We caught up with Cleer again at CES. This year they have two brand new sets of truly wireless headphones and firm shipping dates on two products we looked at last year. The breath-taking Cleer Crescent smart speaker is launching this month! We weren’t able to hear any of the devices since CES is all digital this year but what we saw left us wanting to put all of these products to the test!
Ally Plus II
The Ally Plus II is an update and revision to last year’s Ally Plus. It sits at the top of their truly wireless segment. The design is beautiful, and even though the enclosure packs large speakers, the earbuds won’t stick out of your ears too far. They are IPX4 water and sweat resistant and offer top-of-the-line active noise cancellation (ANC). The headphones will work with the Cleer+ app to enable customization of EQ profiles, ANC settings, and it even allows you to remap the button configuration. Either earbud can be used on its own. Swiping up and down adjusts the volume and various tapping sequences can be used for things play/pause and skipping tracks.
While all of those features are great, the battery life and the price are what blew us away. The headphones will work for 11 hours before you need to put them back in the Qi wireless charging case. When combined with the case they provide a total of 22 hours of play time. You get all of this for only $129! They will be available in March.
Roam NC
The Roam NC is a new entry-level truly wireless headphone offering. The design is more subtle than Ally Plus II. It has smaller speakers but along with that comes a smaller, more pocket-friendly, charging case. It comes in black, light grey, and an interesting earth tone red. They do feature ANC but they won’t offer the same level of noise reduction as Cleer’s higher-end headphones. The batteries are good for five hours of playback time or 15 when combined with the case. They will launch in April for $59 which is a pretty great price for ANC earbuds from a proven company.
Enduro ANC
The Enduro ANC was shown last year but it’s releasing this year. They are over-the-ear Bluetooth headphones which will give you 60 hours of playback time on a single charge! If you somehow manage to run the batteries dry you can get 13 hours of use from charging them for only 5 minutes via the USB C charger! Because these are meant to sit below the Flow II headphones in their product lineup they’ve stripped back some features like touch controls. Although some people might enjoy only having physical buttons for controlling them. The Enduro ANC will include a USB C to 3.5mm headphone cable in case you ever need to plug them into a regular headphone jack.
Cleer Crescent
The Cleer Crescent smart speaker is a truly stunning piece of audio gear. The unique shape houses eight drivers plus two sub-woofers. It has three different audio modes. Wide Stereo Mode offers the stereo sound you’d expect from having two discreet speakers. Room Filling Mode is great for enveloping an entire area of your home in sound. The 3D Immersive Mode will simulate having speakers positioned all around your room.
Crescent can be connected to a TV through an optical audio input or 3.5mm audio cable. It also features Google Assistant (through two onboard microphones), Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, and Chromecast. It’s a speaker that should be as smart as it is beautiful and we expect it to sound amazing. It will be available in the next couple of weeks for $699.
