From streaming music and audiobooks to live audio rooms and podcasts, every major player in tech is trying to own a chunk of the listening experience. Spotify is expanding beyond music streaming, YouTube is becoming an audio-only destination, and Apple Music is hoping to stand out with spatial audio while Tidal, Pandora, SoundCloud, and so many more scramble to set themselves apart.
Following a teaser earlier this week, Nothing’s CMF sub-brand has revealed the Buds Neo wireless earbuds with 12.4mm drivers, active noise canceling, Bluetooth 6.0 support, and up to 11 hours of battery life on buds alone, 52 hours with their charging case, or up to 30 hours with ANC. They’re priced at 1,999 Indian rupees, or around $21.
Buds Neo, that is, which are being teased by Nothing’s budget-friendly CMF sub-brand, just two weeks after it launched the CMF Clip Pro open earbuds. It posted the below image on X yesterday as a “hint of what’s next.” A new video posted today also shows colorful Smart Dial charging case configurations, and a short message: “Buds Neo. 20 August.”
Following Netflix’s growing “podcast” investment and a similar deal with TikTok, six more video podcasts are coming to Disney subscribers in the US, starting with the official Jonas Brothers podcast, Hey Jonas!, on August 14th across both Disney Plus and Hulu, leading up to the release of Camp Rock 3.
Pod Meets World on Disney Plus will follow on August 24th, with Desperately Devoted, StraightioLab, Thanks Dad with Ego Nwodim, and Fake Doctors, Real Friends with Zach and Donald coming to Hulu later this year to join the podcasts already on the platform like The Mess Around with Hannah and Lamorne.
Snyder on the company’s move into luxury audio, licensing the Bose brand, and what happens to great sound in the AI era.
Sony’s quest to bring good cybersecurity practices to its headphone names continues with the rumored WH-1000XM4C.
Zack Simpson:
My biggest gripe with the WH-1000XM4 was that it didn’t have enough letters and numbers in its name. Big fan of this change!
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It’s a limited-edition orange Death Stranding version of km5’s CP1, a wireless CD player with USB-C charging, 7-8 hour battery, Bluetooth and 3.5mm output — plus optional screw mounts for your wall. Out of stock, but neon yellon is still available without Kojima’s touches. A worthy addition to our transparent gadget StoryStream.
A lo-fi solution for hi-fi side-sleepers.
The best (and my favorite) high-res audio player has improved its UI. The Qobuz player has more targeted recommendations, dynamic lyrics that follow along as you listen, and expanded song information. I’m loving the improvement so far, and find it’s also more intuitive to change bitrate and audio output.
Its $299.99 Acton III Bluetooth speaker is now dramatically more groovy to celebrate the brand’s 60 year anniversary of working with the musician. But it’s not just about the new aesthetics. When you power the speaker on or off it also plays unique sounds sourced from Hendrix’s recordings.
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The new affordable earbuds will launch alongside the Phone 4B, but WinFuture has published what appear to be official promo shots of the buds in all four colors: yellow, pink, white, and black. Will we see a return of the odd charging case microphone Nothing introduced in the more premium Ear 3?
A new firmware update for the Sony WH-1000XM6 and 1000X The Collexion headphones is now available through the Sony Sound Connect mobile app. In addition to performance improvements the update adds support for the low-latency Bluetooth Gaming Audio Profile, but keep in mind the device you’re pairing with needs to support GMAP, too.
After teasing the upgraded model alongside the original Mic Mini 2 that launched in April, DJI has announced the ¥629 ($93) Mic Mini 2S in China. It adds 14.5GB of storage in each transmitter for redundant recording (with a boost in audio quality) and the ability to wirelessly connect up to four microphones to a single transmitter.
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Following the recent debut of its Momentum 5 headphones, Sennheiser is joining companies like Bose and Sony with a new pair of open earbuds worn on the back of the ear. The Accentum Clip offer up to nine hours of battery, and while they won’t launch in the US, they’ll be available in Canada starting July 23rd for $269.95 CAD.
After launching the Verified by Spotify badge for musicians a few weeks ago, the service now has a sticker for podcasters who actually exist in real life, as AI-generated podslop floods RSS feeds.
It’s also “reaffirming” its unauthorized impersonation policy, saying it will remove podcasts that copy someone else’s likeness without permission, whether through AI cloning or any other method.
Look, I’m not saying Sony’s audio naming scheme is good, per se, but you can’t deny it’s distinct. Is it really willing to throw that away?
Hoto:
Are we sure the initial reporting is correct? Isn’t a Sony product more likely to be named the WH-C0113-X10N?
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A product called “1000X The Collexion” with an over-ear headphone model number of “WH-1000XX” briefly appeared on Sony’s region websites. There are no images, but a previous report suggest that the limited-edition model will launch for €629 (about $740) on May 19th.
[Android Authority]
The latest project from Swedish designer Love Hultén is the NES-SY2.0 — a bespoke synthesizer that includes an NES Poly chiptune synth, KeyStep and Flamma FS22 interfaces, and a custom-made MIDI visualizer. And yes, Hultén says the system supports NES game cartridges!
