Mini computers in your ears: Wireless ear phones
Next up for your
ears: mini-computers.
Truly
wireless earbuds are all the rage in the audio scene these days, as Apple's
AirPods have been more widely embraced than anyone expected. Cutting the cord
has been a welcome improvement for many AirPod fans — but the buds don't offer
much more than untethered audio experiences, leaving the door open for other
innovations.
Bragi, a Kickstarter darling that
hit the scene in 2014 with its Dash smartbuds, is looking to do just that with
the next generation of its wireless audio tech. The company is shooting high
and hyping the new buds, the Dash Pro and the Dash Pro tailored by Starkey, as
"powerful ear computers."
Bragi says the
Dash Pro offers even better battery life and new features like automatic
activity tracking via its 27 sensors to carry on the fitness-focused legacy of
the original, which offered health monitoring and real-time fitness insights
for workouts — but the Starkey partnership might be the more interesting
news here. Starkey is one of the biggest players in the hearing health market,
with its line of smartphone-connected hearing aids like the Halo 2.
The Dash Pro
tailored by Starkey will be personalized to the wearer's ear canal via a
fitting with one of 5,000 partner audiologists in the U.S. and Canada, making
the headphones more of a personal hearing device than an accessory to listen to
your music.
The Dash Pro runs on the company's new Bragi
OS 3 (BOS 3), an update to the specialized software for the hearable. One new
perk is its real-time language translation powered by iTranslate.
All this
computing power and personalization won't come cheap, which will likely keep
the Dash Pro from becoming the next AirPods. The standard Dash Pro launches
at $329, while the personalized Starkey version will run users $499.
The companies’ claim that's one of the lowest-priced custom-made earphones on
the market — but for a casual user that might be too much to ask.
But Bragi
probably isn't looking to knock Apple from the top of the headphone food chain
— at least not yet. Instead, the Dash Pro is more likely to be considered
something of a hybrid personal health care device, as the line between hearing
health and audio tech becomes even more blurred.
Via Mashable
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