AudioXpress

After years of development, crowdfunding, production challenges, and extensive product refinement, Danish audio startup Auricle announced the official general market release of its open-ear headphones. Available from August 25, 2026, awareONE uses cartilage conduction and haptic stimulation in a distinctive clip-on design that leaves the ear canal completely open.

StreamUnlimited Engineering announced support for TME Connect within its StreamSDK audio-streaming platform. The integration enables manufacturers to develop connected-audio products compatible with Tencent Music Entertainment's QQ Music, Kugou Music, and Kuwo Music, and Ximalaya services through a unified StreamSDK implementation.

ESS Technology announced the ES9292PRO, a fully integrated audio SMART CODEC designed for applications that demand the highest levels of signal fidelity and design flexibility.

Under new leadership and a refreshed visual identity, the Expert Imaging and Sound Association (EISA) revealed the winners of its 2026-2027 Awards. The 44th year of the awards recognizes the most innovative and cutting-edge products in hifi, home theater & vision, photography, mobile devices, and in-car electronics.

EarFun has announced the Wave Pro X, the company’s new flagship over-ear, dual-driver Qualcomm ANC headphones with Auracast support. Built around the QCC3095 platform, the Bluetooth 6.0 design features adaptive hybrid ANC, in a coaxial dual-driver acoustic system with an 8-microphone array. The company promotes it as a premium-but-accessible launch, which will also appeal to music enthusiasts with lossless playback and wide codec support, and a claimed 90-hour battery life.

Porsche is bringing a production-ready high-end automotive audio system featuring gallium nitride (GaN) technology to market. GaN is undergoing widespread adoption in electric vehicles. It offers significantly enhanced efficiency and power density compared to conventional silicon, enabling electronic systems to achieve higher performance in a smaller, lighter package. The new Burmester High-End Sound System for Porsche will now be the first to feature GaN semiconductors.

Esoteric has announced the T-01, a high-end analog turntable featuring the company’s patented, contactless MagneDrive system. Derived from the technology introduced in the company’s first turntable, the Grandioso T1, the new model combines magnetically induced platter rotation with high torque, 10MHz clock synchronization, a reduced-mass Magne-Float platter, and a vibration-controlled chassis.

Monitor Audio introduces its Silver Series 8G. This complete reinvention of the company’s best-selling hifi speaker series is built upon the foundations of Monitor Audio’s Transparent Design Philosophy, and is described as the most refined and technologically advanced Silver Series platform ever. Through meticulous engineering and optimization, the new Silver Series 8G intends to set a new benchmark for high-fidelity performance at its price point.

Same Sky and its Audio Group announced the introduction of speaker prototyping test enclosures, aiming to provide a controlled rear volume for miniature speakers. Initially supporting 15x11mm, 16x9mm, and 18x13mm rectangular miniature speaker frame sizes, the test enclosures create an acoustic cavity of approximately 1cc to allow for simplified performance testing and evaluation of selected speakers.

The 6th AES International Automotive Audio Conference in Detroit, MI (July 29–31, 2026) was one of those events that was highly valued by all those who attended. It was - once again - three days of fully immersive knowledge-and-experience-sharing as the Audio Engineering Society (AES) does well when it promotes these focused conferences.