Tag: #hybridtechnology

#IFA2023 -Shure unveils 2nd Gen AONIC 50 wireless noise-cancelling headphones: now featuring spatial audio and advanced hybrid active noise cancellation

Shure introduced its highly anticipated AONIC 50 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones Gen 2. Drawing on decades of stage and studio expertise, the AONIC 50 Gen 2 Headphones break new ground with a revolutionary spatialized audio experience, designed to captivate music enthusiasts and discerning audiophiles alike. Building on the success of the AONIC 50 Headphones, this second generation sets a new standard for premium, high-fidelity audio, enhanced active noise cancellation, and 50 percent more battery life than the first generation, with up to 45 hours of runtime.

Meticulously crafted with premium materials and studio-quality sound through custom-engineered 50mm dynamic drivers, AONIC 50 Gen 2 Headphones are an embodiment of comfort and style that take listening to the next level. They have been designed by leveraging Shure’s experience designing headphones for studio professionals with long hours in mind. With customisable EQ features and new hybrid active noise cancellation technology, users can tailor their unique preferences using the free ShurePlus™ Play App for a personalised audio experience.

At the heart of the AONIC 50 Gen 2 Headphones is Shure’s new spatialized audio technology, powered by a proprietary algorithm, designed using a combination of acoustical modeling and critical listening to delicately enhance the spaciousness without compromising the original audio. This feature provides three distinct modes—Music, Cinema, and Podcast:

  • Music Mode: enables users to experience listening through high-end speakers and is the most subtle, maintaining the original source material.

  • Cinema Mode: emulates the low frequency excitement that users experience in a theatre that employs subwoofers for an immersive, larger-than-life sound through clarity, presence, and natural sounding dialogue.

  • Podcast Mode: brings the voice of a user’s favourite podcast host closer to their ears.

“The AONIC 50 Gen 2 is designed to deliver an exceptional listening experience that is built on the heritage of the previous generation. We incorporated the latest innovations, including spatialized audio options and Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound™ Technology, taking the audio to the next level,” said Sean Sullivan, Associate Director of Global Product Management, at Shure. “For passionate audiophiles and music lovers, the magic lies even in the tiniest details. The AONIC 50 Gen 2 provides a pure, high-resolution listening experience paired with our latest digital signal processing (DSP) options, so listeners can customise to their preferences and immerse themselves in their own private concert.”

This second-generation headphone ushers in new hybrid active noise cancellation technology, improving on the performance of the earlier generation and more effectively eliminating external distractions, enabling a truly immersive and natural listening experience. By using microphones inside and outside the earcup, the AONIC 50 Gen 2 offers users the ability to fine-tune their auditory environment, effortlessly controlling the level of ambient noise. Featuring four selectable modes—Light, Moderate, Max, and MaxAware—the new MaxAware setting strikes the perfect balance between blocking unwanted noise and maintaining awareness of your surroundings, making it ideal for on-the-go conversations.

Additional Features and Benefits:

  • Enhanced Environment Mode: Immerse yourself in the outside world with a simple switch. The adjustable slider on the ShurePlus™ PLAY app lets you refine the ambience settings to your liking.

  • Extended Battery Life: Holds up to 45 hours of battery life with quick charging capabilities, more than doubling runtime from the earlier generation. The quick charge feature provides up to five hours of use with only 15 minutes of charge.

  • Customizable EQ: Choose from a variety of presets or create your own personalized sound profile using the ShurePlus™ PLAY app. Save your settings directly to the headphones for a seamless and personalized audio experience across different apps and devices.

  • Crystal Clear Communication: Experience superior call quality with beamforming microphone technology and proprietary automatic gain control (AGC) settings. Leveraging six microphones, the precision-engineered system adjusts automatically to minimize surrounding noises, providing unmatched clarity for video calls and phone conversations.

  • Cutting-Edge Bluetooth® 5 Wireless Technology: Seamlessly connect to your phone, tablet, or laptop with the class one transmitter, offering enhanced stability and a remarkable range of up to 100 meters.

  • Premium Headphone Amplifier: Enjoy support for Snapdragon Sound™ with Qualcomm® aptX™ Adaptive technology for high-res music streaming, and AAC, SBC, and LDAC codecs.

Snapdragon Sound Technology, incorporated into the second generation of AONIC 50 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones, is designed to provide an unparalleled audio experience. By optimizing a suite of technologies by Qualcomm Technologies across connected devices, Snapdragon Sound delivers consistent, crystal clear and captivating audio. Users can enjoy every detail of their music just as the artist intended and feel better connected to colleagues and loved ones through voice and video calls with true-to-life audio.

“Qualcomm Technologies is excited to work with Shure, a premier brand known and loved by audiophiles, on their new AOINIC 50 Gen 2 headphones” said Mike Canevaro, Director, Marketing, Snapdragon Sound, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “By incorporating Snapdragon Sound into these headphones, Shure is ensuring their customers hear every detail of their music exactly as the artist intended, with robust and reliable connectivity.”

The AONIC 50 Gen 2 joins Shure’s famous AONIC product lineup, which is already well known for its acoustic superiority, reliability, innovation, and excellence. Additionally, the modern “all-black” design has up to 45 hours of battery life to provide long-term listening and comfort. The redesigned carrying case, smaller than the previous generation, delivers a portable design that folds flat for easy storage. These headphones are the all-in-one solution for those looking for studio-quality sound, improved hybrid noise cancellation, spatialized audio technology, extended battery life, advanced environment mode, and more.

Pricing and Availability:
The AONIC 50 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones Gen 2, will be available in Black in September 2023 at Shure.com and select retailers starting at RRP £349. Purchase includes a two-year warranty, protective zippered carrying case, 3.5mm audio cable, and a USB-C charging/audio cable.

Jabra launches Evolve2 75 headset to re-energise hybrid working

Jabra has announced the release of the latest in its Evolve range of enterprise headsets, the Evolve2 75. With 68% of employees seeing their Ideal work week including a hybrid model of working from home and an office, the Evolve2 75 introduces an innovative new solution, specifically engineered to make flexible working simpler and more productive for everyone, everywhere.

Jabra’s latest hybrid working research shows that 85% of knowledge workers said being confident in their audio, video and connectivity allows them to excel at work. With that in mind, the new Evolve2 75 aims to be the flexibility hero, with comfort, concentration, collaboration and insights at its core. These pose the biggest challenges for organisations whose employees are working in changing locations, so Jabra has packed the Evolve2 75 with new features that push sound quality and comfort even further. Maximising flexibility and increasing concentration, the Evolve2 75 delivers crystal-clear calls and pitch-perfect music in any surroundings.

Jabra has engineered a superior ergonomic fit for the ear cups, reimagining the leatherette, dual cushion design to improve ventilation and reduce ear pressure. In turn, this optimises the curvature and padding of the headband to ensure this headset stays securely in place. Not only does this avoid causing discomfort, but it also dramatically improves the overall active noise cancellation performance too, for maximised comfort without compromising on sound.

Jabra Evolve first

The Evolve2 75 is the first of Jabra’s Evolve headsets to include fully adjustable Jabra Advanced Active Noise Cancellation™ (ANC), so you can pick and choose how much (or how little) of your surroundings you hear. A ‘HearThrough’ button allows for tuning back into the sounds around you when you need to, without even having to take your headset off. With customisable settings like MySound (for the Sound+ mobile app), optimising music for personalised hearing profiles, and Equaliser adjustment, available through the Sound+ app plus Jabra Direct on mobiles and PCs), the Evolve2 75 suits changing needs.

Greater sound and flexibility

The mute and auto answer-enabled microphone boom arm on this new headset is 33 per cent shorter than on the previous Evolve 75 design, giving users even greater flexibility and better-sounding audio. The arm is also intended to meet Microsoft’s stringent Open Office requirements, when the boom arm is flipped down in Performance mode. It effectively cuts out ambient sound in open-plan offices and loud, busy indoor areas. The headset has a discreet mode feature, you can easily fold away the boom arm when required for quality calls on the go.

The headset’s 8-microphone technology works with Jabra’s revolutionary triple chipset-powered algorithm to distinguish between your voice and the noise around you even more precisely, for the sharpest-sounding calls yet. The Evolve2 75 also includes a ‘Busylight’ with increased 360º visibility for when total focus is needed.

Data-capturing capabilities

Finally, Jabra has added extra benefits to the latest headset, making it even easier to go anywhere and still stay connected. Optimised for all leading Unified Communications platforms, the Evolve2 75 connects colleagues on whichever platform they prefer. The headsets also offer data capturing capabilities so IT Departments can make more informed decisions and troubleshoot any issues before they become a problem.

Jabra Xpress software also makes it easy to oversee deployment, update firmware and manage settings remotely. The 30 metre robust wireless range and dual connectivity to computers and mobile devices gives the Evolve2 75 extra flexibility, promising increased freedom to walk and talk without affecting call quality. With the Evolve2 75’s extended battery life, charge-and-talk technology and new fast-charging capabilities, making as many calls as needed, from any location, has never been easier.

Holger Reisinger, SVP for Enterprise Solutions at Jabra said, “Our goal for every addition to the Evolve Series is not to simply create a new headset, but to set a new standard. That’s why we look at all aspects of the product during development in order to get to the best audio experience imaginable. With the combination of our ground-breaking new dual-foam technology, an improved headband and a revolutionary new ‘comfort pattern’ design, the Jabra Evolve2 75 provides incredible noise isolation and comfort for an all-round improved audio experience that feels as good as it sounds.”

Jabra Evolve2 75

Key Features and Specifications:

  • 26% per cent more Noise Cancellation than Evolve 75 through Adjustable Jabra Advanced ANC, dedicated chipset and Jabra’s new Dual Foam Technology
  • Premium Open Office microphones with a 33 per cent shorter hide-away microphone boom arm than Evolve 75
  • 8 microphone technology
  • Superior quality calls
  • High quality audio with the boom arm retracted in discreet mode, or when fully down in performance mode. Optimised for a flexible worklife
  • Certified for all major UC platforms
  • Up to 30m/100 ft wireless range
  • Connect two devices with dual connectivity
  • Dedicated Teams button (on MS Teams variant)
  • Integrated 360° busylight
  • Up to 36h MusicTime, 24h TalkTime (without ANC and Busylight) 33% more TalkTime than Evolve75
  • Powerful music w/ 40mm speakers & AAC codecs
  • Device management with Jabra Direct and Xpress
  • Personalisation with Jabra Sound+ and Jabra Direct
  • Google fast pair (Android Only)

The Evolve2 75 will be available from October 15th at selected retailers at MSRP €329/ $349.

For more information about the new Evolve2 75, please visit:https://www.jabra.com/evolve