Earphones

The Galaxy Note 10 won't have a 3.5 mm headphone jack. It will have, instead, a USB-C headphone jack. Even before the phone has launched, it is already earning criticism because of that one "feature" among many other criticized changes. Samsung may already be preparing for the backlash by providing not just USB-C in-ear headphones but ones that come with a noise canceling feature that's unusual for buds that ship inside phone boxes.

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Thanks in part to Apple pushing its AirPods onto the smartphone market, the in-ear Bluetooth earbuds industry has gotten some attention and improvements. From truly wireless designs to touch-sensitive surface, these audio accessories have greatly improved in all but one aspect: battery life. Considering their size and the technology they use, it's not surprising that they could last only a few hours at most. That's where Cleer's new Ally earbuds try to break the mold with 10 hours of playback that could get you through your work day with no problem at all.

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Wireless earphones come in all shapes and sizes but they all have a few traits in common. For one, they can be a pain to pair given how Bluetooth pairing works. They can also be a pain to recharge when it does finally come to top them off. Huawei boasts that it has solved those and more problems with its new FreeLace wireless pair. That said, at least one of those will only make sense if you have not just any Huawei phone but one with its latest EMUI software.

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Earlier this week, Apple made a few different product announcements, first announcing a new iPad Air and iPad mini, then the next day upgrading the iMac with some new silicon. The company topped off its string of product announcements by revealing a pair of 2nd-generation AirPods on Wednesday. Even with these new AirPods out in the open, Apple may not be done launching wireless earphones, as a new rumor claims that Beats is gearing up to release a truly wireless version of its PowerBeats earphones.

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Xiaomi has long been regarded as copying Apple’s designs but it has been making good strides lately in distancing itself from that image. Unfortunately, it may have just fallen back on old habits at least with one of its accessories. Despite the name, last year’s Xiaomi AirDots looked nothing like anything Apple would have made. With the new AirDots Pro, however, Xiaomi is leaving little to chance and is making a pair of earbuds that are unmistakably “inspired” by Apple’s AirPods.

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Remember when Apple acquired Beats by Dre, and they suddenly cornered the headphones market worldwide? Since that happened, the company released a pair of wireless earbuds - not Beats earbuds, but Apple-branded. It's not as though Beats was ever the biggest brand in earbuds, but still - now Apple sells their own earbuds in the same store as Beats brand audio equipment. Now it would seem that Apple's readying themselves to release their own version of the Beats flagship: over-ear headphones.

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Truly wireless earbuds took a while to get here but now we're seeing options at just about every price point, with Master & Dynamic bringing a new option for audiophiles who hate cables. The new Master & Dynamic MW07 True Wireless Earphones combine the headphone-maker's Beryllium drivers with some eye-catching design for a handsome AirPods alternative.

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Sennheiser has launched its first truly wire-free earbuds, with the Momentum True Wireless headphones taking on Apple's AirPods. Revealed at IFA 2018 today, the new earbuds promise not only cordless music and calls but the sort of materials and build quality that we've come to expect from Sennheiser, rather than the plastic-only construction other fully-wireless earbuds have adopted for convenience.

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This is probably one of the longest waiting time between announcement and retail launch. Granted, Xperia Ear "Open Style", as the Xperia Ear Duo was initially called, was first shown off as a near-final prototype August last year. With the interest in ubiquitous smart assistants on the rise, perhaps Sony thought that now is the perfect time to bring the Xperia Ear Duo to the market. It doesn't hurt that the Apple AirPods also made two-piece earbuds more fashionable now.

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Koss brought personal headphones to the world in 1958, then released their most popular headset, the Porta Pro, in 1984. Fast forward to 2018 and they've created a Bluetooth edition of the Porta Pro, spanning the decades into the future of high-fidelity personal audio earphones. To be clear, this isn't the first Koss Bluetooth headset - it's just the return of their most popular model, this time with Bluetooth in tow.

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In-ear buds, like those that come with almost every smartphone, are so small it's almost too easy to take them for granted. After all, how much can you cram into such a cramped space to produce good-quality audio? Just enough, if you ask audio accessory maker Brainwavz. Its latest B400 in-ear monitors is the same size as your average IEM but packs four balanced armature drivers in each earbud, promising higher-quality sound than those same average IEMs. At least that's the theory, so we plug a pair in to test it in practice.

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There has never been a better time to be mobile. And not just in the road warrior kind of mobility. It’s almost as if we’ve entered the couch potato counter-culture age, where there is no shortage of incentives, tricks, and devices to get you up and about, from Pokemon GO to gamifying activity tracking. But walking hither and thither is just half the equation. The other half is making sure you’re actually burning that lunch or dinner you just had. When it comes to running, jogging, or exercising, you probably don’t want to do so in silence. Here are some of the best workout companions that won’t tie you down or snag you up while you channel the spirit of Rocky.

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