Wireless earbuds are nothing new, but these ones sound a little bit different. They’re called the IQ Buds, and they’re noise-canceling earbuds. You can control them with an app to adjust the sound of the world around you so that you can adjust frequency, have an equalizer, and a volume control. For example, you can boost the speech in a loud environment so you can hear better. Of course, you can also use them as wireless Bluetooth earbuds for playing music, and you can have a blended audio effect, kind of a little bit like augmented reality for your ears so you hear music and the sound of the world around you.

They come with a charging case that gives you three charges every time you put them inside, and you get around four to 10 hours of use every time you put them in your ears. Of course, this varies depending on what you’re listening to and how loud you have the volume. The controls on the earbud are all touch, so you can tap to change tracks, or you can tap to take calls, and switch between presets on the right earbud.

We’ve seen similar wireless earbuds with noise-canceling and volume adjustment features before, such as the Here Active Listening in Here One buds. I did try the IQ Buds in a pretty loud environment at CES, and they do sound good. Music sounds nice through them. It did cut out some of the background noise, but the real test will be when you use them on a plane, in a restaurant, and in other such environments. They cost $299, and they’re available now.

March 31st, 2019