ANALYSIS: AUDIO Home Entertainment
All I want for Christmas is… 18 C
High fashion headphones and designer audio systems should keep tills ringing this festive season, says Steve May.
elebrity endorsements, designer form factors and cutting edge tech are all expected to drive interest in audio hardware this festive season. David Beckham can be seen
enthusing about Bowers & Wilkins in high profile campaigns, while Charles Leclerc is the new high-revving brand booster for Bang & Olufsen. Meanwhile, Samsung, Denon and Audio Technica are just three mainstream brands eager to challenge product preconceptions.
Headphones
When it comes to head-fi, arguably the hottest True Wireless earbuds in town are Bowers & Wilkins Pi8. Seen nationwide adorning the ears of David Beckham (pictured right), these premium earphones boast a host of refinements over previous B&W models, and have been showered with accolades.
All-new 12mm drive units featuring proprietary Carbon Cone technology, trickled down from its Px8 over-ears, take much of the credit. Noise cancelling tech also takes notes from the Px8 playbook. Battery life is rated at 6.5 hours, with a further 13.5 hours in the charging case. Working its wireless magic inside is the latest Qualcomm Bluetooth chip with aptX Adaptive at 24-bit/96kHz, and aptX Lossless; DAC and amplification have been cherry-picked from ADI. The Pi8 also support Made for iPhone iOS
integration and Google Fast Pair, with multipoint pairing as standard.
One key upsell is that the slimmed down charging case can retransmit aptX Adaptive signals up to 24-bit/96kHz quality. This means frequent flyers can literally plug the case into an in-flight entertainment system, and then wirelessly transmit audio to the paired earbuds. No cables required. Significantly, the Pi8 are also more comfortable than previous B&W buds. Colour options comprise Anthracite Black, Dove White, Jade Green and Midnight Blue. Ready for winter wear, they’re IP54-rated too.
Meanwhile, Danish Hi-Fi company Bang & Olufsen has appointed Ferrari F1 driver Charles Leclerc as its new Global Brand Ambassador. The F1 star has long been a fan of B&O, declaring “the clarity and warmth in their sound that helps me disconnect from the racing world and brings me to a place where I feel connected to the artist”.
Expect to see fresh interest in the high- end Beoplay H100 headphones, Beosound A5 portable Bluetooth speaker and Beoplay EX earbuds as a result. The latter, with Active Noise Cancellation and Glass Touch controls, are a strong contender for the gifting season – and yes, there’s also a Ferrari branded special edition available! If the Bowers & Wilkins and Bang & Olufsen
are too pricey for your punters, point them at Audio-Technica’s ATH-SQ1TW2 wireless earbuds. Smaller and lighter than their predecessor, and available in four finishes – Jet Black, Pure White, Navy/Red, and Forest Green – they feature newly developed 5.8mm drivers with low latency Bluetooth, ideal for gamers and smartphone TV bingers. Users can also connect two devices at once, thanks to multipoint sharing. There’s no Noise Cancellation, but commuters will appreciate an ambient control function. Battery life is rated at 6.5 hours, with 13.5 hours resident in the charging case. They’re a bargain buy that won’t disappoint.
Not to be outdone, singer Katy Perry has also become the face of Denon’s stylish PerL earbuds (pictured below left), notable for their Adaptive Acoustic Technology (AAT) developed by owners, Masimo. This tech enables users to create a custom hearing profile based on their full hearing response. The buds also boast Active Noise Cancellation and Multipoint device sharing. There are two iterations of the PerL, the
regular edition and the PerL Pro. The latter features Bluetooth with Qualcomm AptX Lossless audio and Dirac Virtuo spatial audio, making them well worth the premium.
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