Misfit Specter headphones moves fitness tracking up to the ears

CES 2016: Misfit decides to get in on the hearables action with wireless in-ears
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We said hearables would be a breakout theme for 2016 in our Wareable 50 at the back end of last year and it didn't take long for Misfit to get in on the act by announcing the Specter headphones at CES 2016.

Not to be confused with Danny Craig's latest adventure as 007, the Specter in-ears are wireless so you can play music from your smartphone via Bluetooth but will also be compatible with the Misfit Link connected platform letting you access a host of as yet unnamed services, apps and hardware.

They've been designed in partnership with 1More, a company that's produced headphones for a certain up and coming company called Xiaomi. Misfit has also managed to get an endorsement for the Specters from 4-time Grammy winner and record producer Luca Bignardi. He's basically worked with a host of Latin artists that you probably haven't heard of.

Essential reading: The best fitness tracker

There's still activity and sleep tracking on board thanks to the embedded accelerometer, and they've even been designed to wear comfortably when you're going to bed. All of that data can be viewed through the existing Misfit smartphone app. The magnetic earbuds also include Smartpause technology, although it's not clear yet how that feature works.

These are headphones of course and need to sound great, so Misfit is relying on dual drivers to deliver "clean, rich sound quality". We'll reserve judgement until we've had a thorough listen though.

Misfit said more Specter details will be announced in spring 2016, but has yet to reveal when it'll be available or how much it'll cost. It's certainly an ambitious move, but this is a company that's quickly growing a reputation for thinking outside of the box in the quest to make wearables (or hearables) do much more.

Wareable is reporting live from Las Vegas this week. Make sure you bookmark our CES 2016 homepage to stay up to date with the latest wearable tech news.

Misfit Specter headphones moves fitness tracking up to the ears

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Michael Sawh

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Michael Sawh has been covering the wearable tech industry since the very first Fitbit landed back in 2011. Previously the resident wearable tech expert at Trusted Reviews, he also marshaled the features section of T3.com.

He also regularly contributed to T3 magazine when they needed someone to talk about fitness trackers, running watches, headphones, tablets, and phones.

Michael writes for GQ, Wired, Coach Mag, Metro, MSN, BBC Focus, Stuff, TechRadar and has made several appearances on the BBC Travel Show to talk all things tech. 

Michael is a lover of all things sports and fitness-tech related, clocking up over 15 marathons and has put in serious hours in the pool all in the name of testing every fitness wearable going. Expect to see him with a minimum of two wearables at any given time.


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