

Harman's New 'Elite' Headphones Scan Your Ears

Harman's new high-end JBL Everest headphones use ultrasonic waves to scan your ears and adjust balance accordingly.

BERLIN—Harman is more than just Harman-Kardon sound products. The company owns JBL, AKG, and other manufacturers of speakers and headphones, and it showed off its upcoming devices across its wide range of brands and lines here at IFA. Several of them have unique and eye-catching features that could be gimmicks, or could change how we listen to music.

It starts with TruNote sound calibration, a feature in the JBL Everest Elite 700 Bluetooth headphones. Using the headphones' active noise-cancellation microphones, TruNote sends an ultrasonic pulse through the user's ear and adjusts its sound settings based on what it discerns using ear shape. Harman claims that different ear canal contours can produce different distortions in sound, and TruNote adjusts the headphones to each use to remove those distortions. This technology was seen in the AKG N90Q, a set of high-end audiophile headphones designed by Quincy Jones retailing for $1,500. The Everest Elite 700 puts TruNote in reach at a fraction of the price (about $300), even if it's at the top of JBL's Everest line.

JBL Pulse 2 The JBL Pulse 2 Bluetooth speaker seems even more like a gimmick at first glance, but considering the original Pulse earned our Editors' Choice distinction, the Pulse 2 deserves a closer look. It's a portable speaker covered in colored LEDs that light up, pulse, and move in time with the music or according to preset patterns. The Pulse 2 features 100 LEDs compared with the original Pulse's 60, and it incorporates a fascinating color sensor into the design. While you can customize the light show with a smartphone app or by cycling through preset colors with a button on the speaker, you can also use a sensor to measure ambient color and set the speaker to mimic that color. The JBL Pulse 2 also incorporates JBL's newest wireless Bluetooth sound features, like the multiple-speaker-syncing JBL Connect Bluetooth mesh system.

The JBL Pulse 2 arrive in October for 199 euros.

JBL Connect extends to the company's other wireless speakers, like the new Boost TV. It's a not-quite-soundbar device Harman describes as a TV loudspeaker. You set it in front of your HDTV or monitor, and it serves as a basic home theater or PC speaker. However, with JBL Connect, you can sync it with other JBL speakers like the Pulse 2 and make your own wireless sound system. It too will be 199 euros when it arrives in October.

JBL Boost TV

The Harman Kardon Aura wowed us with its sound quality, but its $400 price tage was a bit intimidating. Harman is fixing that by taking away some features from a new Aura speaker even as it adds others. The Aura Studio is a Bluetooth-only speaker with the same one-piece, clear design as the original Aura. But it lacks AirPlay and Wi-Fi support and has a manageable 300 euro price tag (U.S. pricing has not yet been announced; $300 is likely). Even then, the Aura Studio adds a new feature: a microphone to let it function as a speakerphone.

Harman announced several other new Bluetooth speakers, mostly upgrades to its JBL brand. JBL is getting new Trip and Charge speakers, and Harman Kardon is getting a second version of its style-minded Esquire Bluetooth speaker.

The ear-scanning technology of the Everest 700 Elite (above) is the most interesting thing to come from JBL's headphone announcements, and the Pulse 2 could be an even more eye-catching successor to the Pulse. We'll see how they work when we get them in the lab for testing in the coming months.

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About Will Greenwald

Will Greenwald
Will Greenwald has been covering consumer technology for a decade, and has served on the editorial staffs of CNET.com, Sound & Vision, and Maximum PC. His work and analysis has been seen in GamePro, Tested.com, Geek.com, and several other publications. He currently covers consumer electronics in the PC Labs as the in-house home entertainment expert, reviewing TVs, media hubs, speakers, headphones, and gaming accessories. Will is also a THX Level I home theater expert and ISF Level III-certified TV calibrator, which ensures the thoroughness and accuracy of all PCMag TV reviews.

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