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Mobile Audio Dials Hi-Res To Eleven At CES 2016

This article is more than 8 years old.

“These go to eleven” – Nigel Tufnel, This is Spinal Tap

Loud is apparently no longer enough. Generations of consumers have sacrificed audio quality for the convenience of carrying their own music with them, starting in earnest with Sony’s Walkman and culminating with modern compressed audio like mp3 and Apple’s iTunes. But this year a few things changed. At TIRIAS Research, we pay attention because high quality audio is mandatory for accurately placing sounds on a 3D soundstage to enhance 3D virtual reality (VR) immersive realities and augmented reality’s (AR) visual overlays for reality. I spent as much time listening at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) as I did looking.

“High quality in-ear audio will play an important role in augmented reality (AR) product evolution in 2016.”

A quality listening experience does not start with a music file. It starts with transducers – the speakers that deliver sound to our ears. It moves from transducers back through amplifiers, pre-amps, digital-to-analog conversion (DAC), local sound processing, through a delivered bitstream to a recorded source file. Hi-Res Audio (HRA) file formats are a great concept, but before file formats can make a difference everything downstream must be upgraded. The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) recently recognized that the entire audio delivery path must be upgraded before people will notice a difference in their music.

CES 2016 demonstrated that this industry-wide change is occurring. Advances in Bluetooth, increased processing power due to Moore’s Law and improvements in transducer design have produced a wide range of new in-ear product designs. I did not get to listen to most of these products because most of the demos were static. I was impressed by those I did listen to. I photographed high quality wired and wireless in-ear audio designs from a wide range of both established audio companies and new entrants and crowd-sourced startups, such as Letv (good plugs for being so inexpensive, including the mic quality; retail about $12), Doppler Labs, ReSound, ORFEO, JBL (working with Under Armour), Misfit, Muzik, PSB (part of the Lenbrook group, which includes NAD), Hush, Earin, KANOA, Jabra, Audiofly, Verve and others. House of Marley demonstrated their new Voyage BT and even Marshall is getting into high-end smartphone and portable audio design to support higher quality earphones.

I am personally happy that plugs are now the dominant design for in-ear listening. I am one of approximately 10% of people whose ears won’t hold buds. I pre-ordered KANOA’s “earphones” well before CES 216 because they are physically configurable across a range of sizes (both body size and cushion tips – I have big ears and small ear canals), they are wireless, audio can be customized via smartphone and I really like the promise of “audio transparency” – shaping the ambient sounds around me. Audio transparency is a necessary feature for AR; it enables overlaying new sounds and audio cues on the ambient sounds around me. Because audio transparency requires microphones in the earpieces, they can also be used for phone conversations, and KANOA will allow me to use my smartphone’s mic or other mics instead. I am looking forward to testing them

There were audio infrastructure companies at CES 2016, as well, such as Jacoti and AfterMaster Audio Labs, demonstrating sound-shaping software and DSP chip solutions, respectively.

Until now, the only way to get most these new features was through high-end medical hearing aids that cost thousands of dollars. However, state-of-the-art for in-ear audio is advancing rapidly:

  • The size of transducer drivers is shrinking while quality improves.
  • Processors and DSPs are shrinking and getting faster.
  • Sound quality is becoming configurable via easy to use smartphone apps.
  • Bluetooth connectivity is useful over longer distances and with less power drain.

All of the above contribute to better battery life with more features at higher performance.

The trend from wired to wireless in-ear audio will get an additional boost from Apple. Apple is rumored to be dropping the headphone jack from their next generation of iPhone designs in order to make slimmer phones. Removing the headphone jack also makes it easier to environmentally seal phones and tablets, including waterproofing. This will push many headphone manufacturers to consider moving to Bluetooth wireless connectivity to cover both Apple and Android ecosystems, rather than adopt a separate wired connector for only Apple’s products. USB type C and Apple’s lightning cable port have been mentioned as candidates to replace the standard 3.5mm headphone jack.

Port Type Connector Height Socket Component Height
Headphone 3.5mm 5mm or more
USB Type C 2.5mm 3.1mm or more (approx.)
Apple Lightning* 1.5mm (approx.) 2.0mm or less (approx.)

*  Specifications are not readily available.

If you plan on attaching anything else to the single external port on a phone that does not have a dedicated headphone jack, wireless audio makes practical sense.

High quality in-ear audio will also play an important role in AR product evolution in 2016. While we expect VR gear to remain bulky this year, AR gear is rapidly moving to lightweight formats that are increasingly close to normal eyeglasses.

AR and VR are markets we are intently listening to…stay tuned and listen for more information from TIRIAS Research in the coming months!

-- Disclosure: I do not own stock in or consult for any of the companies mentioned in this article. I am testing a $12 set of earplugs by Letv. I pre-ordered KANOA earphones, but they had not shipped at the time this post was published.