The latest Ray-Ban and Oakley Meta smart glasses update is rolling out, and v21 adds two powerful audio tools to the specs that I cannot wait to try out.
The first is one first teased back at Meta Connect 2025: Conversation Focus.
Today, it’s arriving for folks in the early access program (limited to users in the US and Canada), and the feature is designed to help you better hear people while you’re chatting in a noisy space.
Using this feature, Meta promises your glasses’ microphones can pick up what the person you’re chatting with is saying, isolate their words from the noise of a DJ set, the clanking of cutlery on plates in a busy restaurant, or the hubbub of commuters on the train (among others), and then play their voice through your glasses’ speakers.
You can adjust the amplification level by swiping your temple just like you would turn music up or down, and having been to several Holiday parties recently where I can really struggle to hear other people this tool certainly sounds handy.
Just note that, as an early access too,l Conversation Focus likely won’t work perfectly out of the gate.
Soundtrack your view
The other audio upgrade is coming to a wider range of users, though you’ll need Spotify to take advantage of it.
If you have the music streaming service connected to your Meta account, you can use your glasses’ look and ask feature to soundtrack what you can see – be that playing music from an album cover you’ve seen in the wild, or simply wanting to listen to tracks that suit your current view.
Just say something like “Hey Meta, play a song to match this view.” Spotify will then use its library and understanding of your music tastes to soundtrack your life.
I use Apple Music rather than Spotify, but this feature is tempting me to swap to the rival music streaming service. It sounds like it could be a lot of fun to try.
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