Subtle frees the ear buds with its noise-isolating models

Voice AI startup Subtle, which builds voice isolation models to help computers understand you better in noisy environments, today unveiled a new pair of wireless headphones that help users be heard clearly on calls and provide accurate transcriptions for voice notes.

The company unveiled these headphones ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas and said it plans to ship them to the US in the coming months. The buds cost $199 and will come with an annual subscription to the iOS and Mac app. The app will allow users to take voice notes or chat with AI without pressing any key. The company said it uses a custom chip that allows it to wake the iPhone while it’s locked.

The startup is also trying to compete with AI-powered voice dictation apps like Wispr Flow, Willow, Monolouge and Superwhisper by allowing users to dictate in any app using the voice buds. The company claimed that the buds would give five times less errors than the AirPods Pro 3 combined with OpenAI’s transcription model.

In a demo seen by TechCrunch, the voice buds were able to record sound against a noisy background. The buds were also able to capture text for a voice note when Subtle co-founder and CEO Tyler Chen was whispering.

“We’re seeing a huge movement toward voice as a new interface that many people are adopting. You can do a lot more with voice naturally than with a keyboard. However, we’ve seen that voice is rarely an interface that people use when they’re around them. So, using the noise isolation model, we’re going to give consumers a way to experience a voice interface in the form of Cheunch through headphones.

Last year, companies like Sandbar and Pebble announced upcoming note-taking rings. Chen said that with his buds combined with the app, he wants to provide the functions of different tools such as dictation, AI chat and voice memos in one package.

Users can pre-order these buds using the startup website. The headphones are available in black and white.

Thin has increased $6 million in funding to dateand is working with consumer companies like Qualcomm and Nothing to develop its noise isolation models.