More details have leaked around the imminent Sonos Roam Bluetooth speaker, which is due to be officially unveiled on Tuesday. Last week, The Verge published the existence of the portable product, complete with the name (Roam), an image (above), pricing ($169) and dimensions (6.5 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches). Now, the site has more to share…
The Sonos Roam will reportedly, and as expected, feature a number of Sonos-centric functions, some of which it shares with the larger, pricier Sonos Move. For example, there’s Auto Trueplay, a new version of Sonos’ automatic calibration technology that uses the speaker’s microphones to measure the frequency response of its surroundings whenever it detects being placed in a new location.
We found it effective in the Move: “During testing, we move from our soundproofed test room to a noisy office environment and outdoors. The speaker’s real-world transformation is audible, the Move never sounding out of place once it reconfigures itself.” Needless to say, then, it’d be a welcome feature in a product that’s designed to be even more nomadic.
Sonos Roam: release date, price, and all of the news
An all-new ‘Sound Swap’ feature is reportedly coming too, as we suspected it might in future Sonos products. It will supposedly allow the Roam to ‘hand off’ whatever music it’s playing to a nearby Sonos speaker simply by holding down its play/pause button. Perhaps the biggest new Sonos ecosystem integration feature, however, is its ability to connect over wi-fi and Bluetooth simultaneously, allowing owners to play a song from, say, a phone to the Roam (over Bluetooth) and then to the rest of their Sonos system (over wi-fi).
These unique selling points will no doubt help the Sonos Roam stand out from the dense crowd of Bluetooth speakers on the market.
With the Roam’s dimensions alluding to a very transportable, outdoor-friendly speaker, it comes as no surprise that it will be waterproofed. According to the newest leak it will be IP67-rated for dust and water resistance, meaning total protection from sand and from being immersed in water between 15cm and one metre for up to 30 minutes.
Finally, like the Move, the Roam won’t be able to be configured as surround speakers with the company’s Beam or Arc soundbars, leaving that job to the Sonos One SL and Sonos IKEA speakers.
So, it seems all that’s left for us is to hear the thing. Fingers crossed the Roam’s sound quality doesn’t let down what otherwise seems to be a well-featured, well-designed speaker.
MORE:
Read our Sonos Roam rumour round-up: release date, price, all of the news
Which Sonos speaker should you buy?
Because Sonos wireless headphones are (probably) next: How Sonos wireless headphones could stand out from the crowd
The PS5 and Xbox Series X aren’t the only new consoles on the gaming scene. They could soon be joined by a new Nintendo Switch – an updated version of Nintendo’s bestselling console.
Sources have told Bloomberg all about the new console. That includes details on its screen, which is said to be bigger than that of the existing switch and OLED to boot, plus a possible release date and some of its capabilities.
So should Sony and Microsoft be worried? What can we expect from a new Switch? And when might you be able to buy one? We’ve rounded up all the rumours below.
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OLED Nintendo Switch: screen
First things first: the screen. This is said to be the headline feature of the new console, and a real step up on what’s currently on offer.
For starters, it’s bigger than the current model. According to Bloomberg, the new Switch will have a 7-inch display, which would be bigger than the current Switch’s 6.2-inch screen, and the Switch Lite’s 5.5-inch display.
But not only will it be bigger, it should be a lot better, too. That’s because it will use OLED technology, instead of the LCD used in the current Switch. OLED stands for organic light-emitting diode, and is used in some of the best TVs around – see our round-up of the best OLED TVs to see how stunning the tech can be. It makes for true black levels, because each individual pixel can turned off instead of emitting an approximation of black as with LCD screens (which usually look closer to grey). Add stunningly bright whites and that makes for superb contrast levels.
OLED screens are also more energy efficient, which could result in longer battery life. That will be a really big draw for a console that doubles as a portable.
Sources say that Samsung will manufacture the OLED screen. Samsung already supplies OLED displays to high-end smartphones such as the Apple iPhone 12 and Samsung Galaxy S21, but the new Switch’s will be a bit different. Instead of being slightly flexible like those smartphone screens, the one used in the new Switch will be rigid. Samsung is thought to be starting mass production of the 7-inch panels in June, with initial supply put at a million a month. They will start shipping to assemblers around July.
OLED Nintendo Switch: 4K and HDR
According to the report, the next Switch will also be capable of 4K resolution. That doesn’t mean the screen itself will be 4K (reportedly it will be 720p HD), but that you can hook it up to a 4K TV and play games in Ultra HD resolution.
That would be a big boon for developers and games alike. The former – and probably some of the latter – have expressed frustration at the huge difference between the picture quality on the portable screen and that blown up to the size of a big-screen TV.
Will games be true native 4K though? That seems unlikely. It’s more likely that Nintendo will take the more efficient path and render games in HD – these could then be upscaled when outputted to a 4K TV.
Perhaps the great potential lies in HDR. This stands for high dynamic range – it’s a technology borrowed from photography, which increases the difference between the light and dark parts of the picture, with more gradual steps in between. It results in a punchier and more lifelike image with more depth and better colours.
The vast majority of OLED displays have HDR, and the new Switch’s could well count itself among them. That would make games look more engaging and exciting.
And it might not just be new games that benefit from this. Older titles could get some kind of upconversion similar to the Xbox Series X’s Auto HDR. This uses machine learning to add HDR to games that were designed with only standard dynamic range in mind. So the new Switch could breathe some new life into your current games library. Fingers crossed.
OLED Nintendo Switch: other possible features
So what other features could Nintendo add to a new Switch?
The PS5 and Xbox Series X have HDMI 2.1, which brings more advanced features such as 4K@120Hz, Auto Low-latency Mode (ALLM) and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), but we don’t expect the Nintendo Switch 2 to follow suit. 4K@120Hz and VRR are technically tricky features that feel unnecessary for the kind of games produced for Nintendo consoles, and the simpler ALLM could be added without the need for an expensive HDMI 2.1 socket.
As previously mentioned, HDR is very likely to make an appearance, seeing how common it is on OLED screen and what a striking difference it would make for games in terms of looks.
Other next-gen consoles have extra audio-visual features such as Dolby Atmos and/or DTS:X, but it’s unlikely Nintendo will add these to the new Switch. From reports so far, it sounds like more of a refresh than a full-blown overhaul of the console, so we expect that 5.1 sound is going to be the best available. Fingers crossed Nintendo at least adds Dolby Digital 5.1 support on top of the standard PCM format of the original Switch, as this increases compatibility with soundbars and the like.
OLED Nintendo Switch: release date
The OLED-toting Nintendo Switch is rumoured to launch “in time for the holidays”. That usually means autumn/fall time, to give plenty of time to build awareness before the manic Christmas shopping season gets into full swing.
OLED Nintendo Switch: name
What will the next Switch be called? At four years old, the original Nintendo Switch is around the middle of its life cycle, so calling the new version the Nintendo Switch 2 would seem a bit hasty. Rather, odds are that Nintendo will opt for something that sells the upgraded abilities without positioning it as a completely new proposition. Nintendo Switch Pro, maybe.
Pro is a popular moniker in the worlds of smartphones, tablets and laptops, used by the likes of Apple and Samsung to indicate more power than the standard version. So it’s very possible that Nintendo will adopt the same tack.
OLED Nintendo Switch: the experts speak
As you can imagine, rumours of a new Nintendo console have been big news in the gaming and business worlds. The Switch is now four years old, and its successor, the Switch Lite, is getting on for two years old now. Industry watchers weren’t expecting a new Nintendo console this year, but given the demand for Sony and Microsoft’s new games machines, a new Switch makes perfect sense.
Bloomberg quoted one expert who spelled out the benefits of OLED tech for Nintendo.
“The OLED panel will consume less battery, offer higher contrast and possibly faster response time when compared to the Switch’s current liquid-crystal display,” said Yoshio Tamura, co-founder of display consultancy DSCC.
Bloomberg‘s own analysts said the new console could prolong the lifespan of the current Switch considerably.
“The release of a more premium version of Nintendo’s Switch console with an OLED display and support for 4K graphics for the holiday 2021 selling season could drive the company’s sales above consensus for the fiscal year ending March 2022 and extend the life cycle of the Switch platform for many more years,” said analysts Matthew Kanterman and Nathan Naidu.
Other experts agreed with the rumoured launch date. “If they’re making the products from June – we’re hearing they’re going to start shipping in July, that even a September launch should be possible,” Ross Young, co-founder and CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants, told Tom’s Guide. “Given the time lag from panel shipment to device production, and then device production to retail, it could be September, October.”
OLED Nintendo Switch vs PS5 and Xbox Series X
With the launch of the PS5 and Xbox Series X at the end of last year, Nintendo has a fight on its hands. Both consoles are much more powerful than the Switch. So does Nintendo stand a chance?
Yes indeed. Its consoles have never been about pure power, more about fun and innovative ways to play. And the sales reflect this. To date, the Switch and Switch Lite have sold over 79 million units. That makes Switch the second-best-selling console in Nintendo history, beaten only by the original Wii. It also compares well with sales of the PS4 and Xbox One, which stand at 114 million and 48 million respectively. The Switch only launched in 2017, remember, whereas Sony and Microsoft’s previous consoles landed four years earlier, in 2013.
A new Switch won’t beat the new PlayStation or Xbox in terms of graphics or processing power, and chances are it won’t be a better one-stop shop for all your streaming and media needs. But the crucial thing is, it won’t try to. As ever, Nintendo is playing its own game. And it seems to be doing pretty well so far.
MORE:
Read the full report: New Nintendo Switch incoming with OLED, 4K
Next-gen face-off! PS5 vs Xbox Series X: which is better?
Sony consoles duke it out: PS5 vs PS5 Digital Edition: which should you buy?
There are a lot of video doorbells on the market. You can get one from Amazon’s Ring, Google’s Nest, Arlo, Eufy, August, or countless other companies. But none of those video doorbells will natively work with Apple’s HomeKit platform.
For a long time, if you wanted a video doorbell and you were committed to building your smart home around HomeKit, the only option you had was to use hacky workarounds such as Homebridge to integrate unsupported devices into the Home app. That changed late last year as two HomeKit-compatible video doorbells finally hit the market.
I’ve been testing the one from Logitech, the $199.99 Circle View Doorbell (the other is the $299.99 Netatmo Smart Video Doorbell), on my front door for the past few months. It is a very capable video doorbell, with excellent performance and a number of useful features. But it also comes with some significant asterisks attached.
The Circle View Doorbell is a wired doorbell and does not have a battery option. In order to use it, you’ll have to have existing low-voltage doorbell wiring rated at 8-24 volts AC, 10vA or higher, or run wiring from an AC adapter wall wart (not included) to it, as I did. It supports existing doorbell chimes if you have one and includes the accessories you need to make it work. You can check the online installation guide (there aren’t any instructions included in the box, so you have to follow the instructions from your phone or a computer) to see if your existing hardware is compatible. I don’t have a chime in my home, so I skipped the parts of the setup related to that.
The Circle View comes with all of the other hardware necessary to install it, except for a Micro USB cable and A/C adapter, which is required to power the doorbell and configure it before you mount it at your door. It’s likely that you already have one lying around at home, but it’s still an odd omission.
Installation and setup are relatively simple: you get the doorbell powered up, scan the barcode on the back using the Apple Home app on your iPhone to add it to your virtual home, and then install the hardware at your door. The whole process took me about 15 minutes and shouldn’t be much of a challenge for anyone with a screwdriver, a power drill, and even the smallest amount of home repair experience. (Trust me, I’m no Bob Vila.)
But if you want to avoid all of that and just have someone else do it for you (an impulse that I strongly relate to, no judgment here), Logitech has partnered with HelloTech to have someone come to your home and install the doorbell. The service costs $100 on top of the price of the doorbell and includes setting it up and wiring it up at your door. It does not include running wire to your door; you have to have the wiring in place already (likely from an existing doorbell).
Because the Circle View doesn’t have an internal battery, it’s much more compact than something like the Ring Video Doorbell 3 and is closer in size to the Nest Hello or Ring Video Doorbell Pro. There’s the camera in its expected place, a built-in nightlight below that, and a round illuminated circle indicating where to press. The whole bottom half of the doorbell is the button to ring it, so you don’t have to be particularly precise when using it. In the box are straight and angled mounts to better position the camera’s view depending on your home layout. Unfortunately, the angled mount’s 20-degree tilt is not enough for me to see the one spot on my porch where most packages are left through the doorbell’s vertical view.
Lastly, the Circle View only comes in black and has a modern and gadget-y look to it. I don’t mind it, but it might not fit your home’s decor or your style, and there isn’t much you can do to change it. Other companies offer white or black versions of their doorbells, and some even have interchangeable faceplates.
At its core, the Circle View is very similar to other video doorbells. It will ping your phone with a push notification when someone rings the doorbell, including a video thumbnail preview; you can view a live feed from your phone; and use the two-way speaker to talk to the person at the door like an intercom. The video feed is a tall 160-degree view, which is meant to let you see a person from head to toe or be able to see if a package was left on the stoop. It has a 5-megapixel sensor with 1200 x 1600 HD resolution and HDR functions resulting in image quality that generally looks good.
It also functions very well. Pulling up the video feed from my phone or an iPad is noticeably faster than with other video doorbells, likely due to the Circle View’s support for 5GHz Wi-Fi and my strong mesh Wi-Fi network (a must for any smart home). Push notifications to my phone and watch are nearly instant, though the thumbnail preview rarely loaded on my Apple Watch, just showing a gray square. The speaker and microphone work well for two-way communication, should you desire to ever use it (I don’t). If you’re watching something on an Apple TV when someone rings the bell, you will get a thumbnail preview right there on your TV screen (though you can’t do anything but see it).
The Circle View has some functions that make it slightly unique. The built-in nightlight below the camera will come on automatically when it’s dark out to enable what Logitech calls “color night vision.” It allows you to view a full-color feed even at night, unlike the grayscale view that most other video doorbells offer, and it’s much nicer to use as a result. The light is either on or off — there’s very little in the way of customization — and it is searingly bright, which is unpleasant if you’re the person walking up to the door to press the doorbell. If you have a porch light, the built-in nightlight is unnecessary, and I ended up just turning it off permanently. One thing to note is the Circle View doesn’t have any sort of IR night vision (that grayscale view other cameras offer), so it doesn’t quite have the same range in the dark as others. But in my experience, the range it has with the color night vision is more than adequate.
The other thing that makes it unique is its support for Apple’s HomeKit platform. The Circle View is so committed to HomeKit that there isn’t even a Logitech app to set it up — everything related to the doorbell’s functions is handled in the Apple-developed Home app on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. It also supports Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video, which when paired with a HomeKit hub such as an Apple TV, iPad, or HomePod, allows for storage of video clips in iCloud and face detection features. You can also use a HomePod or HomePod mini as a chime for the doorbell — though in my tests, this was less reliable than I had hoped, working about half the time.
The HomeKit Secure Video features require an iCloud subscription of 200GB per month or more and allow you to view up to 10 days of end-to-end-encrypted clips captured by the camera. The clips don’t count against your storage quota in iCloud, but the base plan only supports one camera. If you have other HomeKit Secure Video cameras in your home, you’ll need to pony up for the 2TB plan that handles up to five. If you have more than that, well, I’m sorry, five cameras is all HomeKit currently supports. The facial recognition features can tie into your Apple Photos library to identify certain visitors and even announce their names on a HomePod when they ring the doorbell. I didn’t find this function very useful. Most of the people in my Photos library are my own family, and they aren’t ringing the doorbell to their own home very often.
Within the Home app, you can view the camera’s feed, see a timeline of recorded clips (if you use HomeKit Secure Video), manage notifications, choose when the camera will record video, set up the face recognition features, turn on and off the nightlight, and customize the activity zones for motion detection. You can also set up automations that control other smart home devices when the doorbell detects motion. (Third-party HomeKit apps such as Eve’s will let you set up automations triggered by the doorbell’s built-in light sensor as well.)
While all of that sounds like a lot of options, it’s actually quite limited compared to other doorbells. There’s no way to customize the sound of the doorbell chime, like you can do with Ring or Nest, so forget about any fun holiday-themed chimes. Motion detection alerts cannot be limited to just people or vehicles, so the branches of the tree near my porch would cause the doorbell to ping my phone whenever the wind blew. While you can set an activity zone, you can’t adjust the sensitivity of the motion detection or limit alerts to certain times of the day. I ended up turning the motion detection alerts off entirely as a result. I also couldn’t use the motion detection to trigger automations because of how often it would get tripped.
All of those limitations are because the Circle View relies entirely on the Home app, so it can only do what Apple has built support for. A dedicated Logitech app, while obviously more cumbersome, would likely allow for more options and customization.
A dedicated app would also address the other big limitation with the Circle View: it doesn’t work with anything other than Apple’s devices and platform. That’s fine if you’re fully committed to HomeKit and don’t ever think you’re going to buy a different phone or use a different platform.
But if you share a home with just one person who isn’t fully invested in Apple’s ecosystem and uses an Android phone, the Circle View is effectively a dumb doorbell to them. There’s no way for them to get alerts on their phone when the bell is rung or to view the video feed.
The Circle View also doesn’t work with Amazon Alexa or Google Home, so forget about hearing chimes through an Amazon Echo or viewing the video feed on a Home Hub. (More advanced smart home enthusiasts who are working with platforms like Home Assistant can skip right past the Circle View, too. It doesn’t support any standard protocols.) You are tied to buying an iPhone and using HomeKit for as long as you have this doorbell installed. It’s much like the Apple Watch in that respect. The Circle View Doorbell is effectively an accessory to an iPhone.
Other doorbells may not integrate as nicely with Apple’s platform, but all of them at the very least offer apps for both iOS and Android to view video feeds and manage features. And most of them support Amazon’s and Google’s smart home platforms, giving you a lot more flexibility should you ever want to change things. In my experience covering and using smart home tech for the better part of a decade, limiting yourself to compatibility with just one platform is a recipe for disappointment and frustration down the road.
Still, there are obvious advantages if you’re okay with the Circle View’s limitations. Nothing is ever sent to Logitech’s cloud, so you don’t have to worry about yet another privacy policy or potential security issues. The video that’s stored in iCloud’s HomeKit Secure Video service is end-to-end encrypted, so only you and those you give access to in the Home app can view it. It’s about the closest thing you can get in terms of security to local storage for video clips (which, no, the Circle View doesn’t support) while still having easy access to them from anywhere you might be. You also don’t have to worry about police partnerships or unsavory social networks tied to your doorbell’s camera, as you might with other devices.
The Circle View’s privacy features and platform limitations align so closely with the features of products that Apple itself produces that you could almost imagine an Apple logo on the front of the doorbell instead of Logitech’s. It’s fast, performs the basics very well, and provides a sharp, detailed view of your doorway from your phone. If that’s what you’ve been waiting for from a video doorbell, and you’re not turned off by its limitations, then the Logitech Circle View is an easy choice.
Now with RGB, the QuadCast S is great in all the same ways the original model was but with flashing lights. If that’s essential for your streaming setup aesthetic that’s great news. For everyone else, the sound quality and polar options are the big pull.
For
+ Very useful shock mount
+ Superior build quality
+ Sounds as good as similarly priced competitors
+ Four polar patterns
Against
– Not much different from original QuadCast
– Software needed to turn RGB off
– Not quite a studio mic
In the upper echelons of streamer mic, it seems, there are two ways to play it. The first is to emulate the look and feature set of analog recording mics as closely as possible and rely on the convenience of that USB input as a selling point. The Beyerdynamic’s Fox is the gold standard for this approach, for example. The second approach is to go all-in on the gamer appeal. Guess which approach the HyperX QuadCast S ($160 as of writing) opts for?
It only takes the time for the power to make its way along the USB cable and up to that huge RGB lighting zone to figure that one out. This refresh of the existing HyperX QuadCast, which had been one of the best gaming microphones, is meant to give the likes of Razer’s Seiren Emote a run for its money on pure streamer setup aesthetic appeal. But if you look beyond all the flashing color there’s actually plenty here in common with more studious studio mics too. A lot of it inherited from the original Quadcast, we hasten to add. Don’t lose sleep if you bought the original just before this S variant came out. You’re not missing out on anything other than potential migraines; the specs are nearly identical.
If you weren’t already a QuadCast owner though and are looking for a serious USB mic, there’s a lot to like in the QuadCast S.
The QuadCast S is far from a drastic redesign of the original QuadCast, but there are differences. Small ones. The elasticated cord around the QuadCast S’ shock mount is now gray instead of the original red, for example, and the USB input connection is now USB Type-C instead of USB Type-A. We did say they were small differences.
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Otherwise, you’re looking at the same unit. You get a large capsule housing three separate diaphragms to offer four polar patterns and a dial to switch between them at the back, a headphone monitoring input below that, a touch-sensitive mute at the top and a smooth and satisfying gain control dial at the base of the mic.
We’ll tackle the different patterns and the sounds they create below in the sound quality section, but let’s cover those other design features. The QuadCast S’ headphone monitoring is clear and doesn’t run too hot for higher gain settings, so there’s very little breakup until you start shouting or getting close to the capsule.
As with the QuadCast and HyperX SoloCast, the QuadCast S’ mute touch button is a nice design that alleviates that audible popping sound you sometimes get from depressing a physical mute switch on other mics. Meanwhile, the mute button’s lighting leaves you in no uncertainty as to whether you’re muted or not.
The gain control feels really well built, but its travel considerably exceeds the visual indicators on each side. So unless you like your output set at between 30%-70%, you won’t be able to get a visual on your preferred setting.
Sound Quality
The QuadCast S is a refresh of an existing mic, so you know what’s coming: The sound characteristics are unchanged, as far as these ears can discern.
And they didn’t need to change. Boasting four polar patterns and three separate mic membranes was something of a party trick for the original QuadCast, so much so that it obviously informed the product name. And while the Blue Yeti X can tick those same polar pattern boxes, there was a gulf in sound quality between the two. So it goes with the QuadCast S we’re reviewing.
There are a couple of provisos, though. Our first is that the QuadCast S comes frustratingly close to being a good low-budget studio mic with all those polar patterns, but since it’s limited to 48K Hz/16-bit recording, it doesn’t quite spread its wings and get there. 48KHz/16-bit is ample for a streamer mic’s intended usage, of course, where the audio will either be heavily compressed at the source or by the platform. But if you have a stereo / omnidirectional / cardioid / bidirectional mic available to you, perhaps you’d be tempted to use it for some home recording and music production. In those situations, it’s nice — not essential, but nice — to have a higher sample rate and bitrate to play with.
Today’s high-end streamer mics all exist within a very narrow gamut with ready-to-go-audio, and the QuadCast S fits the profile. Like Razer, Elgato and cheaper Blue models, there’s definitely a slightly scooped EQ hat boosts low mids, suppresses mids and accentuates high-end frequencies for clarity of speech. That means your recordings sound professional, rather than natural; the mic is doing a bit of EQ and compression for you.
Blue’s Yeti X still offers the happiest compromise between natural and broadcast-ready to our ears compared to the QuadCast S and other high-end mics, but these are fine margins between models we’re talking about.
Features and Software
You know the drill by now with RGB devices. Cometh the lights, cometh the accompanying software app. In this case, it’s HyperX’s NGenuity software that acts as a gateway to customizing the QuadCast S’ two lighting zones (top and bottom), colors and behavior, and it makes doing so pretty simple.
There’s not much tweaking to be had on the audio side though. Gain, mic monitoring and headphone volume are controllable via software, but there are no EQ presets or noise cancellation options. Small footprint software is a plus for some people, of course, but if you were looking to sculpt the mic’s sound without going into a DAW and applying plugins, you should look elsewhere.
For anyone resistant to installing yet another peripheral manufacturer’s app onto their C:/ (this reviewer included), it’s worth noting that customizing RGB behavior is just about the only thing you can’t do without NGenuity installed. You can do everything else, from muting to choosing polar patterns, with physical dials on the unit. That may sound like a given, but with some budget mics, like the Razer Seiren Mini, jettisoning all physical controls, perhaps it’s worth stating explicitly. That leaves the physical unit much more feature-rich than the software, which does its best to act useful when you load it up. But when part of the screen’s devoted to showing you which settings you’ve already selected using physical controls, (such as the polar pattern), you get a clear sense that this isn’t essential software.
Bottom Line
The HyperX QuadCast S brings a gamer-fied aesthetic to the already great mix available in the HyperX QuadCast, with flexibility and out-of-the-box sound quality. There’s not much to complain about, but if you have the standard QuadCast there’s not much to get excited about either.
If you’re specifically drawn to the QuadcCast S for its four polar patterns and the potential for home recording, consider an analog XLR mic or the Beyerdynamic Fox for its higher sample and bitrate.
If you’re happy to keep things CD-quality when you’re recording however, the QuadCast S will see you right.
On Tuesday, Sonos will introduce its latest product called the Sonos Roam, which The Verge extensively detailed a couple of days ago. Now I’m able to share a bit more about new functionality that will debut first on the tiny, take-everywhere speaker.
My previous report laid out the core specs of the Sonos Roam. Measuring 6.5 inches long and weighing around a pound, the portable speaker will offer up to 10 hours of battery life on a charge. Just like the Move, it will support voice commands for either Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. Sonos plans to sell it for $169, and the Roam will ship in April.
But now on to the new stuff:
The Sonos Roam will include automatic Trueplay. Like the pricier, larger Move, Sonos is building its Auto Trueplay audio tuning feature right into the Roam. The speaker will use its built-in microphones to calibrate performance based on its surrounding environment. This can make a real difference in echoey rooms.
You can play songs over Bluetooth to your entire Sonos system. Sonos has designed the Roam so that it can use Wi-Fi and Bluetooth simultaneously (with the Move, you had to choose one or the other). Connecting to both at once will allow you to play a song from your phone or another device nearby to the Roam over Bluetooth — and that music can then also be played across the rest of your Sonos multi-room system.
“Sound Swap” will let you pass off music from the Roam to another Sonos speaker. Another new feature that’s exclusive to the Roam is what Sonos will call Sound Swap. If you hold down the play/pause button, the Roam will send the music it’s currently playing to whatever Sonos speaker is nearby. I don’t know the full details on this one, but my guess is that it involves using Bluetooth Low Energy to figure out which speaker is closest.
The Roam is rated IP67 for dust and water resistance. This means it is fully dustproof and waterproof in up to one meter of water for up to 30 minutes. That puts the Roam on equal footing with the popular UE Wonderboom speaker.
No, you can’t use it as a surround speaker for the Sonos Arc or Beam. The Roam can’t be used as part of a Sonos home theater setup. That’s not altogether surprising, since the same was true of the Move. If you’re looking for cheap surrounds for a Beam or Arc, your best options remain the One SL or the Ikea Symfonisk bookshelf speakers.
The photo at the top of this story is another new image that makes for an easy size comparison between the Roam and the larger, more expensive Sonos Move. And here’s what the optional wireless charger looks like:
The biggest question I can’t answer is how this thing sounds. Can Sonos make good on its sound quality track record with a speaker this small? I’m optimistic the answer will be yes — but don’t expect miracles.
Automatic Trueplay could help the Roam set itself apart from many of the Bluetooth speakers it will compete against. A UE Boom or JBL Charge will always sound the same no matter where you place them. But if the Roam can adapt in noticeable ways to its surroundings, that’ll be a differentiator. And that Sound Swap trick sure sounds like it would be useful for an eventual pair of Sonos headphones…
We’ll be covering any other news Sonos has to share on March 9th. Just in case there are still some surprises on the way.
Last month, The Verge broke news of Mark Cuban and Falon Fatemi’s new app Fireside, which promises to deliver a “next-gen podcast platform,” and today, we can provide a better sense of the app’s functionality and interface. It’s currently in beta on iOS with a limited number of testers, most of whom appear to work in venture capital or as podcasters. However, their chats are visible to anyone, even non-users, through a browser, and from this desktop view, as well as screenshots of the app that The Verge has viewed, we can get a sense of what Fireside is trying to achieve.
Broadly, the app is best described as a hybrid between Spotify’s Anchor software and Clubhouse. Although it prioritizes live conversation, like Clubhouse, it tries to make off-the-cuff conversations sound more professional. Intro music welcomes people into a room, for example, which is a nice touch, but it doesn’t exactly translate like it does during an edited podcast. The music, for now, sounds disjointed and out of place.
The broad emphasis, at least based on the conversations happening in the app, appears to be on how Fireside can help podcasters monetize their work through exclusive conversations or, in some cases, recruit them to Fireside for all of their podcasting efforts. The app encourages audience participation more than Clubhouse, in that users can react to conversations without being onstage, and they can type comments or questions.
Creators on the app say they’ve heard that the app will allow them to host their shows and distribute them through RSS feeds to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast players, too, which is more aligned with Anchor than Clubhouse. One creator in a chat says they plan to use Fireside for hosting instead of their usual service.
Looking at the desktop view, users’ profiles include a photo, bio, and follower / following count. You can also view the rooms that user has hosted, as well as the ones they’ve participated in. The app natively records conversations, so you can listen to these past chats from the desktop. The app seemingly assigns an emoji to the archived chats, although it’s unclear how they’re chosen.
After you tap into a chat, you can press play on a conversation. You’ll likely immediately notice hold-like music at the start, which comes from a Fireside bot called waitBOT. The bot says it plays “soothing music for you while you wait for people to join.” You can also see the description of the event as a chyron along the bottom of the screen, as well as info, like how many people listened in and who hosted it.
A “jump” button allows you to skip to highlighted parts of the conversation, which the host chooses. As speakers change throughout the conversation, you’ll see their profile picture and name. Speakers with a gavel are moderators, while speakers with a crown are the hosts. Moderators and hosts can automatically mute people and welcome people to the stage.
Tuning into a live chat from the desktop is a little less thorough than the recorded conversations. You can only view icons and names, as well as the number of people listening. When someone’s microphone is on, their photo is fully opaque, and when they’re muted, it’s transparent.
From the app itself, which The Verge has seen in screenshots, users can “react” to conversations with emoji and sound effects. People can clap, for example, which shows up in the recorded conversations and solves for a problem Clubhouse users have run into: a silent room and no way to gauge how what they’re saying is going over.
Audience members can also choose an emoji and type a comment without jumping into a conversation directly. These comments and emoji will show up over participants’ heads as a thought bubble. Moderators or hosts can then type back or address comments during the chat.
If participants do want to join the live chat, they can request to join the stage by tapping a microphone emoji and submitting a written request.
For now, this is our best view of Fireside. Fatemi declined to comment for this story, and we don’t have a better sense of when the app might launch publicly. We’ll update this story if we learn more.
(Pocket-lint) – Sonos is expected to announce a new portable speaker on 9 March, which recently leaked as the Sonos Roam.
The speaker will be the second Bluetooth speaker in the company’s portfolio if the rumours are accurate, sitting alongside the Sonos Move, but how will the two compare?
If you’re considering a Sonos speaker and like it to be portable and offer Bluetooth, you’re in the right place. Here is how the Sonos Roam is expected to compare to the Sonos Move.
Price
Move: £399/$399
Roam: $169
First things first, the Sonos Roam and the Sonos Move might be about to share similarities in terms of Bluetooth and portability, but based on the leaks, they won’t be anywhere near each other in terms of price.
The Sonos Move costs £399 in the UK and $399 in the US. The Sonos Roam is said be coming to market in April for $169, which is about £120 when directly converted though could be £169 in reality, so they target quite different budgets.
Design
Move: 240 x 160 x 126mm, 3kg, IP56, integrated handle
Roam: 157.4 x 63.5 x 63.5mm, 0.45kg, waterproof
The Sonos Move and Sonos Roam are very different in terms of design too, based on the rumours. While they appear to share similar characteristics – like the rest of the Sonos portfolio – they are different sizes, different shapes, different weights and they will have different uses too.
The Sonos Move measures 240 x 160 x 126mm (9.44 x 6.29 x 4.96-inches) and weighs 3kg (6.61lb). It’s oval in shape, very rugged and features an integrated handle. It’s also IP56 rated for protection from dust particles and liquid splashes.
The Sonos Roam meanwhile is rumoured to be a triangular prism shape, measure 157.4 x 63.5 x 63.5mm (6.2 x 2.5 x 2.5-inches) and weigh 0.45kgs (1lb), making it significantly smaller and more portable than Move. Based on the leaked images, it doesn’t have any sort of integrated handle as you wouldn’t need it to carry around, but it is rumoured to be fully waterproof so we expect it to be just as tough as Move, if not more so.
The Sonos Move has capacitive touch controls on top, including play/pause, skip, rewind and a microphone button, along with a Wi-Fi to Bluetooth button on the rear and a pairing button. It also has connection points at the bottom to connect to the wireless charging base.
The Sonos Roam is also expected to have capacitive controls on top based on the leaked images, with what we suspect will be the same control options as Move. There also appears to be a Wi-Fi/Bluetooth toggle switch on the side and a USB Type-C port for charging. The Roam doesn’t appear to have any connection points but it does offer small circular feet for when positoned horizontally.
Sonos Move comes in Shadow Black and Lunar White colour options and the Sonos Roam is claimed to be coming in white and black too.
Though different in design and price, the Sonos Roam is likely to offer many of the same features as Move, and probably a couple of extras, as is typically the case with new devices.
The Sonos Move is a traditional Bluetooth speaker when in Bluetooth mode, but it is a traditional Sonos speaker when in Wi-Fi mode and connected to a Sonos system, which we fully expect the Roam to be too.
When used as a traditional Sonos speaker, Roam will likely offer all the same features other Sonos speakers do, including support for over 100 music services, multi-room audio, Sonos Radio and alarms, like Move.
We’d also expect it to offer Apple AirPlay 2 support and Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa built-in. Leaks haven’t confirmed if the assistants will be on board Roam, as they are on Move, but we’d be surprised if they weren’t. We’d also expect the Move’s Auto TruePlay tuning feature on the Roam, which automatically adjusts the sound output when the speaker is moved.
Other Sonos speakers have TruePlay tuning on board, but you have to perform the tuning manually and then again anytime you move the speaker’s position.
Audio and hardware
Move: Two class-D amplifiers, mid-woofer, tweeter, far-field mics, 11 hours battery, Wi-Fi 4, Bluetooth
Roam: 10 hours battery, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth
Audio specifications haven’t leaked for the Sonos Roam yet, but based on its size, it won’t deliver the same audio capabilities as the Sonos Move.
The Move has two class-D amplifiers, one mid-woofer integrated into the cabinet and one down-firing tweeter and it delivers excellent sound. It also has a far-field microphone array and a chime to let you know Sonos Move has heard you and is working on a response.
As mentioned, the Move has a wireless charging base but it offers an 11-hour battery life when not on its base. The Sonos Roam has a USB Type-C port for charging based on the leaks, but it is also said to have an optional wireless charging base that can be bought separately.
The Roam’s battery life is said to be 10 hours. We’d expect the Roam to also have a chime and far-field microphone array. Sonos Move supports Wi-Fi 4 and Bluetooth. Sonos Roam is claimed to support Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth so it should offer better Wi-Fi capabilites if true.
Conclusion
The Sonos Roam looks like it will be a smaller, lighter, more portable Sonos Bluetooth speaker than the Sonos Move. We expect it will offer everything Move does in terms of features, along with some extra ones, and we expect it to be as smart too, but in a more compact format.
We wouldn’t expect the same audio capabilities from Roam as Move delivers given it looks like it will be half the price and size, but as it’s a Sonos speaker, we still expect Roam to deliver on the sound front.
For now, it looks like Sonos Roam will be an excellent addition to any Sonos system, as well as a great starting place for those new to Sonos. It also looks like it will be a lot more portable than Move so perfect for travelling and chucking in a bag.
Meanwhile Move delivers big on sound, but it is big on price too, making it more of an investment. It’s great for those who want an additional Sonos speaker to fill a decent-sized room with sound, but one they can also bring into the garden or the pool. It seemingly isn’t however, the better option out of these two for popping in a bag and bringing to the park as it’s just a little too big.
You can read all about the rumours surrounding the Sonos Roam in our separate feature, but we will update this as soon as the official details are in.
Once a project idea gets in your head, you just have to play it out. No one knows that better than maker Philip Gisslow who used a Raspberry Pi Pico module to turn his electric guitar into a working Midi controller.
Midi controllers are used to create real-time music digitally, often with the help of a synthesizer. The controller determines when and what note you hear while the synth turns the information into sound using a pre-programmed instrument library. That means you can shred on your guitar to whip out an original drum solo, blaze through a saxophone serenade or even lay down some sick techno melodies
The main application behind this project is called MiGic. It’s used to convert electric guitar output into Midi input. The system works like this: the user plays a guitar connected to an amplifier. The amp boosts the guitar signal up to 3.3V which is read by the Pico. The MiGic application receives the input from the Pico over USB on a PC.
This enables Gisslow to play any instrument using an electric guitar. If you want to see more about how this project works, visit the official GitHub page shared by Gisslow. Be sure to explore our list of best Raspberry Pi projects for more cool creations from the Pi community.
There are many ways for streaming audio to go wrong, especially if there is a wireless headset at the end of the chain. Qualcomm is aiming to address all of these issues with the new Snapdragon Sound platform.
On the phone end, the company has lined up the Snapdragon 800-series chips with the FastConnect 6900 connectivity system. For headsets and earbuds there are the QCC514x, QCC515x and QCC3056 series Bluetooth Audio SoCs.
Between them they support aptX Adaptive, which is capable of delivering high-quality 24-bit 96 kHz audio with very low latency – as low as 89 ms (45% lower than “a leading competitor”, says Qualcomm). For voice calls and teleconferencing there’s the aptX Voice codec. There is an Active Noise Cancellation system available as well.
The system has been designed to be resistant to interference from other Bluetooth or Wi-Fi signals, so that it can provide glitch-free audio even in busy environments. Qualcomm also designed things to make pairing easy after you take your new headset out of its box.
Standard Bluetooth audio vs. Snapdragon Sound vs. Wired headset • Super wideband voice
Xiaomi is the first smartphone maker to jump on the Snapdragon Sound train, headphone maker Audio-Technica is on board as well. A partnership with Amazon ensures that there will be no shortage of high quality content to listen to with the “genre-spanning” Snapdragon Sound playlist on Amazon Music HD.
If you don’t have an account for Amazon Music, you can check out this comparison on SoundCloud instead:
“Xiaomi is excited to be the first mobile manufacturer to bring Snapdragon Sound to devices. Snapdragon Sound will bring new high quality, seamless, low-latency audio experiences to our customers everywhere and provide better sound while engaging in voice calls, video conferencing, gaming and/or music listening.” said Lei Zhang, vice president of Mi Smartphone and general manager of Hardware R&D, Xiaomi.
“We believe that with Snapdragon Sound we get closer to our mutual vision of providing wired quality sound, wirelessly and are excited to be one of the first manufacturers to get our products to consumers,” said, Kotaro Narihara, director, general manager of marketing headquarters, Audio-Technica.
The Yamaha SR-B20A isn’t perfect, but it does offer an impressive spread of sound for minimal outlay
For
Clean and detailed
Good spread of effects
Decent bass
Against
Could be more expressive
Timing not expert
Yamaha describes both of its latest ‘entry-level’ soundbars, of which the SR-B20A is the larger, as upgrades for your TV sound. That’s something very much required these days when flat TV screens generally mean weedy built-in TV sound.
Unlike many rivals at this price, there is mercifully little pretence from Yamaha that the bars will deliver ‘surround’ sound, other than options labelled ‘3D Surround’ and some rather optimistic claims for the inclusion of DTS Virtual:X. These marketing extravagances aside, what’s promised is simply solid sound with which to enjoy your shiny new flatscreen.
What we particularly like about the SR-B20A on review here is that it aims to perform without the usual wireless subwoofer. This not only keeps the price down, it makes the whole package far more convenient to use.
The question is whether a long flat bar of a speaker like this can create solid enough sound without that subwoofer in support. And thankfully the answer here is a fairly resounding yes.
Build
Despite the entry-level price, the Yamaha SR-B20A feels solidly built, and looks stylish too, with black fabric wrap and curving ends. It stretches to 91cm wide, which makes it a good match for 55-inch TVs but won’t prevent its use with either smaller or larger TVs.
Yamaha SR-B20A tech specs
Power 120W
Outputs HDMI out (TV ARC)
Inputs 2x digital optical
4K passthrough No
Surround tech DTS Virtual:X
Dimensions (hwd) 5 x 91 x 13cm
Weight 3.2kg
Among the literature in the box is a mounting template that shows the soundbar can be stuck flat to the wall with the supplied foam spacers and a couple of sturdily fixed screws.
If you hang it on the wall, the controls, the indicator lights and most of the drivers usefully face the listener. You can always bench it in front of your TV instead, in which case the controls and lights are less usefully hidden.
The SR-B20A is a stereo soundbar, with six drivers in all. Four of these fire upwards if the unit is benched (forward if on the wall) – according to the specs these are 55mm mid-range units near each end and 75mm bass drivers halfway from each end to the centre, augmented with side-firing ports in the curves of the bar.
The quoted power ratings also suggest that the woofers are running in a dual-mono configuration rather than stereo, which Yamaha confirms. Finally, there are two 25mm tweeters on the front edge (benched) or firing down (wall-mounted); no amount of torchlight could reveal their location through the grille fabric.
Features
The bar can get sound from your TV in two (or potentially three) ways. The best option is an HDMI cable from the bar to an ARC-equipped HDMI socket on your TV, assuming it has one. If it doesn’t, or if you don’t wish to give up one of the HDMI sockets on your TV, the next best option is an optical digital connection, for which a cable comes in the box; there is no HDMI cable included.
There is no analogue mini-jack fall-back input here, though one does feature on the smaller SR-C20A (£229, $180, AU$299), and there’s no networking of any kind. There is Bluetooth with support for both SBC and AAC codecs, primarily intended for music streaming from a smart device, although TVs that can output audio via Bluetooth could also send their audio to the bar in this way (at the peril of potential transmission delay, depending on the system).
There are a couple of other connections, besides the mains cable – a second optical input for any suitable device, and a coaxial digital output.
Given that adding a separate subwoofer of quality will more than double the price, you’d do better to buy one in a package if you’re after that bottom octave of movie-style bass: Yamaha has a number of such combos, but the SR-B20A does a good job without additional support.
Sound
Despite its slim dimensions, the SR-B20A carries that welcoming full Yamaha tone. It’s close to its smaller sibling in terms of character, only the scale here is predictably greater.
The balance is good, too; it is easy for manufacturers to roll off a lot of top-end at this entry-level price point, to avoid anything too harsh, but the SR-B20A is happy to go high into the high frequencies with confidence.
Those built-in bass units get through a fair bit of work as well. You can dial in as much or as little as you like – you might want to tweak a bit if your TV rack is less than robust, to avoid any flabbiness – but with good solid support this is a weighty performance not short of presence. It doesn’t quite rumble like a dedicated subwoofer, but that rarely equates to great sound in an all-in-one soundbar anyway.
More impressive, though, is how the SR-B20A is able to spread effects. This is a long soundbar, and it makes good use of size. While you aren’t going to get anything like 3D sound in reality, this Yamaha is skilled enough to place sounds either side of the listening position in a manner you certainly wouldn’t regularly associate with this kind of price tag.
However, you lose a bit of focus with the soundbar firing upwards at the TV screen, which leads us to consider whether the SR-B20A is actually more suited to wall mounting.
That slight lack of precision is present in the SR-B20A’s dynamic and rhythmic performance, too. Large-scale dynamic shifts are presented well, but we end up wishing there was a little more in the way of expression on offer. Music playback also reveals this Yamaha isn’t quite the last word on timing, but again we’re far off calling it a poor performance.
Verdict
It’s difficult to know what to expect when approaching an entry-level product such as the Yamaha SR-B20A, but it’s safe to say on this occasion any expectations have been met.
This is a big-sounding soundbar that makes full use of its size. It might be best suited to wall mounting, but it’s pretty difficult to make it sound bad.
Razer is tonight formally announcing its Anzu “smart” glasses, which follow Bose, Amazon, and other companies by integrating audio speakers directly into the glasses temples. The $199.99 Anzu glasses will be available in both rectangular and round frames, and each will come in two sizes: small and large. You can place an order beginning today.
Two sets of lenses come in the retail package: a regular, clear pair that offers 35 percent blocking against blue light, and Razer also throws in sunglass lenses with 99 percent UV protection.
But Razer has deviated from competitors with its approach to audio glasses: the company has used a true wireless design that completely splits the left and right speakers. Razer says this allows for improved comfort since the frames allow for more give and flexibility. On the other hand, it could lead to some strange charging situations: you have to charge both temples at the same time — there are pogo pins on each one — and could theoretically encounter the occasional true wireless frustrations like audio dropouts on one side.
If you need prescription lenses, Razer has partnered with Lensabl for a 15 percent discount that’s available to Anzu buyers. That’ll obviously end up well above the standard cost, but what are us glasses wearers to do?
Razer has outfitted each side with a 16mm driver, and there are also touch-responsive tap gestures controls on either temple that will let you change tracks, answer calls, or activate a voice assistant. The Anzu glasses are rated IPX4 for water resistance, so you’ll want to avoid serious rain — but they should handle light splashes okay. Razer says it has cut Bluetooth latency down to 60ms.
The Anzu glasses automatically power down when folded shut — achieving up to two weeks of standby time — and then pair to the last device once opened back up. Battery life is rated at “up to five hours.” That’s about on par with Bose, which estimates 5.5 hours for its Tenor audio sunglasses. As for sound bleed, which is always a side effect with these audio glasses, Razer told me that people within arm’s distance will probably pick up on your music.
The included leatherette case has a magnetic latch and flap for storing the charging cable or extra lenses. The Anzu glasses are exclusively available from Razer.com and physical RazerStore locations. In North America, you can get them from Best Buy US and Best Buy Canada.
Blizzard wasn’t kidding when it told Polygon that the new remastered Diablo II would be faithful to the original. You’ll even be able to pick up where you left off with your 20-year-old savegames, IGN Middle East reports.
“Yes! Yes, keep those!” producer Matthew Cederquist told journalists, saying that the team called it “the best feature ever.”
As a lapsed player myself, the very idea is giving me chills — dangerous ones, ones that I imagine are akin to what Gollum felt in The Lord of the Rings when he decided to pull The One Ring off his brother’s throttled corpse. I thought I could safely leave this game behind, but no. It seems I may need to track down an old friend soon.
Staying the hell away from this.
True story: I had to give my fairly valuable account and discs to a friend sworn to never, ever return them, because I kept seeing unique items in my dreamshttps://t.co/t7V7Oa26SH
— Sean Hollister (@StarFire2258) February 19, 2021
For the rest of the original game’s fanbase, though, this might be incredible news: players like me spent large amounts of time grinding Diablo II’s bosses and levels to dust searching for unique items, not to mention selling them online and trading them inside a game that wasn’t really designed for that sort of thing. (One particular rare item, the Stone of Jordan, was actually used as a makeshift form of currency.)
Now, all of that progress is theoretically yours instead of having to start from scratch, and it might even be portable, too: theoretically, the game’s cross-save abilities across PC and console mean you could even load up your OG save on a Nintendo Switch.
Blizzard told our sister site Polygon that the remaster basically is the original game, so it’s not too surprising that original saves still function:
This isn’t a remake,” said Fergusson. “We’re not reverse-engineering it; we’re not rebuilding it and trying to make it look and sound like [Diablo 2]. This is [Diablo 2]. […] It’s right there, underneath the surface. The entire simulation, the engine for this game, that lifeblood of this game, is [Diablo 2] right underneath. So there’s a toggle switch, a legacy toggle, that when you press the button, you’ll see behind the curtains, and there is Diablo 2 in 2D sprites running right there, and you can play the way that you played 20 years ago.”
“[W]e kind of shoved it in and it worked!” the team told IGN Middle East.
Alphabet has attempted to take on some wild projects over the years, like a crop-sniffing plant buggy and fish-tracking cameras. But now, its X lab is working on a device that could give people superhuman hearing. As Insider first reported, the project, codenamed “Wolverine,” is exploring the future of hearing through sensor-packed hardware. The team, members of which spoke to Insider anonymously, say they’re currently trying to figure out how to isolate people’s voices in a crowded room or make it easier to focus on one person when overlapping conversations are happening around you.
They’ve already iterated on the device multiple times, including devices that covered the whole ear and others that protruded from above the ear. These iterations have been large because the team incorporates lots of microphones into the build, but newer versions are smaller, Insider says. Multiple people from hearing technology companies have joined the team, including talent from Starkey Hearing Technologies and Eargo.
Insider says the Wolverine team’s goals most closely align to that of Whisper, a company that came out of stealth last year. That team has managed to isolate sounds through a “sound separation engine,” which adapts to wearers’ environments. This suggests the lab’s goal isn’t to just create a device everyone would want, but rather an enhanced hearing aid.
Alphabet’s team isn’t focused on just one device or one use case, Insider says. The team is looking to build a successful business with multiple devices and models, so if they’re successful, you might start wearing Google-owned hearing aids.
Qualcomm has introduced a new system-on-chip platform that supports 24-bit/96kHz audio over Bluetooth.
Currently, Qualcomm’s aptX HD and flagship aptX Adaptive Bluetooth codecs can transmit music up to 24-bit/48kHz, but the new Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound takes that to 96kHz – the sampling rate studio music is often recorded and, as digital hi-res files, distributed at. (That said, as Snapdragon Sound utilises aptX Adaptive codec technology, transmission is still slightly compressed – the bitrate scales dynamically from 279kbps up to 860kbps.)
Depending on manufacturer take-up, this means we could see 24-bit/96kHz Bluetooth passthrough between a variety of headphones and smartphones very soon.
This higher data transmission support is only one element of Snapdragon Sound, which is a package of audio-related technologies that promise to deliver high-quality wireless sound end-to-end across the chain, from source (a phone) to receiver (headphones).
Qualcomm’s goal here is to offer manufacturers of headphones, phones, tablets and other consumer electronics components a hardware and software solution that provides their products with best-in-class audio quality, latency and connectivity robustness.
In addition to expanding aptX Adaptive to support 96kHz with 89-millisecond latency (“45% lower than a leading competitor”, says Qualcomm), Snapdragon Sound also incorporates the company’s Active Noise Cancelling and aptX Voice wide-band technologies to offer its optimal noise cancellation and voice calling experience.
Away from wireless device use cases and geared towards wired listening with a phone, is Snapdragon Sound’s incorporation of the Qualcomm Aqstic DAC, which supports native playback of PCM files up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM, as well as DSD.
Qualcomm says we should see the first products with Snapdragon Sound in the second half of this year, with phones and headphones to initially appear before PCs, watches and XR glasses. Presumably, they will be higher-end devices in their fields and, as confirmed by their launch partnership, Xiaomi phone(s) and Audio-Technica headphones will be in that first batch.
“We believe that with Snapdragon Sound we get closer to our mutual vision of providing wired quality sound wirelessly, and are excited to be one of the first manufacturers to get our products to consumers,” said Kotaro Narihara, Audio-Technica’s director and general manager of marketing headquarters.
Snapdragon Sound – available to OEMs from today – will be offered within Qualcomm’s latest QCC514x, QCC515x and QCC3056 series of Bluetooth audio SoCs, which have been geared to enhance the true wireless headphones experience.
With 24-bit/96khz music increasingly prevalent thanks to the hi-res support from streaming services such as Tidal, Qobuz and Amazon Music HD, Qualcomm hopes to encourage and improve the hi-res audio listening experience. It has also partnered with Amazon to launch a collaborative (and celebratory) ‘Snapdragon Sound’ playlist of hi-res streams on the Amazon Music HD service, available today.
MORE:
High-resolution audio: everything you need to know
aptX HD Bluetooth: What is it? How can you get it?
Qualcomm today announced Snapdragon Sound, which is what the company describes as “a chain of audio innovations and software” that work together to significantly improve audio quality when listening to music through wireless headphones, earbuds, and other devices. The goal is to deliver “high-resolution, wired quality audio, wirelessly,” according to James Chapman, Qualcomm’s VP of voice, music, and wearables.
Snapdragon Sound takes advantage of the company’s latest processors, Bluetooth audio SoCs, and codecs like aptX Adaptive to achieve playback of hi-fi music up to 24-bit 96kHz.
The concept of high-quality wireless audio isn’t new to Android; Sony has been largely pushing that mission forward with its own LDAC technology, which can transmit up to three times the amount of data that the standard SBC Bluetooth codec is capable of.
But Qualcomm’s components are found in headphones and earbuds from many companies — Bose, Jabra, 1More, Sennheiser, Audio-Technica, Anker, and more — and the Snapdragon Sound badge will appear on the boxes of both audio products and smartphones that support this HD audio chain. Existing devices won’t be updated to support it; the first Snapdragon Sound products are expected in the next few months. Xiaomi and Audio-Technica have been announced as the first two Snapdragon Sound partners.
Aside from making it easier to enjoy hi-res music, Qualcomm says Snapdragon Sound focuses on improved, clearer voice call quality and lower latency when playing games — down to 89 milliseconds. Connection stability is also a priority, with the company promising minimal dropouts and glitches even in the busiest wireless signal environments. Qualcomm claims “Snapdragon Sound optimized devices will be tested for interoperability in Qualcomm Technologies’ dedicated test facility on measures of performance including audio quality, latency, and robust connectivity.”
One thing that Snapdragon Sound doesn’t particularly focus on is multipoint pairing for two simultaneous Bluetooth connections. The feature has become fairly common for wireless headphones, but Jabra is pretty much the lone earbud maker to offer it. We’ll have to see if that changes with this next wave of products.
Today’s announcement of Snapdragon Sound follows Spotify’s recent news that it will offer a lossless streaming tier later this year as an add-on for Premium subscribers. Amazon Music already offers an HD streaming option, as do Tidal, Qobuz, and other music services. Good audio is always heavily dependent on the source, so you’ll need one of those services to get the most from Snapdragon Sound when it begins reaching products.
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