providing refunds to users who want one, as long as they return the merchandise. According to a report from The Verge, several people are impacted. One person who ordered a single Sonos Move received three to their address. Another user said they were charged over $2,000 after ordering a Move speaker and receiving seven of them. Sonos told those impacted they had ten days to return the merchandise to receive a refund.

“A recent update to our systems resulted in some orders being processed multiple times,” an email to an impacted customer reads. “Unfortunately, you were affected by this error and have been overcharged. You will also receive multiple shipments of your order.”

“I want to personally apologize for the inconvenience this has caused. You will receive a full refund for any excess orders and should see the credit issued to your account within 10 business days. You will also receive pre-paid return labels for any excess orders.”

One customer impacted ordered a Sonos Turntable Set, Arc soundbar, Arc wall mount, One speaker, and a Roam speaker. Sonos sent him six of every item, or about 30 shipments and about $15,000 of speakers sent due to the Sonos shipping glitch.

The Verge reports that this customer is also getting charged for those extra items. Sonos provided free return labels, but told the customer it was his responsibility to get the items returned. After the customer refused, Sonos sent a UPS carrier to his apartment to pick up the excess merchandise. When asked for comment on this specific case, Sonos declined to comment further.

So can Sonos legally charge customers who don’t send the speakers back? According to the FTC website, charging for items customers didn’t order is illegal. “You never have to pay for things you get but didn’t order,” and the FTC website further states that “you also don’t have to return unordered merchandise” on its website.

Most customers are probably happy to be rid of the excess headache and to get their money back by sending the merchandise back. But this warehouse shipping glitch seems to have impacted more than just a few people.

Photo Credit: Sunil Ray

If you own a pair of AirPods, you’ve probably wondered where they are more than once. Here’s a survival guide to finding your lost AirPods.

As long as technology has enabled us to use devices wirelessly, we’ve been reliably losing our stuff. Never has this been truer than with Apple’s AirPods. In fact, according to the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority, between September and December 2019, more than half of the items dropped through the city’s subway grates were AirPods.

Fortunately, Apple makes finding your AirPods less of a headache with the Find My app. Designed for iOS devices, the Find My app is unfortunately incompatible with Android devices. That said, we have a solution for Android users below.

What is the Find My App?

Early in the first iPhone’s life, Apple created the ‘Find My iPhone’ and ‘Find My Mac’ services in 2010. As the company’s products diversified, Apple realized the need to increase the location-tracking capabilities of its devices, leading to the birth of the all-inclusive Find My app in 2019. With this app, you can locate your missing device on a map or play a sound to help you find it.

Before using the Find My app to track a device, you must first link the device to the app. As long as you’ve activated your iCloud account on the device paired to your AirPods, such as your iPhone, the Find My app will automatically detect them.

How do I use the Find My app to find my lost AirPods?

If you don’t see the Find My app right away, you can search for it in your app list.

1. Open the Find My app and tap the Devices tab.
2. Tap on your AirPods from the device list, or click their image on the map.
3. Tap Directions for help mapping your way directly to your AirPods’ last known location.
4. Click on the Play Sound option if you’re close by but can’t find them. Be warned: this is a very loud, piercing sound!

If you’ve lost your AirPods in more than one location, the map will only show one at a time, appearing as though they were lost together. To find the second AirPod, locate the first one, put it back in its case, and then tap the device list again to update the map for the second AirPod.

How do I find my AirPods without an iPhone?

AirPods are mostly compatible with Android phones and other non-Apple Bluetooth devices. However, the Find My app is exclusive to iOS devices. If you use an Android phone or don’t have your iPhone handy, don’t despair. You can still find your lost AirPods using the iCloud website or a third-party app.

Photo Credit: Ethan Rougon

Apple’s ecosystem may soon shift to USB-C as European politicians look to a universal charging standard.

Back in April, European Union officials voted to support a proposal to require Apple and all technology firms to adopt the USB-C standard as a common charger. The provision would also add a new requirement for a standard for wireless charging. The EU press release says the newly revised proposals include a call “for the interoperability of wireless charging technologies by 2026.”

Apple has been against any regulations that would force a switch away from the lightning port. In 2020, Apple said, “We believe regulation that forces conformity across the type of connector built into all smartphones stifles innovation rather than encouraging it, and would harm consumers in Europe and the economy as a whole.”

Apple appears to have changed their mind about the switch to USB-C, as analysts believe the switch could happen this year.

According to Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the new iPhone will abandon the lightning port and switch to USB-C. USB-C could improve the iPhone’s transfer and charging speed in hardware designs. A completely portless iPhone isn’t possible, Kuo argues, because of current limitations in wireless charging tech and the immature MagSafe ecosystem.

Kuo says other lightning port products like AirPods, Magic Keyboard, Trackpad, Mouse, and the MagSafe battery would also see a refresh to support USB-C charging as the future standard for Apple devices. The writing has been on the wall for the lightning port standard for some time. Apple has slowly introduced products that feature the USB-C port, including the MacBook, iPad Pro, iPad mini, and the iPad Air.

The lightning port is at this point, decades old, and data transfer speeds are surpassed by USB-C. Apple just didn’t want to give up the millions it rakes in proprietary cable sales.

Photo Credit: Sweetwater

Whether you’re a first-time microphone buyer or considering adding a companion to your setup, Sweetwater has what you need. It’s Mic Month at Sweetwater – so how do you choose the right microphone for your setup?

The following was created in collaboration with Sweetwater, a company DMN is proud to be partnered with.

Choosing a microphone doesn’t have to be hard, in fact, Sweetwater’s professionals are on hand to make it easier than ever. Without direct experience, it can be impossible to tell the difference between the way two dynamic microphone’s sound. Sweetwater has put some of the best microphones on the market through a comprehensive mic shootout. The result?

You can see for yourself the best microphones for a variety of setups, from vocal mics, snare drum mics, kick drum mics, guitar cabinet mics, acoustic guitar mics, USB mics, virtual mics, handheld vocal mics, choir mics, and many more applications. If you play an instrument and you need a mic, chances are Sweetwater has auditioned mics on your instrument.

But instead of reading someone else’s opinion on what a mic sounds like – why not give them all a try at Sweetwater and hear the results yourself?

Sweetwater gives you the chance to listen to a mic in your own studio environment and decide for yourself. You shouldn’t be surprised by a mic when you’re setting it up. Take a listen to the mics and compare them to others in Sweetwater’s mic locker. Their highly trained sales staff is on hand to help you answer any questions you may have.

Many Sweetwater Sales Engineers are producers, musicians, beat makers, and podcasters themselves. Their passion for music and high-quality recording products shines through with their attention to detail in answering any questions or concerns you may have. Not sure what type of microphone you need? Here’s a quick basic guide to choosing the right microphone, depending on its application. First up, there are two main types of microphones (there are other specialty mics) to consider for musicians.

Dynamic Microphone – Dynamic microphones are those singers and comedians use on stage. These types of microphones are designed to do well in noisy environments like live club shows. They have a small coil on the inside that is sensitive to sound vibrations. As soundwaves hit the coil, it gets converted to an electrical signal that can be recorded.

Condenser Microphone – This is the other popular type of microphone that works slightly differently. Condenser mics feature capacitor plates instead of a coil and magnets. These microphones are more sensitive to smaller vibrations and are more suitable for picking up the subtleties of a speaking voice for a podcast or a singer in a booth.

Ribbon Microphone – Ribbon mics are less common because they are much easier to damage than dynamic or condenser mics. That’s because they feature a conductive ribbon that rests between two electromagnetic poles. The early crooner era often used ribbon mics to record, so the sound has become associated with that era. Ribbon mics have a bidirectional recording pattern, making them suitable for recording two people speaking at once.

What about a warranty?

There’s nothing worse than adding a new piece of equipment to your session and it goes well for six months and then – kaput. No sound from your brand-new microphone. Sweetwater offers a Total Confidence Coverage warranty that gives you a free two-year warranty with every product sold. So test out those microphones and choose the one you want for the long-haul.

Sweetwater also offers free tech support for its products as long as you own it. If you have any questions about the setup or operation of a microphone, Sweetwater experts are on hand to answer those questions as they come up. There are over 27,000 helpful articles in Sweetwater’s online support database to help answer questions, too.

Photo Credit: Thomas Martinsen

After years of cost-cutting, Bose will no longer be selling hearing aids. Recent layoffs resulted in the elimination of the company’s health division after an independent review stating that “Bose should no longer be selling hearing aids.” 

According to reports, Bose has laid off about 2,000 employees in recent years, closing over 100 retail stores before the pandemic and selling a 1,500-employee office campus. “To say morale is low is an understatement,” a former Bose employee said.

The company has struggled with steadily declining sales after losing significant market share to audio giants such as Sonos and Apple, especially since the release of the AirPods Pro in 2019. Bose has lost nearly a billion dollars in sales from 2019 to 2021.

While Bose will no longer be a part of the hearing aid game, the company intends to concentrate on headphones, speakers, and other consumer audio equipment such as car stereo systems. Despite Bose falling behind its competitors in both the speaker and headphone categories, it plans to focus on its core range of available products outside the health and hearing aid market in return to form.

The company has not provided a timeline for an exit from the hearing aid market, and current models of their hearing aids are still available to purchase from their website. Last year, Bose released their SoundControl self-fitting hearing aids, but reception was lukewarm.

“SoundControl Hearing Aids were introduced last year and continue to be available on Bose.com,” the company stated. “We’re learning a lot about the hearing aid market and target customer through our experience with this product. This information, along with FDA’s final OTC hearing aid rules, will help inform how we move forward in the category.”

“Bose remains committed to delivering critical technologies that help with hearing augmentation and noise cancellation. We have no additional updates to share regarding our plans at this time,” the statement concludes.

Established in 1964 in Framingham, Massachusetts, Bose has a long history of aggressive litigation to protect its many patents. Just months after Apple acquired Beats Electronics in 2014, Bose sued Beats over noise cancellation technology in their Studio headphones line. Bose cited five different patent violations in their lawsuit.

Photo Credit: Felice Frankel

Researchers at MIT have developed a paper-thin loudspeaker that can turn any flat, rigid surface into an active, high-quality audio source. The process engineers used to create the device should allow for manufacture at scale.

This flexible loudspeaker produces sound using a fraction of the energy a traditional loudspeaker requires with minimal distortion. The hand-sized speaker weighs about as much as a dime and generates high-quality sound on virtually any flat surface.

If manufactured at scale, these ultrathin loudspeakers can cover a wall or the inside of a car. Applications for the speaker could include active noise cancellation in loud environments, three-dimensional audio in immersive entertainment, or even for use with smart devices where battery life is limited, as the speakers require little power to operate.

“It feels remarkable to take what looks like a slender sheet of paper, attach two clips to it, plug it into the headphone port of your computer, and start hearing sounds emanating from it,” says Vladimir Bulovic. Bulovic is the Fariborz Maseeh Chair in Emerging Technology, director of MIT.nano, leader of the Organic and Nanostructured Electronics (ONE) Lab, and the senior author of the loudspeaker’s research paper.

“It can be used anywhere,” Bulovic says. “One just needs a smidgeon of electrical power to run it.” 

Loudspeakers typically found in audio systems use electric current passing through a coil that generates a magnetic field, which moves the speaker membrane and vibrates the air above it, creating the sound we hear. The MIT team’s loudspeaker simplifies this design using a thin material that moves when voltage is applied, vibrating the air above it and creating sound. 

Because the thin material used to create the new loudspeaker is vibrating rather than the entire device, the loudspeaker resonates with a high enough frequency to be used effectively for ultrasound imaging. Higher frequencies yield higher image resolution, as ultrasound imaging uses high-frequency sound waves to produce images.

“We have the ability to precisely generate mechanical motion of air by activating a physical surface that is scalable. The options of how to use this technology are limitless,” Bulovic says.

Bulovic wrote the paper alongside lead author Jinchi Han, ONE Lab postdoc, and co-senior author Jeffrey Lang, the Vitesse Professor of Electrical Engineering. IEEE Transactions of Industrial Electronics published the research paper on April 26.

Photo Credit: Mayht

Sonos has announced it is acquiring Mayht, a Netherlands-based company that showed off new audio transducer tech at CES this year.

Mayht’s Heartmotion technology replaces conventional drivers to create speakers that are 10 times more compact than current speakers. During its CES demo, Mayht said the reduction in size for the audio drivers doesn’t compromise sound quality, range, or output.

“While consumer electronics have grown more powerful and compact in recent years, the core speaker technology within has hardly evolved over the past 100 years,” says Mayht Chief Executive Mattias Scheek. “I truly believe our Heartmotion speaker technology is the revolution the industry has been dreaming of, but never thought possible. They will finally be able to create the sound experiences people want from everyday consumer electronics and automotive audio systems.”

Apparently Sonos agrees with the Mayht CEO, because shortly after the CES demo, Sonos went to work on an acquisition.

“Mayht’s breakthrough in transducer technology will enable Sonos to take another leap forward in our product portfolio,” says Patrick Spence, CEO of Sonos. “This strategic acquisition gives us more incredible people, technology, and intellectual property that will further distinguish the Sonos experience, enhance our competitive advantage, and accelerate our future roadmap.”

Sonos acquired Mayht for $100 million in existing cash on hand. Further details about the strategic acquisition will be provided in Sonos’ Q2 earnings call, coming in May.

“We are very excited and proud to become a part of Sonos,” adds Mattias Scheek. “Our dream has always been to set a new standard in the audio industry. The integration of our technology into Sonos products will further revolutionize high-quality sound.”

Sonos recently sued Google, alleging the tech giant stole proprietary tech to build out its own smart speaker platform. The US International Trade Commission agreed that Google infringed on at least five audio technology patents held by Sonos. Since then, Google has worked on software updates that fundamentally change its smart speaker ecosystem. Users can no longer adjust speaker volume as a group or use the volume rocker on a connected device.

‘Boots by Dre’ (Photo Credit: Apple)

For decades, Apple has defined tech fashion with its svelte computer, phone, and tablet designs. Now, the company is taking things further with a ‘Boots by Dre’ fashion footwear line, complete with Bluetooth connectivity, motion-sensing capabilities, and an optional vibrating heel-bass woofer.

Apple is now taking its storied ‘Beats by Dre’ headphone lineup into an unexpected direction: footwear. In a private preview session for members of the media this morning in Cupertino, California, the tech giant officially unveiled its ambitious ‘Boots by Dre’ fashion footwear line.

The ‘Boots by Dre’ boots will feature a tough, rubberized exterior that houses multiple tech-connected features, including Bluetooth connectivity, motion-sensing discs in the sole of the boots, iOS-compatible GPS tracking, embedded Apple AirTags to prevent loss or theft, a USB-C charging port, a power on/off button, and an optional vibrating subwoofer in the heel that also doubles as an iPhone vibrating ringer. There’s also a dedicated Boots by Dre iOS app.

Additionally, buyers will also receive a pair of Beats by Dre Powerbeats Pro earbuds, which can be tucked into a specialized storage compartment also located in the heel of the boot. The compartment remains sealed until opened by a successful fingerprint scan on the Boots by Dre app.

The result, according to Apple, is the most sophisticated boot every released.

“Beats by Dre revolutionized the way people listen to music,” said Apple Head of Audio Product Innovation Nathan Rutherford. “Now, Boots by Dre will literally revolutionize the way people walk. Getting from point A to point B will never be the same.”

Apple will initially retail its Boots by Dre boots for $679 a pair, which includes a 6-month free trial to Apple Music and the aforementioned Beats by Dre Powerbeats Pro earbuds.

Boots by Dre will be available starting July 1st at all Apple Stores in the United States. Internationally, the boots will be rolled out in Europe in August, followed by a September rollout in Asia. Rutherford said that Apple Stores were bracing for lines out the door, similar to earlier releases of iconic iPhone models.

Initially, Boots will only be available in black, according to the company. By 2023, the company plans to release its boots in ‘five stunning finishes’ — sierra blue, graphite, gold, silver, and the all-new olive green (pictured) — which matches the colors available on the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max.

The iPhone 13 match isn’t an accident, according to Rutherford.

Once ‘booted up,’ the Boots by Dre boots instantly connect to the wearer’s iPhone. Immediately, the iPhone starts tracking motion using its AirBoot technology, which calculates the energy exerted to move the heavier-weighted Boots by Dre boots. Additionally, the user’s walking pace can be fed into an iPhone-housed Apple Music account, which selects the appropriate playlist using both pace, location, and recent places visited.

Once removed, the Boots by Dre boots power down automatically, which saves the step of turning the boots off. Then, approximately 15 minutes prior to being worn, the Apple boots cue up a favorite playlist, and warm the interior if selected in the Boots by Dre iOS app settings.

But perhaps the most innovative feature is the optional heel-enclosed vibrating subwoofer.

Paired with an Apple Music account and the Boots app, the vibrating subwoofer delivers a subtle bass vibration that matches the music. The heel-enclosed subwoofer is designed to create a full body musical experience. The vibrating heel can also be used to alert the walker of an incoming call, text message, or alerts from TikTok, Instagram, and Apple Music. Paired with an iPhone and Apple Watch, that means that missing a phone call or alert from your mother is now virtually impossible.

Also included is a dedicated anagram featuring the initials of the buyer on the sole of the boots. Those that forego the anagram step will be given a default BOOT anagram.

According to Rutherford, the Boots concept has been under development since Apple purchased Beats by Dre for over $3 billion in 2014. “Apple didn’t just buy a headphone company,” Rutherford subsequently told Digital Music News. “We bought a lifestyle revolution — now we’re proud to start realizing that vision from head to toe.”

Photo Credit: Spotify

Car Thing From Spotify is now available in the U.S. The device is designed for those with older cars with no Bluetooth.

The device is a small-screen Bluetooth-enabled device that costs $89.99. Spotify says it delivers a more personalized in-car listening experience and supports the ‘Hey Spotify’ voice command for safe driving. Spotify says it is working to incorporate new features like Night Mode, and an Add to Queue for creating a playlist with just your voice.

Car Thing was available in limited beta last year as Spotify gathered data on how people used the device. A few of the devices were sent out for free, while Spotify Premium users could sign up to purchase it at a discount and try it. But this week’s release of Car Thing means anyone with $90 bucks and a Spotify Premium account can have one (in the United States).

How Car Thing From Spotify Works

You need to be a Spotify Premium subscriber in order to use the Car Thing device. There are three main ways to interface with the device – voice, the dial, or the touch screen. Here’s how each of these functions works.

• Car Thing Voice Controls – Spotify’s voice search lets users quickly play music or podcasts. You can use the ‘Hey Spotify’ command to ask for a song, album, artist, playlist, station, or podcast. The device features four microphones across the top of the device for hearing these voice commands.
• Large Dial – For people who prefer physical controls, the Car Thing features a large dial. You can scroll through available playlists and podcasts with familiar, physical controls.
• Touch Screen Display – The Car Thing also features a touch screen display that accepts input. See your favorite album on deck? Tap the cover art to start playing. You can swipe through available albums or playlists, too.
• Presets – The Car Thing also includes four preset buttons that users can program with their favorite podcasts or playlists.

Car Thing is Spotify’s first attempt at a hardware device that delivers audio to an under-served audience. The device is designed for older vehicles without a Bluetooth connection – but it could be used on boats or any other vehicle where larger interface may be desired. Spotify killed the Car View in its own app, so Car Thing’s interface might be appealing to people even with a Bluetooth connection.

Photo Credit: Hamza Nouasria

A new Apple patent suggests future versions of AirPods could turn noise cancellation on and off by command.

The patent itself is defined as an “interrupt for noise-canceling audio devices.” The patent details allow authorized users who speak a codeword to break through the active noise cancellation feature on AirPods. The patent also details some processing work the AirPods themselves would do to avoid false positives.

Volume information and time-of-arrival differences are just some of the data points that could be used to decide whether to turn off noise cancellation. The technology would also use processing power on the user’s iPhone to help make that decision. Being able to switch between transparency mode at a codeword is an interesting approach. The patent itself deals with identifying the speaker of the codeword to make sure it’s an authorized interruption.

Authorized interruptions will “transmit an instruction to the peripheral device to switch from the second mode of operation to the first mode of operation if it is determined that the person is one of the interrupt-authorized contacts.”

The idea behind the technology is definitely cool, but there’s a lot of room for error here. Siri is already famously bad at understanding people with even a mild accent.

And of course, a patent is never a guarantee that a feature will arrive in a product. But I think this one has a better chance than most. That’s because Apple is working on a mixed reality headset that could highly benefit from an “authorized interrupt” process.

Apple has been tight-lipped about its AR headset, but the company has said it doesn’t believe VR is something you should disappear into, like Meta wants with its Oculus Quest VR headset. The metaverse concept that Mark Zuckerberg wants is vastly different than what Tim Cook envisions. It will be interesting to see how this rivalry plays out with an assist from small ecosystem features like this patent.

Photo Credit: blocks

Apple has discontinued the Beats Pill Plus portable wireless speaker, first released in 2015.

The Beats Pill Plus was the first portable wireless speaker under the Beats brand after Apple purchased the brand for $3 billion. The sleeker Beats speaker presented a more Apple look and had a lightning port for charging. While Apple continued building out the Beats product portfolio for hearables, it left the portable speaker segment to deteriorate.

The Beats Pill Plus was the last product in the new Apple Beats portable speaker line-up, and it feels comparatively ancient. The device offers no support for Apple’s AirPlay standard, nor does it support asking Siri for songs or playlists, like modern portable Bluetooth speakers. You can buy a $20 Bluetooth speaker that interfaces with Siri for music playback these days.

In fact, Apple seems gun-shy about supporting another portable speaker of its own. The HomePod mini is now the de-facto smart home speaker after Apple discontinued its larger HomePod offering. Perhaps Apple doesn’t see a market for blasting music in public spaces? It’s an interesting move, because the portable speaker market is booming.

Portable battery-powered speakers are now left to the realm of third-party manufacturers. The Sonos Roam is an attractive option that works with AirPlay 2 and features a similarly rugged design. Bose also offers a portable home speaker built for rugged use outside, rather than just another speaker in your home theater system. Ultimate Ears has also continued its Boom line of portable speakers, making them almost as recognizable as the Beats Pill.

Apple seems to be positioning its Beats audio products as platform-agnostic wearables.

But it has no desire to release another portable speaker. Apple’s focus on private audio (AirPods, AirPods Max) makes sense when you look at the company’s current focus on a VR/AR-oriented future.

Reports about that device from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman predict Apple will position the device as something to use for fun. It could arrive as early as Q4 2022, though there are no guarantees in the world of tech.

Photo Credit: Akhil Yerabati

Analysts expect Apple’s wearables business to have grown by 20% year-over-year.

That’s according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TFI Asset management. The company sold 27 million pairs of its newest AirPods, for a total of 90 million sold during the holiday quarter. Those sales translate to 20% year-over-year growth of the company’s wearables business. Kuo is also predicting a new model of AirPods Pro later this year. Apple may also unveil an augmented reality headset later this year.

Apple doesn’t break down its wearables revenue between AirPods, AirPods Max, and Apple Watch. But it does make up a significant portion of its ‘Other Products’ line item. Apple made nearly $13 billion in ‘Other Products’ revenue in the holidays 2020. So the actual number from Apple’s earnings report will tell us how much the increase is when it releases next week.

Apple debuted a new version of its AirPods SKU in 2021. It features the same features and design as the AirPods Pro, minus the active noise cancellation. Apple now offers four AirPods models to choose from starting at $129 and topping out at $549 for the AirPods Max.

Kuo is predicting that the next version of the AirPods Pro will feature a redesign, including a case that can beep (and be tracked by AirTags) if you lose it. There are also some predictions that Apple will offer better audio for streaming music. Kuo says he expects Apple to sell another 20 million units of the AirPods Pro this year once the new model drops.

But what about the newest Apple wearables rumor, its augmented reality headset?

The augmented reality headset is codenamed N301 and its accompanying rOS is codenamed Oak. Apple was originally supposed to debut its the mixed reality headset in 2020, and later WWDC 2021 and WWDC 2022. According to a Bloomberg report, Apple has been poaching Facebook’s (Meta) engineering talent. Apple reportedly paid top talent up to $180,000 to retain them.

Photo Credit: Voice + Video

A new security report suggests audio manufacturer Sennheiser may have exposed customer data.

A team of researchers discovered an old cloud account full of customer data belonging to Sennheiser. The account has not been used since 2018, but over 28,000 Sennheiser customers had their data leaked. The data may be old, but it contains personal, private information that is valuable to online criminals.

Researchers Noam Rotem and Ran Locar of VPNMentor contacted Sennheiser to disclose the discovery on October 28, 2021. According to the team, Sennheiser was using an Amazon Web Services (AWS) S3 bucket to store data collected from the public.

Sennheiser failed to implement any security measures on this S3 bucket, leaving the contents exposed and easily accessible to anyone with a web browser. Researchers were able to identify Sennheiser of the owner of the data due to files with the company’s name and Sennheiser employees listed in the bucket’s infrastructure.

“Once we confirmed that Sennheiser was responsible for the data breach, we contacted the company to notify it and offer our assistance. Sennheiser replied a few days later and asked us to give details of our findings. We disclosed the URL to the unsecured server and provided further detail about what it contained. Despite not hearing back from the company again, the server was secured a few hours later.”

What data may have been exposed by Sennheiser?

VPNMentor researchers say the database contained 55 GB of data from 28,000 customers. The data appeared to be collected between 2015-2018. It’s unclear how the data was collected, but lots of personally identifiable information was exposed, including:

• Full Names
• Email Addresses
• Phone Numbers
• Home Addresses
• Names of Companies Requesting Samples
• Number of Employees

The scope of the exposure is worldwide, but the majority of affected customers are in North America and Europe. The misconfigured AWS bucket may have helped criminals identify targets for identity theft, tax fraud, insurance fraud, and phishing campaigns for more sensitive data.

VPNMentor disclosed the breach to Sennheiser, who must notify customers of a data breach or data exposure under the EU’s GDPR requirements.

As we close another year out, we can all breathe a sigh of relief. We made it, folks, time off is just around the corner! But, it’s not just time off. It’s also the time of year that we help the economy by showcasing our sentiments and care for one another. I’m talking, of course, about gifts! 

I love stuff, and as someone who tries a lot of stuff out, I want to help you find something awesome to get for people in your life who love music, or make music. 

This year, a handful of companies sent me products to check out for consideration in this article. Something to note, we do not have affiliate links in this article. I don’t care if you buy any of these or not, and I am sick of not being able to trust a single review out of fear that it was written just to get some Amazon Affiliate revenue.

For the guitar player who already has it all

Jamstik Studio Midi Guitar: – $800 

I can’t play keyboards, and I am notably bad at using DAWs. However,  I’ve always really liked the sound of synths, keyboards, and organs, and wanted to dabble in the world of midi. I feel like this would open up my options quite a lot in my novice personal recordings. What do I do (without learning a new skill)?

Last year, the company who makes the Jammy guitar reached out to provide a free demo unit. I was so excited because I thought that there was finally a solution to what I wanted. However, you may have realized that we never released a review or mention in a previous gift guide of the Jammy. It’s because I just didn’t like it and could not recommend it. There was too much latency, and it felt sort of ‘half-baked’. There was no sound produced in many of the frets on several strings, which made it challenging to know what I actually could or could not do with the device. 

Then, I got the Jamstik Studio. It was like they had designed a product based on exactly what I actually wanted. You can use this to play using any sound pack in your DAW of choice (for me, garageband) and there seem to be no dead frets. Not only does everything make a sound, it makes the sound I wanted it to. When I play a G chord on the Jamstik Studio with an organ sound pack up, it sounds like a G chord that was played on that kind of organ. There is even bluetooth so I can connect to my ipad and just play. I don’t need to get on my desktop rig and open up the mac app, I can just do it more casually and (no pun intended), jam. 

The Jamstik Studio Midi is getting the top featured spot in this gift guide because it’s just so damn cool!  If you know someone who can play guitar, but may want to have a way to record more music on their own that includes instruments other than guitar, I cannot recommend this enough. Just buy it already!

Headphones for on the go 

UE Live: $2200 ful price (on sale for $1,550) + UE Switch 

I have always been a big fan of the UE brand and their products. I think that they make some amazing audiophile, stage, and consumer products, and I tend to like the choices they make from a design and quality standpoint. 

If you are going to drop some big bucks, and I mean BIG BUCKS, and someone you really really really care about is super into sound quality and portability, look no further. The UE Live are top notch, reliable, water/sweat resistant, and they sound incredible. I did a full review on them, here that is for more detailed information. In fact, I would have to say that the UE Live delivers the best sound quality I have heard in an earphone. 

This year, I got to try out the UE Switch, which is a changeable faceplate for your IEMs. It’s simple, but it’s cool, and I am a fan (for the most part). They let me send in my UE Live (which are still the best-sounding earphones I have ever had the pleasure of using), and instead of the color design that used to adorn them, I now have three sets of faceplates that I can use. 

This is nice for me because I have a hard time deciding what style to get in my UE earphones. I am a very indecisive person. But now, that problem is eliminated. 

On the other hand, I do believe that this is one more thing that can break, which is not ideal. FOr the most part, these are great-looking. The wood finish looks real and organic, the brushed metal looks industrial and very cool, or carbon fiber which has a convincing 3d effect, they look awesome. However, for some reason, the denim print looks unconvincing. You can’t win em all. But, UE has great customer service (as noted in prior reviews) and they did inform me that there is a satisfaction period, so bear that in mind.

Would I recommend these to new buyers of UE IEMs and/or gift buyers? Maybe. It depends on the individual. For example, highly fashionable people, (and this can apply to performers and just music listeners since these can also be used on-stage) may appreciate the ability to coordinate and switch out between looks. 

Grado Gr10e – $300

I have an older model of these, and they sound great! Grado being Grado, they are a bit unique in how they like to have their in ear headphones work. Instead of using multiple drivers, they use one driver that can move and shoot sound to different parts of your ear.

Regardless of how they work, they sound great, and they are much more affordable than my other suggestion.

Pair either pair with one of the DACs on this list for a great combo. 

Headphones for at home

Grado SRX 80 – $125 

Grado RS1 – $750 

There are other premium headphone brands, but I have always been a ‘Grado guy’, and you gotta write what you know. Why are these ‘for home’? They have an open construction which is more like having little speakers on your head compared to other headphones. People will be able to hear what you are listening to, clearly. And the listener will hear 100% of the outside world. 

I am giving you options at two budgets, but since I acknowledge that there are countless great headphones out there, feel free to google the above models followed by “vs reddit [insert giftee’s favorite genres]” and figure out if there is something that better matches the tastes of your recipient. To give some clarity on my use case – I have an eclectic music taste, but have a leaning towards rock music. These headphones are outstanding to my ears, and with the SRX 80, they are a great price for many people’s gift lists. The RS1x is the current version of the RS1, and it’s a great gift if you want to spend closer to that amount. 

Pair with a DAC from this list for best results. 

Adapters, Dongles, and why they matter 

This year, I finally migrated away from Android and onto iOS. This meant ditching my LG phone, which had a great DAC and decent headphone amp. I had to find a solution for listening to my high-resolution music in an enjoyable way. The world of audiophile stuff is confusing, filled with overly opinionated people, ultra subjective, and daunting. So, I figured, maybe I can bring some clarity to one niche of this vertical for people who like things that sound good, and don’t want to get too deep in the expensive and confusing world of audiophiles.

To preface: People who really like good sound quality are typically unsatisfied with the stock hardware on digital devices they use to listen to music. When I switched over from my LG phone (which were famous for being good with audiophile sound quality) to the iPhone, I bought the $8 Apple lighting to headphone adapter, and I was super unhappy with it. There are a lot of people who swear by it online, but after A/B’ing it against anything else, I thought it kinda sucked. 

Where is this going?

If you know someone who LOVES to listen to music, and tends to appreciate quality, a DAC may be a great ‘outside the box’ gift idea!

A better dongle $40 

The DDhifi TC35(multiple versions available) is a great upgrade from the apple lightning to headphone adapter. I highly recommend it to people with phones who want better sound quality from their headphones.  Because it’s only $40, you can buy it alongside one of the pairs of headphones I recommend. Or, pair it with a Qobuz subscription (aka, the ONLY streaming service I personally like).

Wireless DACs $110+ 

These are super interesting and versatile little products. If you get a good one, it can be your main DAC for desktop use and mobile use. But, because they are wireless, you can also ply them into your home stereo and BOOM, you have a wireless audio system that is going to sound great!

Quedelix 5k – $110

One I have not tested but gets rave reviews is the Quedelix 5k. It’s only $110, and I am constantly thinking about ordering one for myself, just to give it a go. I feel confident about it enough to recommend it as a gift. It’s bigger than the tiny DAC above, but much smaller than the other wireless ones listed below. It also has a built-in microphone and a clip, so you can easily take calls while using it, and you don’t have to worry about where to put it because it can clip onto your pocket. 

Fiio Q5s – $250 – $300

I have tested the Fiio Q5s, and it’s a great product. I like this one for portability, it’s a bit smaller than the other one I tested (below). I don’t know if they still make them, but you can easily find them used for around $250 – $300, and there ain’t nothing wrong with being a little less wasteful and buying used items. This one also has a built-in microphone. 

xDuoo XD05 BAL – $450

I also tested the xDuoo XD05 BAL. This is more expensive at around $450. The sound quality does exceed that of the Fiio, but, it has some design quirks. If your gift recipient is going to use this at home more than on the go, I think it’s great. If they want something to use 50/50, I would say to go with the Fiio. The design quirk is that it has a power off switch in both the front and back of the device, so there is a risk of it turning off in your pocket by accident. It’s also pretty bulky, so bear that in mind. 

Wireless Headphones 

Shure Aonic 50 – $300

The Shure Aonic 50 are the best sounding over-the-ear wireless headphones I have tested. They provide a great balance of highs, mids, and lows. However, they are super bulky and the style is not for everyone. 

Bose NC 700 – $450

The Bose NC 700 are super aesthetically pleasing. Honestly, Bose’s product design team is kicking ass in recent years, and this is no exception. They look great, sound great, and the ANC is very strong. Here is a more detailed review I wrote about them.

Wireless Speakers

Wireless speakers also make a great gift, and I want to provide you with some options at various price points, based on personal experience. 

UE Boom/MegaBoom: $150 – $200 

I like these. They are simple, durable, and they sound pretty good for what they are. These are not meant to replace an audiophile’s stereo, but, they are handy, and I personally like to keep one in the bathroom to listen to audiobooks while I shower. Get the bigger one (megaboom) if you’re giftee may need it to get louder, or if they are clumsy because the Megaboom is drop resistant. 

Bose Soundlink Revolve plus – $330

This is a step up in sound quality. It’s less bassy, so if you love bass, go with the UE. But, if you like a more balanced sound, this is a great speaker. It’s not water resistant, and I don’t think it will handle many drops, but if you’re buying this for someone who appreciates aesthetics and takes care of their stuff, I like it. Plus, most people associate Bose with high quality, further increasing the gift value. 

UE Hyperboom – $400 

This thing is freaking huge. I recommend it if you want a big speaker that can get loud while still sounding great. I can imagine thins being a popular choice for people throwing parties or holding events, and the fact that you can pair multiple of them together for multi-channel-mono means that you can create a makeshift PA system. 

It can be used in a venue or for portable DJs. It even has Aux inputs, which is rare on wireless speakers. It’s super bassy! Like, beyond extreme. If you want a speaker for house parties, or you want the biggest (and, I think, best) Bluetooth speaker you can find, I think you’ll be really happy with this statement speaker. 

Q Acoustics, Q Active 200 – $1,500 on sale, $2,000 full price

Do you want to get someone wireless speakers that are more serious, and can be used as a primary stereo set, along with as a home theater? This is a great option! You get the Q active hub, which lets you use wifi to stream, which allows you to transmit far more data (meaning a higher audio fidelity). You also get actual stereo sound with stereo separation. It’s a real 2.0 system.

Know someone who can’t sleep, or is a light sleeper? 

Bose Sleepbuds: $300 

These are super interesting. They are wireless earbuds that you use while sleeping. They are essentially little noise machines that you stick right in your ear. I used them for a handful of nights, they do certainly work. I also found them to stay in for most of the night, and to be fairly comparable (considering it’s still a hard object in your ear). If you know someone who wakes up easily from sounds, I think these are a great gift. On a side note, the case they made for these is really cool. I love the sliding mechanism. 

BUT, and this is a big but, there does not appear to be a way to opt out of being tracked. You have to agree to their privacy policy to get ANY functionality, which feels invasive to me, but others may care less.

Some people honestly don’t like getting gifts. So, give them the gift of great music! 

Also, consider recommending some great hifi music to go with those new headphones and dacs you’re buying. This is the other piece to the puzzle of good music, because compressed audio, like that of spotify, leaves a lot to be desired. When you give your giftee their new headphones and DAC, and then they listen to high-resolution audio, it’s going to combine to be such a great gift and overall experience. 

What to listen to in high-resolution

Do you remember how I mentioned that some people really don’t want you to spend money on them? That is my mom. But, my mom is super-cool, and she is to thank for a huge percentage of my love of music. So, the following history lesson is my holiday gift to my mom. 

To preface, I am keenly aware of the fact that DMN’s readership includes the movers and shakers of the music business, and one of the things they should know is that my Mom, Laura Itman, played a part in the ‘discovery’ of The Replacements.  

My mom first saw The Replacements at The 7th Street Entry on a chance encounter, she just happened to be there. The 7th Street Entry is a historically important Twin Cities venue that is still considered cool to this day, but the capacity is maybe around 150 people. At that time, she worked at a bar called Duffy’s, which had a capacity closer to 1000. Upon hearing The Replacements, my mom immediately went to the booking people at Duffy’s and demanded they book The Replacements.

They laughed at her. There were just so many other bands at that time between Husker Du, Loud Fast Rules (later became Soul Asylum), and countless others, The Replacements didn’t seem special to the booking agents. But, she persisted for months upon months. One day, she got them to say “okay”, they were willing to offer The Replacements their first ever show that was going to pay them $1,000, which was a huge deal as they previously would have been making about 1/10th of that plus some beer tickets. 

She instantly saw the raw talent they possessed, and I would be remiss to not mention her, as she is a huge catalyst for my own love of music. Happy Hanukkah, mom!

“Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out The Trash” by The Replacements, is a masterpiece of rock and roll. This phenomenal release is worth a listen to all who love the genre, especially those who like their rock hard and fast. This remaster is outstanding, and really transforms the listening experience. So, even those familiar with the album ought to give it a new listen. 

From the first track, new depths are apparent, and the separation between instruments is just incomparable to my old CD, and mixes that were on streaming. 

However they got it done, bravo! The sound is phenomenal, and with this being one of my top 25 all time albums, I know it will get heavy rotation.

Do you know someone who likes music that is ‘undiscovered’? Here is something amazing they have almost certainly never heard of:

MEMEME – self titled 

MEMEME put together an emotionally honest and raw album, that highlights the evolving psyche of late 20 somethings as they figure out what they actually want in life, and navigate their way out of relationships they don’t want to be in. I don’t want to spoil it too much, just go listen to it. It’s a really great album, parts of it will get stuck in your head, and it leaves an impression. 

Sherbetty – If You Lived Here, You;d Be Homeless By Now

“If You Lived Here, You’d Be Homeless By Now” by a band called Sherbetty. They have an eclectic mix of influences, ranging from The Beach Boys to country, to The Butthole Surfers, and even some opera in between. I believe you will need the link to find them, I do not think they are on streaming. There is no doubt that this album is outstanding! The genre blends are innovative, and highly enjoyable.

Along with MEMEME’s self titled album, this in my top 25 albums of all time. If you know someone who likes rock music, it’s going to be an enjoyable experience. 

That’s it, folks! I hope you found something useful in here. Either way, thank you for reading!

Photo Credit: James Yarema

After the launch of Beats Fit Pro, Apple has discontinued several Beats models, including Powerbeats and Beats Solo Pro.

The models are mostly older versions of the Beats headphones that disappeared from the Apple site after the announcement. Missing for purchase are the $150 Powerbeats, the $250 Beats Solo Pro, and the $130 Beats EP headphones.

The current Apple Beats line-up includes the Beats Studio Buds, Powerbeats Pro, Beats Pro Over-Ear Headphones, Beats Flex, Beats Studio3, Beats Solo3, Beats Pill+, and the newly introduced Beats Fit Pro. The Beats Fit Pro is Apple’s attempt at a sportier AirPods Pro design with better sound.

The Beats Fit Pro offers the same spatial audio and dynamic head tracking as the AirPods Pro. It even features the same skin detection sensor that debuted in the third-generation AirPods earlier this year. Beats Fit Pro is Apple’s attempt to offer AirPods-quality sound to Android users – platform-agnostic earbuds basically.

Beats says the Fit Pro earbuds fill a gap in their lineup between the Studio Buds and the Powerbeats/Powerbeats Pro.

Unlike the AirPods, the Beats feature a wing-tip design built into the earbud. It’s a more comfortable approach than the ear hooks in previous models. They feature 9.5mm drivers that produce a sound some say sounds better than the latest AirPods Pro.

Beats also notes that ANC, transparency mode, one-step setup, and Apple Music spatial audio (minus head tracking) work equally well on Android and iOS. The Beats app is needed for control customization of the earbuds – but that’s a small price to pay if you want platform-agnostic buds.

To answer a question that has been asked among the tech community – where does Beats fall into Apple’s line-up? Apple wants AirPods accessories to remain ‘Best with iOS,’ but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to tap into the millions of Android users.

Beats Fit Pro loaded with the H1 Apple silicon gives Android users the best experience they can get with an Apple product. That’s an essential strategy for a company that is expanding beyond just phone and tablet hardware and software.

Apple revealed a newly redesigned AirPods 3 this week – with support for spatial audio.

The new AirPods 3 design is modeled after the AirPods Pro, with shorter stems. The design sits more in-ear and includes a newly designed battery case. The AirPods 3 have a universal fit rather than adjustable silicone tips. That means they do not feature active noise cancellation or transparency mode – only AirPods Pro and AirPods Max have those features.

“By combining the power of the H1 chip with an Apple-designed acoustic system, the new AirPods use computational audio to deliver breakthrough sound with Adaptive EQ,” Apple said during the event. “Users can enjoy spatial audio featuring Dolby Atmos in Apple Music, movies, and TV shows, along with dynamic head tracking across Apple devices.”

Apple says the extended battery life in the AirPods 3 offers up to 30 hours of listening time.

Pre-orders for the new AirPods started on October 18 for $179. The new earbuds will be released on October 26. Apple now has a series of hearables that all look similar. Offering spatial audio support on the basic AirPods 3 model will also help with adoption of the feature.

If everyone who buys a pair of AirPods can hear the difference between spatial audio and regular stereo, that’s a game changer. It means soundscapes rather than just music tracks will become more relevant than ever in future music production.

Spatial audio will do more to transform the music industry than lossless audio because you don’t need a pair of audiophiles ears to hear the difference. The average joe off the street can pick up a pair of AirPods 3 and instantly hear the difference.

Spatial audio is also important for creating virtual spaces that feel real. The idea of a metaverse where people hang out in a digital venue is being built right now, with early prototypes in games like Fortnite and Roblox.

Photo Credit: Auguras Pipiras

Apple has quietly expanded the AirPods Pro repair program for ‘crackling static.’

Digital Music News covered the service program introduction in October 2020. That’s because multiple users were reporting issues with their new AirPods Pro, including static, crackling, or problems with active noise cancellation. Apple launched the program and said it would cover AirPods Pro for two years after the retail sale of the unit.

Apple has now extended the service program for AirPods Pro experiencing cracking static. Support documents have been updated and a new section labeled ‘Additional Information’ says affected AirPods Pro are covered for three years after the first retail sale of the unit. That means early adopters who purchased their AirPods Pro at launch in 2019 will be covered until October 2022.

Do you have a pair of faulty AirPods Pro? Here’s how to tell:

• If you hear crackling or static sounds that increase in a loud environment, or while talking on the phone
• Active Noise Cancellation not working as expected, loss of bass sound, increase in background sounds, like street or airplane noise

Apple says most affected AirPods Pro were manufactured before October 2020.

Anyone who has an AirPods Pro unit with these issues can bring them to Apple or an Authorized Service Provider free of charge. A technician will examine the headphones to verify they are eligible for the program. If either bud is exhibiting the issue, it will be replaced – but not the charging case.

This issue only applies to AirPods Pro and not the original AirPods or the new AirPods Max. It’s worth noting that the repair is also contingent on the technician finding the earbuds at fault. Make sure it’s an issue that you and others can hear, since the service program requires technicians to verify. Apple is refusing to call it a product recall, but extending the warranty quietly is a taciturn admission of a problem.

Photo Credit: Jako Janse van Rensburg

Sonos raises prices for many of its speakers amid the supply chain shortage.

The price hike is coming to a wide range of Sonos products, from $10 to $100. The Sonos Roam is receiving a modest $10 bump, while the Sonos Arc soundbar will cost $100 more. Sonos says the price increases are making good on a promise to investors.

During that earnings call, Sonos said supply and demand determine its strategy on raising prices. Sonos says it is always assessing market dynamics, including demand, supply chain, component costs, and the competitive landscape. The global chip shortage is affecting many sectors, making it hard to build new cars, game consoles, and even smart speakers.

The global chip shortage is impacting Sonos, forcing the premium speaker manufacturer to raise prices.

Sonos Speakers Price Increase – September 2021

Here’s a quick peek at the new prices for Sonos’ current product lineup. It’s worth noting that not every product saw a price hike. The Sonos Move, Port, and Boost SKUs will remain at the same price. The Sonos Arc saw the most expensive increase at $100 more compared to its launch price.

1. One – was $199 (now $219) = +$20
2. One SL – was $179 (now $199) = +$20
3. Five – was $499 (now $549) = +$50
4. Roam – was $169 (now $179) = +$10
5. Move – was $399 (now $399) = $0
6. Arc – was $799 (now $899) = +$100
7. Sub – was $699 (now $749) = +$50
8. Port – was $449 (now $449) = $0
9. Amp – was $649 (now $699) = +$50
10. Boost – was $99 (now $99) = $0

The global chip shortage is due largely to how consumer usage changed during the pandemic. Production was shut down for several weeks, but work from home skyrocketed across the world. Suddenly everyone is needing new laptops, printers, cameras, and consumer electronics. Even exercise equipment and deep freezers use electronic chips.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Google and Amazon raise prices for their smart speakers, too. While they’re large enough to subsidize their hardware sales in the hopes of roping you into the ecosystem – the chip shortage is predicted to last through 2023.

There may be price increases across various sectors to absorb the new costs of producing complicated equipment. We’ve also seen prices rise among instrument makers like Fender. Fender saw reduced output per hour per man, which caused a price hike for its instruments and amps in February 2021.

Photo Credit: Alex Ghizila

An initial ruling from the US International Trade Commission has found Google did infringe Sonos’ patents.

Sonos has been suing Google for patent infringement relating to five of its patents for smart speakers. Now it appears as though judges for the US ITC may agree with that assessment. Sonos says that the ruling is the first step in a lengthy battle and an “important milestone in the ongoing effort to defend Sonos’ technology against Google.”

Sonos sued Google in January 2020, alleging the search giant stole its smart speaker tech after it had access to its patents in a partnership. Sonos alleges that Google used its stolen tech to build rival products to undercut Sonos’ position in the smart speaker market. Sonos has asked for a sales ban on a wide variety of Google products, from Nest Hubs, Chromecasts, and even Google’s Pixel smartphones.

The US ITC found that Google infringed on all five of the Sonos patents originally cited. But it’s worth pointing out that this decision may not be final.

The International Trade Commission will have to consider the case and its ruling, which will happen on December 13th. But Sonos stock is up on the news of a massive patent win against Google.

“Today, the ALJ has found all five of Sonos’ asserted patents to be valid and that Google infringes on all five patents,” Sonos Chief Legal Officer Eddie Lazarus says in a statement.

“We are pleased the ITC has confirmed Google’s blatant infringement of Sonos’ patented inventions. This decision re-affirms the strength and breadth of our portfolio, marking a promising milestone in our long-term pursuit to defend our innovation against misappropriation by Big Tech monopolies.”

Sonos’ stock climbed 9% on Monday after news of the patent ruling broke. Google has denied Sonos’ patent infringement claims and says it developed the technology itself. Sonos wants Google to strike a royalty deal for its portfolio of patents to avoid a sales ban on its portfolio of products.

Now the ball is in the Biden administration’s court, which can accept the ruling and allow a potential import ban or drop the matter in favor of public interest. Sonos also revised its annual guidance after receiving a boost from work-from-home sales of its audio products.

Revenue for Sonos in Q2 2021 increased 52% year-over-year to $378.7 million. Net income was $17.8 million compared to a year-ago loss of $56.98 million. Sonos has projected a revenue range of between $1.69 billion and $1.71 billion this year.

Photo Credit: John Smit

Curious about the latest AirPods 3 rumors? Supply chain sources reveal the latest Apple earbuds likely to launch in September.

According to industry sources, shipments of flexible PCBs and SiP modules for AirPods are kicking off in small volumes. SiP stands for system-in-a-package, which powers the AirPods’ internals. New manufacturing always starts off in small batches before being ramped up in Q3 and Q4 to meet holiday demand.

Industry sources believe the AirPods 3 will launch alongside the new iPhone in September.

Sources say their manufacturing capacity has mostly been occupied by battery modules for the next-gen iPhone. The Apple Watch has also consumed some of the factory’s fabrication capacity. AirPods 3 are expected to remain price-friendly and will see increased demand due to the removal of free wired headphones with iPhones.

The original AirPods line was last updated back in 2019, making a refresh overdue. This third generation of AirPods is also rumored to resemble the AirPods Pro in design. They will feature a shorter ear stem and the charging base will be adapted accordingly. That means previous generation AirPods cases would no longer be compatible with AirPods 3.

Other AirPods 3 rumors indicate Apple may be looking to bring its earbuds into its fitness offering. That includes talk of Apple fitting more health sensors in the hearables to complement the Apple Watch’s health and fitness focus.

Apple is hoping to attract more consumers to its wireless hearables category with an AirPods 3 refresh.

That’s because AirPods market share fell from 41% to 29% over the course of nine months. An AirPods refresh may help Apple reclaim some of its market dominance. In the United States, iPhone enjoys a 65% market share among smartphone shipments in Q4 2020. That bodes well for its ecosystem of accessories.

Counterpoint data points to competitors in the market offering cheaper True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earbuds as the main reason for the decline. While the market share for AirPods is down, Apple took home just 29% of revenue in the TWS category. That’s still more than twice that of its nearest competitor, Xiaomi.

Counterpoint Research senior analyst Liz Lee says that mobile media consumption is a driving factor in adopting TWS earbuds. “In Q3 2020, half of the top ten were budget brands with a sub-$50 and even sub-$20 offerings – Xiaomi best illustrated the trend as it consolidated its number two spot.”

The AirPods 3 rumors indicate that even though they’ll be getting a redesign, active noise cancellation (ANC) is likely to remain an AirPods Pro feature.

Disclaimer: We do not use affiliate links. I don’t care if you buy these headphones or not. 

I’ve long been searching for what I call the ‘Goldilocks’ of wireless headphones.

It’s still a relatively new type of product and there are bound to be some hiccups along the way. But, have I finally found my Goldilocks pair? One that combines comfort, long battery life, good sound quality, style, and have good microphones because I also use headphones for calls? For the most part, the answer is ‘yes‘.

The Bose 700 UC headphones are beautifully designed! They are exceptionally lightweight and comfortable. I can wear them for 4+ hours and not feel any fatigue, which is important because these headphones are meant to be used for calls/capturing your voice just as much as they are meant to be used for listening to audio. People who spend a lot of time wearing headphones will love this pair. They are comfortable and light enough that you can forget you are wearing them, which seems ideal.

One design gripe is that they don’t fold in, so storage is still not as easy as it could be. But, it’s a pretty negligible omission because the design would have not looked as good if the headphones were foldable. The arms that the ear-cups are mounted onto are rounded. This allows for the ear cups to move freely and fit comfortably on your head. They can rotate a bit beyond 90 degrees and they also have the ability to pivot vertically. I can see why this would have made it challenging to make them foldable.

The user interface is through touch controls. While I am not a huge fan of button-free user interfaces on headphones, I can appreciate that they keep the design clean. That said, I did find the touch controls to be highly responsive, especially when compared with other headphones I have used with similar interfaces.

These are premium headphones and the sound quality is on par with other options around this price point.

The only wireless headphones that I thought had a superior sound quality for music were the Shure Aonic 50s. Aside from that pair, which I still use for listening to music, the Bose 700 UC headphones have become my go-to pair.

Surprisingly, these are a bit light on bass. I have preciously associated Bose with overpowering bass, so I actually appreciate that it’s toned down a bit. Perhaps it’s not that they have turned it down, but they have enhanced the highs and mids. But it is worth noting for people who like that really bass-heavy sound of previous Bose headphone models.

There is an app that you kind of need to download, so be aware of that. You will need the app for EQ control and to get the most out of the voice commands feature. This is a totally individualized thing, but I don’t like receiving notifications from apps that I haven’t approved notifications from (hence my future switch to iOS). I got a notification about how I could integrate the app with Spotify. It seemed like some sort of sponsorship/promotion, which annoyed me, but others will be less sensitive to this.

The Bose 700 UC headphones come with a USB dongle for quick and seamless connections, I appreciate that. It just makes things easier because I don’t have to disconnect/reconnect bluetooth on my computer. I can just unplug the dongle and not have to worry about it.

They do also offer a lower-cost version with fewer microphones, but I have not tested that pair. This pair is really intended for people who spend a lot of time on calls, hence the added microphones. While I do not have audio samples to compare, I can report that people did tell me that I sounded especially clear when on the phone with them while using these, and background noise was less prevalent than it is with other headphones I’ve used. So, it seems like a big win there.

The bottom line: should you buy the Bose 700 UC headphones?

I personally think you should. If you are already considering a pair of wireless headphones at the over $400 price point, I do not think you will be dissatisfied with these. They feel every bit as premium as you would expect from Bose and had I spent the money on them, I would be satisfied with my purchase.

Photo Credit: Insung Yoon

Only one AirPod not working in your set of earbuds? Here’s a quick guide to diagnose and fix the problem.

Occasionally only the left or right AirPod earbud will stop working. Sometimes the problem is the connection, but it might be caused by a hardware default. There are a couple of things you can try to fix one AirPod not working yourself.

How to Fix One AirPod Not Working – No Sound

1. Make sure the AirPods charging case is fully charged.
2. Place both AirPods in the charging case and close the lid.
3. Allow the AirPods to charge for around 30 seconds.
4. Open the charging case near your iPhone or iPad.
5. Check the charge status on your iPhone or iPad to make sure that each AirPod is charging.
6. Put both AirPods in your ears.
7. Play audio to test both AirPods.
8. If one AirPod is not working, you may need to reset your AirPods.

How to Fix One AirPod Not Working – Low Volume

Sometimes both AirPods are playing audio, but one has a noticeably lower volume than the other. You can fix this issue by performing the following steps.

1. Check the microphone and speaker mesh on each AirPod.
2. Clean the AirPods of any debris to see if it fixes the issue.

If that doesn’t fix the issue, then there is one other thing to try. Navigate to the Settings app, then Accessibility, Audio/Visual, and finally Balance. Make sure the slider is set in the middle so that audio is delivered to both AirPods equally.

Are you still having problems with one AirPod not working after trying these issues?

There are a few more things we can try before determining if it is a hardware defect. First, forget your AirPods from your iPhone or iPad Bluetooth list.

1. Launch the ‘Settings’ app on your iOS device.
2. Select ‘Bluetooth’ to see a list of devices.
3. Tap the ‘i’ icon on the right and choose ‘Forget this device’ at the bottom.’

Return both AirPods to the case and try pairing it again. Open the lid and hold the physical button on the case for a few seconds to enter pairing mode. Once paired, you should check if both AirPods are working.

How to Hard Reset AirPods

Are you still unable to hear from one AirPod not working? You can hard reset your AirPods, which clears every paired device and restores factory default settings. All you need to do is press the button on the front of the case for 15 seconds until the LED lights start flashing.

Reset Network Settings

Sometimes the problem is too many Bluetooth devices causing interference. If you’ve got lots of Bluetooth devices connected to your iOS device, you may be experiencing a connectivity issue. You will lose all of your saved Bluetooth devices and WiFi passwords on your iOS device.

1. Navigate to ‘Settings’ and tap ‘General.’
2. Scroll down and tap ‘Reset.’
3. Find ‘Reset Networking Settings’ and tap it and confirm.

That’s just about everything you can do to fix one AirPod not working yourself. If you are still experiencing issues, you may need to visit a Genius Bar for a replacement. Some users have reported hissing in one AirPod and have successfully gotten their device replaced.

Ultimate Ears sent their Megaboom 3 for an honest review on one of their staple speakers.

The most intriguing feature is the impressive spatial 360° sound design, as it allows an ultimate music listening experience during every use. But is it worth a $199.99 price point?

Playing music with a speaker instead of headphones is an entirely different experience. You’re able to share music with the people around you or make the room full of sound. At times, it sets the tone for an environment without isolating yourself to personal earbuds.

I’ve owned many wireless speakers throughout the years. For the most part, it’s always one-directional, and if you were standing behind the speaker or to the speaker’s side, you wouldn’t get the best experience that you would be standing directly in front of the speaker. 

Design

The UE Megaboom 3 completely combats that issue. It has a cylindrical design that supports 360° sound, which means that the speaker plays all around the product. No matter where you’re standing in a room, you’re going to hear the same quality as you would be if you were “in front” of the speaker.

The UE Megaboom 3 notably features a powerful and riveting sound with its spatial 360° sound design.

It has a sleek monochromatic design with two massive plus and minus buttons on the side of the speaker to control your volume settings. A plus here is that you can manage your volume through any device you have connected to the speaker. If you want to take it on the go, there’s a little hook on the back of the speaker that you can hang it anywhere with a keychain.

The acoustic fabric used on the UE Megaboom 3 also makes it accessible to have the speaker chill in a pool with you without compromising the sound or deteriorating your speaker. 

Sound Quality and Customizations

Ultimate Ears has an app for you to control the speaker without physically interacting with it. You can also adjust the Equalization when listening to different genres of music. With the special 360 design, the quality of the sound radiates that much more power. 

If you’re a fan of music genres containing heavy bass — this would blow your mind just as it did mine. I even tested the bass capacity with a purely deep bass song, and it hadn’t distorted the sound quality at all. 

My album choice for the UE Megaboom 3: Glass Animal’s latest album, Dreamland.

Final Thoughts

All in all, this speaker makes the listening experience more immersive no matter what environment you use it in. 

The battery life on this goes for 20 hours, and it’s one of the largest batteries for portable speakers that I’ve experienced, so that was a big plus too because you won’t have to worry about recharging it if you take it with you on the go for the whole day. This has been great for long beach days or even just hanging out with a group of people and wanting to play out some music on a solid speaker rather than our phone speakers. 

The UE Megaboom 3 is a great option for your summer speaker needs, priced at $199.99 in various color options.

Alternatives to a lower price point

• Bose SoundLink Micro at $99.00
• Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 2 at $99.99
• Harman Kardon Mini Esquire 2 at $149.95

Photo Credit: Roddy Ricch

Apple’s unreleased Beats Studio Buds are in Roddy Ricch’s new music video for “Late at Night.”

Rapper Roddy Ricch premiered his new song with a small teaser for an upcoming Apple product. Ricch is seen using the Beats Studio Buds in black to record a part of the song before he is teleported back to the 1980’s and the set of ‘Thriller.’

Since the AirPods Studio Max debut, some analysts have wondered about the lack of focus on Beats. But Apple is teasing the upcoming true wireless buds with help from Roddy Ricch and LeBron James. James posted a photograph of him wearing the white Beats Studio Buds on Instagram.

The new Roddy Ricch video gives us a more detailed look at the case for Beats Studio Buds.

The case itself looks very similar to the AirPods Pro charging case. You can see the prominent ‘b’ branding on the case. The earbuds themselves appear to have a very compact design that protrudes from the ear. They also feature the Beats branding on each bud.

While the Beats Studio buds are unreleased, we do know they will be powered by an H1 chip. That’s the same chip used in Apple’s AirPods Pro. It offers active noise cancellation, support for ‘Hey Siri’ hands-free use, and instant pairing with other iOS devices. We don’t know how much these will cost when they debut.

The AirPods Pro costs $249, while the regular AirPods retail for $159. Beats in-ear headphones cost around $49 for Beats Flex to $169 for Powerbeats Pro. It seems like $99-$150 seems to be the sweet spot for these. If Apple prices them competitively against AirPods – it could help cannibalize sales from Samsung and Google.

Both Samsung and Google are debuting true wireless earbuds for their smartphone ecosystems. Will Beats Studio buds be able to compete?

Google’s latest Pixel Buds start at just $99 and include real-time translation – a feature not available anywhere else. Apple is also going all-in on lossless audio and spatial audio support – while other manufacturers play catch up.

While Apple is going all-in on lossless and spatial audio support, the days are still early. An Apple spokesperson has confirmed to Digital Music News that lossless audio is not supported on any current AirPods model. “AirPods Max wired listening mode accepts analog output sources only, while AirPods Max currently does not support digital audio formats in wired mode.”

Apple supports the AAC codec over Bluetooth, which cannot offer the bit-rate of CD-quality or higher. Apple needs an entirely new wireless Bluetooth codec to support HiFi music playback wirelessly.

Photo Credit: Google

Google is unveiling a new generation of earbuds — the Google Pixel Buds A-Series is here.

Google says the goal was to pack premium sound quality, real-time translation, and an affordable price into one product. The result is the Pixel Buds A-Series, which will cost just $99 when they launch. That’s about $60 cheaper than the entry-level Apple AirPods – and those don’t do real-time translation.

Google says these Pixel Buds will feature the best audio yet, thanks to thousands of hours of research. “Our research shows that most people describe great sound as full, clear, and natural. This is what guides our audio tuning process and shows up in other devices, like Nest Audio,” the Google blog post announcing the new earbuds says.

The Pixel Buds A-Series features a 12 mm dynamic speaker driver to deliver that natural sound. They also have an option for even more power in low tones with the Bass Boost feature. Google says it has scanned thousands of ears to make sure the new earbuds fit with a gentle but secure seal. There’s also a spatial vent to help reduce in-ear pressure for a more comfortable fit during long wear sessions.

The new Pixel Buds A-Series also features adaptive sound. It can increase or decrease the volume of the earbuds based on your surroundings. That can come in handy when moving between quiet and noisy places – like jogging past a construction site on your normally quiet exercise route.

Google incorporated beamforming mics into the earbuds to focus on picking up the users’ voice. It’s one aspect that helps make the calls crystal clear. And of course, they wouldn’t be Pixel Buds without support for the Google Assistant. Google says the new earbuds offer around five hours of listening time on a single charge. The case offers around 24 hours of listening time before it needs to be charged, which only takes about 15 minutes.

The Pixel Buds A-Series is now available to pre-order on the Google Store. Google says they will release on June 17 for the United States and Canada. The new earbuds will be rolling out to other countries soon. For more availability, be sure to check out Google’s waitlist.

It’s interesting to see Google compete with Apple in the hearables space. Android Wear OS has been an abject failure at competing with Apple Watch. The cheaper Pixel Buds may attract travelers with its real-time translation feature – something Apple doesn’t offer.

Photo Credit: Safarulla Kasmi

Apple’s AirPods strategy made it seem like the Beats brand is dead. But Apple hired an in-house designer for new product designs.

With the focus on the AirPods brand and the AirPods Max, some analysts speculated Apple is killing the Beats brand. Apple spent six long years of investing in the brand before bringing its AirPods strategy online. But what many people don’t realize is that the Beats brand served as a jumping-off point for AirPods – and will likely continue to do so.

Apple has invested in the Beats hardware division since its acquisition in 2014. Beats released new hardware with Apple technology integrated inside starting in 2016 with the Powerbeats3, Beats Solo 3, and BeatsX release. Each of these products shared technology with the newly unveiled AirPods.

Apple has hired Scott Croyle, a well-known designer who shaped the look of HTC devices in the Android world. He led the HTC design team at the height of its popularity, with the HTC One M7 and M8. Croyle eventually left HTC to create a new start-up, launching the Nextbit Robin smartphone. When gaming peripheral maker Razer acquired that start-up, Croyle started a new design firm called Attic.

Now, 9to5Mac reports that Croyle joined Apple last year to oversee Beats product design. While Beats is an Apple-owned brand, the design firm Ammunition has created the look of Beats hardware for years now. The relationship between Beats and Ammunition isn’t changing – rather, Croyle will become the point person between the two companies.

So if Beats isn’t dead yet, when will Apple release newly designed Beats products?

“A source with knowledge of Beats design work tells us that the team has been actively studying speakers from other brands that are available today,” 9to5Mac reports. “Headphones are a focus naturally.” But no information was given about any new products that are on the horizon.

The focus on smart speakers may be a key clue, though. Apple recently killed off its HomePod speaker in favor of the HomePod mini. It could be hoping to position Beats as a portable audio brand – the 2015 Beats Pill+ speaker is still one of the most popular portable speakers on the market.

While the design relationship between Beats and Ammunition may not be changing, future Beats products will undoubtedly look different. Croyle’s devices had a lean, boxy look that stuck to a minimalist aesthetic. That’s exactly the look Apple wants for its ecosystem of audio products.

Photo Credit: Alphacolor

Sennheiser has sold its headphones business to Sonova, a Swiss medical audio manufacturer.

Sennheiser announced it was looking for a buyer for its consumer electronics division in February. The German audio firm cited ‘strong competitive pressure’ as the reason for selling its business. Despite setting record sales in 2019, Sennheiser still lost money on its profit margins.

That’s because Apple’s AirPods have dominated the hearables market. With AirPods Pro and AirPods Max encroaching on the luxury brand – Sennheiser cut 650 jobs and began looking for an out. Sonova says it will continue to sell products under the Sennheiser brand.

“Combining our audiological expertise with Sennheiser’s know-how in sound delivery, their great reputation, as well as their high-quality products, will allow us to expand our offering and to create important touchpoints with consumers earlier in their hearing journey,” Sonova CEO Arnd Kaldowki says in a blog post about the deal.

In a joint statement from Sennheiser’s co-CEOs, Andreas and Daniel Sennheiser, the pair said the deal was a match made in heaven. “A partner who not only shares our passion for audio and a commitment to the highest product quality but also very similar corporate values,” the brothers write in a blog post. “This is an excellent foundation for a successful future together.”

Sonova paid around $241 million for the Sennheiser headphones business.

Sennheiser generates around $350 million in revenue yearly. The deal is still subject to regulatory approval in the EU. However, Sonova expects to close it in the second half of 2021. Sennheiser is considered a major player in the luxury audio market, which Apple, Sony, and Jabra dominate.

The North American and European markets for true wireless earbuds and headphones are very saturated. Many manufacturers are turning to new regions like Latin America and the Middle East, and North Africa to help bolster sales. The market for in-ear wireless devices is expected to explode to $30 billion in sales annually by 2026.

The growth of the music industry and the popularity of rap have helped have a positive effect on the adoption rate of wireless earbuds. Headphone manufacturers are even collaborating with artists and celebrities to launch special edition hardware. Headphones that support active noise cancellation have exploded over the past two years.

Other budget wearables and earbuds are also offering decent sound at a much lower price. Brands like Anker, Plantronics, and Logitech are stepping up their audio game.

Photo Credit: Deezer

Deezer now supports native HomePod integration with support for HiFi lossless playback.

The API for other music streaming services to take advantage of the HomePod was released with iOS 14.3 last year. Pandora was the first service to announce native HomePod integration after those APIs rolled out. Spotify is yet to adopt the API for native HomePod integration – and now Deezer has beaten it to the punch.

Users will be able to configure Deezer as their default music service on the HomePod mini. You can ask the HomePod to play songs, albums, and playlists that will use Deezer for the music. Deezer says the HomePod even supports high-quality lossless streaming if you are a Deezer HiFi subscriber. That integration only works for music, though – not Deezer podcasts.

Spotify is responsible for Apple opening up the API for the HomePod to third-party services. That’s after Spotify filed a complaint with the European Union in 2017 about what it called Apple’s unfair advantages. Apple doesn’t have to surrender 30% of its subscription revenue to another third party. It also enjoyed exclusive access to its HomePod accessories until Spotify filed this complaint.

Spotify accused Apple of “routinely blocking experience-enhancing upgrades” to lock itself and competitors out of Siri, HomePod, and Apple Watch. Spotify says it tried to submit a Spotify Watch app back in 2015, but the app was blocked by Apple and never released. Apple never expounded on why a Spotify app for Apple Watch would be blocked.

The row with Spotify over what is fair and what isn’t has resulted in several changes to Apple’s business model. The 30% Apple Tax is now reduced to 15% for developers who make under one million. Any developer that makes over one million in gross revenue per year is still subject to the 30% revenue share, including Spotify.

These changes in Apple’s business model have allowed other music services like Pandora and Deezer to take advantage. You can now ask Siri to play your favorite music via Deezer. Tidal has yet to embrace HomePod integration either, but that may come soon with its new ownership.

Deezer is exploring many new ways to increase its user retention. It partnered with an earbud manufacturer to create USB-C earbuds that pre-install Deezer on Samsung devices. That’s important because Spotify has struck a deal with Samsung to be the default music player on its devices. Deezer is bypassing that by partnering with an accessory manufacturer and offering three months of service for free.

Photo Credit: Omid Armin

An Apple Music HiFi tier may be coming alongside the third-gen AirPods in the ‘coming weeks.’

Citing multiple sources within the music industry, Hits Double Daily says the new high-fidelity music tier may launch soon. The rumor suggests Apple isn’t looking for a premium price for its HiFi tier either – it will cost the same $9.99/monthly fee. Spotify has revealed it plans to roll out a Spotify HiFi tier soon, but few details have been revealed.

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is on June 7. No hardware was announced at WWDC last year, but it could be this year. The new AirPods are rumored to look more like AirPods Pro but lack certain Pro features – like active noise cancellation. Rumors of a third-gen AirPods launch come amid Apple cutting production of the AirPods series.

A report from Nikkei Asia confirms Apple has cut production of the AirPods by 25-30% because of a decrease in sales. That decrease is attributed to stiff competition in the wireless earbud industry – cheaper competitors are available with many of the same features.

Apple will ‘only’ produce 75 million to 85 million units of AirPods for 2021.

The original production plan aimed to produce 110 million units this year. “The most significant order reduction is for the second quarter toward the start of the third quarter,” says one of the sources cited. “The levels of inventory [in warehouses] and in-store stock of AirPods are currently high – and demand is not as strong as expected.”

The report does not specify whether AirPods Pro or AirPods Max production is affected. Both AirPods and AirPods Pro are likely to launch product refreshes this year – bringing new demand. Production of the new AirPods isn’t rumored to begin until Q3 2021, though.

If the rumor turns out to be true, Apple may be looking to beat Spotify to the HiFi tier. Amazon Music was the first ‘major’ music service to dabble in high-fidelity streaming. But Deezer and Tidal have been offering high-fidelity streaming for years now – Tidal even offers Masters-quality audio.

Apple is usually never first to the table, even in the tech world. But when it moves on a sector, things change. If Apple embraces high-fidelity music to sell more of its $550 AirPods Max with spatial audio support – that ripple effect will bring changes to the music industry. One of the biggest complaints about HiFi music streaming services among consumers is the lack of high-fidelity music tracks available for listening.

Photo Credit: Deezer

Deezer comes pre-installed on a new pair of USB-C earbuds – sideloading the music app on Android.

Deezer is targeting Samsung Galaxy device owners with the new promotion, which is interesting. Spotify comes pre-installed on Samsung devices through a partnership with Samsung. But these USB-C earbuds ‘sideload’ Deezer onto recent phones like the Samsung Galaxy 21, Note 20, or the Samsung Z Flip.

You don’t have to visit the Google Play Store to install Deezer – just plug in the USB-C earbuds. It’s an interesting tactic that could give Deezer an edge over Spotify, which relies on being the default music streaming service on Samsung devices. Deezer says the earbuds will work with any Galaxy device through the Galaxy S10 and the Note 10. (Samsung devices from 2019 or newer.)

These Mobee.K earbuds also offer a Deezer-themed takeover of your device. It includes a customized Deezer theme of wallpapers, exclusive playlists, and shortcuts to Deezer on the phone’s home screen for Samsung users only.

That last bit sounds somewhat awful rather than beneficial. I don’t want advertising taking over my phone when I plug in a pair of earbuds to go running in the morning. It will be interesting to see if the strategy helps Deezer penetrate the US streaming market, which Apple Music and Spotify dominate.

Even if you’re not a fan of Deezer, the USB-C earbuds will worth with any smartphone, tablet, or laptop. This is an interesting marketing strategy and one that couldn’t be employed when the 3.5mm headphone jack was the dominant audio jack. This idea could easily backfire, though – there’s nothing stopping Spotify and Apple from doing the same.

These earbuds are cheap enough, and they come with a three-month Deezer HiFi promotional offer. New users can sign up to Deezer and enjoy offline listening and unlimited skips of music. It’s a great way to get users interested in a HiFi music subscription, but I’m not sure how great high fidelity music will sound on a pair of sub-$30 earbuds.

The push for HiFi music subscriptions is becoming a focus as music streaming companies need to diversify their revenue streams. Charging more for masters-quality audio is already the bread and butter of Tidal, Deezer, and Amazon Music. Spotify even supports high-fidelity audio – something it scoffed at in the past as unnecessary for the average music listener. Hardware promotions may help increase the adoption of HiFi subscriptions if they sound great.

Photo Credit: Amazon

Amazon is offering six months of free music with its second-gen Echo Buds release.

The new generation of Alexa-enabled hearables from Amazon are only $99 for a limited time. They come in Black or Glacier White and Amazon has its sights set firmly on both Apple and Spotify with this offer. Offering hardware and six months of free music for less than AirPods is tempting for many. But it may also pull subscribers from Spotify, who’s only hardware on offer isn’t freely purchasable – yet.

The new Amazon Echo Buds feature a smaller design and a more comfortable fit, with active noise cancellation. They also charge wirelessly, unlike the first-generation Echo Buds. Amazon says the new Echo Buds feature more balanced song and extended dynamic range. Amazon says the new buds’ ANC technology is also twice as good at canceling background noise.

The one sticking point for me would be the voice-activated controls. You need to ask Alexa to enable ANC and passthrough mode – which is awkward. The Echo Buds that support wireless charging come at a premium $139.99, putting them closer to AirPods territory. Amazon says “Customers who qualify will also receive six months of Amazon Music Unlimited and Audible Plus for free.” To qualify, you must be eligible for a free trial of Amazon Music Unlimited or Audible.

“The all-new Echo Buds are better in so many ways—a smaller design, a more comfortable fit, Active Noise Cancellation technology, a new color and wireless charging option, and high-performance drivers for dynamic audio,” said Tom Taylor, Senior Vice President, Amazon Alexa.

“It’s never been easier for customers to bring Alexa with them throughout their day—whether at home, walking the neighborhood, or commuting to work, all they have to do is ask to play music or podcasts, call to check in on a loved one, add an item to their to-do list, and so much more.”

The free music offer is hard to pass up, but I’m wary of digital assistant-powered earbuds. Alexa may be here to stay, but Microsoft’s Cortana efforts have fallen flat to the point that its discontinuing support. Amazon is hoping the earbuds will be a loss-leader for its music streaming service.

But the five hours of playback and only 15 hours of total time in the charging case is kind of lacking. You can buy much cheaper wireless earbuds that sound on par with what Amazon offers for around $60 to $70 – no digital assistant installed, either.

The Fender American Professional II Jazz Bass, released October 2020 (photo: Fender)

Digital Music News has teamed up with Sweetwater to help a lucky musician kickstart 2021. Here’s a look at the recently-released Fender American Professional II Jazz Bass, and how you can win it.

Congratulations to Ethan Langston, the winner of this awesome bass! Thanks to everyone who entered, and a special thanks to Sweetwater for making this giveaway possible.

2020 may have grounded most tours and live concerts, but it did little to halt practicing, recording, songwriting, and overall musical creativity. Amazingly, lockdowns also created a surge in the number of new guitar and bass players, with manufacturers like Fender reporting record sales levels in 2020. Surprisingly, younger women were the largest growth category at Fender, a development that promises to shift the musical landscape for years to come.

That’s good news, though few would call last year a cakewalk. So as 2020 drew to a close, Sweetwater — one of the largest musical instrument retailers in the world — approached us with an idea. Why not give away an incredible piece of gear to one of our readers to help them kickstart 2021?

In the process, Sweetwater wanted to give us a taste of how they help customers select the right instrument, then deliver the goods. That’s a pretty involved process at the company, so they wanted to flex their muscles a bit — and give away something juicy in the process.

So why the Fender American Professional II Jazz Bass?

As a bass player myself, and owner of two seriously-worn 4-strings, I was curious about what was out there. I was delighted to find lots of solid basses available at lower prices, with some incredible entry-level options for those just starting out. I even found an acceptable starter bass for less than $100 — just to get the chops going.

And there are also dozens of higher-end basses constantly being released, from brands big and small. For those willing to drop thousands — or tens of thousands — on a gorgeous, one-of-a-kind bass, there’s something beautiful waiting for you with endless tailored specifications (for some fun, check out this list of ‘Bodacious Basses’).

But what about my non-stratospheric budget?

We set a budget in the $1,500 range, and I called a Sweetwater sales rep with dozens of questions related to body styles, woods, pickups, necks, frets recording, touring, cases, and more. I was looking for something that could survive gigging 250+ days a year, multi-hour high-energy shows, hours of practicing a day, versatility across numerous genres and performance atmospheres, all while delivering excellent performance in recording environments.

I also wanted to pick a bass that almost any musician reading Digital Music News would be thrilled to win. For that reason, I decided against 5-string, 6-string, and fretless variations, as cool as those variations are. I also nixed more delicate works-of-art that might get rattled on the road or become a magnet for thieves — we’ll leave those in the high-priced studios and performance halls of the musical elite.

But make no mistake: in the mid-$1,000 range, there are some incredible basses that will supply decades of enjoyment. Makers like Ibanez, Gibson, Yamaha, Rickenbacker, Ernie Ball Music Man, and more all have beautiful options, so I had a lot of go through with Sweetwater. And frankly, there were several basses that could have been chosen for this giveaway. But based on the metrics I’d fed Sweetwater, Fender came out a clear winner.

Actually, I’d already been buying some gear and instruments from Sweetwater. They know their stuff and are willing to handhold.

I spent nearly two hours with a single Sweetwater rep vetting through more than ten different possibilities. In the process, I learned every nuance about necks, frets, pickups, player feedback, and even cases. I also focused a lot on durability and versatility, while also including the possibility of a few accidents and mishaps (hey, the road can get unpredictable).

Eventually, Sweetwater narrowed it down to just a few basses, with the Fender American Professional II Jazz Bass the best buy for the budget. It’s also one of the latest, having been released in October of 2020, which gives it a few of the latest-and-greatest snazzy features that earlier versions lack. And for those that are actually playing jazz, this bass delivers a warm, upright standup bass sound, though it’s also perfectly capable of nailing other genres like pop, funk, and rock.

One plus is that Sweetwater can dial into specialty sounds and tell you which instruments are used by which famous players, whether it’s Jaco Pastorius, Flea, Geddy Lee, Cliff Burton, or Gene Simmons. Just be prepared for some elevating price tags as you head into more specialized terrains and celebrity-designed instruments.

Once you make your selection and swipe your card, Sweetwater also keeps contact with you to make sure everything arrives in one piece.

Actually, I’d also ordered another piece of percussion equipment for some Christmas caroling, and my sales guy also checked in on that — nice touch.  Both arrived well-packaged and in good order — and this is a beautiful bass — though if there had been any problem, there’s definitely somebody home to help.

The bass itself arrived in pristine condition. There’s also a comprehensive, 55-point inspection process for any instrument over $299, which guarantees a problem-free start — though Sweetwater also checks in to see how things are going.

Fender American Professional II Jazz Bass specifications.

Enter to win below.

Please note: this is a right-handed bass guitar!

• Body Shape: American Professional II Jazz
• Number of Strings: 4
• Color: 3-Color Sunburst
• Body Finish: Gloss Polyurethane
• Body Material: Alder
• Neck Material: Maple
• Neck Shape: Slim C
• Radius: 9.5″
• Fingerboard Material: Rosewood
• Fingerboard Inlay: White Dots
• Number of Frets: 20, Narrow Tall
• Scale Length: 34″
• Nut Width: 1.5″
• Nut Material: Bone
• Bridge/Tailpiece: 4-Saddle HiMass Vintage
• Tuners: Fender Vintage-style
• Middle Pickup: Fender V-Mod II Jazz Single-coil
• Bridge Pickup: Fender V-Mod II Jazz Single-coil
• Controls: 2 x volume, 1 x master tone
• Strings: Fender USA 7250M, .045-.105
• Case Included: Hardshell Case
• Manufacturer Part Number: 0193970700

Enter to Win the Fender American Professional II Jazz Bass.

Please only one submission per entrant. This giveaway is US-only, and only one winner will be selected at random by March 31st, 2021. Please enter the address that you will be receiving the Fender American Professional II Jazz Bass if you are a winner. Your email address and/or phone number will be used to notify you if you are a winner. If you do not respond to reasonable efforts to contact you, Digital Music News will select another winner. You are responsible for any taxes or other charges associated with winning this prize. After the giveaway is concluded, all entry details will be deleted, except for the email addresses of those selecting to receive the Digital Music News Daily Snapshot. Good luck!

Sorry, the contest has now ended! Congratulations to our winner, Ethan Langston.

Photo Credit: Arne Müseler / CC by 3. 0

AirPods Max battery drain issues are surfacing on social media, even inside the charging case.

Some AirPods Max owners report that their $550 headphones can’t hold a charge overnight. That’s even if the headphones are inside Apple’s official bra-like case designed to put them into ultra-low-power mode. While the extreme AirPods Max battery drain seems to be limited to a few cases, owners are less than satisfied.

Here is just a small collection of some of the feedback users are sharing on the Apple Support Forums, Reddit, Twitter, and other social media.

“My AirPods Max are deeply self-discharging overnight. They go from 90+% down to 0% overnight,” one post reads. Another in response to that one confirms the same problem.

“Yup, experiencing the same exact problem here. I fully charge my AirPods Max, place them carefully in the Apple case (which is supposed to put them in low power mode’). Then when I go to use them a few hours later or the next day, they make the ‘death sound’ indicating the battery is low, and I see the battery has dropped down to 1%. Now the behavior I expect in a $549 pair of headphones,” the post reads.

Several Reddit posts from buyers report the same AirPods Max battery drain issue. So far, Apple has not publicly acknowledged it.

“Charged them in the morning to 100% used them occasionally (2-3 hrs) during the day and in the evening, put them into the smart case. Wake up to 0% battery,” one post on Reddit reads. One right below that confirms the same behavior.

“Yup, same here. Although, I used mine for an entire evening. But still, when I woke up this morning, 1% left on the battery.”

So what’s the problem, and what’s causing the AirPods Max battery drain issue?

It may be tied to a firmware release issued on December 18th. Further diagnosing of the issue has narrowed it down to a few use cases. Apple Tips reports that the issue doesn’t seem prevalent for AirPods Max users with iPhone-only connections. The AirPods Max battery drain issues don’t start appearing until Apple TV or other non-Apple devices are connected.

How do you fix AirPods Max battery drain issues?

So far, there’s no consistent fix in place. Apple may issue a firmware update that addresses these concerns. Here are some things you can try to help resolve the issue.

Restart the AirPods Max by pressing and holding the Digital Crown and noise control button. An orange light will repair, signaling the headphones have restarted. You can also try disabling automatic switching to other devices. These workarounds shouldn’t be necessary on a $550 audio device – but here we are.

Photo Credit: Miguel Tomas

A new market research study found AirPods market share dropped from 41% to 29%.

Counterpoint data found the drop took place over nine months in 2020. But despite the significant drop in market share, Apple still remains well ahead of its main competitors. Most other big-box competitors like Sony and Bose hover in the 2% to 5% market share range.

The AirPods market share drop took place between Q4 2019 to Q3 2020. The drop in market share doesn’t reflect a drop in Apple’s overall sales, but rather growing competition in the earbuds market. Counterpoint says it expects the overall annual growth of the True Wireless Stereo (TWS) headphones market to hit 83% in 2021.

“There is a big potential in budget [accessories], and we’re already seeing the impact in hearables. In Q3 2020, half of the top 10 were budget brands with sub-$50 and even sub-$20 offerings; Xiaomi best illustrated the trend as it consolidated its number two spot,” Counterpoint’s research report says.

It’s worth noting that Xiaomi is one of eight new Chinese companies subject to a ban in the U.S. It’s unclear how long Xiaomi will retain its number two spot if it cannot sell its products to U.S. consumers. The new Biden administration could revisit the bans instituted by the outgoing Trump administration.

The removal of the headphone jack from most smartphone models is spurring the growth of the TWS market.

“The trend around removing jacks and earphones from devices and boxes is becoming a big driver for TWS segment growth,” Counterpoint Research Senior Analyst Liz Lee says. “It also helps that mobile media consumption continues to grow, making TWS the next must-have accessory.”

TWS Earbuds Growth – 2019/2020

• • AirPods market share – 29%
  • Xiaomi market share – 13%
  • Samsung market share – 5%
  • JBL market share – 5%

Apple’s iOS ecosystem is the main driver for growth of its hearables accessories. The standard AirPods are expected to receive a model update to bring them more in line with AirPods Pro. Active noise cancellation will remain a differentiating feature between the two offerings. Of the premium and mid-range demographic, Apple AirPods continue to dominate.

Sony, JBL, and Jabra are only blips on the radar for premium customers. With the AirPods Max now available with spatial audio support, Sony and Bose headphones may see a drop in premium headphone sales.

Those already in the iOS ecosystem love how easily Apple’s Bluetooth accessories pair with their devices. That’s hard to replicate for a third-party manufacturer. Only Samsung has something close with its Galaxy Buds and Galaxy smartphone series.

Photo Credit: Sony UK

The first Sony speakers with 360 Reality Audio will debut this year – here are the details.

Sony revealed the new speakers at the all-digital CES 2021 show, which usually occurs in Las Vegas. Sony unveiled the 360 Reality Audio format two years ago  with a pair of headphones; now, it’s debuting a smart speaker. The speaker also features an Immersive Audio Enhancement algorithm to transform stereo tracks into a simulated 360 audio experience.

The Sony SRS-RA3000 will feature Bluetooth, WiFi, Spotify Connect, and Google Cast capabilities. The unit can be paired with both the Google Home and Amazon Alexa apps for seamless smart home integration. The speaker also supports voice commands from either Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa.

Sony is building some interoperability with its other devices, too. Both Sony 360 reality audio speaker models can wirelessly connect to Sony Bravia TVs. The Sony Music Center app also offers an equalizer, volume controls, and more. The speakers are capable of adjusting their volume automatically to bring consistency to streaming music even if the tracks vary.

The Sony RA5000 can be calibrated to offer “optimum audio performance.” Sony says the internal microphone and audio algorithms can help the speaker sound its best in your location. Holding down the Immersive Audio Enhancement button starts the automatic sound calibration.

The speaker is also humidity-resistant, making it a good companion device for kitchens or bathrooms. Both devices feature a 15-minute timeout feature to preserve battery life if the speaker isn’t being used.

So far, only Sony UK has officially announced the new speaker. Sony says both models will be appearing in the United States later this year. The Sony RA5000 will cost €599/$727 while the RA3000 will debut at €359/$436. Both speakers are intended to compete with the Amazon Echo Studio.

360 Reality Audio is designed to reproduce the experience of being at a live music concert.

Sony achieves this by placing the listener in a virtual concert venue, positioning all of the instruments in a soundstage around the listener. The result is an airy, open performance that feels different from studio and live concert recordings.

Sony plans to release a new video service with 360 Reality Audio, too. The feature is available on Sony’s Artist Connection app for iOS and Android. The debut performance will feature Zara Larsson later tonight at 5 pm ET on January 11th. Sony says other major music labels and service providers will begin streaming new video content later this year in the new audio format.

Photo Credit: Apple

Apple is celebrating the Chinese New Year with a limited-edition AirPods Pro design.

The design will be available in multiple Asian countries, including China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Malaysia. The new year is the Year of the Ox, which Apple celebrates with the clever design above. The Ox design, surprisingly, won’t cost anything extra, either.

Apple will have the limited-edition AirPods Pro available to purchase in its retail stores and online. There is a strict two-units per-order limit, and they are only available on a first-come, first-served basis. While Apple isn’t charging a premium for these, you can bet scalpers will be.

Apple says it’s only making 25,400 editions of these Chinese New Year AirPods Pro.

Scalpers have been having a field day during the pandemic with consoles and other tech. Gibson even put out a massive reward for information leading to some of its limited-edition guitars’ return.

These AirPods Pro will be quite the collector’s item for a while since the next Year of the Ox is in 2033. Given the crackling issue reported by some AirPods Pro users, you will have moved on by then.

Back in November 2020, Apple finally acknowledged the crackling issue. Any units manufactured before October 2020 are eligible for return if the user can hear crackling, static, or noise cancellation issues after firmware updates. In January, Digital Music News reported on users experiencing these issues. It took Apple nearly the entirety of 2020 to acknowledge some users are experiencing problems after the 2C54 firmware update.

Firmware updates on the AirPods are seamless, so there’s no way to stop them from arriving. Users can’t reject AirPods software updates, and there’s no way to force an update. Instead, Apple says its customers should plug in the charging cable, put the case near their iPhone, and wait for an update.

Apple recommends anyone who is experiencing the AirPods Pro audio issue to have them serviced.

“Your AirPods Pro will be examined before any service to verify that they are eligible for this program,” Apple advises users. If either the left or right AirPod is experiencing the issue, it will be replaced free of charge. Apple says the case is not involved in the issue and will not be replaced.

Firmware updates are the bane of wireless earbud users these days. Apple, Bose, and Sony all three have experienced some firmware issues on their most popular earbuds this year. It begs the question, why pay $350 for something that can be killed with a software update?

Apple appears to be working on its own branded version of the Powerbeats Pro design – with formable ear hooks.

Apple has been granted two design patents for Beats headphones in December and another in September. Patently Apple has been tracking how Beats IP is slowly shifting to Apple. A new patent application entitled “Earphones with a Formable Ear Hook” now appears under Apple at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The design featured in the patent doesn’t appear to be much different from the current Powerbeats Pro design.

The Apple patent says the ear hook can include a first end and a second end with a curved portion between. The body of the ear hook is made from flexible material molded over a formable member.

“The formable member can extend within the ear hook from the first end along a portion of the ear hook length towards the second end and can enable the ear hook to be bent along a portion of its length while retaining its bend shape,” the patent reads. Further embodiments of the earphones also include attachments that secure the earbud to the hook, forming a water tight seal between the ear hook and the earbud component.

Patently Apple reports that Apple’s version of this patent shows the original Beats patents have been cancelled. Specifically, four of the original patent claims numbers 2, 3, 15, and 20 are canceled. The invention has been refiled under Apple as a new invention. The transfer of patents at the USPTO is an interesting one. It suggests that Apple is at least considering adding a Powerbeats Pro-like earbud to its AirPods-branded line-up.

Photo Credit: USPTO

It’s unclear if Apple-branded Powerbeats Pro would ever go into production, but it’s at least on Apple’s ideas table.

One of the main criticisms of AirPods and AirPods Pro is that they don’t stay in the ear with vigorous exercises, like running or cardio. AirPods designed like the Powerbeats Pro may address that criticism – and provide another audio revenue stream for the Cupertino company.

When it comes to launching new audio products, Apple moves slowly but deliberately. I’ve reported on the existence of the AirPods Max since 2017 when the rumor mill dubbed them the AirPods Studio. It will be interesting to see what Apple plans to call its athletic-minded AirPods if they enter production. Throwing my guess into the ring, I’d say the most likely name is AirPods Fit, to coincide with the release of Apple Fitness.

Apple is going all-in on its AirPods brand with the new AirPods Max — with a hefty $549 price tag.

The AirPods Max is the long-rumored AirPods Studio that Digital Music News has been reporting for nearly two years. These headphones are a long time in the making — and pack some hefty features for that hefty price tag. Apple promises that the AirPods Max will deliver high-fidelity audio, adaptive EQ, active noise cancellation, and spatial audio. Spatial audio is becoming increasingly important for VR and AR applications – which Apple is dabbling in behind the scenes.

The AirPods Max features Apple’s H1 chips. It also packs what Apple calls “advanced software to power computational audio,” which powers the adaptive EQ feature. They also feature a 40mm Apple-designed dynamic driver to provide rich bass and accurate mid-ranges.

They also have a dual neodymium magnet to allow the AirPods Max to maintain a total harmonic distortion of less than 1% across the entire audible range. Apple says that this level of control can be maintained even at maximum volume.

The adaptive EQ feature allows the AirPods Max to adjust the sound to fit the seal of the ear cushions. The headphones measure the sound signal delivered to the user and adjust the low and mid-range frequencies in real-time. They also feature a Transparency mode to allow listeners to have music and environmental sounds at the same time.

AirPods Max also features active noise cancellation (ANC) so users can focus while they’re on. Each ear cup features three outward-facing microphones to detect environmental noise. There’s also a microphone inside the ear cup to monitor the sound that reaches the listener’s ear. The headphones use computational audio to create noise cancellation that continually adapts to a user’s surroundings in real-time.

Finally, the AirPods Max also features spatial audio, which is becoming increasingly important. The AirPods Max uses dynamic head tracking to place sounds virtually for a theater-like experience. They also feature a gyroscope and an accelerometer to track the motion of a user’s head and remaps sound in real-time, so it stays anchored even as the user’s head moves.

They’ll be available in five colors at launch, including space grey, silver, sky blue, green, and pink. They’re also available to pre-order today, with the AirPods Max launching on December 15th. Apple says you can expect to get about 20 hours of battery life from these – even with ANC and spatial audio enabled.

Apple has packed a lot of audio tech into these, and the price reflects that. But you can bet they’ll be a hit this holiday season, despite the price tag. AirPods and AirPods Pro remain the top-sellers in the hearables category. High-end luxury headphone makers like Bose, Sony, and Sennheiser are on notice with the AirPods Max.

Photo credit: Jabra

Jabra Elite 75t earbuds are supposedly better than the competition. Is that really true?

If you’re using earbuds, you know that they are pretty convenient for day-to-day use. Especially while working from home, earbuds have been my best friend, drowning out any noise or conversations going on in the house.

I own a few pairs of wireless earbuds, but lately, I’ve heard that the Jabra earbuds were great for the price, design, and sound quality. Jabra sent me a pair of their Elite 75t earbuds for an honest review, and I was eager to put them to the test.

Overall, when considering prices for a reliable set of earbuds, Jabra Elite 75t delivers solid sound quality for less than its competitors.

They perform just as well — and even better — depending on your unique customizations to your audio. And this goes beyond the sound performance: the physical design of these earbuds is far more appealing than anything else hanging out of your ear.

These earbuds cost $179.99 and have multiple color options. 

Initial Reactions

When they first arrived, I was excited to see how they looked. After slipping the cover off the box, there’s a tab you need to pull to reveal the earbuds. Unboxing them, the earbuds are in the center with a note from Jabra letting you know about their Sound+ app that allows you to personalize your sound.

The buttons are shimmery with a smooth matte finish around the earbuds. The charging case also has a smooth matte finish. The case is comparable to the size of a TicTac box and was extremely lightweight, even with holding the earbuds.

Taking the earbuds out of the frame, I was a bit worried that they looked and felt small in my hand. Once I popped the earbuds in, however, I was impressed with how perfectly they fit.

For one, these earbuds felt like they went a bit deeper into the ear canal than other earbuds. 

I actually enjoyed that because there wasn’t much sticking out or hanging out of my ear. 

Jabra provided three sizes for the gel ear-tip: small, medium, and large. The earbuds come standard with the medium tips already on, and those worked out with a snug fit for me compared to the others. But besides all the physical features of these earbuds, I finally wanted to test the sound quality. 

Sound Quality:

Most importantly, I was ready to test if they are better than AirPods. I really wanted to put these to the test with songs in different genres and that I’m currently listening to on repeat. 

The songs I tested it with :

• • Hawaiian Party by Cub Sport
  • Jungle by Tash Sultana
  • Cabin Fever by Jaden
  • my future by Billie Eilish
  • Cold Little Heart by Michael Kiwanuka

These earbuds have a HearThrough feature. For this initial sound test, I had the HearThrough feature off so I could really examine the sound quality out-of-the-box. Without making personalized sound adjustments, there is a well-balanced crisp tone for each of the songs. It’s comparable to its competitors in solid sound quality. Although, the noise canceling experience on these felt more secluded, and I enjoyed that.

If you have the volume at 50%, it still seems pretty low. But once you reach 75%, you get a well-balanced sound. It’s easy to hear everything going on in the background of the songs. 

The maximum volume for the earbuds really made the experience different from the other sound levels. There would be a great benefit for Jabra to improve the volume features and how well it sounds at all levels and not just at the higher mark of 75% and up. 

Sound Customizations:

One of the intriguing features of these earbuds is the HearThrough feature. The HearThrough feature amplifies your surrounding sounds, whether there’s music playing or not. 

This was something I haven’t experienced as a feature for a pair of earbuds or headphones. A downside to it was with amplifying the sounds around me, the sound quality went down a bit.

With the HearThrough feature off, it truly secluded any other sounds from interfering with the music and sound quality. When you have the HearThrough feature on, it amplifies the sounds around you, whether there’s music playing or not. The wind would muffle the music, and that was just not a good combination. I found use in it when I was exercising near busy streets to hear for any cars coming by or honking; other than that, I probably wouldn’t use that feature much.

Now, I was ready to see what the audio experience would be like messing around with the app’s personalizations. You’re able to customize your sound with the music equalizer, explore ambient preset sounds, and control the HearThrough feature option.

When toggling around with the music equalizer, there’s a bit of a static you can hear when you’re making adjustments. The static goes away once you have settled on where you place your preferences on the EQ.

I like the personalization feature because it made my listening experience unique for the different genres.

In addition to the sound customizations, there are various presets of ambient sounds. The ambient sound selections they had were a pleasant surprise. I enjoyed listening to the sound of rain, crashing waves, or songbirds.

Durability:

I was also intrigued to see how this earbuds model would hold up with sweat from exercise. 

Jabra has an active version of the Elite 75t earbuds built to resist sweat, but I thought why not test the non-active edition at the lower price. I was happy to see that they did hold up sweat well, for the most part. If you’re one to sweat a lot more easily with the ears, it’s worth mentioning that the more sweat produced, the earbuds did feel to slip out a tiny bit.

Additionally, with exercising, if you’re doing any harsh movements or big jumps, the earbuds do slip out a bit, but it’s just a slight push back in for ultimate security.

In comparison to AirPods, there have been more times than I’ve liked where I’d bend down and one of the pods has already fallen out before I can adjust.

Final Thoughts:

After testing it out for a couple of weeks, I’d say that these are a great alternative to its competitors. 

If you’re looking at price points, you’d be getting more value out of these for the price that they’re at since you’d be able to personalize your sound along with it. What makes these earbuds great, apart from its competitors, is that these earbuds’ comfort and fit really take the cake. They don’t stick out and it doesn’t feel like anything is weighing down on the ear. 

As a plus, the battery life was awesome. I didn’t have to charge them super often and even when I did, it took a short amount of time to charge back up to max battery. 

Photo Credit: Google

A new report suggests Google is working on Nest Audio and Chromecast integration to rival Apple and Amazon.

The Wall Street Journal reports Google hopes to connect the smart home and streaming gadgets. It would bring feature parity with Amazon Alexa and Apple’s HomePod home speaker systems. Combining its streaming platform with smart speakers creates a seamless experience for users. It also serves to keep people attached to their preferred ecosystem – iOS vs. Android.

Both Apple and Amazon allow users to link their smart speakers with streaming boxes. Amazon users can link their Echo devices to their Fire TV to output audio. Apple users can link their HomePod devices to Apple TV. The full-sized version of the HomePod even features Dolby Atmos support. Google is playing a bit of catch up here, as always.

The new Chromecast with Google TV is the first Google streaming device that features a remote. Meanwhile, Apple TV, Fire TV, Roku, and virtually every other streaming platform introduced their boxes with a remote. Google advertised the ease of streaming music from your phone to Chromecast-connected devices. It even made a Chromecast Audio for bringing analog audio systems into the smart speaker fold.

Meanwhile, YouTube Music barely works as a replacement for Google Play Music. YTM continues to experience issues working with Android Auto, with the shuffle feature being utterly broken. Music transfers are a gamble since not every music license GPM has is held by YTM. That means some albums and songs are conspicuously missing.

Google did change it so that YouTube Premium isn’t required to stream music to a Chromecast device. But it’s such a small step on the road to making YouTube Music a viable replacement to Google Play Music. The app may have been ugly and outdated, but nothing Google has done since works as well.

The Nest Audio is four years in the making, and yet it didn’t launch with Chromecast support.

The Nest Audio is its mid-range smart speaker is meant to replace the Google Home. It’s bigger, has better speakers, and sounds better than the Home ever could. It also dumps the 360-degree sound in favor of pointed directional design.

The Nest Audio features a 75mm woofer and a 19mm tweeter, giving it more power than the Google Home. The beefier speakers allow for a richer, clearer sound that doesn’t sound muddy at high volumes. The dual-driver system also enables vocals to shine at higher pitches.

Photo Credit: Noveto Systems

A new sound technology can send a sound bubble to your head using sound beaming — no headphones are required.

Noveto Systems, an Israeli start-up, is debuting the new futuristic audio tech with a new desktop device. The device can beam sound directly to a listener without the need for headphones or earbuds.

The company provided a short demo of the new technology to reporters of the Associated Press. The new SoundBeamer 1.0 launches today with what the AP describes as sound “straight out of a sci-fi movie.” The SoundBeamer device sends 3D audio that feels like it’s inside of your ears, in front of them, and behind them — at the same time.

Noveto says it believes SoundBeamer has plenty of practical use applications. From allowing office workers to listen to music or conference calls to playing a game in a room while others watch a movie.

So, how does Noveto Systems’ futuristic sound beaming technology work?

The SoundBeamer users a 3D sensing module that locates and tracks the user’s ear position. It then sends the audio via ultrasonic waves to create sound pockets enveloping the user’s ear. The sound delivered in this manner can be heard in stereo or spatial 3D audio for the listener.

AP says during its short demo, nature clips of swans on a lake, bees buzzing, and a babbling brook played. Users described the sensation of actually feeling as though they were part of the scene. In another demo, a product manager could not hear gunshots in a gaming demo playing for someone else. That’s the goal of sound beaming tech, localized sound for the user-only.

“You don’t believe it because it sounds like a speaker, but no one else can hear it,” says Product Manager Aya Wallwater. “It’s supporting you, and you’re in the middle of everything.” So what happens when you move your head around – like playing a game or watching a horror movie? Noveto says a setting allows the sound to follow the listener when they move their head. The ‘sound beam’ can also be fixed, so you can walk in and out of hearing it.

The SoundBeamer is the first consumer branded product with this sound beaming technology.

But 3D spatial audio is something companies like Apple and Sony are working on perfecting. Sony’s 360 Reality Audio format creates much the same feeling of being surrounded by audio – but you need headphones. Sound beaming may be a game-changer in the future, especially in AR and VR applications.

Lava Guitars has released the Lava Pro model. A full sized carbon fiber guitar. It’s a unique instrument that is a lot of fun to play. But, is it right for you? Read this review to find out!

Update:

I have now tested two separate units of this Lava Pro Guitar. Both of them failed. The electronics just stop functioning altogether. The guitar sounds okay acoustically but is not worth the price tag compared to other guitars in this race.

I have also tested the Lava 3 guitar, which held a lot of promise. But, that guitar has also failed! That means that, of the four LAVA guitars I have tested, three of them have failed, and the fourth may have failed but I gave it away and would not know. The lava 3 sounds bad without effects active, so it’s especially worth avoiding.

Quick guide:

Who do I recommend this guitar for:

• • People who are looking for a full-sized acoustic guitar in the $1000 – $2500 range.
• • People who really want to use the built in effects.
• • People who like a sharper sound with a lot of clarity and definition in each of the strings. This guitar is really even and punchy sounding. The closest thing I would compare it to would be a better sounding Ovation guitar or a less warm Taylor Koa.

People I do not recommend this for:

• • People who have played the Lava Me 2 and did not care for the feel of plastic compared to wood.
• • People who need a guitar they can rely on for touring and gigging. I really like this guitar and it’s a lot of fun, but I had to send back my initial demo unit due to it no longer charging. This rendered the effects and the pickup non-functional.

Background

In October of 2019, I released a review for the Lava Me 2. A travel sized acoustic guitar made of carbon fiber with a built-in delay, reverb, and chorus effects. I really liked that guitar, despite one shortcoming that was inherent from the materials; I was unused to how carbon fiber would feel, especially throughout the neck. It required some adjustment, as I was subconsciously used to a certain vibrational feedback I would get while playing, but it was something that I could get past. Overall, it’s become one of my favorite guitars to just pick up and mess around with due to its compact size and the fun I get from getting to use effects without dealing with cables/headphones/neighbors or any of the complications I face as a hobbyist guitar player who lives with shared walls.

When Lava reached out to me to see if I would be interested in reviewing one of their Lava Me Pro guitars, I was really enthusiastic! A large part of why I write these reviews is because they are for products in categories that I often consider making purchases. Guitars are an item that I, and many others, have spent countless hours, vacillating on the decision ‘to buy or not to buy’. It’s a difficult decision to make! Yes, there are countless great reviews out there, fantastic videos, and many other ways to educate yourself. But, money is money, and it can be hard justify spending it on non-essential products sometimes. Especially since we are not talking about something inexpensive enough to be an ‘impulse buy’.

One of the downsides I find with most reviews is that they are incredibly subjective, to no fault of the reviewer. Musical instruments are an incredibly subjective product to review. The impact of personal preference, and difficulty in finding someone who may have a relatable opinion create an environment where I still don’t know what to buy. You’d think video reviews would help, but the way that a reviewer plays and the gear they used to record impacts how a guitar sounds. To give an idea of how I am approaching this review: “I am a casual player”. I’ve been playing for over 10 years but probably perma-plateaued at around 6-7 years in. I do a lot of basic strumming while using a pick.

Overview

I think that this is a guitar that is worth the money with a few caveats. It fits into/possibly invents an interesting category of what I am calling ‘affordable luxury guitars’. The overall fit and finish feel very premium. The style of the guitar and its included marketing/labeling come together to create the feel of a product that is about $1000 more than what you actually pay for each model.

I perceive the quality of the instrument itself is similar, if not slightly higher than guitars at the same price point ($700 for the travel model and $1200 for the Pro) and you are also given a decent case with the purchase. It’s a flexible hybrid case. It’s not safe to let TSA handle it, but it’s far nicer than the foldable gig-bag I am used to getting with acoustic guitars. One thoughtful addition on the case is the backpack style’s straps. It’s a nice addition and the straps are easily adjustable and made of what feels like a durable strap with a faux leather covering.

Sound Quality

In terms of sound, the Lava Pro really delivers. It has a very balanced sound overall. I found that I was able to get a nice booming sound on the lower end which was very satisfying and the high notes twinkle and sound really clear. I would say that it is more detailed than it is warm. You do lose something when you go away from wood, but you also get something in that enhanced clarity. I especially like to play lead parts and riffs on this guitar. The chords are not underwhelming, but one of the things you lose from wood is versatility.

A wood body acoustic’s sounds can be varied greatly between soft and warm chord progressions to really pronounced individual notes. The Lava Pro sounds great, but when you strum it softly, it just sounds like you are strumming it softly. It doesn’t sound that different from when you play it more loudly with harder strumming.  To some, this is going to be a huge bonus. Others may love it less.

Carbon fiber is going to sound different from wood, but if I were to compare it to any other guitar, I would compare it to a Taylor Koa model. It has a ton of clarity from high to low and you get a lot of definition in the sound, but it has a much more sterile sound than a wood guitar would. It makes the Koa guitars sound warm, but that is something I like about the carbon fiber guitar. It’s not a bad sound, it’s just unique.

Design and Features

The guitar comes in two color combinations. The face of the instrument is only available in a carbon-fiber patterned graphite color, but you have the choice between a silver or gold neck and hardware combination. In images, I felt the gold looked nicer and opted for that, however I do regret this as the gold looks a little more ‘cheap’ in person than it does in photos.

The guitar does also include built in effects, just like with the travel sized Me 2 model. You have delay and chorus once again, however, this time you have more control over the effects, the internal speaker is much louder. This allows for the sounds to be altered in much more noticeable ways.

Problems

The only things I don’t like about this guitar are that you have to buy a proprietary strap, the charging port location, potential durability concerns (which could be a fluke) and dubious recycling policies.

The strap has huge pegs that completely prevent the use of all normal straps from fitting. This applies to both the full sized and small models of their guitars. To add insult to injury, the proprietary strap cannot be bought by itself. Instead, you are forced into buying an ‘accessory bundle’ which includes things you are certain to not care about, but it makes it cost over $100 just to get a compatible strap. I think that’s a little bit consumer-hostile.

The placement of the charging port on the pro model needs to be changed in the future. It’s exactly in the place the guitar would rest if placed on the floor with the back of the neck leaning against an object. This will result in broken charging cables.

The first Pro model that was sent to me stopped charging after 5 months of use. I had to send it back and get a whole new guitar sent to me since there are not authorized repair people who could have replaced the battery or charger inside. So, I had to send back the entire unit and when I asked ‘what will happen to the unit I sent back’, because it is made of plastics and contains other parts, like a battery, which are not good for the environment. They were unable to provide any information on recycling.

Effects

The effects themselves have their advantages and disadvantages. One really nice addition is the ‘turbo’ button, which seems to only work when plugged in as sort of a ‘high-gain’ mode (increases the volume). Overall, you are given much more control over the effects and the modulation is far more dramatic than the travel model.

One problem/advantage that I find over the travel model is that the internal speaker is significantly louder than in the smaller guitar. This is great for having more dramatic effects but also a drain on the battery life.

One of the questions I got a lot in the comments for the travels sized Lava me 2 guitar were asking about the battery life for the built in effects and pickup. The travel sized model has a fantastic battery life, I can get about 20 hours of playing on it. However, that is one of the major downsides to the full-sized guitar. The battery only seems to last about 3-4 hours and it also drains while it’s turned off. My travel model’s battery lasts far longer and does not drain while not in use.  I think that the speaker inside that is pushing out the effected sound is substantially louder than in the travel guitar. This leads to a far more dramatic effect on the sound, but it also means a shorter battery life in addition to the draining while inactive.

Warranty and Durability

Another question I got in the comments of the travel guitar were about how to get it fixed if something happens to the guitar or in the event of a defect. I reached out to LAVA and here is what they said:

“For the warranty issue, firstly, the customer can contact the store they purchased for any problem. And they would definitely help them out. While if they purchase online, the customer can directly contact us via the platform. And if is a small problem, we can help them fix out by shipping some small part for them to fix, or if is something big we will ask them to send it back to Hong Kong, and we will take care of it. Whether we will change a new one or just fix the problem, it depends.”

Because I have already had to send back an entire guitar due to a battery/charging issue, I am not confident in recommending this guitar based on durability or warranty. It troubles me that due to one component malfunctioning, I had to get an entirely new instrument and that the company, Lava, would not provide any information about whether the guitar I mailed back would be recycled. I think it’s extremely wasteful for an entire guitar made from plastic (with a rechargeable battery) to be sitting in a landfill somewhere simply because the company does not have the means to test issues and diagnose problems.

Sound Samples

Here are some audio samples of how the guitar sounds acoustically. Both with and without effects. This was recorded using my Olympus LS-100 stereo recorder.

(Clean)

(Chorus playing chords)

(chorus playing singles notes) – LOUDER, TURN DOWN SPEAKERS/HEADPHONES

(Delay)

Here are some examples of what the pickup sounds like directly plugged into a JFET D.I. channel on my Audient ID14.

(Clean)

(Turbo Mode)

(Effects)

Photo Credit: OnePlus

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized 2,000 OnePlus Buds last month. They say the ‘counterfeit AirPods’ violate Apple’s configuration trademark.

On September 13th, CBP tweeted that it has recently seized 2,000 counterfeit Apple AirPods from Hong Kong. The tweet said the seizure was valued at $398,000, but it quickly went viral with photos of the evidence. Clearly labeled OnePlus Buds — a product from Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus — appear in the CBP press release announcing the action.

“The units originated from Hong Kong and were seized at JFK on August 31,” the press release reads.  And yes, OnePlus Buds are a genuine product – if a little too inspired by AirPods. They retail for $79, making a 2,000-unit seizure only worth an estimated $158,000. After receiving lots of flak on social media for the seizure of a legitimate product, CBP is standing by its assessment.

“Upon examining the shipment in question, a CBP import specialist determined that the subject earbuds appeared to violate Apple’s configuration trademark. Apple has configuration trademarks on their brand of earbuds and has recorded those trademarks with the CBP,” a statement to The Verge reads. A configuration trademark is the general aesthetic of a product.

So far, OnePlus has declined to comment on the seizure, even after the recent CBP statement. A CBP spokesperson says whoever imported the buds will have to provide evidence that the product does not violate recorded trademarks.

The seizure at the JFK airport hasn’t prevented OnePlus Buds from remaining on sale in the United States. You can purchase them online from many retailers, but it’s unclear whether future shipments will be seized. Apple itself has not taken any legal action against OnePlus for the design of its OnePlus Buds, either.

OnePlus received plenty of criticism online when the OnePlus Buds debuted on July 21st. Almost every reviewer who got their hands on these things called them AirPods knock-offs. It’s not hard to see why, since the OnePlus Buds feature a similar egg shape with a long thin, stick design. Among the countless wireless earbuds available, somehow, OnePlus ended up with a product that most resembles AirPods.

Whether or not Apple chooses to pursue this case remains to be seen. OnePlus has a long and storied history of copying iPhone designs for its handsets. Accordingly, it stands to reason that OnePlus would continue the trend with their accessories. OnePlus even copied the silver rim at the end of the stem to hide the charging contacts.

Photo Credit: Howard Bouchevereau

According to analysts, Apple will continue to boost its AirPods sales. But the company will also lose market share.

A new report from Bloomberg suggests increased competition in the hearables market is responsible. Manufacturers like Samsung, Google, Amazon, Bose, Sony, and others are competing in the space now. More affordable alternatives from China with many of the same features are emerging, too.

AirPods have set the baseline standard for what many consumers expect from their true wireless earbuds. Sales of AirPods and AirPods Pro accounted for half of all sales in 2019. According to data from Counterpoint Research, Apple’s AirPods sales are expected to reach 82 million units.

Currently, Apple AirPods holds an impressive 35% of the hearables market. China’s Xiaomi follows with 10% of the market, while Samsung is third with 6%. Samsung has aggressively expanded its truly wireless earbuds strategy to compete directly with Apple’s AirPods.

Samsung will help cannibalize Apple AirPods market share this year – its TWS sales are projected to double.

The newly launched Samsung Galaxy Buds Live feature many of the same tech specs as AirPods. Their unique bean-like shape makes them more comfortable in the ear than most traditional wearables, too. The iconic shape is an attempt to make them easily identifiable – much like Apple AirPods are. Samsung has already shipped 300,000 pairs of its Galaxy Live Buds, which launched just a few weeks ago.

Another threat comes from specialized Chinese brands selling their products globally at lower profit margins. These brands often match or exceed the features of Apple AirPods at less than a third of the price.

“The low-to-mid end segment including Chinese brands and US makers such as JLab is taking away share from the premium market,” Counterpoint analyst Liz Lee told Bloomberg.

There’s also another issue: Apple has trouble convincing Android owners that AirPods are the best hearable accessory to own. “We believe that Samsung can attract more users, especially Android phone users, if it provides a wider selection of truly wireless sound (TWS) devices from mid to high-end with at least two or three variations,” Lee adds.

Samsung’s TWS is estimated to grow from 8 million to 17 million this year. That’s still a fraction of Apple’s massive lead, but the competition is heating up. One interesting thing to note – traditional audio companies don’t appear to be penetrating the hearables market.

Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic, and Audio-Technica barely registered in Counterpoint’s data for 2019. Each brand holds a 0.3% market share (or less) in the TWS segment.

Photo Credit: Sven

Patents reveal Apple is experimenting with bone conduction audio on future AirPods versions.

Bone conduction audio is a unique way to listen to music, without the need for an earpiece. Bone conduction devices transmit vibrations through contact points on a user’s head. The vibrations penetrate the skull down to the ear, where they’re translated into sound.

This type of listening experience is useful in environments where a user needs their ears to hear. They’re also helpful if a person has damage to their ear that may prevent traditional earbud use. Bone conduction audio also works underwater – something air-based transmission can’t do.

One downside to the technology is that higher frequency audio isn’t as clear. Bone conduction audio works best with sound under the 4,000 Hz level. Human hearing can hear between 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz, leaving out a significant frequency range. Higher frequency audio vibrations may cause the wearer discomfort due to the tickling nature of the vibrations.

Despite those limitations, AirPods bone conduction was spotted in a recent Apple patent.

The patent is titled “Multipath audio stimulation using audio compressors.” Apple says the issues highlighted above with bone conduction audio could be mitigated by combining it with standard air conduction.

The patent contains an example wrap-around style earbud/wearable combination device. Audio signals from the device are filtered into three categories – low, mid, and high-frequency sounds. The various components are processed using compressors to reduce dynamic range and put together into a combined component again.

The re-combined signal is then sent to the users’ skull for bone conduction with low and mid-frequencies. High-frequency audio is processed through air conduction into the ear as normal. The result is AirPods featuring bone conduction with the full range of audio frequencies.

Apple says the design of this new system is constructed in such a way as not to block the ear canal. That means the user could still hear their surrounding environment while listening to music or other audio. The filing was first submitted to the US Patent and Trade Office (USPTO) two years ago in May 2018.

That means Apple has had two years to perfect the bone conduction system detailed in this patent.

There’s no guarantee that bone conduction audio will appear in the next-generation AirPods. But it is something Apple is experimenting with and has tested for years now. Patent filings from 2014 and 2015 reveal Apple worked on bone conduction earphones back then.

Apple is also rumored to be working on a set of AR mixed reality glasses, similar to Google Glass. Bone conduction audio would be handy for that application, so we may see it sooner than expected.

Photo Credit: Amazon

So much for our ‘amazing’ wireless future. Amazon Echo Buds are now overheating due to a firmware update.

Remember the last time your 3.5mm headphones overheated while charging? Me neither. Amazon has issued a dire email warning to owners of their new $130 Alexa-powered Echo Buds. The email says the Echo Buds overheating issue is due to a bug in a firmware update.

Amazon Echo Buds users are encouraged to update their earbuds as soon as possible.

Amazon says the firmware update introduces a “potential safety risk” to users. “We recently determined that in very rare cases, it is possible for Echo Buds to overheat while in the charging case. Out of an abundance of caution, we have released a software update that addresses this potential safety risk and improves the long-term performance of Echo Buds’ batteries,” the email reads.

The email from Amazon doesn’t detail how the firmware bug causes the earbuds to overheat. But new issues introduced in firmware updates is something that is plaguing all wireless earbuds manufacturers, not just Amazon.

Apple caught flak from AirPods Pro users who noticed a significant downgrade in active-noise cancellation quality. The noise cancellation feature works well, but early adopters still contend Apple gimped ANC in the 2B588 firmware update for the AirPods Pro.

Samsung’s big Galaxy Buds+ firmware update in April 2020 was supposed to bring new features. Instead, it brought the headache of connectivity issues for many users with older smartphones.

Some of those issues include non-responsive gesture controls, unstable ambient sound mode, and inconsistency in sound output. Samsung hasn’t publicly commented on the failure of firmware build R170XXUATD2 for Galaxy Buds+ users. But you can find complaints about it littering Samsung’s community forums online.

Google’s first big firmware fix for its Pixel Buds rolled out in June, bringing a fix for audio hissing. This firmware update still doesn’t address Bluetooth connection issues or audio drops the Pixel Buds are experiencing.

In each of these cases, devices have been made ‘worse’ after their sale. Firmware problems introduced to hardware after being sold are why the ‘Right to Repair’ laws have growing support in the US and EU.

Newly introduced problems like the Amazon Echo Buds overheating or ANC not working ‘as good’ are bullshit. These types of issues are not something anyone with a 3.5mm headphone jack has. At most, you may experience the port going bad and ceasing to work altogether. I’ve hesitated to embrace the Bluetooth wireless revolution for precisely this reason – never mind that sound quality still suffers.

Photo Credit: Daniel Romero

Apple’s next-generation ‘AirPods 3’ will feature system-in-package chip technology – like the AirPods Pro.

Industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo shared the prediction via Twitter. The AirPods 3 featuring a SiP chip would replace the surface mount technology (SMT) the current devices use. So what’s the difference, you ask?

SiP chip systems allow manufacturers to pack more components into a smaller space. The AirPods Pro features a SiP design with an Apple H1 chip to handle audio, Siri commands, noise-canceling, and more.

Introducing SiP chip technology to the entry-level AirPods 3 could mean more advanced features. Active noise-canceling is the primary reason to choose the current AirPods Pro over their cheaper counterparts. Bringing that feature to the entry-level AirPods 3 could entice even more people to upgrade.

Kuo says the new AirPods 3 will feature a design closer to the current AirPods Pro.

The move will retire the current design of the entry-level AirPods. The newest AirPods 3 are expected to be released in the first half of 2021. It’s likely the COVID-19 pandemic pushed back that launch from this fall.

AirPods shipments are anticipated to begin slowing in 2021, despite the new models. Kuo predicts a modest 28% year-over-year growth. That’s compared to the 65.1% adoption rate Kuo says the AirPods will experience in 2020. Since their launch, the AirPods have dominated the hearables market.

One driver for that massive growth is Apple dropping wired earbuds from the iPhone 12 box. Users who want a good pair of earbuds will now have to fork over cash for AirPods. Apple is branching out beyond offering just earbuds, though.

Analysts also believe the long-rumored AirPods Studio could launch alongside AirPods 3.

The ‘StudioPods‘ will cost more than AirPods, with many analysts pegging $399 as the likely price. The new headphones will feature an adjustable band and active-noise canceling technology. Rumors suggest both ‘AirPods Studio’ and ‘StudioPods’ could be potential names for the over-the-ear headset.

Rumors suggested the AirPods Studio would launch at WWDC 2020, but that didn’t happen. We’ve heard about Apple’s branded over-the-ear headphones since 2018, so a launch may be imminent. They’ll likely be powered by Apple’s H1 chip that powers the AirPods Pro and PowerBeats Pro.

If Apple wants to maintain the AirPods 3 entry-level point, they’ll likely remain sub-$200. Right now, the basic $159 AirPods price competes well with Samsung, Google, and Amazon’s offerings. Samsung’s Galaxy Buds + are probably the closest competitor worth considering. Google’s Pixel Buds aren’t even in the same category as Apple’s AirPods.

Photo Credit: Sven

Apple announced two new features in an AirPods update at WWDC this year.

Automatic switching between devices and a new “spatial audio” feature for 3D sound will come to AirPods Pro.
The new automatic switching feature will come to a variety of Apple accessories in a firmware update. Those devices include the AirPods Pro, 2nd-gen AirPods, Powerbeats, Powerbeats Pro, and Beats Solo Pro.

The feature will allow these devices to automatically switch inputs based on which device is being used through an iCloud account. For example, listening to a podcast on your phone and opening a video on your laptop will automatically switch the audio stream to the laptop. It also works in reverse, to change the audio stream to an iPhone to answer calls if you are listening to the audio on your laptop.

Apple did not give a firm timeline for when the new AirPods update will roll out.

Apple also announced a brand-new feature at WWDC called “spatial audio.” This new feature will only arrive on its AirPods Pro earbuds. The feature will offer 3D, surround-sound audio on the AirPods Pro. Apple says the feature replicates a “movie-theater experience on the devices. Apple says the AirPods Pro will constantly recalibrate based on your head’s position to whatever device you’re using. While that sounds unique and immersive, it also sounds battery-draining.

Apple’s new “Spatial Audio” feature is similar to Sony releasing its 360 Reality Audio format for its collection of headphones and headsets. Third-party music services like Deezer have embraced that audio format – but Apple Music hasn’t.

Apple is also bringing support for its AirPods audio sharing feature to Apple TV devices. That means two users can use a single pair of AirPods to watch Apple TV content together. iOS 14 is also bringing some minor usage improvements like battery notifications for when you need to charge your headphones.

Photo Credit: Howard Bouchevereau

Apple appears to have shifted some AirPods Pro production to Vietnam from China.

Eagle-eyed Twitter users are reporting seeing ‘assembled in Vietnam’ on their newly acquired AirPods Pro. The highly popular accessory sold out at the beginning of this year, and Apple has struggled to keep stock during the pandemic.

AirPods Pro earbuds are shipping again, but newer models appear to be assembled in Vietnam. Previously, most AirPods Pro production was centered in China, but the COVID-19 pandemic shut those factories down. The ongoing trade war and tariffs between China and the United States also fueled the diversification of Apple’s product supply lines.

Aside from moving AirPods Pro production to Vietnam, Apple also started assembling iPhones in India.

Last year, Japanese financial outlet Nikkei reported Vietnam was a potential source for new manufacturing. It seems Apple will also assemble its upcoming over-the-ear headphones in Vietnam, too.

These new headphones are rumored to be called StudioPods and will be priced around $349. Apple’s move into offering over-ear headphones puts pressure on its own Beats brand. Apple says it has no intention of promoting Beats any less – but I sincerely doubt that.

Don’t get me wrong, Beats will remain a part of Apple’s line-up, but they are a niche product compared to an Apple-branded pair of cans. The AirPods are already Apple’s best-selling accessory, with analysts expecting them to reach $15 billion in revenue for 2020.

Apple’s $349 cans will go up against headphones from Bose, Sony, Microsoft, and Sonos’ rumored over-ear headphones.

And guess what? Apple’s ‘StudioPods‘ will come out on top in sales because people love branded Apple accessories. Prepare to see a lot of Beats owners switch over to the new StudioPods, too.

Either way, Apple’s diversified supply lines means the launch of StudioPods should go smoothly. Having products made in two different countries helps prevent events like COVID-19 from interrupting the supply chain too badly.

Photo Credit: Google

Google is experimenting with music control gestures on smart braided wires — when most other manufacturers are pushing wireless.

Google isn’t a stranger to experimenting with smart textiles. The tech company partnered with Levis to release a smart jacket that can answer calls, play music, and take photos. Now Google is experimenting with ways to make wires on headphones useful.

Google’s I/O braid lets users control their smartphone with gestures like pinching, patting, squeezing, or swiping the cord. Google says the cord uses a helical sensing matrix (HSM) to register each of these gestures individually. Capacitive and conductive yarns are woven into the braid for 360 degrees of gesture visibility.

That means that no matter where you touch Google’s smart braided wires, you can register gesture inputs.

Google is careful to point out that the technology is still very experimental at this point. Still, the hope is that it could be integrated into consumer electronics. Imagine being able to tug on your hoodie string a certain way to control the smartphone in your pocket. That’s the future Google is working on here.

Google collected data from volunteers who were asked to interact with the smart braided wires. They trained a machine learning model to distinguish between most gestures people used while holding the wire. Google says its algorithm can distinguish between gestures like swiping, pinching, squeezing, and twisting with 94% accuracy.

It’s a good start, but Google’s smart braided wires aren’t accurate enough for consumer tech. Another concern is sending accidental commands if the wire is touched or moved while listening to music.

Despite those concerns, the prototype seems promising. The I/O braid inputs seem faster than regular buttons since twisting for volume seems more natural. Google’s latest Pixel Buds finally dropped the wire, so don’t hold your breath on this tech any time soon.

Photo Credit: Adam Birkett

A notable tech leaker says Apple is sticking with its AirPods branding for over-ear headphones. Get ready for ‘AirPods Studio’?

Noted tech leaker John Prosser tweeted early Saturday morning that the long-rumored over-ear headphones finally have a name. Internally they’re dubbed B515, but Apple plans to sell them under the name AirPods Studio.

AirPods Studio will likely be priced at $349, which firmly competes with Apple’s Beats audio brand.

The move isn’t that surprising, though. The Beats leadership team recently saw a shake-up. Long-time CEO Luke Wood abruptly departed Beats last month, with Apple Music head Olver Schusser taking over. While Apple says it is committed to the Beats brand, it’s obvious the AirPods branding has more overall appeal.

Apple’s AirPods and AirPods Pro have quickly become the fastest-selling accessory in the audio market.

They’ve captured 50% of market share in the wireless headphone market in 2019. Apple sold an estimated 60 million AirPods units in 2019, suggesting a revenue of $6 billion from its wireless earbuds alone.

Analysts expect AirPods sales to grow up to $15 billion by the end of 2020. With these kinds of numbers, it’s easy to see why Beats is relegated to a niche product in Apple’s line-up.

The Beats line-up, as created by Dr. Dre, is a bass-boosted headphone intended for listening to bass-heavy music. The artificially boosted bass sounds ‘fake’ to many musicians’ ears, which has lent the series a reputation among musicians.

With Beats, the common complaint is that you don’t experience the music as it was intended to be heard. One musician equates it to being “like putting ketchup on everything you eat.” The boosted bass drowns out mids and highs and leads to a terrible experience for anyone with an ear for sound. Accordingly, Apple is guaranteed to focus on a balanced sound profile that focuses on the mids for the AirPods Studio.

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Google’s 2nd generation Pixel Buds are more in line with its main competitor – Apple’s AirPods.

The original Pixel Buds (pictured) featured an unseemly wire connecting the two earbuds. In an era when truly wireless earbuds are the new norm, they felt positively ancient. Google’s second attempt at wireless earbuds feels more like a competitor.

The 2nd-gen buds are truly wireless, have improved sound quality, and offer hands-free Google Assistant voice controls. The design takes a page out of the AirPods book with a charging pod that houses the buds when not in use. Google aims to re-create the ease-of-pairing that iPhone users get with AirPods – Pixel Buds pair easily to Android 10 devices.

But the buds feature a soft silicone stabilizing arc that some reviewers say causes soreness. The new case supports wireless charging and has enough juice for 24 hours of battery life. Unfortunately, the battery life on the buds is rather short.

They’re rated for about 5 hours of continuous listening, which is abysmal in the hearables space. Samsung’s Galaxy Buds+ manage a whopping 11-hours of continuous listening.

The Pixel Buds do not have active noise cancellation, which may be a dealbreaker.

Google says the Pixel Buds feature custom-designed 12mm drivers. Early reviewers say the new earbuds sound nice, but don’t expect them to blow you away. Bass is particularly weak because of the vent that prevents the earbuds from getting a full seal. That’s also consequently why the earbuds don’t feature ANC. Google also offers no EQ customization in the app.

“We’ve opted for simplicity in the user experience and the device options,” was a Google spokesperson’s response. Google further says that the Pixel Buds are tuned to give an optimal and more balanced sound performance. The goal is to create a great listening experience across the “broadest spectrum of music genres.”

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Apple’s new AirPods were supposed to launch in March. After a delay, sources say they may launch alongside the new MacBook Pro in May.

An unverified supply chain report in February suggested Apple that is working on the AirPods Pro Lite. That report didn’t reveal much about the new device, other than details about moving production from China to Taiwan. Sources say the new model is a cheaper version of AirPods Pro.

A reliable leak source for Apple news reveals the new AirPods could come in May.

Jon Prosser tweets: “New AirPods (which were supposed to be a March event) are now ready to go. Probably alongside the MacBook Pro next month.” We don’t have any information about price point or if the name is really AirPods Pro Lite.

Apple canceled its March 19th event internally as a precaution against the COVID-19 pandemic. Prosser says products that were supposed to be announced include the new AirPods, the iPhone SE, and a new 13-inch MacBook Pro refresh.

The MacBook Pro will likely see a CPU upgrade and support for Apple’s Magic Keyboard. Just last week, we reported on Apple’s new over-ear headphones. The headphones may be announced at WWDC in June if that event still happens on schedule.

Rumors suggest a premium price tag of $350 competing directly with Beats, Bose, and Sennheiser products. The headphones could feature magnetic clasps for swappable earpads and headband padding. Two variations are said to be coming – including a premium leather finish and a fitness-focused breathable cover material.

Premium headphones from Apple have been rumored since at least 2018.

Back then, Bloomberg reported the headphones might be released in 2019. But the same report says Apple’s internal headphone initiative has been half-hearted at best.

Apple-branded headphones will surely outsell Beats, despite being owned by Apple. If these over-ear headphones do materialize, it will be interesting to watch it play out. Will Apple continue to promote the Beats brand in its stores as hard?

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A new report suggests Apple is working on a set of high-end headphones.

According to rumors persisting for months, Apple is seeking to augment its AirPods business with a non-Beats over-the-ear headphone line.  Now, according to Bloomberg, it appears that Apple is working on at least two variations of headphones. The premium headphones include leather-like fabrics, while the fitness model features breathable materials.

Prototypes of the Apple headphones have a retro look with oval-shaped ear cups that swivel. The cups are connected to the headband by thin, metal arms. The arms come from the top of the ear cups, rather than the sides.

One unique feature of the high-end headphones might be magnetic ear pads and headbands. The padding attaches magnetically so the user can replace it. Apple believes the modular design will allow for more customization of its headphones.

One possible feature is that the premium and fitness padding could be interchangeable using magnets.

Apple declined to comment on the report released by Bloomberg. We already know Apple plans on using wireless pairing and active noise cancellation in its premium headphones. The new headphones will also feature Siri support for voice controls and possibly touch controls. Both Microsoft and Sony have experimented with ear cup touch controls on their high-end headphones.

Apple intends the new headphones to compete with Bose, Sennheiser, and Sony.

Bloomberg’s report suggests that Apple has been working on over-the-ear headphones since 2018. The launch of the headphones has been postponed at least twice, according to sources. The product was slated for release later this year, but the COVID-19 pandemic may complicate that.

Final testing on audio products is hard when most of the company is working remotely. Apple first launched its AirPods earphones in 2016 after removing the headphone jack from the iPhone. Since then, AirPods have become a massive market for Apple. Apple generated $24.5 billion from its accessories like the AirPods and the Apple Watch.

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The long-rumored Apple StudioPods, an over-the-ear headphone counterpart to Airpods, may be launching soon.

A leaked retail listing at Target may give some clues about the headphones. A new listing dubbed “Apple AirPods (X Generation)” has appeared for $399. Tech analyst Jon Prosser says the headphones could launch in March.

The Target listing has three SKUs for the same price. The Apple StudioPods could come in three different color options – likely grey, white, and gold. While Target would not provide any information on the listings, the names are likely temporary.

AirPods X may not be the official name when the product launches later this year.

Beats is currently the only way to get over-the-ear headphones from Apple. Both Beats and Bose headphones are sold in Apple stores across the nation. If the Apple StudioPods are releasing this year, it’s the first time Apple has produced its own branded headphones.

So far, we only have speculation about features that could be included. It’s expected that they will include active noise cancellation – similar to the latest generation AirPods Pro. ANC and high fidelity audio may warrant the $399 price tag for Apple StudioPods.

The move would also place Apple in direct competition with itself – pitting Apple StudioPods against Beats Solo Pro.

These leaked retail listings join the rumored release of a cheaper version of AirPods Pro. The AirPods Pro Lite is reportedly in manufacturing and will release this year, despite coronavirus outbreak concerns. That outbreak in mainland China is causing supply chain issues for several companies.

Apple, Samsung, Nintendo, and have all confirmed quarantine procedures are impacting their supply lines. That could change which quarter Apple launches the rumored StudioPods, too. For now, it looks like new headphones, new AirPods, a new iPod Touch, and a new 10.5-inch iPad are definitely on the way ‘some time’ this year.

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The AirPods Pro has become a significant source of revenue for Apple, with sales analysts predicting that it could reach up to 90 million units sold in 2020. The first generation AirPods were released in 2016, while the AirPods Pro debuted last year. The wireless earbuds feature active noise-cancellation, improved sound, and water resistance. Analysts estimate that the line-up sold 60 million units last year.

Now, Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives believes that the AirPods Pro line-up could surpass 90 million units sold in 2020. Ives correctly predicted that Apple would have difficulty keeping AirPods in stock through the holiday season, as many stores remain sold out. Apple’s own website shows the latest AirPods Pro stock arriving by February 25th, nearly a month from now. Other online stores like Amazon have seen a cyclical availability of stock of the highly desired wireless earbuds.

Despite the high demand, Apple has refused to comment on supply issues, but insiders report supply chain issues in production. This has caused some frustration among customers who are eagerly waiting to get their hands on the AirPods Pro.

AirPods dominate the hearables market, with Apple commanding a 50% market share in sales of wireless earbuds. The report also asked users their preference for choosing ‘true wireless’ headphones. Apple won the vote, with 57% of respondents saying they would purchase AirPods over another brand. The next-closest brand in that survey was Bose, with 39% of respondents. Samsung, Sony, and Beats round out the top five. Beats clocks in dead last, with 26% of people saying they would purchase wireless earbuds from the brand.

Part of the disparity is due to Apple facing very little competition from its major competitors. Samsung’s Galaxy Buds are available, but Microsoft and Google delayed their earbuds until 2020. Amazon recently launched its own pair of Alexa-enabled wireless earbuds at a steep discount. 70% of respondents said integration with their preferred AI digital assistant was a requirement for purchasing earbuds.

The AirPods Pro’s success has been attributed to its innovative features such as active noise-cancellation and improved sound quality. Apple has also been successful in marketing the AirPods Pro to the masses, with celebrities and influencers often seen wearing them in public.

However, the AirPods Pro’s success has also raised some concerns about the environmental impact of disposable electronics. With the constant upgrades and new releases of electronics, consumers are purchasing new devices more frequently, leading to an increase in electronic waste.

In response to these concerns, Apple has launched a recycling program that allows customers to recycle their old devices. The program has been successful, with millions of devices being recycled every year. Apple has also invested in renewable energy and sustainable materials to reduce its impact on the environment.

In conclusion, the AirPods Pro has become a significant source of revenue for Apple, with sales analysts predicting that it could reach up to 90 million units sold in 2020. The high demand for the AirPods Pro has caused some frustration among customers who are eagerly waiting to get their hands on them. The success of the AirPods Pro has been attributed to its innovative features and successful marketing strategy. However, concerns about the environmental impact of disposable electronics have also been raised. Apple has responded to these concerns with a recycling program and investment in renewable energy and sustainable materials.

Master & Dynamic has partnered with Louis Vuitton to release a new set of stylish luxury earbuds.

The Horizon Earphones are updated this year with Louis Vuitton styling in five different styles. They clock in at an eye-watering $1,090 per pair. The actual design of the earbuds is identical to the M&D $299 MW07 earbuds. Of course, the premium mark-up comes with the Louis Vuitton name.

These earbuds cost more than the baseline iPhone 11 Pro.

M&D says these Louis Vuitton earbuds come with some upgrades over last year’s offering. Namely, they now offer up to 10 hours of listening time, ambient listening, and improved active noise cancellation.

The new case can charge them wirelessly and offers 20 hours of battery life. The case is a stainless steel case inspired by the shape of the Tambour Horizon watch, a Louis Vuitton smartwatch.

M&D says these Louis Vuitton earbuds feature Bluetooth 5.0 and a connection range of 100 feet.

The $840 mark-up isn’t for everyone, but you can bet there’s a market for these. Paying $1K for a pair of luxury-branded earbuds is almost as outrageous as all the luxury phone releases in the 2010s. At least the styling for these earbuds is appealing and not gaudy, like some luxury products.

They are nice looking, but I’m not sure they are ‘pay the price of a new phone’ nice-looking. These earbuds come in five different colors, including bright red, pristine white, jet black, pink, and neon yellow.

Users can choose between the Louis Vuitton logo or its flower branding on the earbuds. If you’re paying that much for a pair of luxury earbuds, you probably want everyone to know it, right?

For everyone else in the market for luxury earbuds, M&D’s wireless earbuds are priced in line with Apple AirPods. They come in four regular colors and four unique patterns.

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AirPods are a massive market for Apple, but firmware updates may be ruining their noise-cancellation feature.

Apple’s firmware update 2C54 is the most commonly cited firmware with issues. Many anecdotal reports began popping up on the internet shortly after Apple released it on December 16.

These reports suggest the 2C54 firmware update worsens ANC quality on AirPods Pro earbuds. A user reviews site re-evaluated the AirPods Pro after the firmware update and found some merit to the claims.

“After updating to firmware 2C54, we retested the headphones, and our results showed a fairly significant drop in isolation performance, primarily in the bass-range.”

Reducing ANC for the bass-range means the AirPods Pro don’t very well at blocking low rumbles. You know, the exact kind of low rumble that comes with being a passenger on a plane? While Apple may have pulled 2C54 to address these ANC issues, they’re not talking about it.

Some AirPods Pro owners say they’ve been experiencing ANC issues since the 2B588 firmware in November.

Apple isn’t the only company experiencing issues with firmware updates, either. Bose QuietComfort 35 II customers say an update to their cans worsened their active noise cancellation, too. So many people are experiencing the issue that Bose is visiting people at home to diagnose problems.

Apple’s firmware updates slightly tweak the sound profile of AirPods Pro. These tweaks may impact some users, while others don’t notice. It’s hard to tell since the firmware update process for AirPods is opaque as hell.

There’s no way for customers to reject a firmware update since it runs in the background with no notifications. That also means there is no way to downgrade from the firmware once you have it. Apple also includes no way to easily adjust the intensity of its ANC in AirPods Pro, unlike Bose or Sony.

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Bose, the American audio equipment manufacturer, has announced that it will shut down all its retail stores in North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia. The company’s decision to close its stores comes after it found that in recent years, customers had shifted towards online purchases, and therefore, retail outlets had become less relevant. The company’s online sales have grown rapidly, and so the decision was made to close the stores and focus on the online market.

Bose, founded in 1964 by Dr. Amar G. Bose, has been a leader in the audio equipment industry for over five decades. In 1993, the company opened its first retail store in the United States, and over the years, it expanded to other countries. The stores were designed to showcase the company’s products, including headphones, speakers, and home entertainment systems, and provide a place where customers could test and talk about their products.

However, with the rise of online shopping, the company’s retail stores have become less relevant, and Bose has decided to close all of them. Although it is not clear how many employees will be affected by the decision, it is expected that hundreds of people will lose their jobs. The company has said that it will provide outplacement assistance and severance packages to affected employees.

Colette Burke, Bose’s Vice President of Global Sales, has said that the decision to close the retail stores was not an easy one, but it was necessary. She said that the company’s focus is on meeting the needs of its customers, and that the shift to online shopping has made the retail stores less relevant. “We are doing the same thing now that we did when we opened our first retail store in 1993,” she said. “We are focusing on what our customers need and where they need it.”

Bose’s decision to close its retail stores comes at a time when many companies are struggling with declining sales and increased competition. The retail industry has been hit hard by the rise of online shopping, and many companies have had to close their stores. Bose is one of the latest companies to make this move, and it is expected that more companies will follow suit in the coming years.

Despite the closure of its retail stores, Bose’s products will still be available for purchase through other retail outlets, including Best Buy, Target, Amazon, and Apple Stores. The company will also keep its stores in South Korea, China, and India open for now.

In conclusion, Bose’s decision to close its retail stores is a reflection of the changing retail landscape. With online shopping becoming increasingly popular, many companies are finding that traditional retail outlets are no longer necessary. Although it is sad to see the closure of the stores and the loss of jobs, Bose is doing what it believes is best for its customers and its business. The company’s focus on online sales is a smart move, and it is expected that the company will continue to thrive in the years to come.

Photo Credit: Bluetooth SIG

Let’s face it – Bluetooth audio sucks; it’s unreliable, static-y, and doesn’t offer multi-stream listening. That’s all about to change with the newest Bluetooth audio standard.

The Bluetooth wireless standard is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2020. Now, Bluetooth is shaking things up with a new standard, announced at CES 2020.

The new standard is an LC3 audio codec for delivering higher data rates using less energy. It also includes a much-needed feature – multi-streaming audio support.

Currently, devices like our smartphones can only stream audio to one earbud in a wireless set. That means the earbuds then connect wirelessly to the second earbud to create stereo sound. This setup introduces dropouts, lag, and sync issues between wireless earbuds.

Bluetooth LE audio with multi-streaming audio support changes how the source device can connect. That means both wireless earbuds can receive a signal from the phone. It eliminates wireless earbuds from needing to manage synchronization themselves, rather than via device.

Ideally, it would also improve the stereo sound quality and switching between Bluetooth audio sources. Another benefit of the new standard is Bluetooth broadcast audio.

Broadcast Audio builds on top of multi-streaming audio support to allow the transmission of sound to multiple devices. That means you can share your music with a friend using their Bluetooth headphones.

The other significant change introduced with Bluetooth LE audio is the LC3 audio codec. LC3 features improved sound quality over the current SBC codec. It also uses a lower data transmission rate, which reduces the power required to operate.

The result could be a radical shift in how wireless earbuds are designed. It could significantly increase battery life in true wireless earbuds if the current battery capacity stays the same. Keeping the existing standard battery capacity may help manufacturers shrink the size of wireless earbuds.

The final specifications for Bluetooth LE audio are still under development. Hardware that supports the new standard will be available in the second half of this year. We could see new Bluetooth LE audio wireless earbuds in time for the all-important holiday shopping season.

Photo Credit: Apple

Apple has expanded its AirPods engraving options to include a selection of emoji. Could this slow personalization roll-out help boost sales beyond analyst expectations?

AirPods buyers can add any text engraving to their purchase, free of charge. Now the AirPods engraving feature offers a selection of emoji for engraving. Several faces and gestures like thumbs up, peace, rock out, and fist bump are included. Ghost, unicorn, robot, rat, bear, and snake round out the options.

Here’s the full collection of emoji eligible for AirPods engraving.

The selection doesn’t include any offensive emoji, like the middle finger or a gun. The increased customization option may help Apple double dip with some buyers. AirPods engraving first became available in the first half of 2019 with the second-generation AirPods.

The extra option comes alongside meteoric AirPods sales for Apple. AirPods Pro remains sold out on Apple.com. Estimates suggest new stock won’t be available until February 3, nearly a month away. Some desperate last-minute gift buyers paid north of a $100 mark-up on AirPods Pro last month.

A report released in November 2019 estimated that AirPods accounted for 50% of the wireless earbuds market. In December of last year, an analyst report suggested that AirPods sales could double to $15 billion next year. Analysts believe Apple could sell as many as 85 million AirPods units in 2020.

The slow roll-out of increased customization features could be an effective strategy. AirPods start at $159 for the first-generation model and range up to $249 for AirPods Pro.

The Pro version features active noise-cancellation, a feature frequently requested early adopters. ANC uses microphones to detect low-frequency noise to neutralize before it reaches the ear. AirPods Pro has a transparency mode for safe driving, allowing the feature to be disabled.

Analysts believe AirPods Pro will lead the growth of the product line for Apple in 2020. That growth is likely to drop to single-digit numbers as 2021 approaches.

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The Sonos Trade-Up program launched this year for speaker loyalists. It offers discounts on new products for trading in old speakers. But what happens to the old speakers?

Sonos sells the program to participants saying “sustainability is non-negotiable.” But according to one report from an e-waste recycler, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Sonos’ recycle mode intentionally bricks old devices so they cannot be reused.

A Twitter thread brought attention to the matter when several Sonos Play:5 speakers were submitted. Each of the speakers is worth about $250. To be eligible for the Sonos Trade-Up program, users are required to put their devices in ‘recycle mode.’

After 21 days, the device is deactivated and cannot be ‘recycled’ as it renders the device permanently useless.

While many users of the program think they’re helping the environment, the opposite is true. Bricked devices cannot be reused and go directly into a landfill. What’s worse is that some Sonos users manage to activate ‘recycle mode’ accidentally. That renders their device totally unusable after 21 days, and Sonos support says there is no way to stop it once enabled.

The bricked hardware can’t be repaired by removing a logic board, either. The process results in the serial number for the speaker being put on a blacklist on Sonos servers.

“Nothing is stopping these things from working except Sonos says they can’t,” the recycler tweeted.

Sonos has responded to the outrage sparked by the Twitter thread. The official Sonos support account says the Sonos Trade-Up program is designed to help customers that are interested in upgrading to the next generation of Sonos products. The program is intended to offer a 30% discount by removing speakers from used circulation, rather than recycling them.

The definition of recycling is to use a product again or convert it into reusable material. Neither of those things is happening with old Sonos speakers. As you can see, sustainability is no part of that statement.

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Sonos, the American electronics company specializing in smart speakers and audio equipment, announced that it is moving some of its production lines from China to Malaysia. As a result, the company is increasing the prices of its Sonos Amp and Sonos Port devices by $50. The move to Malaysia is part of the company’s plan to diversify its production lines and supply chain.

Sonos says its decision to move production from China comes amidst the current trade war between the United States and China. The company believes that the tariffs imposed during this trade war are a “one-time hit” and wants to diversify its supply chain to avoid being affected by future trade disputes. The company is not disclosing which products are subject to the change, but it has clarified that some of its products will be moving outside of China.

The Sonos Amp and Sonos Port are two higher-end devices in the Sonos product line. They enable custom AV installers and enthusiasts to use Sonos whole-home audio with any setup. The Amp connects to speakers, while the Port enables surround receivers and turntables to be connected to a Sonos system. Both devices have been highly popular amongst audiophiles and enthusiasts who are willing to pay premium prices for high-end equipment.

Starting January 9, 2020, the Sonos Amp will be priced at $649, while the Sonos Port will be priced at $449. The bump in price may not be too much for audiophiles to bear, but it may be too high for most consumers. However, Sonos seems to be focused on catering to its core audience of audiophiles who are used to paying premium prices for high-quality audio equipment.

Sonos’ decision to move production outside of China is not unique. Other tech companies such as Google, Nintendo, and Samsung have also moved some of their production outside of China. Google moved the production of its Nest products to Taiwan earlier this year, while Nintendo shifted production of its popular Switch console to Southeast Asia. In October, Samsung closed its last Chinese phone factory. Two Chinese companies that are responsible for making AirPods components are also expanding outside of China.

China has warned companies that they may face “permanent consequences” if they move their manufacturing in response to US tariffs. However, Sonos has not disclosed any such threats from China and seems to be proceeding with its decision to move production lines to Malaysia.

Sonos is notifying its customers about the price hike through email. Customers who might be interested in either the Amp or the Port have until January 9 to save $50. The company also wants its customers to know that the price hike is a result of the company’s decision to move production outside of China and is not a reflection of any shortcomings in the product or its production process.

In conclusion, Sonos’ decision to move production lines from China to Malaysia is aimed at diversifying its production lines and avoiding any future disputes that might arise in the ongoing trade war. The price hike for the Sonos Amp and Sonos Port devices is a result of this move and may not be too much for audiophiles to bear. However, Sonos seems to be focused on catering to its core audience of audiophiles who are willing to pay premium prices for high-quality audio equipment.

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The world’s leading tech giant, Apple, has been struggling to keep up with the demand for its AirPods, which have sold over $6 billion this year alone. The AirPods Pro, launched in October, were sold out for the holiday season, leaving many consumers turning to purchase the earbuds from scalpers on sites like eBay with as much as a 100% mark-up. The increased demand for AirPods is one reason why two Chinese companies that create components for Apple are looking to expand their production lines outside of China.

Luxshare Precision and Goertek are seeking to raise funding in the ‘hundreds of millions of dollars’ to expand their production lines in Vietnam. The move is a result of trade tensions between the United States and China, with both companies looking to avoid potential tariffs on Chinese exports. AirPods production trials in Vietnam have been underway for months now, and the country is offering subsidies and tax breaks to manufacturers who relocate. Vietnam is a ‘natural fit’ for Apple since components can be moved by land, air, or sea from China with no red tape. Labor costs in Vietnam are also roughly one-third of China’s, and the country has a new workforce of engineering graduates to employ.

The recent deal between the U.S. and China to stop additional tariffs has no guarantee it will last, which has led to the production line move. Both Luxshare Precision and Goertek have grown to keep up with demand, with stock in both companies tripling on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange since the start of 2019. The uncertainty surrounding the trade relationships has pushed companies to look for alternative manufacturing bases, and Vietnam is emerging as a top choice.

Apple AirPods accounted for over 50% of the ‘hearables’ market, according to a report from November 2019. The current wait time for AirPods Pro still sits at over three weeks, and the demand is expected to increase even further. Analysts predict that the AirPods sales will double in 2021, and Apple needs to increase its production lines to meet the demand. The company is facing little competition in this category this year, as both Microsoft and Google delayed their earbuds to the next year.

Apple’s production move to Vietnam is not only a response to trade tensions but also a strategic move that would help the company to diversify its supply chain and reduce its reliance on China. The company has faced criticism in the past for its heavy reliance on Chinese manufacturers, and the move to Vietnam would help to distribute some of the risks involved in its supply chain. The move would also help to avoid any potential disruptions that may arise due to geopolitical tensions or natural disasters.

In conclusion, Luxshare Precision and Goertek’s expansion to Vietnam is a strategic move that would help to reduce the risks involved in their supply chain. Vietnam’s labor costs and its new workforce of engineering graduates make it an attractive destination for manufacturers, and the country is offering subsidies and tax breaks to attract more companies. Apple’s decision to increase its production lines in Vietnam is a response to trade tensions and its need to meet the increasing demand for its AirPods. The move would help to diversify Apple’s supply chain and reduce its reliance on China, which has faced criticism for its human rights violations and geopolitical tensions.

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Apple AirPods sales nearly doubled this year as they crossed the $6 billion threshold. Analysts believe the wireless earbuds could sell even more next year.

Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst for Bernstein, predicts that Apple could sell 85 million AirPods in 2020. That would generate about $15 billion in revenue for the company. If sales of wireless earbuds continue at this rate, the product could become Apple’s third-largest business.

Sacconaghi is consistently rated as one of the top investor analysts for IT hardware and electronics manufacturing.

The AirPods Pro model is already sold out for the holiday season both online and in-stores. Some people are scalping the Pro buds on eBay for a $100 premium for the holidays. AirPods Pro starts at $249, while the regular AirPods start at $159.

The noise-cancellation feature of the AirPods Pro is an attractive feature, too. The Pro model features active noise-cancellation, which uses microphones to detect low-frequency noise and neutralize it before it reaches the ear. The functionality can be turned on and off and features a transparency mode for safe driving and walking for users of the device.

Sacconaghi is quick to note that the upward trajectory of AirPods may be short-lived. Right now, iPhone and iPad users are eager to snap up new tech that works with their jack-less devices. As those users purchase the earbuds, there are fewer potential customers.

Sacconaghi says the steep adoption curve and rapid saturation may lead to a decrease in sales. He predicts AirPods growth will slow down by 2021 to single-digit growth rates. That might not be too surprising, considering most companies now have a wireless earbud option.

Audiophiles will pass on the tiny earbuds in favor of something with a richer sound. But for the general public looking for a new Bluetooth option, the Pods seem to fit the bill.

Photo Credit: JBL

JBL has announced a new crowdfunding initiative for solar powered wireless headphones. The project is currently in the prototype phase with a working demo.

The crowdfunding project is live on Indiegogo and has already met its funding goal. JBL partnered with Swedish tech start-up Exeger to make the headphones a reality. Exeger’s light converting Powerfoyle material on the top of the band will keep the headphones charged throughout the day.

“Unlike traditional solar cells, which require a large surface area and are optimized only for outdoor use, Exeger’s unique Powerfoyle material is specifically engineered to generate power with indoor light and indirect sunlight.

This makes the REFLECT Eternal perfect for active lifestyles, allowing the headphone to continuously charge whether in the office for the 9 to 5 or meeting up with friends from 5 to 9. Exeger’s compact and efficient solar cells bring uncompromised aesthetics with virtually unlimited battery life.“

JBL says the headphones will be able to charge while you listen and will include USB speed charge as a back-up. The crowdfunding page estimates that 2.5 hours of outside listening means ‘virtually unlimited playtime.’

Solar powered wireless headphones seem more approachable than something like fungi headphones. Right now, these solar powered wireless headphones will be available in green and red. They will also include support for most popular digital assistants and feature multi-point connection for easy switching between devices.

JBL says this new initiative is in response to growing consumer interest in sustainable products. The prototype was developed with music enthusiasts in mind and features noise management technology.

The partnership with Exeger was a natural one since the company has perfected small and efficient solar cells. JBL says the concept was born in April 2019, and they now have a cosmetic prototype. After the Indiegogo campaign ends in January, JBL hopes to develop a working prototype and ship by August 2020.

Photo Credit: Misco

The Misco speaker company is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. But CEO Dan Dirge warns the company’s future is uncertain due to aggressive Chinese tariffs.

Misco employs about 100 people in the Minneapolis area and manufacturers speakers. Speakers for musicians, home theater buffs, and even drive-thru restaurants. Digre says the speaker manufacturing industry in the United States is dying and Misco is one of the only factories left.

Even the Misco factory in Minnesota imports some of its components from China. Now the company pays a 25% tariff on those imports, making it impossible to turn a profit. Digre told NPR that if he gave up on American manufacturing and moved to China, he’d only pay a 15% import tax.

Each time Misco imports components, the company gets a bill from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Digre says most people think China is paying those tariffs when that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“A surprising number of people that I talk to — you know, smart, intelligent, well-read people — think that somehow China is paying the tariffs,” Digre said in the NPR report.

So far, Misco has passed the cost on to customers by raising prices. They’ve also asked component suppliers for a discount because of the tariffs. Most of the extra cost from these tariffs is absorbed by the company itself, though.

Digre says the unpredictability of Trump’s trade war with China is a huge concern for Misco’s future.

“A tweet could come out this afternoon that could dramatically change a tariff rate.”

For now, Digre says he’s traveling the Philippines to look for alternate components. He doesn’t want to shutter the factory in Minnesota, but the import tariffs may bring that about.

“We’re trying to keep building speakers here in the U.S., but there’s only a couple of us left in the country to do it. And if these tariffs go on a lot longer, I don’t know if there will be anybody left in this country to do it.”

Photo Credit: Unsplash

Apple’s AirPods dominate the ‘hearables’ market, according to a new report. The company is expected to retain its 50% market share throughout the holiday season.

Apple is expected to ship 60 million AirPods wireless earphones in 2019, according to one report in Bloomberg. The demand for the AirPods Pro model, first unveiled in October, has been higher than expected.

AirPods Pro offer noise cancellation and water resistance, two features in high demand.

Apple is apparently struggling to find assembly partners to manufacture enough to cover demand — a nice problem to have.  Multiple suppliers are competing to manufacture Pro earphones as demand ramps upward.  Insiders report some suppliers have run up against technical constraints.

The current wait time for AirPods Pro is around two to three weeks. So far, Apple has declined to comment on product shipment rates. Apple is facing relatively little competition in the true wireless category this year. The Samsung Galaxy Buds are available, but both Microsoft and Google have delayed their ‘true wireless’ headphones until 2020.

Counterpoint Research says AirPods shipments have dwarfed competitors and Beats. True wireless hearables reached 27 million units shipped in Q2 2019. That category is growing exponentially and is expected to reach 120 million units globally this year. With Apple expected to account for 60 million of those shipments, AirPods will maintain its dominance in the category.

One interesting aspect of the survey is that many people enjoy AI assistants in their hearable devices.

“Almost half of the respondents in our survey are aware of AI in hearables, and one in three respondents have used it in the past. According to the analysis, about 70% of respondents now consider it an important feature for future hearable purchases. Around 30% of the respondents are aware of AI features will likely pay more to have this in their next hearable.”

We’ve seen manufacturers like Samsung, Google, Amazon, and Apple work hard to incorporate AI assistant technology.

Photo Credit: Apple

Apple has revealed the long-rumored AirPods Pro today. These premium earbuds feature active noise cancellation and are now up for pre-order.

Long-standing rumors suggested Apple would host an end of October hardware event. However, the AirPods Pro were revealed via a relatively benign press release. A pre-order page for the new earbuds popped up just a few minutes later.

Despite rumors that the AirPods Pro would be available in many different colors ⁠— they’re only in white at launch.

The new AirPods Pro feature built-in microphones to detect external sound. The noise cancellation system is the same one that powers the Beats Solo Pro headphones.

The noise cancellation technology has been miniaturized for the smaller form factor. Apple says the earbuds’ noise cancellation is adjusted up to 200 times per second. They also feature a transparency mode for when you need to hear your surroundings.

Another new feature Apple is touting is called ‘Adaptive EQ,’ which automatically tunes music to the shape of your ear. AirPods Pro comes with flexible ear tips for a more secure fit. Three sizes of tips are included in the box. There’s an app you can use to tell if you’ve chosen the right size tip.

The AirPods Pro also supports wireless charging and Siri voice commands. Apple says you can expect around 4.5 hours of continuous listening. The case has enough battery for 24 hours of total listening time. Active noise cancellation technology causes a small hit to battery life compared to the original AirPods.

Apple still hasn’t moved over to the more-universal USB-C with AirPods Pro, either. But they did see fit to include a lightning-to-USB-C cable in the box. (Yet something else you can buy a replacement for six months down the road, right?)

Noise cancellation has become the latest buzzword in premium earbuds. The Amazon Echo Buds feature Bose’s noise-reduction technology and retail for $129.

Photo Credit: Sony

Sony officially launched its 360 Reality Audio format this week with a special event in New York.

The event showcased Sony’s latest smartphone – the Xperia 1 – and Sony’s new audio format. Sony says the new format uses object-based spatial audio technology to create an immersive music experience. It allows artists to map vocals, choruses, and instruments with positional information ⁠— mapping them to a spherical space.

360 Reality Audio is supposed to simulate a live musical performance — or something close to it.

Sony first unveiled the concept at CES 2019, but last week we learned more details. Around 1,000 songs will be available in the new audio format this fall via Amazon Music HD, Deezer, Tidal, and nugs.net. At the launch event in New York, Sony used an Xperia 1 smartphone and a set of WH-X1000M3 headphones to showcase the new tech.

Sony can also create a custom immersive musical field that is tailored to each individual listener. The Xperia 1 smartphone takes pictures of the inside of the ear to map it. Then the Sony Headphones Connect app maps the user’s ear dimension and analyzes that using Sony’s unique algorithm.

The analysis is something user will be able to do at home.  Using a pair of Sony headphones, home users can map their ear to create their own music listening algorithm with the Headphones Connect app.  For now, the feature is only available with select headphones.

Sony says more music will arrive as more labels sign on for the new format. Right now, the service will also feature 100 songs recorded at several live events. Songs from Charli XCX and Kodaline will appear through a partnership with select Live Nation clubs and theaters.

While live content will be limited at launch, Sony hopes to partner with many more labels and venues for recording live performances in the new format.

Photo Credit: Unsplash

Apple’s long-rumored noise-canceling AirPods might finally arrive before Halloween.

Earlier this year, we covered a report from Bloomberg about the existence of noise-canceling AirPods. Initially, they were slated for launch this year before the report was revised to suggest a 2020 launch. Now, a new report from a Chinese site suggests the ‘Apple AirPods Pro’ might launch later this month.

The rumored AirPods Pro may include a new metal design and may be priced as high as $260.

The new model will feature noise cancelation and water resistance, something current AirPods lack. The rumor is supported by a unique design discovered in the iOS 13.2 beta. The redesigned AirPods appear much closer to Apple’s old earbud design.

Photo Credit: SlashLeaks.com

A leak appeared on a noted tech leaks site last month that seems to confirm the redesign. You can see the leaked photo of the new design above. Apple’s hardware events usually take place in October, so it is possible we could see something soon.

Remember, Bloomberg’s initial reporting revised this product launch to 2020. Apple is also facing stiffer competition in the wearables market now that Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are in the ring.

Amazon debuted its $129 Echo Buds last month, including Bose noise reduction technology. Microsoft’s $249 Surface Earbuds are launching later this year and include swipe gestures for controlling music. Google’s second-generation Pixel Buds will launch next year at $179, joining the truly wireless smart earbud family. The rumored AirPods Pro Price puts it on the high-end of its competitors.

Apple, Amazon, and Google have a vested interest in selling you listening hardware. They all have streaming music services that compete directly with one another. Microsoft is somewhat agnostic here as their Groove Music platform shutdown in 2017. Most of those users migrated to Spotify after Microsoft offered playlist migration tools.

A wallet-friendly pair of bookshelf speakers with great sound.

I was recently sent a pair of speakers from Q Acoustic. Previously, I’d tested and reviewed Q Acoustics’ 3050 and 2020 speakers and thought they were great for their respective price points. Initially, I was intrigued by these speakers because of their design. They have the option to include stands for these bookshelf speakers, so I thought it gave them a really nice look, especially in the white version.

Design

Getting them unboxed, the quality of these speakers for the cost was immediately noticeable. These can be purchased for $400, and for that price, I cannot think of a speaker I would more strongly recommend. I’m using them with the Q Acoustic stands, which brings the price up to $650, but I still think they are an incredible value at that price.

I personally find the stands to be stylish (my wife doesn’t agree, so they won’t please everyone).

Once I got them set up and running, I was really impressed by their sound! Compared to the 2020s, these had a much fuller sound. It was sort of like a mix between the smoothness of the 3050s, with a more dramatic punchiness than the 2020s. They have lots of clarity thanks to the evenness of the highs, mids and low-end tones.

Comparison to tower speakers (3050)

The 3050s are great, but I think at this point, I would recommend them for much larger rooms than I can currently afford to live in. This could also be a byproduct of the listening conditions I personally prefer over what is more universally considered ‘good’, but I prefer the sound of the punchy bookshelf speakers over that of the sometimes overly warm and smooth tower speakers.

I’d have to bring the towers up to a louder volume than is really acceptable in an apartment building in order to get the same fullness and punchiness of sound I get from the bookshelves at moderate volumes.

Performance

Music sounds great through these speakers. The one thing that was lost between these and the larger tower speakers is some of the finer details in the treble. The power of the mids and lows somewhat overwhelmed them, but this is a pretty standard tradeoff. Because there is less room to create the bass, you get a more forceful sound out of them, which is that ‘punchiness’ I referred to earlier.

Film and TV were also handled really well by these speakers. One of the problems I have with the tower speakers is that the smoothness of the midrange also makes voices a little less distinctive and pronounced. I think that people with large spaces and no shared walls may enjoy the larger tower speakers, but I found that the volume control between dialogue sections and more special effects-driven sections to be all over the place.

The consistent sound levels may have something to do with the more compact soundstage that the bookshelf speakers provide. But part of the solution may also come from the ‘Gelcore’ technology that allows for more evenness of volume without causing vibration noises. This allows for a pretty even volume, and I didn’t find myself constantly holding the remote to increase or decrease the volume of whatever I was watching.

Construction

Gelcore

Gelcore is a new technology that Q Acoustic invented and deploy in the Concept 20s. It separates the inner and outer walls of the speaker with a glue-like compound which remains viscous. The gel helps isolate the vibration into the inner cabinet of the speaker. This allows for fewer vibrations to be transferred into the room, enhancing the clarity of the sound.

An additional layer on the Concept 20 speaker stands is also used to enhance the experience for those who choose to purchase them. This new technology is absolutely effective and there is a clear and audible difference (your neighbors will also appreciate it if you have shared walls). Luckily, this will be utilized in future Q acoustic models as well; it’s the most important new addition to these speakers as compared to the previous models tested.

Overall

I think these speakers are a great purchase! These can be had for under $550 from various online stores. Anyone in the market for a pair of great-sounding bookshelf speakers will be extremely pleased with the Q Acoustic Concept 20s.

Both Amazon and Microsoft unveiled their new wireless earbuds this week. LG is setting itself apart with a unique feature.

The LG Tone+ Free wireless earbuds feature a bacteria-killing UV light in their case. The light kills any bacteria on the earbuds as they’re charged. Only LG seems to have an eye for hygiene, though it doesn’t solve ear wax build-up problems.

The LG wireless earbuds feature a touch-sensitive surface for controlling playback, calls, or other functions.

A simple pattern of taps makes it easy to make calls, control music playback, or use the Google Assistant. These earbuds also come with IPX4 water resistance, which is great for workouts. They get around six hours of life per charge, but LG didn’t specify how much life to expect from the bacteria-destroying case.

Six hours of battery life is a pretty significant improvement over LG’s previous effort. Those wireless earbuds only offered three hours of use.

The Tone+ Free earbuds will release exclusively in South Korea for now. The black versions will debut in October, while the white version will go on sale in November. These earbuds retail for around $215, but no word on a global release.

With Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Samsung stepping into the wireless earbuds ring ⁠— this space is getting crowded. All four of these companies are now offering competing products.

Amazon is hoping its Echo Buds will appeal to those who already have smart speakers. Those feature Bose active noise cancellation technology for less than $200 per pair. Meanwhile, Google is expected to unveil its second-generation Pixel Buds at an event later this month. It seems as though personal wireless audio products are the next category that will receive tons of attention.

Meanwhile, some users may be questioning whether wireless earbuds and headphones are the best route.  Some simply prefer analog, cord-connected headphones, especially given the rampant privacy concerns created by wireless ‘smart’ technology.