Venerable audio brand Denon, founded in 1910 and now owned by health-and-audio-device maker Masimo, introduced its first sets of wireless noise-cancelling earbuds with audio personalization Tuesday — Denon PerL and PerL Pro featuring Masimo AAT.
AAT stands for “adaptive acoustic technology,” something Masimo enhanced when it absorbed Australian sound-personalization innovator Nura months ago. Hear that, AirPods Pro 2?
Denon PerL and PerL Pro True Wireless (TWS) Earbuds featuring Masimo AAT
The new Denon PerL and PerL Pro TWS earbuds with Masimo AAT let you create a personal audio profile to optimize sound quality.
(If the parent company’s name, Masimo, rings a serious bell, it may be due to headlines over its long legal fight with Apple over sensors in its wearables.)
“The name of the earbuds was chosen to represent Masimo’s goal of transcending how people enjoy music: through a truly Personalized Listening experience,” Masimo said. In other words,”Per” for personalized and “L” for listening, but you got that.
“The era of one-sound-fits-all is over. PerL automatically figures out the optimal sound for each individual, to cater to your unique ears. I am personally blown away by how good PerL Pro is,” said Masimo founder and CEO Joe Kiani.
“I have not heard my music like this since I was 18,” he continued. “PerL is intuitive, comfortable and ergonomic. With the launch of PerL, we are transcending the listening experience. We can’t wait to have our customers join us in this new paradigm.”
Hearing varies by person
Allowing users to create a personalized sound profile is not unique to Masimo, though it uses proprietary technology in its process. As the company described it:
The two Denon PerL TWS models use proprietary Masimo technology to measure faint otoacoustic emissions (OAEs), which are produced by the inner ear in the presence of a range of tones played to assess each person’s unique response to sound.
Once the OAEs are analyzed to determine how sensitive a person’s ears are to each frequency, a personal hearing profile is created in the Denon PerL Headphone app, using artificial intelligence.
The company said an individualized profile provides “unparalleled depth, detail, and clarity — tuned perfectly to your own hearing and elevated by Denon’s vivid and spacious signature sound.”
Not just standard Bluetooth
Photo: Masimo
Masimo added that Denon PerL Pro earbuds offer another “unique” benefit, namely lossless audio:
Another key benefit, unique to Denon PerL Pro earbuds, is the delivery of high-quality sound wirelessly. While standard Bluetooth technology compresses and decompresses audio during wireless transmission, Denon PerL Pro earbuds provide a streaming experience similar to listening to a CD.
This means users can enjoy high-fidelity streaming sources with excellent audio fidelity. PerL Pro also creates a surround sound effect that enhances the overall audio experience in a compact and comfortable wireless earbud design.
ANC with transparency and spatial audio
Both of the new models feature active noise cancellation (ANC) with what Masimo called Social Mode, which allows you to hear more of your surroundings. They also include spatial audio.
But PerL Pro includes eight microphones while PerL has four mics. That upgrades the Pro model’s ANC and enables its ability to automatically adjust to surrounding noise. That and the lossless streaming mentioned above make it the premium offering.
Sound profiles in Denon Headphones app
Users can view and adjust their profiles in the Denon Headphones app for iOS and Android.
They can customize selective noise canceling, Social Mode and on-earbud touch controls like play/pause, skip track, change volume and other items.
Denon PerL costs $199 and PerL Pro lists for $349. The company noted that a limited number is out now and a bigger release comes later this year.
Where to buy: Denon
Source: Masimo
