With S-Ray, you could enjoy music without disturbing others. Samsung’s C-Lab incubator does each year introduce us to a bunch of odd stuff and this time Samsung is unveiling a handful of its latest projects including SmartSuits for skaters to get a speedy training, and Smart Glasses for those with visual impairments.
Alongside the other things from Samsung’s C-Lab incubator, the highlight here is a product line that is called S-Ray. S-Ray is short for Sound-Ray, that is composed of three different kinds of speakers that are supposed to act almost like headphones. Means that different kinds of speakers in S-Ray are supposed to be playing music so that only a single person can hear it. We can also say that we would not be disturbing our elder brother during his study time, or the younger one with fever.
It is somewhat hard to imagine how effectively this will work, but it is a neat idea and Samsung wants people to be able to listen to music or watch videos of their choice while still being able to hear the world around them and sans having to wear something on their head.
At the time of writing this story, it is unclear if they are actually doing anything to cancel out sound for other people, or if they are just utilizing highly directional speakers. Other tech companies have taken the latter approach, but it has not been enough to isolate the sound fully.
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To what extent these neck speakers could effectively isolate sound?
The S-Ray line will begin with three different kinds of speakers: two of those are small, portable speakers, alongside a single neck-worn speaker, like the one Bose that was unveiled last year and LG made the year before that.
The neck speaker is most probably the most interesting if only because it is such a weird-looking form factor. But as much as it does look like a fashion crime, having listened to Bose’s take on the neck speaker, I am kind of sold on its practicality for someone like a cyclist or that one driving a car.
Samsung is forwarding to have to be really precise with its sound isolation if it really wants to play up the S-Ray’s supposed selling point, in otherwise case these speakers are just going to end up annoying people nearby such as other neck speakers do. While similar kind of speakers sound a lot better for the wearer, still it is clear to other people when they’ve something playing.
Don’t expect this innovation to be the end point, as in addition to the S-Ray lineup, Samsung’s C-Lab is also previewing a breathing exercise application. This app is called GoBreath.
