Product Design | Audio Electronics | Acoustics | DIY | Audio Innovations
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Urbanista Introduces Los Angeles Solar-Powered ANC Headphones Using Exeger Powerfoyle Technology |
Urbanista, the Swedish lifestyle audio brand and STRAX subsidiary, announced Urbanista Los Angeles, the world's first self-charging, wireless active noise cancelling headphones (ANC), powered by Powerfoyle solar cell material. This advanced green technology developed by Exeger was first implemented in headphones in a partnership with Harman (JBL). The new Los Angeles ANC headphones are the first ANC design that will use a Powerfoyle headband surface to convert all forms of light, outdoor and indoor, into energy to deliver virtually infinite playtime . Read More
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Ams Adaptive Noise Cancellation Technology Powers JBL Over-Ear Headphones |
Announced in January and scheduled to be available May 2021, the new JBL Tour ONE headphones will feature Harman's first adoption of Adaptive Leakage Compensation (ALC) technology from ams AG. ALC technology has already been deployed in various types of earbuds, including loose-fit earbuds, to provide consistently high noise attenuation as the earbud shifts position in the ear. Now Harman has deployed ams ALC technology in the JBL Tour One to provide the same consistency and high noise attenuation in over-ear headphones. Read More
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Amazon Introduces All-New True Wireless Echo Buds with Custom ANC |
Amazon has introduced the next-generation of Echo Buds, featuring an all-new design, premium audio architecture for crisp, balanced sound, custom-designed Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) technology, wireless charging capabilities, improved microphones for better call quality, and hands-free access to Alexa. Not many people bought the first model, so the announcement of the all-new second-generation Echo Buds is not that surprising, considering Amazon considers hardware as a pure extension of its services ecosystem . Read More
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Spotify Unveils Car Thing Dedicated Smart Player for the Car |
In an effort to expand its reach in the lucrative automotive sector, Swedish streaming audio company Spotify has launched its very first hardware product. With free and widely available radio stations still dominating the space, car audio remains the last frontier to be conquered by streaming services. Spotify seems determined to cover that market, even if it requires launching a proof-of-concept product. Spotify Car Thing is basically a dedicated Spotify player with voice controls for Premium subscribers, cutting the ties to the smartphone. Read More
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Røde Introduces Røde Connect Software for Podcasting and Streaming With NT-USB Mini Microphones |
Røde is a step ahead of global connectivity and media trends. Complementing its NT-USB Mini microphones, and inspired by the success of its RØDECaster Pro hardware console, Røde released Røde Connect, a simple and powerful software solution for podcasting and streaming with the NT-USB Mini, acting as a fully featured recording interface, with the ability to connect up to four NT-USB Minis to a single computer via USB-C, and with seamless integration with video calling, streaming applications, and much more. Read More
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Fraunhofer and Sinclair Show Digital Radio Mondiale Integration into ATSC 3.0 Digital TV Platform |
Fraunhofer IIS, the primary developer of the xHE-AAC audio codec and long-time member of the ATSC as well as the DRM Consortium, and Sinclair Broadcast Group, the US media company, are joining forces to bring the best possible DRM digital radio experience to users of the ATSC 3.0 digital TV platform. This is definitely a great idea to relaunch awareness of digital radio services, which have remained largely ignored in the midst of the streaming media transition . Read More
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ESS Technology Announces New Sabre ES9033Q Two-Channel DAC with Built-In 2Vrms Line Drivers |
ESS Technology announced its newest addition to the Sabre audio series of DACs, the ES9033Q, a 32-bit, two-channel DAC with built-in 2Vrms, ground-centered line drivers, resulting in an optimum system performance with no need for external amplifiers. The new Sabre ES9033Q DAC simplifies stereo line level setups with best-in-class performance in one small package, offering D/A conversion with a DNR of 122+dB A-weighted with DRE, and -108dB of THD+N per channel . Read More
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AES Audio Product Education Institute Invites Product Development Houses to Discuss Turning Ideas Into Actual Products |
The Audio Product Education Institute (APEI) initiative launched by the Audio Engineering Society (AES), will host its seventh online event addressing Supply Chain & Sourcing on Wednesday, April 21 (12:00pm EDT). In this new webinar, moderated once again by supply chain and sourcing experts David Lindberg (DB Enterprises) and Mike Klasco (Menlo Scientific), two Silicon Valley product development firms will discuss their role and contributions in bringing new audio products to market . Read More
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Guest Editorial
Jon Schau
(Lead Engineer for Emerging Technology at Bose Professional)
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Work from Anywhere
Evolving the Unified Communications Paradigm
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Digital connectivity allowed knowledge workers to cut the cords chaining them to their desks in 2020. It also empowered them to collaborate, communicate, and execute from anywhere in the world. Today, that freedom is the norm. A staff member can be in her home office on Monday; work from the corporate office on Tuesday morning, and have a meeting in a shared space that enables social distancing the same afternoon. The workspace is wherever she chooses to work, and it may be a blend of venues throughout the week.
This level of continued productivity and connectivity would have been unimaginable before 2020, when cloud-based solutions multiplied. Almost overnight, companies learned to tap into cloud-based, scalable architectures that could deliver four to five times the network bandwidth to multi-point servers than what they managed on premises or with VPNs.
In parallel, personalized experiences ballooned. People wanted a sense of professionalism from their homes, as well as the ability to offer feedback to their colleagues, prompting cloud communication tools to show tremendous agility in a relatively short period of time. Applause cues, emojis, and personalized backdrops came online and triggered a rush toward greater adaptability from vendors such as Microsoft, Google, Slack, and Zoom.
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The new Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 UC are prepared for both the workplace and beyond. An adaptive microphone system helps turn any space into a meeting place, isolating the user's voice and applying 11 levels of noise cancellation. |
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From IT’s point of view, these dynamics have flipped the value propositions of what technologies staff want and need. The fact is that more than 100 million knowledge workers have been trained on cloud-based applications and can run them independently without the intervention of IT. Now these newly educated employees are demanding functionalities and devices that are as adaptable as their workdays, such as noise suppression, multiple levels of connectivity on a single device, and more convenient remote device management.
How CIOs and CTOs choose to accommodate these tech-literate users with unified communications will significantly impact employee satisfaction down the line, and may even determine which employees decide to stay and move on. Meeting the emerging work from anywhere (WFA) trend will be vital to organizations that are serious about enabling workflow in 2021.
Empower Employees to Be as Productive as Possible
The journey to a user-centric approach to unified communications was a long one. On-premises solutions were long thought to be more secure, private, and reliable. Then IT came around to the idea of testing non-critical components in the cloud to measure performance and cost. Office 365 was among the solutions that furthered cloud adoption, highlighting the benefits of a monthly SaaS subscription that’s continually updated versus an expensive on-premises alternative.
Between the rise of Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, and other offerings, enterprises have become receptive to the idea of cloud technology. There was also a revisiting of the form factors where it became possible to embed shared applications into a conferencing system, rather than host a single system with a bunch of peripherals running Microsoft Teams on a dedicated PC.
The market is moving toward simpler-to-manage appliance-like models that are easy to use and deploy, and it’s the quality of the device that will matter most. Individuals need to bring high-quality audio and video to every meeting, no matter where it takes place.
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Using six beam-steering microphones to automatically focus on voices in the room and reject noise, the Bose Videobar VB1 is an all-in-one USB conferencing device. |
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Shifting Balance Between BYOM and Installed Kits
If the last year is any indication, people are likely to have more, not fewer, meetings. Accommodating that from a UC-perspective requires IT to shift from installed kits to bring your own meeting (BYOM)-friendly technologies, depending on room configuration. While a large room may be equipped with a component model, many smaller rooms or informal meeting spaces can be outfitted with just videobars and in-room displays.
Outfitting small- and medium-sized spaces with "appliance" conferencing solutions ensures that everyone in the space is easily heard and understood, recreating the intimacy of an in-person meeting. The fact that these solutions are designed for crystal-clear video and voice calls that sound natural in groups, make them ideal for huddle spaces as well. And in the vein of true WFA, single-cable connectivity eliminates the need for separate audio and video cables. The simple form factor and attention to quality with some of these devices effectively reduce the complexity that end up occupying IT and annoying end users.
Don’t Just Give Them What They Want – Give Them What They Need
We are about two-thirds of the way through a 10-year shift from on-premises standards-based systems to cloud-enabled innovations, and user literacy has caught up. Instead of requiring IT to step in before a meeting, most employees can start on their own and address any potential technology delays, supported by a new generation of unified communications resources.
Post-pandemic, conferencing cameras and microphones will be as ubiquitous as chairs in the office, as organizations create video-enabled spaces to support users who want to meet wherever they like and have the audio and video they need. These are already priorities on the agendas of many enterprise leaders, and as long as they remain priorities for employees, CIOs and CTOs will continue to deliver the technologies employees need to succeed.
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Bose Work solutions combine conferencing and unified communications and include the new Bose Videobar VB1 (combined webcam, soundbar, and speakerphone with Bluetooth), the new Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 UC and ControlSpace EX conferencing processors and endpoints. |
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Measurements Rate New SMT Low-Voltage JFETs Under Consistent Conditions - An Update Using Modern JFETs
By Dimitri Danyuk
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In 2013, Dimitri Danyuk wrote an article that presented apples-to-apples test results for noise densities for several low-noise discrete, SMT, and n-JFETs. In this follow-up article, Danyuk brings us new measurements, updating his design note with measurements of JFET components that appeared more recently on the market. The tests on devices from Linear Systems and ON Semiconductor used the same operating conditions so that designers can make a fair comparison for their applications. This article was originally published in audioXpress, December 2018. Read the Full Article Now Available Here
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Wavecor's TW022WA09 Cloth Dome Tweeter
By Vance Dickason
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The driver discussed in this Test Bench is the Wavecor TW022WA09 22mm high-end textile dome tweeter. The precision cloth (textile) dome ensures an extended frequency response, while the voice coil design offers higher power handling and low resonance frequency. Features for the TW022WA09 tweeter include a neodymium magnet motor structure, copper foil-clad pole shorting ring vented to a damped rear chamber, a compact injection-molded 70mm (2.6") diameter faceplate and rear cavity, a 4Ω 22mm diameter voice coil with a vented aluminum former wound with copper-clad aluminum wire (CCAW) wire, built-in cavities beneath the dome surround, a foam mounting gasket, and gold-plated terminals. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, January 2021.
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Advancing the Evolution
of Audio Technology
audioXpress features great articles, projects, tips, and techniques for the best in quality audio. It connects manufacturers and distributors with audio engineers and enthusiasts eager for innovative solutions in sound, acoustic, and electronics.
Voice Coil, the periodical for the loudspeaker industry, delivers product reviews, company profiles, industry news, and design tips straight to professional audio engineers and manufacturers who have the authority to make powerful purchasing decisions.
The Loudspeaker Industry Sourcebook is the most comprehensive collection of listings on loudspeaker material in the industry. Purchasers and decision makers refer to the guide for an entire year when making selections on drivers, finished systems, adhesives, domes, crossovers, voice coils, and everything in between.
© 2021 KCK Media Corp. All Rights Reserved.
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