Decibullz, a Fort Collins, Colorado-based headphone company, launched a Kickstarter campaign Tuesday for do-it-yourself molded wireless earbuds expected to sell for $179, with a target shipping date of May, CEO Kyle Kirkpatrick told us on a press tour in New York last week. The Kickstarter campaign started at an “early bird” price of $99 for 500 units of the Black Diamond earbuds, Kirkpatrick said. He demo'd the molding process, designed to create a tight, customized fit for each user, by softening the earbuds' housing with near-boiling water before fitting them in the ears. Users can perform "do-overs" if they want a better fit, he said. Kirkpatrick positioned the earbuds as less expensive options to Apple’s AirPods and to molded earphones in the market that sell for several hundred dollars and can take six-eight weeks for delivery. A digital audio pass-through button allows users to hear ambient noise and voice or to block out all external noise, he said. The earbuds have Bluetooth 5.0, said to enable a stronger connection than previous versions of Bluetooth, and a 50-foot range with the help of a laser direct structuring antenna, he said. Battery life is six hours for music playback and the supplied charging case can provide five charges before needing to refuel, said the CEO.

DTS announced support for DTS:X Ultra audio technology in Asus’ new Republic of Gamers smartphone. DTS:X Ultra technology delivers an immersive audio gaming experience through connected headphones and will be available via an over-the-air update this fall, said the company. DTS:X Ultra delivers "console-quality" audio on phones for playback through headphones and speakers and is said to accurately represent sound sources in a 3D environment relative to the listener to help players locate opponents and experience other environment sounds, it said. The technology supports all immersive audio formats and was designed for enhanced bass response and loudness.

Bluesound announced Monday its Gen 2i platform, adding dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Apple AirPlay 2 support, upgraded Bluetooth codecs and amplification and acoustics upgrades. New models incorporating the enhancements are the Node 2i ($499), Powernode 2i ($799), Vault 2i ($1,199), Pulse 2i ($799), Pulse Mini ($499), Pulse Flex 2i ($299) and Pulse Soundbar 2i ($799 in black, $899 in white). All models are available now, except for the sound bar, due to ship in November. AirPlay 2 will be delivered to Gen 2i owners via an upcoming software update, enabling users to stream nearly all sound from an iPhone, iPad or Mac to their wireless multiroom Bluesound system, said the Lenbrook brand. That could include audio books and podcasts, along with video content from Netflix or YouTube viewed on an iPad, it said. AirPlay 2 also includes Siri voice assistance: Apple Music subscribers who link their Bluesound Gen 2i player to the Apple Home app on an iPhone or iPad can use their phone to make requests for playback of a music genre or playlist in a designated room. Existing Bluesound users can add AirPlay 2 compatibility to their system by grouping a Gen 2i Player with their Bluesound players in the BluOS App. The two-way Bluetooth included in higher end Gen 2i products adds transmit functionality to Bluesound, enabling owners to use their player as a source so they can send music via Bluetooth to wireless headphones, it said. Bluesound has improved the Bluetooth connectivity in Gen 2i, it said, and the platform is based on Qualcomm’s CSR8675 chip, with aptX HD Bluetooth wireless audio support for 24-bit audio. The aptX HD codec has an improved signal-to-noise ratio, said to result in lower background noise. The Pulse Flex 2i only supports receive, not transmit, functionality via Bluetooth and has the aptX codec vs. the more advanced aptX HD, Bluesound said. Bluesound custom-designed the digital amplifiers in the Pulse 2i and Mini 2i, doubling the available power used to drive the speakers, it said, resulting in improved bass response. All BluOS users who update to the 3.0 operating system will gain access to new music services, including Soundmachine, and an easier guided set-up process, said the brand. The software release will also include the backbone for BluOS’ voice integration with Amazon Alexa, its first voice control integration; a corresponding skills library will launch soon, Bluesound said.

Two percent of Apple customers own a HomePod smart speaker, and a third own smart speakers, said Consumer Intelligence Research Partners Tuesday. Some 20 percent of Apple customers own a media player, said analyst Mike Levin, noting that after “starting high, Apple now offers Apple TV models [$179, $199] priced closer to competitors than it prices HomePod [$349]." More competitive pricing enabled Apple to penetrate its customer base in the media player category, Levin said. Apple didn’t do much to raise HomePod’s appeal in its high-profile product release last week (see 1809120048). Industry followers and Apple aficionados were hoping for a smaller, more affordable HomePod mini, an Apple version of Amazon’s Echo Dot and Google Home mini, but “there is little time for Apple to release a competitive model for Christmas 2018,” Levin said. Across the smart speaker market, consumers gravitate to the lowest-priced models from Amazon and Google, with the Echo Dot having more than half of the Echo installed base and Home mini at 40 percent of the Google Home installed base, said Levin: The downsizing means Amazon and Google have sold more total speakers while encouraging consumers to “own more units and integrate their respective platforms into their households.” About a third of Echo and Home users own more than one device, he said.

In a pre-CEDIA Expo announcement, Savant launched an architectural speaker series and sound bar combining audio engineering from Artison, which it bought last year, and its own Power over Ethernet (PoE) technology. The PoE Micro Aperture self-powered architectural speakers reduce complexity in system design and installation, while delivering high-quality sound by keeping content in the digital domain from source to speaker, said Savant. Three in-ceiling versions are available -- a self-powered PoE speaker, a companion PoE satellite speaker and a passive speaker for interfacing with traditional audio systems -- all using a balanced mode radiator said to deliver more sound per watt than conventional designs. Each self-powered PoE speaker can run up to three PoE satellite speakers, the company said Wednesday. The powered Savant IP sound bar is an Audio Video Bridging networked device, compatible with Savant Audio, that provides access to popular streaming services and requires no outboard hardware for audio distribution, the company said. The sound bar has six channels delivering a total of 200 watts, and custom grilles allow it to be matched to TV dimensions, Savant said. Availability is Q4, it said.

DTS announced Alexa Cast support on Play-Fi-enabled Works with Alexa-certified products. Users can send and control music directly from the Amazon Music app to individual Play-Fi speakers or groups of speakers, it said Wednesday. Alexa Cast also enables a direct cloud connection for music streaming services through a DTS Play-Fi product, allowing the user to leave his or her home network, said the company. Products that have been certified to work with Alexa are from Aerix, Definitive Technology, Klipsch, McIntosh, Onkyo, Phorus, Pioneer, Polk and Soundcast, along with upcoming products from SVS Sound, DTS said.

Pioneer bowed two headphones for the U.S. and Canadian markets that include Pioneer Notification App for Android, which reads out alerts for calendar events, emails, SMS, voice messages and news headlines, said the company Friday. Users can summon Siri or Google Assistant to make or receive a call without having to reach for the phone or press a button, Pioneer said. Near-field communication in the C7 earphones ($59) lets users pair the headphones to the phone by touching one to the other. The C8 in-ear wireless earbuds ($119) include a case that can recharge the headphones in an hour, it said.

Monitor Audio and its sister brand Roksan are adding Lenbrook's BluOS streaming platform to their products, marking the U.K. company's entrance into the multiroom audio space, the companies said Tuesday. The BluOS platform is Monitor and Roksan's multiroom platform choice for the future, said Monitor Audio CEO Andrew Flatt, citing matching "core values." Lenbrook CEO Gordon Simmonds referenced Monitor Audio's reach as a global brand with "solid distribution partnerships" that can expand the "agnostic" BluOS platform.

Every loudspeaker product category except computer speakers will experience an average retail price increase through 2021, said a Thursday Futuresource report. The overall loudspeaker market is shrinking, with unit volume down 10 percent and market value down 3.5 percent from 2016-2017, analyst Guy Hammett emailed us. Overall, bookshelf and floor-standing speaker sales have suffered on the rise of wireless speakers at the entry level, but “pockets of opportunity” remain, said Hammett, who sees some life in the premium loudspeaker segment. Despite shifting consumer listening patterns toward headphones for audio and to streaming services for video on laptops and mobile devices, loudspeakers are “maintaining a foothold in the marketplace,” said Hammett, citing 51 million-unit shipments in 2017 that generated $3 billion in trade value. The $2,500-plus tier has about 10 percent of the floor standing speaker market in unit volume, said Hammett, but it’s responsible for more than 50 percent of the value, a trend expected to continue to 2022. “For many people, headphones and portable wireless speakers cannot completely replace traditional loudspeakers,” said the analyst, saying audio enthusiasts are willing to pay more for a superior listening experience. The “vinyl resurgence” and an increase in stereo listening are driving the higher end of the market, while high-quality networked AV receivers have also bolstered the passive speaker industry, he said. The in-wall and in-ceiling category stands out, growing in volume and value, led by the U.S., which had more than half the worldwide market last year. Three-quarters of those shipments go into new construction, making the category highly dependent on the new housing market, it said.

More than two years after Samsung acquired Harman (see 1703130001), Samsung announced the "first major collaboration between Samsung and Harman Kardon to enter the premium category." After shining the spotlight last week on Harman’s AKG premium headphone brand with the launch of the Note9 phablet (see 1808090034), Samsung Wednesday said it has been collaborating with Harman since acquisition on premium audio with dual-branded sound bars the first commercial result. The sound bars were “largely developed by Samsung, with Harman Kardon certifying the audio quality through sophisticated sound quality testing,” Samsung said. The HW-N950 ($1,499) and HW-N850 ($1,199), bearing both the Samsung and Harman Kardon logos, will be available Monday, it said. Both sound bars have DTS:X and Dolby Atmos immersive audio technology built in. The 7.1.4-channel HW-N950, the “largest number of channels currently available in a sound bar,” said Samsung, comprises a four-speaker sound bar, two wireless surround-sound speakers and a wireless subwoofer, and the 5.1.2-channel HW-N850 includes a sound bar and outboard subwoofer, it said. In divvying up credit, Samsung said Harman Kardon tested and certified the sound bars subjectively and objectively in anechoic chamber tests and in “mock home environments,” with subjective tests carried out by “listening to and assessing different audio formats and music genres,” to ensure the products meet Harman Kardon’s quality and performance standards. Dave Rogers, president-consumer audio at Harman, called Samsung “the world leader in soundbars,” and said Harman is proud to be helping to “enhance their audio quality and play a key role in growing their premium soundbar business.” Partnering with Samsung will help Harman Kardon build its consumer- and car-audio-branded audio businesses, he said.