Recently I reviewed the Sennheiser Ambeo Smart, a pair of earphones that feature binaural microphones in each earpiece that, when connected to an iPhone via a Lightning connector, can record 3D sound in the form of ambisonic recording.
The Sennheisers are designed to work exclusively with an iPhone but for those who use Android phones, the Ambeo Smart aren’t much use. However, back in March 2017, before Sennheiser launched the Ambeo Smarts, a small company based in Chicago, Hooke Audio, had already created a pair of earphones that could record ambisonic 3D sound.
In addition to being great-sounding earphones, the Hooke Verse incorporate specially designed binaural 3D audio microphones that capture audio just as the human ear hears it – with the ability to localize sounds in 360 degrees. Hooke Audio’s integrated iOS and Android apps enable users to pair the Verse with a smartphone’s camera to record videos or just audio in Mobile 3D Audio. The resulting recordings can be uploaded directly to social networks such as YouTube and Twitter and listeners can experience binaural 3D audio without the need for a special pair of headphones or speakers.
Ambisonics is a surround sound technique that, in addition to the horizontal plane, records sound sources above and below the listener. Unlike other multichannel surround formats, its transmission channels do not carry speaker signals so it can work with a wide variety of headphones.
The Hooke Verse can record 3D audio over Bluetooth to Android and iOS devices as well as recording via a wired connection to iOS and Android devices, DSLR cameras, digital recorders, computers and more using the special recording cable provided.
Hooke Verse streams dual channel 16bit 48kHz .wav files over Bluetooth at .0043ms of latency when using the Hooke proprietary Bluetooth recording codec. The monitoring level can be adjusted during recording, and there’s no latency because the monitoring level stays in the headset.
I haven’t had the opportunity to try these earphones yet but it’s good to know there is an alternative to Sennheiser Ambeo Smarts that can record wirelessly as well as via wired connections to Android and iOS devices. Although the Hook Verse earphones aren’t noise cancelling they are unusual in that they can record 3D audio wirelessly which can be very useful when recording action video.
The Hooke Verse ambisonic earphones retail for $189.99 to $239.99, depending on finish. More details at hookeaudio.com
