Putting your ear to the windows - New information regarding surface Headphones 2 + Photos for Earbuds

[williamcll]

Microsoft's upcoming audiowear is coming out soon as details about its specification have been found.

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Microsoft Surface Headphones was a pleasant surprise with a solid sound and noise cancellation, but the headset lacked support for AptX and other audio technologies for higher-quality sound.

Microsoft is planning to update Surface Headphones with improved Bluetooth technology and a few new features, according to multiple certifications published earlier this week.

 

With the Surface Headphones 2 and Surface Earbuds, Microsoft is looking to expand its reach into the audio space with the same design elements as the computing brethren. According to our findings, Surface Headphones were recently submitted to the FCC for the second time and the filing points to updated Bluetooth transceiver. Surface Headphones 2 also appeared on Bluetooth SIG certification. According to the SIG certification, Microsoft’s next-gen audio headset will feature dial buttons to adjust the levels of noise and it will offer up to 20 hours of wireless listening per battery. The original Surface Headphones don’t have aptX or AAC as they support Bluetooth 4.2 rather than the latest version 5. However, the next-gen headphones will ship with Bluetooth 5.0 and ‘adopted aptX codec’.

 

It does appear that Microsoft will finally offer advanced wireless protocols and the range of its connection are likely to be good. Like its predecessor, Surface Headphones 2 promises adjustable noise cancellation, innovative dial and touch controls, premium design, and ability to support multiple Bluetooth devices.

Additionally, their earphones have also been found, including a user manual and tear-down:

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Microsoft later delayed the launch of the Surface Earbuds to Spring 2020, claiming that it was still working on getting all the details right. It looks like the company is finally ready to launch the new earbuds, though. Surface Earbuds showed up at the FCC recently, hinting that the release is just around the corner. And that would make sense, considering the fact that we are expecting Microsoft to launch new Surface hardware in the coming weeks. Microsoft actually also published the user manual for the Surface Earbuds as part of its FCC application. The manual does not really reveal anything, apart from showing how users would be able to pair their Surface Earbuds with their phone. It also reveals that the Surface Earbuds will come with three different-sized earbud tips, as well as the touch gestures that are available:

 

Source: https://www.windowslatest.com/2020/04/30/alleged-surface-headphones-2-passes-fcc-and-bluetooth-sig/

https://fccid.io/C3K1830

https://launchstudio.bluetooth.com/ListingDetails/103844

https://www.thurrott.com/microsoft/235599/surface-earbuds-hit-fcc?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=surface-earbuds-hit-fcc

https://fccid.io/C3K1852/External-Photos/1852-PHOTO-EXT-4605651

https://fccid.io/C3K1852/Internal-Photos/1852-PHOTO-INT-4605652

https://fccid.io/C3K1852/Users-Manual/QSG-4605653

https://fccid.io/C3K1852/Label/FCC-IDs-Location-Cover-Letter-1852-4466834

Thoughts: Great for those who want a full Microsoft setup, but for me I already have an USB audio interface + monitor headphones so something like this aren't particularly useful. The price for the Sony XM series headphones have also been going down so the pricing better be competitive.

[HitItFromTheBack]

I really hope these have better build quality. The band on mine is almost completely broken. Also it had little to no padding, I have a noticeable dent on my head where I usually rest the headphones.

[Guest]

These things and the Samsung pods look ridiculous. Like giant corks for your ears 

[Murasaki]

11 minutes ago, RorzNZ said:

These things and the Samsung pods look ridiculous. Like giant corks for your ears 

Now that you've mentioned it and considering their flatness, perhaps they're viable for wearing while resting on a pillow 

[Commodus]

Can't help but feel like the Surface Earbuds reflect Microsoft's perpetual difficulty grasping consumer tech.  Much like the Zune, Windows Phone or early Surface tablets, the earbuds are showing up late and without a real understanding of why the most popular entrant (in this case, Apple's AirPods) is so successful.  The styling is off, and there's about as much cachet to Surface buds as there is for polka.  I have a feeling this will end up like the Band, where the enthusiasm is short-lived as the hardware appeals mainly to that rarest of breeds: the die-hard Microsoft fan.

[Arika]

those earbuds are butt-ugly and don't match the "surface" aesthetic 

[JZStudios]

5 hours ago, Commodus said:

Can't help but feel like the Surface Earbuds reflect Microsoft's perpetual difficulty grasping consumer tech.  Much like the Zune, Windows Phone or early Surface tablets, the earbuds are showing up late and without a real understanding of why the most popular entrant (in this case, Apple's AirPods) is so successful.  The styling is off, and there's about as much cachet to Surface buds as there is for polka.  I have a feeling this will end up like the Band, where the enthusiasm is short-lived as the hardware appeals mainly to that rarest of breeds: the die-hard Microsoft fan.

Don't talk shit about Zune!

[Commodus]

2 hours ago, JZStudios said:

Don't talk shit about Zune!

I have such mixed feelings.  I was an odd duck who mainly used iPods, but also used multiple Zune players extensively (I still have a Zune HD hanging around).  The Zune series was enjoyable to use in many ways, but it did feel at times like Microsoft trying too hard to be cool, and some things just didn't work well (the desktop software was a bit of a mess).  Like a little brother or sister who tries to hang out with you all the time.

[LAwLz]

Seems pretty nice if you ask me.

20 hours of battery life is really good for the headphones. The earphones looks dumb though.

 

I personally don't care that much about AptX support. What I do care about however is Bluetooth LE Audio support, and it seems like these don't support it.

I won't be buying any new wireless audio devices that doesn't support Bluetooth LE.

 

For those who don't know about it, Bluetooth Audio usually sucks ass. AptX fixes a lot of that, but it's a proprietary standard from Qualcomm.

The problem with Bluetooth audio is that a lot of the stuff to improve audio quality has been optional parts of the spec, usually with additional licensing fees. When a device can't negotiate on one of the higher quality modes (like AptX), they fall back to the SBC format (and this happens quite often). SBC is an audio codec based on MP2 from 1993. Yes that's right, it's lower and worse than even MP3.

The primary design goal of SBC wasn't audio quality or stability or the likes. It was being as simple as possible so that it could be implemented in battery powered electronics. The codec is ass at everything, except it is really easy to implement and run.

 

Now, with Bluetooth Audio LE (the new standard), we get rid of the big classic Bluetooth protocol (and instead uses Bluetooth LE), which saves us power, and we move to a new codec called LC3. It has MUCH better audio quality, even at lower bit rates. LC3 is about 3 times as efficient as SBC. That is to say, LC3 at 100Kbps bit rate sounds as good as SBC at 300Kbps.

 

On top of superior audio quality, it also allows for one source to stream to multiple devices. Right now with "true wireless earbuds", your phone connects to one earbud and then that earbud talks to your other earbud. With Bluetooth LE Audio, your phone will be able to connect to both earbuds independently. That will further reduce power consumption and reduce latency.

Oh and it also supports low latency audio.

 

 

Bluetooth LE Audio is based on the Bluetooth 5.2 specifications, so we should start seeing it appear in devices later this year or during 2021.

 

 

If you plan on buying these headphones, please be aware that Bluetooth audio is about to get a major upgrade, and it requires new hardware so you will be left in the dust.

[mr moose]

Man, people read into this stuff way too far,  they are headphones, like them or don't like them.  Buy them or don't buy them.  They are hardly a tarot card that gives you a clear view of corporate motivation and insider design MO.

 

The amusing thing is that how people respond to this type of product is guided by how they feel about the company, very very rarely is it the other way around.