Jabra Launches Elite 85t True Wireless Earbuds with Adjustable ANC and Upgrades Elite 75t Range with ANC

What do you do when you are late at the Active Noise Cancellation party? You launch your product and call it Advanced Active Noise Cancellation. With the Elite 85t, Jabra introduces a product that finally updates the brand's reference Elite 75t designs, literally. The new Elite 85t benefits from Jabra's own ANC miniaturized chipset, allowing it to maintain the same familiar small form factor and optimal fit. The "advanced" comes from the fact that Jabra implemented a fully adjustable digital ANC.

The pioneer in noise cancelling, Bose introduced the new QuietComfort Earbuds, delivering what the company claims is the "quiet" of Bose around-ear noise cancelling headphones in an in-ear design. For the QuietComfort Earbuds, Bose developed an entirely new platform with proprietary processing and algorithms. Bose also introduced the new Sport Earbuds — entirely re-engineered to produce improved sound from smaller, slimmer enclosures that stay securely in place, without causing pain, pressure, or needing ear hooks.

Audio transparency is not as simple as it sounds. Slip on a pair of headphones or earbuds and you’ll shut yourself off from critical sounds. With its vast experience in DSP processing software, Alango Technologies developed ListenThrough, a “smart algorithm” for headphones/earphones that allows enjoyment of the music while staying alert to important environmental sounds. Instead of simply filtering selected frequencies, ListenThrough mixes environmental ambient sounds into the A2DP music stream, thus allowing the user to be aware of their surroundings even when using closed headphones and/or listening to loud music.

Promoted every year by the market research firm Futuresource Consulting, Audio Collaborative 2019 full-day conference on November 7 was invaluable, with Futuresource's leading market analysts and researchers sharing some of the latest stats and trends on the topics in the agenda, combined with great panels and in-between keynotes. This is the fourth - and last - of my reports, originally published in The Audio Voice newsletter.

In another product announcement that didn't go as planned, following a lot of rumors and leaks coming from China, Apple was forced to unveil its latest addition to the AirPods family. As widely anticipated, the AirPods Pro have a new improved design, combining a slightly similar shape to the original loose-fit design, but slightly twisted to support a silicon in-ear tip, in order to make Active Noise Cancellation effective. The all-new lightweight design is now available.

Already the undisputed leader in active noise cancelling technology, Bose is stepping up its product range with the announcement of the new wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, which the company itself says is "the biggest leap forward in headphones since the iconic QuietComfort." The new Bose 700s also introduce a revolutionary new voice interface that redefines mobile communication, combined with new audio augmented reality features that will enable completely new user experiences.

Californian company KANOA (former PEAQ Audio) is promoting a 50%-off pre-order campaign for its wireless earphones to be launched April 2016, featuring balanced armature drivers and the latest in audio technology, including CSR’s aptX codec. KANOA ergonomic earphones pair with an audio equalization app with innovative sound-tuning features.