The OnePlus Buds Pro 2 will be 'one of the first' in the world to adopt Google's Spatial Audio
Somewhat curiously dubbed "Cloud 11", the February 7 launch event OnePlus confirmed a while ago will primarily be about the global expansion of the company's latest ultra-high-end smartphone.
But the OnePlus Buds Pro 2 are also set for a second announcement in a couple of weeks, and in case their key selling point was not clear after the first official announcement earlier this month, a fresh press release out of Shenzhen offers a bunch of additional information.
As you may already be aware, these bad boys are aimed directly against Apple's hugely popular AirPods Pro 2. As such, they will feature a number of super-advanced capabilities and technologies, including spatial audio.
The spatial audio supported by the OnePlus Buds Pro 2, however, will be different from what the AirPods Pro 2 or Beats Fit Pro have going for them, with the new technology being Google's creation.
That's right, this is the same spatial audio recently rolled out to the Pixel 6, 6 Pro, 7, and 7 Pro handsets and soon to be expanded to the Pixel Buds Pro. It's unclear if the OnePlus Buds Pro 2 will manage to actually beat Google's own premium buds to the spatial audio punch, with their manufacturers advertising them as "one of the first" products to adopt the search giant's technology.
As you can imagine, all Spatial Audio takes come with pretty much the same promises, aiming to "create a multi-dimensional experience" by always delivering sound from a "fixed position regardless of movement."
The ultimate goal (at least according to OnePlus) is to offer the "same quality of 3D audio as in the cinema" for all your content, which is of course a bit of an exaggeration when it comes to a pair of teeny-tiny true wireless earbuds.
The main advantage of adopting a technology built into Google's Android 13 OS rather than implementing its very own in-house Spatial Audio feature might be increased smoothness and ultra-low latency, but of course, it remains to be seen (or heard) exactly how great the OnePlus Buds Pro 2 will sound out in the real world.
February 7 is the "launch" date, remember, with US sales likely to kick off a little later at an unknown price we can expect to circle the $150 mark. In addition to Spatial Audio, the undoubtedly premium OnePlus Buds Pro 2 are also confirmed to integrate Google's Fast Pair and Audio Switching capabilities for, well, blazing fast pairing to nearby Android devices.
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