The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has come to an end on January 10, 2025. This exhibition has selected many innovation award products. Smart Communication Positioning Circle has noticed that in the field of digital health, a foreign manufacturer named Budz BV has released the industry's first wireless headset Budz that integrates ultra-wideband (UWB) technology.
The world's first UWB wireless headset
The CES 2025 Digital Health Honors Award page states that this product is the world's first headset equipped with a breakthrough in-ear computer solution. The solution is based on the integrated ultra-wideband (UWB) technology built on the advanced COR1 platform, enabling the headset to run AI-driven software that requires extremely high computing power and can carry the huge digital signal processing (DSP) load required by these new software.
Unlike traditional headphones, Budz headphones are more developed for networked workers and military personnel. They can provide networked workers (construction and mining) with hazard alerts, voice-guided workflows, fatigue monitoring and environmental monitoring to improve safety and productivity. They can also enhance situational awareness for rescuers, first responders and the military, achieve real-time tracking and communication, and monitor vital signs in critical situations.
The COR1 technology used by Budz has played a key role in the EU-funded rescuer project, providing assistance to first responders in 27 countries. In addition, the official website of Budz BV did not disclose more product information, nor did it announce product prices and release dates.
It is worth noting that the UWB technology of Budz headphones is related to Sostark, a Dutch wireless technology solution manufacturer. Founded in 2003, the company specializes in providing high-capacity wireless solutions for various industries. Its business includes wireless sound solutions (WSS), wearable safety devices Crowdband and asset tracking solutions for large construction projects TokenMe. In the field of wireless audio, the UWB wireless audio solution Remora developed by Sostark and Sonical was publicly unveiled at the Munich High-End Audio Show last year.
UWB, the next generation of audio transmission revolution
Compared with traditional wireless communication technology, UWB has high data transmission rate and positioning accuracy. Its transmission speed can reach tens of megabits per second (Mbps), and its positioning accuracy can be accurate to the centimeter level. These characteristics give UWB a unique advantage in the field of short-range wireless communication.
UWB also has great potential in audio applications. Compared with Bluetooth, its high bandwidth, low latency and strong anti-interference ability can provide headphones with lossless high-resolution audio of up to 24 bits/192kHz and higher quality. This is the key to improving the quality of audio transmission for wireless audio products on the market that are basically thousands of yuan but have mediocre sound quality. At the same time, as an extremely low-power wireless technology, the installation of UWB means a significant extension of battery life, which caters to the endurance needs of consumers.
In the past two years, many manufacturers in the market are optimistic about the replacement opportunities of UWB headphones and accelerate product layout:
In February 2023, Canadian manufacturer PSB Speakers, MQA and Sonic targeted the wireless audio market and planned to jointly launch wireless headphones using UWB technology to replace Bluetooth technology. They planned to launch them in the first quarter of 2024, but no latest progress was disclosed.
In November 2023, Sonus Faber, a well-known Italian audio equipment manufacturer, released the industry's first UWB-powered consumer audio device Duetto, which was rated as "the best way to listen wirelessly" by Forbes. The Duetto speaker system is equipped with a variety of audio source inputs, including optical fiber, HDMI and RCA/phono, supplemented by Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections, which can realize streaming media from smartphones and other devices, and natively support major streaming services and protocols. The UWB technology, which is the native highlight, comes from SPARK Microsystems, a Canadian UWB chip company.
At AES Europe 2024, SPARK Microsystems further launched the Golion headphone reference design, stating that its SPARK UWB Audio has a latency of only 5 milliseconds and supports up to 24-bit resolution, ensuring that consumers can finally enjoy music wirelessly at the highest quality standards.
Silicon Valley manufacturer Sonical unveiled the UWB wireless audio solution Remora PRO to the world at the 2024 Munich High-End Audio Show. Its USB-C adapter form factor also introduced Sonical's world's first Headphone 3.0 platform.
It is understood that the product is designed to connect seamlessly with all existing audio sources through analog and USB interfaces and is suitable for all sources and headphone models. Remora PRO also has full Bluetooth dual-mode support to ensure backward compatibility with billions of existing wireless audio devices.
The company expects high demand for Remora PRO and plans to complete the first shipments by the end of September 2024, with a suggested retail price of US$949 or 890 euros (including the price of a complete system, wearable device and UWB dongle).
Ecological challenges promoted by UWB headsets
According to public survey data, the global shipment of TWS headsets in 2023 will be about 386 million units, showing a steady growth trend, a year-on-year increase of 9%. The shipment volume of global TWS headsets has increased year by year in recent years. In 2021 and 2022, it overcame the overall sluggish shipment expectations of consumer electronics products and achieved a stable growth rate. It is expected that the growth trend will continue in the next few years.
Although the market size of wireless smart headsets is huge, the current progress of UWB headset coverage is still slow and faces many challenges.
The first is the cost issue. Although the cost of technology has decreased, the cost of UWB technology is still relatively high compared with mature technologies, which limits its popularity in the mass market. It can be seen that most of the products using UWB technology on the market are currently concentrated in the mid-to-high-end market, and further efforts are needed in terms of backward compatibility.
In terms of ecological compatibility, UWB technology is currently only used on a large scale in Apple products. All models of iPhone 11 and later support UWB. Other mainstream manufacturers such as Samsung, Xiaomi, Meizu, OPPO, Google, etc. are also following up. Most high-end Android phones support UWB. With the promotion and popularization of UWB in the mobile phone market, UWB wireless audio products will accelerate their integration into this growing ecosystem.
The lack of unified technical standards is also an important factor restricting the development of the ecosystem and the market. At present, UWB headsets lack unified transmission standards in technical specifications and market promotion. There are differences in technical standards and product compatibility between different companies, which not only increases the difficulty of cooperation between companies, but also brings inconvenience to market promotion and application.
Although in theory, communication technologies can achieve audio transmission, the key to large-scale application of UWB headsets lies in the promotion of unified standards. Chip giants such as Qualcomm and MediaTek need to promote the formulation of UWB standards for audio transmission under international standard organizations such as IEEE. Only when mobile phones and other terminal devices are compatible with UWB functions and the integrated UWB chips also follow the unified voice transmission standards, can we accelerate the construction of a complete and efficient UWB ecosystem, thereby promoting the rapid development and popularization of UWB technology in the audio market.
With the debut of the industry's first UWB headset, the acceleration of industry technological progress and the widespread application and promotion, the UWB ecosystem is growing, and the leading manufacturers in key links of the industry chain are also increasing their layout. Looking to the future, UWB technology will undoubtedly continue to heat up in the audio market, showing greater development potential.
This paper is from Ulink Media, Shenzhen, China, the organizer of IOTE EXPO (IoT Expo in China)
