Product Design | Audio Electronics | Acoustics | DIY | Audio Innovations
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Mytek Audio Now Shipping All-New Liberty DAC II |
Mytek Audio just announced the all-new Liberty DAC II, touted as "the new portal for all things digital from Mytek Audio." Capable of exceptional quality playback and monitoring of all high-resolution digital formats in both PCM up to 768kHz, and DSD up to 256, the Liberty DAC II also includes a built-in certified hardware MQA decoder and a reference-grade headphone amplifier capable of driving complex headphone loads. Earlier this year, Mytek announced the shifting of production to a new larger factory in Poland, and a new generation of products based on a new product platform, Roon OS and Linux Audio. Read More
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IK Multimedia Releases Firmware for Atmos Support in iLoud MTM Monitors |
IK Multimedia released firmware 1.2.0 for its iLoud MTM studio monitors, which adds a selectable 80Hz low-frequency cutoff for use in Atmos and other immersive audio setups. With this much-anticipated update, iLoud MTMs becomes an even more powerful reference monitor system for all variety of surround sound systems. Having an iLoud MTM immersive setup is an economical but highly effective solution for project and home studios who need to mix and monitor for Dolby Atmos. Read More
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McIntosh Announces Next-Generation C12000 Two-Chassis Preamplifier |
McIntosh announced the C12000 Preamplifier, a unique two-chassis design that isolates the audio section from the control and power sections, resulting in the purest sound reproduction possible. The C12000 is comprised of the C12000 Controller Module and the C12000 Preamplifier Module, which work together seamlessly when connected. This represents an updated approach from the famous brand to this acclaimed two-chassis preamplifier design. Read More
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Consumer Technology Association CES 2022 Innovation Awards Audio Highlights |
The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) announced the CES 2022 Innovation Awards honorees, including those recognized as Best of Innovation honorees. The CES Innovation Awards is an annual initiative honoring outstanding design and engineering in consumer technology products across 27 product categories. The CES 2022 Innovation Awards program received a record-high number of more than 1800 submissions. audioXpress highlights the audio-related awards. Read More
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Audeze Announces Filter Planar Magnetic Speakerphone on Indiegogo |
Audeze continues to surprise with new cutting-edge development efforts, having in common the use of planar magnetic technology. Following a very successful entry in gaming and spatial audio, followed by an advanced medical noise-cancelling product, Audeze has now unveiled Filter, a portable conference speakerphone equipped with intelligent voice processing that connects to virtually any digital source device over Bluetooth or USB and can be used with all conferencing software. Read More
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Trulli Audio Enters the Portable Speaker Market with Innovative ThinDriver Technology |
Trulli Audio confirmed the official availability of its JAM5, the first in a line of portable speakers powered by Trulli's patented, ThinDriver technology. Initially unveiled as a proof-of-concept, the JAM5 was recently offered direct-to-consumer on the company's website, receiving great reviews. Using an interesting configuration with two TD38S ThinDriver units combined with two opposite passive radiators and a center tweeter, this speaker impresses for its low bass extension. It can be also paired for stereo, for even more impressive results. Read More
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Meze Audio Launches LIRIC Closed-Back Planar Magnetic Headphones |
Meze Audio, the creative headphone company based in Baia Mare, Romania, announced the release of LIRIC – its first closed-back planar magnetic headphones powered once again by Rinaro’s Isodynamic Hybrid Array Driver. The new model features a much-streamlined and definitely more elegant design, re-engineered for portable use - which implies that users will not be embarrassed being seen in public using these. And obviously, the benefit for users remains the ability to enjoy a super product from Meze Audio . Read More
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XMOS Strengthens Its Position in Voice Interfaces with XVF3610 and XVF3615 Voice Processors |
British chip company XMOS announced the launch of the XVF3610 and XVF3615 next-generation voice processors. These high-performance two-mic voice interfaces for wireless speakers, TVs, set-top boxes, smart home appliances, gateway products and more, are built on the company's xcore-ai chip infrastructure, and are available in a cost-effective and easy-to-integrate package. XMOS also kick-started an alpha program for its all new “Avona” voice reference design . Read More
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Editor's Desk
J. Martins
(Editor-In-Chief)
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Natural Hearing and Augmentation.
A New Approach to Open-Ear
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Following up on my previous editorial where I projected my enthusiasm for hearing augmentation and the reasons why I believe some companies will be better off innovating in the consumer space and worry less about hearing-aids - particularly about the over-the-counter hearing-aid approach - I will discuss today a new product design that I have been following and found extremely interesting. A product now looking for support that throws a new interesting angle on in-ear design, ergonomics, and human interaction.
Contrary to Mark Zuckerberg's wishes (or belief?), the Metaverse is not an appealing proposition - but augmented reality might be. And the difference lies in not isolating us from reality and our surroundings, but instead augmenting our life experiences and reality awareness. Virtual Reality (VR) goggles are awful because they break with our natural senses - awarding a very limited use of senses - and are awkward to wear. Likewise, occluded, in-ear earbuds and closed-back headphones are only acceptable when we can safely and confidently completely isolate ourselves from humanity - which in my personal case is... almost never.
I have tried — and eventually I can wear occluded in-ears for 30 minutes when I travel. That's it. Even when wearing regular headphones for a certain time, I start feeling anxiety, stress — not to mention fatigue. During very long flights I use loose fit OGS ( Open Guided Sound), very light and open earphones. They sound "not very good" but at least I can watch multiple movies in a row. And that is why I started looking at open-ear and loose-fit designs, which are both a challenge and an opportunity for these more recent applications of noise cancellation, sound enhancement, and audio augmentation.
Just recently, Apple launched its third-generation Apple AirPods, which are the best-selling loose-fit, true wireless earbuds globally. The new 2021 model received a significant ergonomic and driver design, which greatly improves the user experience. I ordered a pair and tried them, and indeed I liked the new shape refinements and the overall sound quality. Hard to beat. But truly, AirPods should only be compared to other loose-fit designs - and that's a key point, because I believe that will be a key factor for an even larger take up of these devices in general. With open-ear hearables, I believe the true wireless market could be even much larger than what it is today - and TWS earbuds are already many times a bigger market than all other headphone categories combined |
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The Auricle open-ear design holds to the tragus, a unique structure of the ear that offers an effective placement for bone conduction without obstructing the ear canal. |
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Confirming my impressions, I frequently receive messages expressing sympathy for my endorsement of loose-fit and open-ear solutions and, recently I received news of a start-up company based in Copenhagen, Denmark, that embraced the full potential of the open-ear concept, betting that it constitutes a real business opportunity. Funny enough, its founder was a fellow countryman and expat from Portugal.
The company's founder, Pedro Costa, a young acoustics engineer previously working in the hearing-aid industry in Denmark (where else?), grew up with a partial hearing loss and is also a music lover and avid headphones user. His company is Auricle, founded just in November of 2018, and they recently launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign (which is now successfully funded (320%) and about to close - so run to grab one of the remaining early-bird units).
Pedro quickly identified the common problem of situational awareness or lack thereof when using headphones, and started working on a novel, and health-conscious, personal audio electronics design that could combine awareness, communication, hearing, and fun in everyday life situations. "We want to challenge the assumption that personal audio technology has to take over your hearing and cover your ears in order to be of high quality," Auricle states in their mission.
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Born in Copenhagen, the Auricles are a unique wireless open-ear design, using a new approach to bone conduction technology for users who want to stay tuned to both audio content, communications, and their everyday surroundings. |
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To realize that vision, Auricle uses bone conduction technology, which they have researched extensively and perfected to achieve improved sound quality and physical fitting. After thousands of hours testing, taking measurements, and conducting usability investigations, they designed their first product, which is about to enter production: Designed in Denmark and produced in Portugal.
The main distinction compared to any other bone conduction product I've seen so far, the Auricle design holds to the tragus, that small and unique cartilaginous structure of the ear, located on the anterior margin of the auditory canal. The tragus grants a backward slope, guarding the opening of the auditory canal, which also proved ideal to hold a clip-on bone conduction transducer that leaves the ear canal completely open.
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Prior to launching the Indiegogo campaign, the Danish company tested its prototypes in real-life conditions for validation of the technology but - more importantly - the user experience. |
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The Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign page offers plenty of details, but I reached out to Pedro Costa to ask him for more information about what they consider they have achieved. We both share the experience of earbuds falling out creating discomfort and headphones so tight that become painful after half an hour. And Pedro started this project, knowing that bone conduction headphones will never be able to deliver the superb sound quality that is possible with headphones - but he believed that he could improve the concept and explore a new and unique listening experience for users with new wireless open-ear earphones.
He was truly brave to embrace this project, starting from scratch, knowing he would have to create a platform able to rival the best TWS designs in terms of wireless features and reliability, dedicated DSP capabilities for advanced audio processing and... improve the transducer for bone/haptic conduction, enhancing the extra sensorial layer of touch that makes it possible to "feel" the vibrations/ beats. And of course, improve the overall sound quality - "One of our key differentiators (already tested and verified by multiple listeners),” he told me.
Of course, keeping confidentiality about Auricle’s formula to achieve that improvement, Pedro says it was the combination of transducer type/design and placement (the patented fitting system onto the tragus), plus calibration. The transducer is "not a regular bone conduction design either.”
"We have found the placement on the tragus to be the most power efficient location relative to the amount of power required to drive the transducer - irrespective of stimulated frequency. In other words, by attaching the auricles to the tragus, we get the most bang for the buck in terms of force (aka how much sound we can transmit via the skin and bone relative to the output wattage/voltage) and frequency range/response ‘balance’.”
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"I’ve noticed that when I wear my headset at work, my colleagues feel uncomfortable to approach me if they need my assistance. In our perception, we associate traditional in-ear/on-ear headphones with isolation from the external environment. A person wearing headphones sends others a message of being unavailable for communication, even though that’s not always the case (especially when you’re at work with other people),” shares Pedro Costa, who embraced the challenge and created Auricle. |
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Other reasons mentioned by Auricle for having a front design are related to less interference with eyewear, hats, hoodies, (some) helmets, etc. And having the microphones closer to the mouth (two mics, one on each side) also helps for hands-free communication. And Pedro also believes the Auricle approach has great potential for hearing augmentation. That is why his company implemented and intends to fully explore the powerful built-in processing platform and is establishing partnerships with software companies in that space. "Hearing augmentation is going to be a huge deal; I really believe open-ear designs will be one of the pillars of hearing augmentation.”
Anyone interested in supporting the project should reach out! All those companies working with speech recognition for language translation really should consider working with Auricle. The company can be contacted through its website - www.auricle.io - and Pedro Costa is on LinkedIn here. And just this week, it is still possible to support their Indiegogo campaign. Here. |
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"Open-ear headphones are an excellent alternative for such occasions where you need to stay connected and approachable, but it’s also okay to vibe out a little to your tunes if that helps you focus," Pedro Costa says about the design. |
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Parameter Estimation and Box Simulation with Speakerbench (Part 2)
Introducing Speakerbench
By Claus Futtrup and Jeff Candy
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In the first part of this work, the authors discussed the difficulties in estimating cabinet losses using the classical Thiele-Small framework, and proposed a solution using an advanced transducer model. In this second article, the authors detail how Speakerbench offers an accurate and practical approach to this problem. Speakerbench is a web-app and works on any computer, tablet, or smartphone with a browser, without any software installation required. It was created by Futtrup and Candy in an effort to provide more advanced modeling and high-quality transducer data even for the DIY speaker builder. In this article, the two speaker experts demonstrate how users will be able to easily and accurately determine the best suitable box volume for a loudspeaker system. This article was originally published in audioXpress, September 2021. Read the Full Article Now Available Here
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OEM DSP Active Line Level Crossovers from Danville Signal
By Vance Dickason
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The advantages of active DSP crossovers are long recognized and a majority (about 90%) of today's professional audio loudspeakers and studio monitors are powered loudspeakers using also some kind of integrated DSP. Gradually the market is evolving also toward different forms of powered solutions for wireless speakers and even high-end home audio designs, benefiting from the latest Class-D amplifiers, which have gotten significantly better. Based in Minneapolis, MN, Danville Signal Processing has long been supplying high-performance DSP crossovers and DSP modules to the OEM market. In this article, Vance Dickason writes about the range of DSP Active Line Level Crossovers available from Danville Signal and highlights the company's range of Snowbird, Greywolf, and latest Bluebill DSP modules, all footprint compatible. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, September 2021. Read the Full Article Now Available Here
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