If you really think about it, a pair of headphones is the perfect starting point for a personal home theater sound. I mean, with the traditional open setup, you are subject to environmental noises like your neighbor bringing the house down while watching Jurassic World, and the structure and decor of your home entertainment room. But with headphones, you’d not only be cutting out ambient noises, but the sound is always constant.
A Taiwan-based consumer electronics company, Chung Ching Technical Co., Ltd. (which, interestingly, is also known as E-books), realized this potential and developed this: SS69 Ultra. The SS69 Ultra is no ordinary pair of headphones. It promised to deliver home theater-level immersion for both music and gaming with its 60 ms ultra-low latency connection, 6-axis IMU head tracking feature, as well as 75% ANC.
Now, let’s not let its design, which looks suspiciously like the Apple AirPods Max, distract you from the star feature: the head-tracking. The head-tracking part is where things get interesting (though we have to clarify that head-tracking spatial audio is not new). Most headphones simulate spatial sound through software. SS69 Ultra anchors audio in space using a dedicated gyroscope and accelerometer. Turn your head, and the soundstage stays where it should be, like speakers planted in front of you instead of riding along with your ears. That is the sort of trick normally reserved for far pricier setups.Â
Wireless performance is tuned for responsiveness, too. The 60 ms latency keeps gaming audio in sync, while wired mode pushes delay close to zero. Multi-point connection lets the headset stay paired with two devices at once and switch automatically when a call comes in. Handy if your “home theater” also doubles as a work-from-home command center.
Comfort is clearly part of the brief. The headset weighs just 210 g, which is lighter than many over-ear models that promise immersive audio. A quick 15-minute charge delivers up to eight hours of playback, which makes it practical for movie sessions that turn into double features without warning.
Connectivity is handled by Bluetooth 6.0, and the active noise cancellation reduces up to 75% of external noise. Together with the spatial audio system, the goal is obvious: keep distractions out and immersion in.
It sells for as low as US$97 while it is being crowdfunded on Kickstarter. The response is not the best, but it did go above and beyond its funding goal of 3,000 bucks. Last check, it has rolled in 18,169 USD from 129 backers. I think it has little to do with the hardware. The promised features and specs look great, but the thing is, while Chung Ching Technical Co. Ltd. is clearly not new, they are an infant in the Kickstarter space. You cannot blame backers for being cautious.
That being said, crowdfunding, whether or not the campaigners are veterans or not, has its risks. So, make sure you do your own due diligence before committing. I cannot recall how many times people have emailed me, blaming me for a campaign that has never been fulfilled. Come on, people, I am no God. I cannot foresee the future. If I could, I would not be sitting here on a Sunday afternoon, writing about tech products.
Images: E-books [CH].
