Sony added to its home theater lineup Tuesday, announcing the HT-A9 home theater system ($1,799) and the flagship HT-A7000 sound bar ($1,299), both due to ship in the September-October time frame. The HT-A9 includes Sony’s Spatial Sound Mapping technology, which uses dual mics in each speaker to measure height and position and then create “phantom” speakers by synthesizing sound waves based on position information, said the company. The four-speaker A9 supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X immersive sound formats. A wireless subwoofer such as the SA-SW3 $399 or $699 SA-SW5, due in fall, is optional. The A7000 sound bar, also supporting Atmos and DTS:X, is a 7.1.2-channel system with two upfiring speakers for overhead sound. The sound bar features voice activation and works with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.

LG began shipping the Eclair QP5 sound bar and wireless subwoofer, said the company Monday. The $599 3.1.2 system has Meridian Audio tuning, and Meridian's Horizon technology up-mixes two-channel content into multichannel audio to widen the soundstage, said the company. Enhanced audio return channel support allows lossless transmission of 5.1-channel, 7.1-channel and immersive audio such as Dolby Atmos and DTS:X on compatible TVs, LG said. 4K pass-through support is included. The $599 Eclair has a rounded-corner design and is available in black or white. Dimensions are 11.7 x 2.4 x 4.9 inches.

Urbanista bowed true wireless earphones for gamers Wednesday. The Seoul earphones ($89.90) are compatible with iOS, Android and Windows devices and have a low-latency rating of 70 milliseconds, the company emailed. Play time on a charge is given as eight hours; the Qi-compatible wireless charging case gives three additional charges, said the company. They can be voice-controlled by Apple Siri and Google Assistant.

Campfire Audio launched two premium wired earphones, designed with 3D-printed acoustic chambers and matched drivers to appeal to different listening preferences, the company emailed Monday. The Holocene ($649) has balanced frequency response across the frequency range, giving clarity and a “high-fidelity representation” of music. The $549 Mammoth is targeted to listeners who want higher volume and to “feel the bass,” said the company. The earphones' silver-plated copper cable is replaceable.

Sony began taking preorders for a neckband speaker inspired by work-at-home trends. The SRS-NB10 wireless speaker is designed to rest on the shoulders with an open-ear design for “all-day wearing,” said Sony Tuesday. The NB10 is designed so users can hear virtual meetings and phone calls clearly, without disturbing others in the room, the company said. The $149 speaker is due to ship in September.

The global market for sound bars, at $8 billion annually, is starting to “plateau” in unit volume, SAR Insight analyst Peter Cooney emailed Friday. The category remains important for technology companies because sound bars make up for the thin speakers used in flat-screen TVs, he said. Voice-controlled sound bars are the fast-growing segment in the category, moving from the “works with” approach to voice engine technology now being built in, said Cooney. Analysts’ assumptions that growth in sound bars would stunt sales of smart speakers haven’t played out: “Soundbars have continued to assert their dominance in the living room” without having a negative impact on smart speakers, said Cooney.

Klipsch bowed two premium Dolby Atmos sound bars Thursday. The flagship $1,499 system includes a 54-inch, 1200-watt sound bar matched with a pair of wireless surround speakers and a 12-inch wireless subwoofer, “unheard of in this category,” said Mark Casavant, senior vice president-global brand and business development, on an embargoed call last week. The sound bar and surrounds in the 5.1.4-channel system have upfiring speakers for Atmos. Casavant compared the wood-enclosed Cinema 1200 and Cinema 800 sound bars to “general plastic sound bars” on the market, saying the Klipsch models are “premium, high-fidelity loudspeakers that just happen to be in a sound bar form factor.” They use the company’s design philosophy of horn-loaded high-, mid- and low-frequency drivers to deliver high-efficiency, low-distortion flat frequency response with controlled directivity, he said. Senior Product Manager Michael Buratto referenced Klipsch’s position in professional cinema sound systems, emphasizing bass reproduction below 50 Hz “where all the boom happens” in movies. The Cinema 1200 “sounds twice as loud” as competing systems at 30 Hz, he said. Both sound bars have built-in universal Wi-Fi for multiroom streaming and work with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa and Spotify Connect. Other features include HDCP 2.3 for 8K HDR video passthrough, dialog enhancement modes and Bluetooth 5.0. Surround speakers ($279 each) are options with the $879 800-watt Cinema 800, a 3.1-channel 48-inch sound bar with three high-frequency, four mid-range drivers and a 10-inch subwoofer. Klipsch also announced a Cinema 600 sound bar with Dolby Audio at $499.

Skullcandy teamed with true wireless headphone IP company Bragi to create hands-free audio products based on Bragi’s AI-based software platform, the companies said Tuesday. The jointly developed SoC for the Skullcandy-branded platform was designed with updatable firmware so earbuds will be able to receive over-the-air updates as new features are released, they said. With a voice command, users will be able to start and control their media player, even without internet connectivity, and accept or reject calls, they said. Skullcandy is targeting the $100-and-below segment.

Ikea took the wraps off the Symfonisk picture frame Wi-Fi speaker that was leaked early this month, then yanked from the home furnishings maker’s online catalog (see 2106070034). The $199 speaker will be available in stores and online July 15, Sonos said. A product photo shows the frame hanging on a wall with a cord running from the bottom of the frame to an AC outlet behind a credenza; it also has flip-out feet for mounting on a surface. Instead of a digital photo frame that displays photos, the frame speaker will have interchangeable fronts consumers can select to match the decor, said the product listing. It will ship with a black or white frame and additional fronts will be available as accessories at $19.99 each. The frame will connect wirelessly over Wi-Fi to other Sonos and Symfonisk speakers.

Apple touted Spatial Audio, with support for Dolby Atmos, at this week’s Worldwide Developers Conference (see 2106070060), but the branding could cause some customer confusion. The Music tab under Settings for iPhone users looking for the immersive audio feature lists Dolby Atmos, even as a blog post from Apple co-Head-Artist Relations Zane Lowe described Spatial Audio as the way of the future. Not only is it the next-generation sound, said Lowe, it's “very much how songs are going to feel.” Lowe compared the arrival of Spatial Audio to the evolution of stereo music's change from mono. Being able to place sounds in precise locations means “artists will start to hear things they haven’t heard before,” Lowe said, saying musicians, engineers and producers have a tool to create a “a new 3D experience” and to experiment with sounds. He imagined a future where artists “never even think about making a stereo record -- because all they’ve ever known is Spatial.” Apple is building immersive music-authoring tools directly into its Logic Pro software later this year so musicians can create and mix songs in Spatial Audio for Apple Music from “wherever.” Apple also rolled out lossless audio, at no additional cost, for 75 million songs. The company warns under the audio quality tab that “lossless files preserve every detail of the original audio. Turning this on will consume significantly more data.” IPhone users can also download tracks in Dolby Atmos. The company didn’t respond to questions Thursday.