Sonos has released the Ace Ultra, a successor to its original Ace headphones, adding the ability to pull audio from any Sonos speaker or soundbar rather than just a limited set of compatible soundbars. The feature, powered by a new Headphone Engine 2 platform with redesigned Wi-Fi hardware, lets users move sound from TVs, turntables or streaming apps to the headphones with a single button press, though it remains an opt-in Early Access feature.
Sonos has introduced the Ace Ultra, a premium successor to its Ace noise-canceling headphones priced at $449. The new model features Sonos-designed 40mm drivers, upgraded adaptive noise cancellation, a 10-microphone array, and Headphone Engine 2, which enables direct one-button linking to a user's Sonos system. Preorders open now, with shipping starting September 29 in black, soft white, agave and sand colorways.
JBL unveiled three new Wi-Fi speakers under the Cove name: the $230 Cove M1, the $400 portable Cove P1, and the $450 Dolby Atmos-equipped Cove X1. All three connect via the JBL One app for synced multiroom playback and can double as rear speakers for JBL's Bar Series MK2 soundbars, with availability starting September 13 in black and white.
A DIY enthusiast connected three existing security camera microphones to BirdNet-Go, an open-source, locally-run AI tool, to automatically identify bird species by song in real time. The system also picks up bats and frogs, runs entirely on local hardware without cloud services, and can send custom alerts—such as via Discord—when specific species are detected.
Google's latest Android 17 QPR2 Beta 4, released last Friday, makes it far easier to use a voice-broadcasting feature on Pixel phones that lets people speak or stream audio to nearby Bluetooth LE Audio devices, similar to a personal PA system. The capability, previously called Voicecast and buried in Developer Settings, can now be turned on instantly via a Quick Settings tile, provided Bluetooth is enabled, and supports password protection to block unwanted listeners.
After 18 months of development, the ReactOS project released version 0.4.16, introducing a graphical installer and merging the separate bootcd and livecd images into one unified disc. The update also brings improvements to video, audio, networking, and storage support, plus a new installation type and updated third-party code.
Apple's own guidelines reveal that lossless audio streaming through CarPlay only works over a wired USB connection, not wirelessly. This is because wired CarPlay uses the uncompressed LPCM codec, while wireless CarPlay relies on AAC-LC, a lossy codec that discards some original audio data to reduce file size.
A tech guide outlines steps drivers can take to improve music streaming quality through Android Auto, including pre-downloading playlists to avoid network-dependent quality drops and adjusting download quality settings. It also recommends reviewing EQ and normalization settings, since phone-based bass boosts or Spotify's Loud normalization can clash with a car's own audio processing.
Apple's AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro allow users to switch between Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency mode by pressing and holding the earbud stem. This behavior can be customized in the Settings app under Press and Hold AirPods, where users can also add Adaptive mode or turn off noise control entirely, and set which modes cycle through when pressing the stem.
In an Inside Java Podcast episode recorded at JavaOne 2026, Oracle Java Architect Ron Pressler discussed with host Nicolai Parlog why Java's often-criticized memory consumption is actually intentional. He argued that Java trades extra memory for reduced CPU cycles, a tradeoff enabled by its moving garbage collectors, which many leaner platforms cannot replicate.
StemDeck is a newly released free, open-source application that separates audio files into up to six individual stems—vocals, drums, bass, guitar, piano and other—entirely on the user's own computer. It accepts common formats like MP3, WAV, FLAC and M4A, or a YouTube link, and includes a built-in mixer for muting, soloing, looping and exporting tracks. The tool requires no account, upload, subscription or internet-based processing.
Streaming tags like 'Dolby Atmos' and 'Lossless' refer to two separate audio technologies: Atmos creates a 3D soundstage by placing sounds in space, while lossless audio preserves the full quality of a recording without the data loss found in formats like MP3 or AAC. Because Atmos typically relies on the lossy Dolby Digital Plus codec, and lossless streaming uses formats like FLAC or ALAC, most platforms can't offer both simultaneously.
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