A recondite honkytonk into a German patent app program published in August 2021 reveals thatSonosis considering a set ofwireless headphonesthat could work over Wi - Fi as well as Bluetooth . Should Sonos launch a set of headphones with Wi - Fi capacity , it would be the first of its sort and give Sonos user an unprecedented point of control over their music both at place and on the go .
Here ’s what we know :
Rumors that Sonos plans to exhaust its own wireless headphones and / orwireless earbudshave been swirling for age . And while several blueprint have surface — again , thanks toimages found in patent of invention applications programme — little has been break about how these headphones or earbuds might be functionally different from exist products from companies like Sony , Bose , and Apple . Within aGerman patent of invention applicationtitled “ Cable retraction mechanism for headphone devices , ” though , lies this extremely telltale command :
[ … ] a consumer expects from Wi - Fi - enabled headphones the same case of authentic net connexion to their wireless access code point that they know when using a tablet [ … ] — translated from German by Google Translate
While a patent software does n’t mean that newfangled technical school is impendent , it would seem to be the self-aggrandizing index we have to date that Sonos does n’t intend to only set up a set of conventional Bluetooth headphones . Why is this significant detail included in a patent apparently related to cable’s length retraction and not Wi - Fi ? It turn out that if you require to build a Seth of dependable Wi - Fi - enable phone , you necessitate an feeler system of rules that drop dead well beyond the engineering requirements of a Bluetooth gimmick .
Another antenna needed
accord to the practical program , a set of Bluetooth headphones can get forth with a individual antenna , house in one of the two earpiece earcups . Because of this , a very slight , audio - only cable can be used to unite the lower-ranking earcup to the primary earcup . That cable can be easy routed through the headband and earcup forks without fear of legal injury , even as the headphone earcups are reach out and pull back to suit people ’s various head size .
To bestow Wi - Fi connectivity — with the same level of range and reliability you ’d require from a speech sound or tablet — feeler want to be place in both earcups because the human head has a propensity to blockade Wi - Fi signal . The trouble is that it ’ll now require to pass both audio and Wi - Fi antenna signals from one earcup to another , and that need a thicker cable that effectively isolate the different internal wires from each other . A thickheaded cable length also creates real issues when it comes to black market it between earcups while simultaneously rent the earcups move in and out of the headband . kink , bends , and other point of potential damage could earnestly degrade the life sentence span of this dense cable .
[ … ] a cable meeting place turn back each of the required conductor for the improved wireless headphones discussed in the examples described herein may be greater than 4 mm in diameter . This is almost twice the diameter of a typical headband cable in a Bluetooth - only headphone [ … ] — translated from German by Google Translate
The main body of the patent of invention describes the various ways in which Sonos plans to overcome this challenge . Its main strategy appears to combine a serpentine routing pattern through the headband with a cable system material made from elastomeric charge card . Such a cable could be hotness - formed into that accordion - similar form and would also own the necessary elasticity to pull itself back into shape after being extended for prospicient periods of time .
Why Wi-Fi?
Why may Sonos be going through all of this trouble to sum Wi - Fi to a set of wireless headphones when the balance of the industry come out content to rely on Bluetooth ?
First , Wi - Fi has much bigger bandwidth capacitance than Bluetooth . Bluetooth is great for send lossy , compressed sound over short space . But even with the latest reading ( Bluetooth 5.2 ) and the enjoyment of high - quality codecs like aptX HD , LDAC , and LHDC , support for truly lossless , hi - Re audioat something like 24 - bit/192kHz stay well out of reach . Wi - Fi can deliver these audio signal without breaking a sweat .
This additional wireless sound fidelity may not do you much in force when you ’re out and about in the hustle - and - bustle of life story . But at home , it could supply truthful audiophile - gradation strait to a bent of wireless headphones , which is something the high end of the market has been wanting .
secondly is that the integral Sonos ecosystem of wireless connected speakers is based on Wi - Fi . While it ’s true that theSonos RoamandSonos Moveportable speakers have Bluetooth connection , too , Wi - Fi remains the backbone of the Sonos experience . And , for now , its brawny and elegant app for iOS , Android , and computers only controls Wi - Fi machine — it does n’t go when the Roam or Move are set to Bluetooth mode , for instance .
So while fellowship like Apple and Sony understand the audio quality advantages of Wi - Fi , they do n’t have the same ecosystem - driven incentive to create Wi - Fi - enabled headphone that Sonos does . If and when Sonos launches these headphones , it could be the first to let Apple Music listeners hear the full range ofApple ’s lossless audiocatalog on a set of wireless earpiece .
Is a new cable the only challenge?
No . The patent applications programme referenced above details how Sonos intends to superintend the thick cable needed for Wi - Fi , but a bigger challenge is the fact that Wi - Fi involve much more major power than Bluetooth . More major power means either a bigger battery in parliamentary law to supply the same hearing time as Bluetooth , or the same size of barrage fire but with a much scant listening time .
Still , given that we ’ve seen Bluetooth headphones with a45- to 50 - hour capacity , shortening this hearing time by 50 % for provide Wi - Fi seems like a pretty just patronage - off .
These power requirements might explainanother Sonos patentthat go forth in 2021 and illustrated a set of true wireless earbuds that do equipped with a set of magnetically attach business leader plates design to offer listening prison term , even while wearing the earbuds .
What about Bluetooth?
Any wireless headphones that Sonos releases will have to back Bluetooth as well as Wi - Fi , and it ’s reckon like Sonos want to be a drawing card in the Bluetooth space . The company late acquired Bluetooth audio startup T2 Software , grant to Protocol , which has been sour on slipway products can desegregate the next propagation of Bluetooth : Bluetooth LE Audio .
Bluetooth LE Audio brings a new Bluetooth codec , known as LC3 , which promised higher quality audio with much lower mightiness consumption . It also adds the conception of public and private “ shared streams ” — the power to rain buckets Bluetooth from one send out twist to multiple receiving devices . bring in expertness in this area will give Sonos an boundary , not only as it tie in to any wireless headphones it creates , but also when it comes to better integrating Bluetooth loudspeaker system into its Wi - Fi - only multiroom ecosystem . Shared current could essentially reproduce Sonos ’ Wi - Fi audio distribution using Bluetooth instead .
Price and availability
So far , we have no reliable information regarding when ( or even if ) Sonos will launch a set of Wi - Fi - enable headphones . But give that patent of invention applications tend to lag genuine product ontogenesis — when a company actually intends on selling a ware that uses the technical school describe in the patent — it ’s possible that Sonos could herald these new headphones later on in 2022 . Supply chain take , which have delay many product over 2020/21 , could drive this back as far as 2023 .
In footing of price , the consensus seems to be that Sonos will ask up to $ 500 , put its headphone in direct competition with the $ 549Apple AirPods Maxand well above the Leontyne Price of the $ 349Sony WH-1000XM4and $ 399Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 . strike that Sonos includes all the usual bells and whistles , though , like active noise cancellation ( ANC ) , foil , Bluetooth Multipoint , and assume detector , it could easily justify its higher price through the inclusion of Wi - Fi and Sonos app control , which would make it truly unparalleled in the grocery store .
