Sonance has spent decades perfecting the art of making loudspeakers disappear into walls and ceilings. At CEDIA Expo 2026, James by Sonance is doing something almost impolite: putting them back on the wall and making sure you notice the woodwork.

The new James by Sonance Natural Collection combines thin on-wall loudspeakers with handcrafted wood finishes, woven fabrics and dimensions designed to visually align with Samsung’s 2026 The Frame and The Frame Pro televisions.

Rather than hiding behind drywall or adding another black plastic soundbar beneath an expensive display, James treats the loudspeaker as part of the room.

Leon Speakers has pursued a similar idea for years with custom-width soundbars and television framing systems, while Canvas HiFi integrates amplification, DSP and loudspeakers into a complete active TV audio solution. James takes a more traditional custom-install approach, giving integrators passive loudspeakers that can be incorporated into larger systems without looking like an afterthought.

For homeowners who have already spent considerable time selecting the right wood, stone, lighting and fabric for a room, that makes a lot of sense.

The 19 black boxes in the equipment rack can stay hidden.

What Is the James Natural Collection?

The Natural Collection consists of two primary loudspeaker platforms, the NC3 and NC5QT, plus the matching NC10-SUB subwoofer.

Both speaker families are just 2 inches deep and are available in horizontal and vertical configurations. James offers models dimensionally aligned with Samsung’s 2026 The Frame and The Frame Pro televisions in 55, 65, 75 and 85-inch sizes.

The HTL, or Horizontal Thin-Line, versions can be configured as a single channel, stereo L/R system or three-channel L/C/R speaker. VTL, or Vertical Thin-Line, models operate as individual channels and can flank the display for greater left/right separation.

James also offers non-TV-specific versions starting at 19.75 inches for the NC3 and 23.25 inches for the NC5QT.

The important point is flexibility. This isn’t simply a soundbar built for Samsung televisions; the same speaker architecture can be adapted to different displays, room layouts and multichannel systems.

NC3: The Slimmer Option

The NC3 is the smaller of the two platforms and uses a 3.5-inch shallow-depth Thin-Line waveguide driver paired with an aluminum tweeter.

Sonance has not yet published complete electrical specifications for the Natural Collection, including frequency response, sensitivity, nominal impedance or recommended amplifier power. We are therefore not going to borrow numbers from existing James SPL3 products simply because the driver dimensions look similar.

Same company does not mean same loudspeaker.

NC3 is clearly intended for installations where visual discretion matters most, particularly smaller rooms or displays where the larger NC5QT would dominate the wall.

NC5QT: Quadratech Steps Up the Performance

The NC5QT moves to a larger 5.25-inch driver and adds James’ Quadratech tweeter technology, positioning it as the higher-performance option for larger rooms and systems that require greater output.

James’ existing Quadratech designs use multiple tweeter elements and controlled dispersion to create broader, more consistent coverage. Current QX models, for example, use four dome tweeters rather than a conventional single tweeter, although Sonance has not disclosed enough technical information about the Natural Collection implementation for us to assume the architecture is identical.

That distinction is important. NC5QT may look like a lifestyle product, but James has decades of experience squeezing substantial loudspeaker systems into architecturally difficult spaces.

We’ll need the final frequency response, sensitivity, impedance and power-handling specifications before judging just how ambitious NC5QT really is.

NC10-SUB: Bass Without the Black Cube

The matching NC10-SUB uses a 10-inch woofer and follows the same design language as the loudspeakers.

More interestingly, Sonance is not assuming everyone wants another large black cube parked beside the credenza. The NC10-SUB can be wall-mounted, installed on a pedestal or positioned horizontally beneath furniture, giving integrators more options for placing bass in rooms where conventional subwoofers can become a visual problem.

The subwoofer is offered in the same five cabinet finishes as the speakers.

Sonance has not yet published complete specifications for the NC10-SUB, including frequency response, amplifier requirements or maximum output. Until those numbers appear, the fact that it has a 10-inch driver tells us considerably less than some marketing departments would prefer.

Physics remains annoyingly unwilling to read press releases.

The Materials Are the Point

Modern Brown and Modern Teak use genuine wood veneer, while Modern White, Modern Black and Sand Golduse painted wood. The products are handcrafted at the James facility in Minden, Nevada, where the company handles machining, carpentry, fabrication, finishing and testing.

There are also nine woven fabric grille options, allowing the speakers to coordinate with furnishings rather than merely match the television.

For designers who still cannot find the right material, James offers a Designer Fabric Frame that allows third-party fabric to be applied on-site. If the interior designer has already selected upholstery that costs more per yard than your first stereo system, the speakers can join the party.

The design strategy also aligns with Samsung’s television finishes. Samsung offers Modern White, Modern Teak and Modern Brown bezel options for The Frame, giving installers obvious starting points for a coordinated installation.

Why Is This Different?

The Natural Collection is not unique because James discovered wood veneers or figured out how to build a speaker beside a television.

Its advantage is system flexibility.

A designer can specify a single horizontal speaker, stereo configuration, full L/C/R array, separate vertical channels and a visually coordinated subwoofer while retaining the same materials throughout the room. Because the speakers are passive, the installer also remains free to choose amplification, processing and system architecture.

That separates James from most lifestyle soundbars and active TV audio systems, where the electronics, channel configuration and upgrade path are largely predetermined.

In other words, the Natural Collection isn’t trying to make traditional installed audio obsolete.

It’s trying to make it look considerably better.

Three Main Competitors

Leon Speakers FrameBar

Leon Speakers is the obvious competitor and arguably the company James has to worry about most.

Leon has been building custom-width loudspeakers around televisions for years, and its current FrameBar family can be manufactured to match the exact width and finish of Samsung The Frame televisions. The FrameBar Minima starts at $2,300 and uses 2.5-inch woofers with cloth-dome tweeters, while larger FrameBar models use 4-inch woofers and 1-inch tweeters.

More importantly, Leon recently introduced the $5,750-and-up FrameBar Ultima, which moves into considerably more ambitious territory with 5-inch woven polypropylene woofers and 1-inch cloth-dome tweeters. Leon also offers its own television framing systems, designer fabrics and matching installation hardware.

Leon therefore has a more mature ecosystem surrounding the television itself.

James counters with a broader range of passive speaker configurations and a matching subwoofer, giving an integrator more freedom to build a traditional multichannel system while maintaining the same visual language throughout the room.

The competition between these two should become rather interesting because they are solving almost exactly the same interior-design problem from slightly different directions.

Canvas HiFi

Canvas HiFi competes for the same design-conscious customer, but with an active, all-in-one approach rather than passive loudspeakers.

The original CANVAS is designed for TVs from 55 to 85 inches and combines amplification, DSP, room correction, streaming and loudspeakers in one system. Interchangeable fronts and a universal mounting system allow it to visually integrate with Samsung, Sony, LG and other televisions.

The pending release of CANVAS L in late-2026 scales that concept up for 65 to 115-inch TVs, adding larger drivers, more powerful amplification and BACCH 3D+ spatial processing for substantially greater output.

Samsung integration is particularly relevant here. Canvas offers The HiFi Frame, which visually combines compatible Samsung TVs with the speaker system inside a single exterior frame. CANVAS L will also offer a Samsung-specific HiFi Frame option for larger displays.

We have heard both Canvas systems and came away impressed. But the philosophy is different: Canvas wants to replace much of the traditional audio system, while James preserves the flexibility of separate amplification, processing and channel placement.

For buyers who want the TV and audio system to look like one object, Canvas is the more integrated solution. James offers greater system flexibility.

Theory Audio Design sb Series

Theory Audio Design is the performance-first alternative.

Its sb65 and sb75 passive soundbars are dimensioned around corresponding 65- and 75-inch televisions and are built as genuine three-channel loudspeaker systems rather than conventional consumer soundbars.

The sb75, for example, contains six 5-inch carbon-fiber woofers and three 1.4-inch AdvancedPoly compression drivers divided across three separate ported enclosures. Theory specifies up to 117dB output per channel and more than 124dB with all three channels driven, although the speaker requires three channels of a Theory amplified loudspeaker controller with the correct DSP processing.

That is formidable hardware.

The catch, from the Natural Collection perspective, is aesthetics. Theory’s aluminum soundbars are unapologetically loudspeakers and are offered in black. James is making a much larger play for the designer who wants wood, fabric and dimensional integration to matter as much as output.

If performance is the only criterion, Theory deserves serious consideration.

If someone has already spent 45 minutes deciding between Modern Teak and Modern Brown, we probably know which meeting we are in.

James Natural Collection Models

The Bottom Line

The James Natural Collection fills a genuine gap between architectural audio and premium soundbars.

Leon remains the most established rival for custom television-matched loudspeakers, while Canvas HiFi offers a compelling all-in-one alternative for buyers who do not want conventional amplification or processing. Theory Audio Design attacks the same wall space with considerably more emphasis on maximum output.

James offers something different: the flexibility of a traditional passive loudspeaker system without forcing the room to look like one.

The unanswered questions are performance and price. Sonance still needs to publish complete electrical specifications, and we don’t yet know what the various sizes, configurations and finishes will cost.

But the underlying idea is sound.

If someone has already spent five figures designing a room around a television, telling them their audio choices are either holes in the drywall or a long black rectangle underneath the screen feels increasingly unimaginative.

James now has another option.

Price & Availability

James by Sonance has not announced public U.S. consumer pricing for the Natural Collection.

Authorized Sonance dealers in the Americas can begin placing preorders now, with the collection introduced at CEDIA Expo 2026. Sonance says the broader global launch is scheduled for Q1 2027.

Given the number of available lengths, channel configurations, finishes and grille options, dealer-based pricing is hardly surprising. These are custom-install loudspeakers rather than mass-market soundbars sitting next to the HDMI cables at Best Buy.

For more information: sonance.com

Related Reading:

Rogue OpenAI agents appear to have been involved in a previously undisclosed incident that saw them bypass their sandbox restrictions to hijack a website this past spring. Per Reuters, a group of researchers on Friday published findings showing that AI agents with affiliation to OpenAI made more than 15,000 edits to DseWiki, a German-language Wikipedia-style website originally intended to assist human coders, starting in late May. The agents had names like “OpenAIResearcher,” and repurposed the site into a message board, where they shared tips on how to “cheat” on tasks, mask their actions and bypass OpenAI’s restrictions.

OpenAI reportedly only learned of the incident weeks ago, but Reuters claims company executives chose to keep quiet about what had happened amid the fallout of the previously disclosed Hugging Face breach. During that incident, a collection of OpenAI models, including GPT-5.6 Sol and what OpenAI described at the time as an “even more capable pre-release model,” escaped their controlled environment and hacked the LLM repository after they became hyperfocused on solving an evaluation problem.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to Engadget’s comment request. The company told Reuters it had not yet reviewed the report, on account of its authors not sharing early access to their findings. “We will carefully review its contents upon publication and take any necessary next steps,” an OpenAI spokesperson told the outlet. According to Reuters, some OpenAI employees wanted to investigate the DseWiki incident closely, but those efforts were reportedly met with resistance from other parts of the company, including from OpenAI’s legal advisors. “Claims that our legal team discouraged investigation of the incident are false,” an OpenAI spokesperson said, adding the company has been working openly with outside experts to disclose security incidents.

Sydney Von Arx, the CEO of AI safety nonprofit Nightingale and one of the authors of the report, speculated it was “extremely unlikely” OpenAI wanted its agents to hijack DseWiki. “I doubt they’re supposed to be coordinating with each other,” she said. “I doubt they’re supposed to be writing on the open internet.” The agents that posted on DseWiki appear to have been intensely focused on solving technical problems that are typical of the kind of questions AI labs use to test and evaluate their latest models.

The researchers uncovered the hijacking in August using only the information the agents wrote on the wiki. “Analysis including the chain of thought would likely provide much more evidence about the motivations and strategy of the AIs during this incident,” they wrote.

The disclosure comes just one day after OpenAI announced its latest frontier system, GPT-6 Astra, which it’s marketing as “the most intelligent and aligned model in the world.” Astra earned a perfect score on ExploitBench, a benchmark designed to determine a model’s ability to exploit software vulnerabilities, though OpenAI says it built the new system to not comply with advanced cybersecurity tasks. Last month, in the aftermath of the Hugging Face incident, OpenAI announced it was briefly pausing model training to implement additional safeguards. Following this latest disclosure, the company is likely to face renewed questions over its safety practices.

It’s officially the Ternus era at Apple.  

Tim Cook stepped down as CEO this week, handing the company to former hardware chief John Ternus, whose first memo promised a “huge launch next week” — timing that puts Apple’s next iPhone event on his desk before he’s even settled in. Cook isn’t going far, though: he’s staying on as Executive Chairman, focused on the kind of policy relationships that recently turned something as small as a map label into a very public balancing act. All of which raises an obvious question: what does the Ternus era look like, and how much rope will shareholders give him to figure it out? 
 
On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec and Sean O’Kane unpack what Ternus is walking into, why he may actually be better positioned to make progress on software than hardware in this new AI era, and more of the week’s news. 

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. 

Nintendo just announced two livestream events for next week. There’s one to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda on September 8 at 10AM ET and another traditional Nintendo Direct on September 9, also at 10AM ET.

The Zelda stream will last around 30 minutes. It’s being advertised as a celebration of the iconic franchise’s 40th birthday, but it’ll probably spend most of its time on that upcoming Ocarina of Time remake. The company first announced this game back in June and it looks like a full redesign of the N64 classic.

Of course, it’s always possible the company will take that time to tease another Zelda game coming at a later date. Unfortunately, I think it’s still too early to get any news on a mainline entry, like the follow-up to Tears of the Kingdom. I suppose we could get another 2D game or some kind of Mario Kart World cross-promotion or something. It’s also likely we’ll get a short teaser for the Zelda movie.

The standard Direct livestream on September 9 is a bit more mysterious. It’s highly probable the Ocarina of Time remake is the company’s big holiday release, though there’s other stuff coming out in the next few months. We’ll probably get a final trailer for Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, which comes out on September 17. Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, another pseudo-sequel to Wii Sports, will be released on October 22, so expect some new footage. Despite the name, it’s a Switch 2 exclusive.

It’s likely we’ll see trailers for some cross-platform holiday releases, like Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World and Final Fantasy Resonance. Past as prologue, we’ll also get footage of dozens of cozy games and the like.

However, this Direct is slated to last 45 minutes. That’s a lot of time for surprises. The Switch 2 has been out well over a year now and there’s still been no news of an upcoming mainline Mario game. The same goes for the Animal Crossing, Super Smash Bros. and Pikmin franchises, among others. Hope springs eternal. 

In any event, the company expects some excitement regarding these two streams. There’s a two-hour Treehouse event scheduled for 10:45AM ET on September 9. Treehouse streams typically show people playing games that were just announced.

NASA and the ESA said the vast central void seen above measures around 210 by 140 light-years in area, and was likely created by the stars visible at its centre.

NASA and the ESA have published striking images of a nebula ‘superbubble’ in the Dorado constellation that were captured using the Hubble Space Telescope.

‘LHA 120-N44’ – or N44 – is described as “a complex nebula filled with glowing hydrogen gas, dark lanes of dust, massive stars and many populations of stars of different ages”.

N44 is part of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) – the largest of the small galaxies that orbit our Milky Way galaxy, according to the space agencies, and about 160,000 light-years away from Earth.

The superbubble – the vast central void visible in the image above – measures around 210 by 140 light-years in area, and was likely created by the stars visible in its centre, according to the agencies.

N44 spans about 1,000 light-years overall, and is described as a “highly active star birth site”. The stars at the centre of the bubble are thought to have expelled – through “powerful stellar winds and explosive supernovae” – much of the gas from which they were created.

This dislodged gas then compressed and formed a dense and dusty ‘shell’ around the bubble, now visible as the colourful perimeter to the central dark void.

NASA and the ESA said that new star formation within the nebula’s compressed gas shell is ongoing, and the subject of study by astronomers, who want to figure out the duration between the collapse of cold gas clouds into dense knots and the moment when nuclear fusion ignites in the heart of a newborn star.

A possible 5m-year age difference between stars within the superbubble and at its rim was previously identified by NASA.

The deep blue area to the bottom-right of the superbubble is one of the hottest regions of the nebula, according to researchers, and the site of the most intense star formation. N44 is an emission nebula, which means its gas has been energised, or ionised, by the radiation of nearby stars.

A separate, smaller bubble formation is visible in the top-right of the image – this is known as N44F and is an “interstellar bubble blown by the intense stellar winds of a single hot and massive star”.

The image displayed derives from research using Hubble to take a census of N44’s stars, of which around 500,000 have been catalogued – with 30,000 deemed to be “pre-main-sequence stars” that have yet to begin fusing hydrogen into helium in their cores.

NASA recently launched a new space telescope, the Nancy Grace Roman.

In May, its James Webb telescope was used to detect clear evidence that some supermassive black holes were enormous from the beginning, forming without a stellar collapse phase and without a significantly more massive host galaxy to feed them.

In January, Hubble was used to capture images of ‘infant stars’ as part of the Sofia Massive Star Formation Survey.

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from the not-sure-you-did-your-homework dept

Just so we’re clear: pre-merger promises (especially in the media and telecom sectors) are absolutely worthless. There’s fifty years of indisputable evidence that all of the “synergies” and innovative improvements promised on the front end of major media mergers mean absolutely nothing. Especially in a country dead-set on defanging its labor and consumer protection regulators.

To sell their unpopular $111 billion merger with Warner Brothers, Paramount/CBS executives continue to make the promise that the newly-merged company will produce 30 major films per year. It’s again a worthless promise that ignores all the massive pressures the bigger debt-riddled company will face in a sector where broadcast TV is dying and brick and mortar theaters are struggling.

There’s very little indication that this megadeal even ends with a functional company, much less 30 films a year. The massive debt from these transactions always results in higher prices, mass layoffs, and shoddier quality product due to corner cutting. 30 films a year simply isn’t something you can promise.

But the kind of Hollywood insiders that have tethered their horses to David Ellison have unsurprisingly come on in defense of what’s abjectly a terrible deal. Director James Cameron, for example, came out last April in full-throated support of the deal, propping up the Ellison family’s claim that significantly more media consolidation will result in bold new storytelling and a healthier Hollywood.

Now it’s apparently Tom Cruise’s turn to prop up the shitty deal. The Scientologist movie star went on The Pat McAfee Show to help sell Larry and David Ellison’s empty promise:

“They’re going to deliver 30 movies,” Cruise said on The Pat McAfee Show of the Paramount CEO’s sometimes-mocked vow to increase film production and releases. “It’s a community to me. It’s not an industry. The people in these studios are not just people in the studios. They’re my family.”

I think Cameron and Cruise really do love traditional movies in traditional theaters, and probably do think they’re “helping.” I suspect they haven’t really done the math or spent much time studying the academic literature on U.S. media consolidation, and are just basing their support on their personal financial ties to Ellison (who has thrown a lot of money into Cruise’s Top Gun revival in particular).

The 30 film promise exists to largely get traditional theater owners and guys like Cruise and Cameron on board. Though nobody will confirm this and they’re not sharing the actual document, there’s some talk they put the promise in writing for major theater chains. But that’s again meaningless if the company’s high-debt load, incompetence, and sagging viewership derail the company’s finances.

For what it’s worth, another top U.S. male lead, George Clooney, has taken the opposite tack, last week proclaiming he didn’t see how the deal or its promises make any coherent financial sense.

Clooney’s right to worry. The deal will result in untold thousands of layoffs as Paramount attempts to shift the debt load of this deal to consumers and labor. We know this because this is what always happens. You might recall the AT&T DirecTV/Warner series of mergers resulted in 50,000 people losing their jobs, something curiously left unmentioned by most press coverage of Paramount’s latest merger promises.

Pretending that mass layoffs aren’t going to happen is like boldly declaring you’re going to win a boxing match with the Colorado river. Mass layoffs are simply physics when it comes to this sort of debt-heavy consolidation.

And that’s before you get to potential price hikes, corner cutting eroding product quality, the deal’s dodgy funding by a bunch of Middle-East autocrats with a history of killing journalists, or the fact that billionaire Larry Ellison is a Trump-ally keen on converting both CNN and CBS into right wing oligarch-friendly agitprop machines aimed at undermining foundational Democracy.

What kind of gift is that to give your purported “family?” A recent survey indicated that most Americans aren’t buying the consumer benefits Paramount is selling, which is why the company has resorted to using fake consumer groups wielding fake AI-generated support to try and scuttle the 12-state antitrust lawsuit aimed at slowing harmful U.S. media consolidation.

Filed Under: ai, astroturf, consolidation, david ellison, hollywood, james cameron, larry ellison, media, mergers, tom cruise

Companies: paramount, warner bros.

Iris Software Group’s research explored how more established employees are unwilling to train up less experienced peers who are on a similar salary.

Much is expected of employees in 2026, particularly in the wake of a working environment that has been transformed and reimagined multiple times since the introduction of AI and workplace automation.  

Professionals are often expected to work across a range of teams, to hold a diverse yet specialised skillset and to undertake additional responsibilities, often for a salary that is not reflective of the work being carried out. 

One such obligation often bestowed upon professionals is duties related to the training and support of younger or less experienced co-workers, often as a means of creating a consistent and in-house system of learning. It also means that if and when a professional moves on from the role, there is an equally qualified person ready to step into the position. 

This is the focus of new research conducted by Iris Software Group. On behalf of the organisation, Censuswide collected data from 511 UK-based senior HR professionals and 500 UK employees who have been in full-time work for between two and five years. 

What was discovered is that 71pc of young professionals that have been employed for between two and five years find it difficult to feel motivated to train or help a new starter earning almost as much as them.

In scenarios where a young professional discovered what a new starter earns, 24pc said that it was the same as their own salary. Almost 40pc said that it was up to £1,000 less, while only 16pc said it was between £1,000 and £3,000 less. A further 16pc said that they had discovered new starters were being paid more than they were.

Commenting on the report, Stephanie Coward, the managing director for HCM at Iris, said: “It’s not surprising to see frustration building when young professionals are taking on harder work, more responsibility and helping train the next intake, but see almost no difference in their pay.

“Businesses have faced genuine pressure to raise starting salaries, including increases to the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage. But this isn’t only being driven by forces outside employers’ control. HR professionals also pointed to internal issues such as salary bands not being reviewed regularly enough.”

Core concerns

Almost a third (32pc) of HR leaders who participated in the research admitted that the gap between young professionals and those who are just starting out has narrowed over the course of the last two years. 

Among the factors noted by the report as having a part to play in pay compression are rising national minimum and living wages in the UK, as well as companies increasingly prioritising attractive starter salaries over pay rises for the existing staff. 

The research also indicated that there is little positivity among HR leaders that this pay compression is going to improve. Almost half (46pc) of contributors explained that they expect salary bands to narrow further over the course of the next two years.

Among the surveyed young professionals who learned what new starters were being paid in comparison to themselves, 69pc said it had left them feeling undervalued, frustrated or disappointed. Some were motivated to take action, as 16pc accepted a new job offer and a third requested a pay increase. 

Moreover, despite 84pc of participating HR leaders concerned about the risk of losing the loyalty of young professionals who feel as though their pay does not reflect their additional responsibilities and experience compared to new recruits, only 20pc have plans to make targeted salary adjustments.

Coward said: “Compounding the problem, almost a quarter (23pc) of HR leaders said their current HR systems are not capable of comparing pay against changes in employees’ skills and responsibilities, making it harder to identify where pay compression is emerging and which employees are most affected.

“Most businesses won’t be able to solve this with blanket pay rises. But they do need to understand where compression is happening and where it risks costing them good people. A targeted salary increase may look expensive, but so is losing an experienced employee, recruiting their replacement and rebuilding the knowledge that walks out of the door with them.”

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Apple has reportedly scrapped plans for two new MacBook models, including a large foldable MacBook and a larger OLED model that would have sat above the current MacBook Pro lineup.

According to research firm Omdia, Apple has canceled development of a foldable MacBook that would have measured between 16.1 and 18 inches when unfolded. The device had previously been linked to a 2026 production window, although earlier reports had described it as a large foldable iPad rather than a MacBook.

Apple has also apparently dropped plans for a separate OLED MacBook measuring between 14.4 and 16.1 inches. This model would have occupied a new tier between the existing MacBook Pro sizes and the cancelled foldable MacBook. With both products seemingly off the roadmap, the 14.3- to 16.3-inch range will remain reserved for the MacBook Pro lineup.

Most true wireless earbuds are fighting the same war: better ANC, clearer calls, longer battery life, smaller cases, and increasingly elaborate software designed to convince us that Bluetooth earbuds require an engineering degree to operate.

HiFiMAN has apparently decided the category needs more resistors.

The new $299 Svanar Wireless 2 takes a less conventional approach by retaining the discrete R-2R digital conversion architecture that distinguished the original $499 Svanar Wireless, while shrinking the circuitry and earbuds themselves. Bluetooth moves from version 5.2 to 6.0, the internal DAC has been redesigned, each earbud drops from 8 grams to 7.4 grams, and HiFiMAN is finally developing a dedicated mobile app.

That last one deserves some emphasis. Our review of the original Svanar Wireless praised its sound quality but found its lack of an app, middling ANC performance, limited battery life, bulky charging case and occasional wireless instability difficult to overlook at $499. HiFiMAN clearly had some homework to do.

Svanar Wireless 2 does not abandon the company’s sound-first approach. Instead, HiFiMAN appears to be trying to make that architecture more practical and $200 less expensive.

Related Reviews:

What Makes Svanar Wireless 2 Different?

Most TWS earbuds rely heavily on highly integrated Bluetooth system-on-chip architectures that handle multiple stages of the signal path inside a compact package.

HiFiMAN does things differently.

The Svanar Wireless 2 uses the company’s new HYMALAYA Mini DAC, a dedicated R-2R digital-to-analog converter that keeps conversion separate from amplification. The signal then passes through an independent Class AB balanced amplifier, rather than combining DAC and amplifier functions into one integrated stage.

An R-2R DAC uses a precision resistor ladder to convert digital information into an analog signal. Implementing that approach inside a battery-powered earbud presents an obvious challenge: space.

The original Svanar Wireless required a stacked two-PCB architecture to accommodate its DAC and amplification circuitry. According to HiFiMAN, the new HYMALAYA Mini uses twice as many resistors while occupying one-fifth the space of the previous implementation.

That smaller footprint is what allowed HiFiMAN to reduce the size and weight of the earbuds without removing the architecture that made the original Svanar Wireless unusual.

Each earbud now weighs 7.4 grams, down from 8 grams on the original. That may not sound like a dramatic diet plan, but shaving weight and internal volume matters when the entire DAC, amplifier, Bluetooth receiver, battery, microphones and driver have to live inside something jammed into your ear canal.

Topology Diaphragm Returns

The DAC architecture might attract most of the attention, but it still needs something to turn the electrical signal into sound.

Svanar Wireless 2 uses a 10mm dynamic driver featuring HiFiMAN’s Topology Diaphragm technology.

The company’s approach applies a nanoparticle coating to selected areas of the diaphragm in specific geometric patterns. HiFiMAN says varying those patterns, materials and thicknesses allows its engineers to alter the diaphragm’s behavior and better control how it produces sound.

This technology is not new to Svanar Wireless 2. HiFiMAN has been using variations of its Topology Diaphragm in wired IEMs and previous wireless models for years. The important point here is that the company has retained the combination of its proprietary dynamic-driver technology, R-2R conversion and dedicated amplification rather than simplifying the audio path to reach the lower price.

HiFiMAN rates the frequency response at 10Hz to 35kHz, with onboard amplifier output specified at 45mW.

Bluetooth 6.0, LDAC and L2HC

Wireless connectivity has also received a meaningful update.

The original Svanar Wireless used Bluetooth 5.2. Svanar Wireless 2 moves to Bluetooth 6.0 and supports LDAC and L2HC for higher-resolution wireless transmission from compatible devices.

LDAC remains the more broadly relevant codec for Android users, although actual codec support always depends on the source device.

HiFiMAN also specifies up to 35dB of active noise cancellation, along with an IPX5 rating for resistance to water and sweat.

That still leaves an important question.

HiFiMAN’s strength with the original Svanar Wireless was sound quality, not class-leading ANC. Bose, Sony, Technics and others have spent years refining adaptive noise cancellation, microphone arrays and environmental processing. A specification saying “35dB” does not tell us whether Svanar Wireless 2 has closed that experiential gap.

We will need to hear it.

There’s Finally an App

The original Svanar Wireless launched without a dedicated control app, which was difficult to excuse on a $499 flagship wireless product.

HiFiMAN says that will change with the new HIFIMAN Mobile App, which is being developed to provide firmware updates, touch-control customization, EQ adjustment and other settings.

There is one caveat: HiFiMAN says the app will debut soon, so we would not describe it as an available feature until the company actually releases it.

Still, adding proper software support is overdue. Firmware updates should not feel like an optional luxury on premium wireless earbuds in 2026.

Battery Life

This is one area where HiFiMAN still does not appear determined to win the numbers war.

Battery life is rated between four and eight hours per charge, depending on operating mode and usage. The charging case can fully recharge the earbuds three additional times before the case itself needs charging.

That represents some improvement at the upper end compared with the original model, which HiFiMAN rated for up to four hours in HiFi mode, six hours with ANC and seven hours in Transparency mode.

Those figures remain modest compared with some current $300 competitors, however. Sennheiser rates its MOMENTUM True Wireless 5 for up to 12 hours without ANC and 6 hours with ANC, while Technics rates the EAH-AZ100 for 10 hours with ANC when using AAC.

Apparently even an R-2R DAC cannot repeal the laws of battery chemistry.

How Does It Compare?

The $299 price places the Svanar Wireless 2 directly in one of the most competitive parts of the TWS market.

Technics EAH-AZ100 — $299.99

The Technics EAH-AZ100 has been one of our favorites at the same price point. Its 10mm Magnetic Fluid Driver was derived from technology used in Technics’ EAH-TZ700 wired IEM and is designed to reduce driver distortion while delivering strong bass response and high-frequency detail. The AZ100 also offers adaptive ANC, LDAC, LC3, Dolby Atmos with head tracking, three-device multipoint connectivity and substantially longer battery life.

Although, Technics offers more features, HiFiMAN is betting its less conventional R-2R DAC and separate Class AB amplification architecture will give a sonic edge.

Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 5 — $299.95

Sennheiser’s new MOMENTUM True Wireless 5 uses a 7mm TrueResponse dynamic driver and supports aptX Lossless, aptX Adaptive, Bluetooth 6.0, hybrid adaptive ANC and Dolby Atmos spatial audio. Sennheiser also offers four microphones per earbud, including a bone-conduction microphone, and rates total battery life at up to 40 hours with the charging case.

Sennheiser is leaning heavily into acoustic tuning, codecs, ANC, call quality and software integration. HiFiMAN is putting more emphasis on what happens inside the actual digital-to-analog signal path.

Noble Audio FoKus Rex5 — $449

The Noble Audio FoKus Rex5 costs considerably more at $449 but may be the strongest competitor for listeners whose first priority is sound quality rather than maximum noise cancellation.

Noble packs five drivers into each earbud: one 10mm dynamic driver, three balanced-armature drivers and one planar magnetic driver. It also offers Bluetooth 5.4, multipoint connectivity and onboard storage for personalized EQ profiles.

Where HiFiMAN is using one sophisticated dynamic driver supported by unusual DAC and amplifier architecture, Noble attacks the problem with an elaborate multi-driver acoustic system.

Neither approach is remotely normal for mainstream TWS. That is precisely why both are interesting.

Svanar Wireless 2 Specifications:

• Type: True wireless earbuds
• Driver: 10mm dynamic driver with Topology Diaphragm
• DAC: HYMALAYA Mini R-2R
• Amplifier: Independent balanced Class AB
• Amplifier Output: 45mW
• Frequency Response: 10Hz to 35kHz
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth 6.0
• High-Resolution Codecs: LDAC, L2HC
• ANC: Up to 35dB
• Water Resistance: IPX5
• Battery Life: Approximately 4 to 8 hours, depending on usage
• Case Capacity: Three additional full earbud charges
• Weight: 7.4 grams per earbud
• App: HIFIMAN Mobile App announced; availability forthcoming
• Price: $299
• Availability: September 2026 through Amazon and the HiFiMAN online store

The Bottom Line

The original Svanar Wireless proved that HiFiMAN could make an unusually good-sounding TWS earbud. It also proved that great sound alone does not excuse every usability compromise when the asking price is $499.

Svanar Wireless 2 is interesting because HiFiMAN did not respond by turning it into another conventional Bluetooth earbud.

Instead, the company shrank its R-2R DAC architecture, retained separate Class A/B amplification and its Topology Diaphragm driver, reduced the weight, upgraded connectivity to Bluetooth 6.0 and dropped the launch price to $299.

That price is especially aggressive considering the original Svanar Wireless launched for $499 and the previous Svanar Wireless LE already occupied the $299 slot. HiFiMAN is effectively asking the new flagship to compete where its reduced-cost model used to live.

There are still questions. Battery life is not class-leading, the new mobile app has yet to arrive, and a 35dB ANC specification does not tell us whether HiFiMAN has caught Technics, Sony or Bose in real-world noise cancellation.

But $299 for a TWS design with a dedicated R-2R DAC, separate amplification and a 10mm Topology Diaphragm driver?

The wireless earbud category certainly did not need another anonymous pair of plastic blobs.

This isn’t that.

Where to buy: $299 at HiFiMAN’s Store

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