CES 2020 is just round the corner and more announcements are dropping. US-based Cleer Audio has revealed The Arc, a headphone that’s unlike any other we’ve seen.
Cleer Audio has been selling its products in the UK for just under a year, and its upcoming product is quite unlike any we’ve seen from the audio brand thus far.
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Called The Arc, it is a pair of headphones with an open-ear design. Yes, these are headphones that don’t cover or burrow inside your ear at all. Instead, these rather odd looking pair of “open-ears” offer a personal audio experience, so whoever is wearing it can hear both the noises around them and what they’re listening to.
It’s an interesting take on the ambient pass-through that we’re seeing (and hearing) a lot of headphones do in recent years. This one is perhaps one of the more interesting designs yet, with the drivers directionally firing audio back into the ear, apparently able to offer “full-range sound without enclosure”.
This, Cleer claims, ensures that you can listen to your favourite music while also taking in the sounds around you, and according to Cleer would be favourable for those who wear hearing aids and those who dislike the feel in-ears generate or the discomfort of some over/on-ears.
With Bluetooth 5.0, Google Assistant and Google Fast Pair 2.0, the Arc features the latest in wireless technology. Cleer’s decision on the design was intended as a move away from the bone conduction approach other brands have pursued, with Cleer finding bone conduction offered poorer audio quality. Instead, with the beamforming directional tech, they hope The Arc will retain a wider frequency range and proper staging for a better audio experience.
The Arc is set to go on sale in April 2020 in the US and UK, where it’ll be priced at $129.99 and £129.99 (TBC) respectively.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
