Mike Wuerthele
Two new wireless Bluetooth earbuds arriving from Bang & Olufsen and Sony, with the pair trying to match Apple in functionality and popularity, if not in price.
Bang & Olufsen unveiled the Beoplay E8 wireless earbuds on Thursday. Each earpiece has a 5.7mm dynamic speaker, connect to a host device with Bluetooth 4.2, with touch controls on the surface that projects from the user's ear. Battery life is rated by the company at about four hours.
The Beoplay app allows for fine-tuning sound, and to apply sound profiles for different user activities or environments.
The Beoplay E8 comes with five ear tips, a charging cable, and a leather charging case. Retail price is $299, with replacement earbuds available for $129. Shipments are expected in October.
Sony's WF-1000X has 6mm dome drivers, and implements the company's "Adaptive Sound Control" that observe the user's actions and automatically switches the noise cancellation feature on or off. Battery life is rated for three hours, with the battery case providing two charges.
Sony's offering is closer in price to Apple's AirPods, coming in at $199. The headphone connect app will be available at some point in October.
Apple's AirPods shipped to the public in December 2016. The $159 AirPods have a five-hour listening time, with the included charging case boosting the total to over 24 hours of listening time
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29 Comments
But but but — “AirPods are too expensive and have bad battery life!” Oops, yeah now they’re looking even better.
I know style is a personal thing, but these Sony wireless buds are, surprisingly, even less attractive than the AirPods. The AirPods at least conform to the design aestetic from the EarPods, sans wires of course. But they still look like headphones. The Sony buds remind me of hearing aids from the 1960s, except they're black. I can see people shouting at wearers of these things, assuming the wearer is hard of hearing. Maybe the model in the video has a smallish head, but they definitely stick out on the front and sides in a franken-freakish sort of way. (Freeze the video at about the 1:01 mark)
That sounds about right. lower qiuuality against lower quality go for fashion. I do not see my headphones, but I hear them and feel them (hurting my ears). Not the way this device is meant to be used.
Im not a samsung supporter... but give credit where it due...samsungs new wireless earpod, at least on paper beat all these including apple AirPods(with the ridiculous Qtips sticking out of ears) .....with feachers like standalone onboard music storage of 1000 tracks and full health monitoring without need for watch or phone....on top of everything else these earpods offer ....
And then there's Sony and their version (almost literally!) of the HomePod.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sony-electronics-introduces-the-lf-s50g-wireless-speaker-with-the-google-assistant-built-in-a-smarter-way-to-enjoy-music-300511957.html