Throughout history, technology has progressively gotten smaller. This is still the case with headphones and wearable audio appliances as well. The company Human Inc., however, has made it their goal to take a step to the side with their progression of the audio industry. They saw ordinary headphones as ugly, ill-fitted, and impractical. Descriptions of shoving a generically cut design (ear buds) into one’s ear canal are how the company attempts to put their logic into perspective. Human Inc.’s solution to this was to create a new headphone design entirely. This new design is instead shaped like a regular ear.

Being described as having a “Human Fit,” the product “Sound” is described as “World’s most comfortable smart headphones.” The sound project, itself, was founded and launched in the Spring of 2015 and has since raised 346% of its funding goal of $150,000 ($518,525 from 2,384 backers) on indigogo.com. All of the preorders and backings are currently closed and people have been told that, if they preordered a headset, it would arrive around, for the most part,  July of 2017. The preorder price gave early backers the ability to buy a set for $170, which is 58% off from its later retail  price.

For the most part, when I first saw these alien-looking ear attachments, I was pretty sceptical about buying a pair. However, after I did some more digging into it, I found out that the vast features packed into these are absolutely not worth turning away from. Using the provided application on your cell phone, you have the ability to share audio with others; this specific feature is called “Social.” “Social’s “one-touch sharing” allows multiple listeners to share and enjoy audio in live-time. The days of sharing links to songs or videos are over and the headphone splitter is no longer necessary.”

Using the provided application on your cell phone, you have the ability to share audio with others; this specific feature is called “Social.” “Social’s “one-touch sharing” allows multiple listeners to share and enjoy audio in live-time. The days of sharing links to songs or videos are over and the headphone splitter is no longer necessary.”

“Sharing Redefined…

• Search for other Sound listeners, via the app, and enjoy audio with them – in live-time.
• Accept or deny share requests from other Human listeners.”

Additionally, ambient noise control is an included feature of these; this specific feature is called “Fade.” “Fade activates an ambient noise system to block out your external environment, or increase its volume. Fade ultimately allows the listener to have a connective experience with the world, while enjoying their personal audio. Hear and converse with a workout partner while enjoying your gym playlist and be aware of oncoming traffic while podcasting during your bike ride to work.”

“Fade offers three experiences:

1. Connect with and be aware of your surroundings by increasing the volume of your external environment.
2. Select noise-isolation to block out the world for private listening.
3. Adjust the volume of your surroundings while enjoying audio and content from a Bluetooth device.”

Next, these headphones give the wearer the ability to connect them together to create a speaker; this feature is called “Amplify.” “Bring both earphones together to turn Sound into a loudspeaker that truly fills the room during any gathering or party. Sound’s two high decibel drivers and our reverb chamber make it all happen.”

“Fill the Room…

• Experience a rich loudspeaker experience with a small group of friends.
• Use both Amplify and Social features, simultaneously, to connect multiple Sound units to the same audio source — and fill the largest of spaces with a truly booming sound.”

Probably my favorite feature, and the most interesting out of the rest, is the “Conversational Language Translation” feature included; this feature is called “Speak.” “Have a bilingual conversation with other Sound users, by utilizing Sound’s live-time language translations system. Sound currently supports up to 8 different languages.”

The last two features announced are called “Active” and “Sleep.” The “Sleep” feature is described as where the user can  “Be lulled to sleep with noise-isolating rhythms and track sleep cycles in low-power mode. Then, be gently awoken via your preferred playlist or alarm.” Then, the “Active” feature offers the wearer biometric monitoring. “In and around the ear is one of the strongest pulses on the human body. Receive accurate stats, in live-time, on your physical activity and health.”

And if that wasn’t cool enough for you, the system is encapsulated with capacitative touch sensors, removing the need for physical buttons on it; it can be controlled completely by dragging your finger(s) across it or tapping it. Then, on top of that, the battery life is estimated to last for over 12 hours.

There is a charging dock included as well and on the units, there are microphones so, yes, it is compatible with Siri and phone calls.

To me, personally, this piece of technology seems amazing and interesting, but for the price, I was not sold, being that I already own quality headphones that get the job done. If you are reading this, though, and happen to have an extra couple of hundred dollars lying around, I would suggest going online and seeing if you could possibly order a pair (all online orders are probably closed right now so you’ll just have to wait for its retail anyways).

For more info, check out: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sound-world-s-most-comfortable-smart-headphones-music-audio#/