Avantree Interested In Hearing From You

[DSMITH]

2 hours ago, Wiggins said:

What we could do is make an LE Audio transmitter (similar to the Relay but with LE Audio support) and a pair of LE Audio neckband headphones. Would something like this interest you?

That would absolutely work also, Thank you Avantree for being willing to listen to us detectorist looking forward to what your company comes out with

even a speaker as @Lunk suggested would work as long as there was a LE transmitter included I think that would be great

A speaker would also have to have a way to clip it to a harness also

just keep in mind what ever Avantree comes up with needs to be water Proof and dust Proof

[phrunt]

This is very exciting Avantree are working with detector users to come up with the ideal product, A Bluetooth LE transmitter that can be easily mounted onto a detector with a short audio cable to plug into a detector along with a Torus type neckband with LE and as low latency as possible would be fantastic.  It would be ideal if the Torus type device was made a bit more rugged for outdoor use, these things get dirty, bashed around a bit and the cloth type design of the Torus isn't ideal for metal detecting.  A hard plastic shell with no cloth material would be better, a bit like the Technica atpX LL ones and water resistant so they can be used in rain would be great, no need for full waterproof, people aren't going swimming with the things on and that would limit their performance for most land users..

AT-NSP700TV|AV Accessories|Speakers|Audio-Technica

I prefer the Torus shape and design better than this, but this is more rugged of a build for outdoor detecting use so a merger of this hard-shell plastic with the Torus design.  The pull-out ear buds of the Torus are great too for when high wind comes into play, remembering to make everything as tough as possible so some really durable wire. 

The Torus has ideal volume level too, so it would be good to be able to keep it as loud as the Torus.

I think you've got the right ideas going on already Wiggins.

Anything with worse latency that aptX LL would be rejected by most as not usable, as it causes you to dig your holes offset from where the target is, the lower the latency the better but with LE being as low as 20ms with a lower bitrate that would be great.

[Norvic]

2 hours ago, Sourdough Scott said:

I'm not really up to date on all of the latest technology mumbo-jumbo,  so some layman's terms might help with some of the old dogs in this group.

You old dogs are holding us young fellas back, get with it....... ?

[F350Platinum]

9 hours ago, Wiggins said:

Hi all,

Thanks so much for your feedback! It's awesome to see all the support for our products and all of the product ideas that you've come up with.

Now we know why low latency is so important to you. Unfortunately, aptX Low Latency is starting to be phased out by Qualcomm in favor of atpX Adaptive, which has slightly more latency but better sound quality. For us, most of our newer products will most likely be using atpX Adaptive.

Bluetooth LE Audio is a new technology that we want to be the pioneers of. With LE Audio, you can enjoy latency as low as 20-30ms (https://www.gizchina.com/2023/08/10/bluetooth-le-audio/). In fact, we're working on an LE Audio Receiver called the AS70P, which allows you to use any wired headphones as wireless with LE Audio. https://avantree.com/as70p-bluetooth-adapter-for-headphones

Of course, the sender/transmitter must be sending an LE Audio signal, which I imagine is not supported by many detectors at the moment. It's mostly the latest smartphones that currently support LE Audio. So this product might not be the most useful in your use case.

What we could do is make an LE Audio transmitter (similar to the Relay but with LE Audio support) and a pair of LE Audio neckband headphones. Would something like this interest you?

Thank you and your company for your interest in the metal detecting hobby and field.

A couple of years ago I wrote many bone conduction backphone manufacturers asking them to include APTX-LL technology with some degree of IP water resistance. I got a few excited replies but no products surfaced save one recently, it works fairly well but reliability is dubious. The lower the latency and more resistance to water intrusion the better!

As another in this thread mentioned, the product should be loud enough to hear in a beach environment with waves and crowds, and be a true bone conduction design. I think many detectorists would not spare expense to have such a product once reviews on this site come out. Many here would be excellent test subjects.

The device should have as long lasting a battery as possible, and possibly a sealed jack for an external cable, maybe a magnetic connection?

This would be an important advance in safety while detecting both in the field and on the beach. From what I have read here it will also benefit some who have hearing deficiencies.

[phrunt]

A clip or screw on magnetic connection would be ideal in that situation, I'd prefer one that screws on with the magnetic terminals just there for the signal transmission, a basic clip system may be strong enough for them not to keep getting knocked apart.

Then it would just need a short cable with a 3.5mm or 6.3mm female jack on it to allow plugging in aftermarket headphones or accessories to let them take advantage of that LE Audio.

A companion product to the neck speaker taking advantage of the same transmitter would be as Lunk had suggested a clip-on speaker to wear on your shirt, belt or harness, I prefer it up near my ears so harness or shirt are where I clip it.  This also has an audio out 6.3mm port to plug in wired headphones which is ideal so can be used as a transmitter and receiver package but also ideally as a speaker.

Minelab did a great job with theirs, except they used old technology and its latency was too high so it's not ideal and sales reflected that.  They improved the latency on the WM10 and WM12 which are virtually the same thing with no need for a transmitter and the wireless built into the detector that they included with their high-end detectors the CTX and GPZ and couldn't be used on anything else and theses are very popular, what we are after is something that can be used on any detector, not limited to model.

So, If Avantree makes a LE transmitter with 20ms latency, a neck band with a water-resistant design, loud audio, at least 12-hour battery life (many of us detect for an entire day so if it doesn't last a day it's not suitable)  We are not super models, it doesn't have to look sexy, be very small, or look fashionable, it's a tool, a piece of equipment to help us find stuff, being solidly built is far more important than cosmetics.

Wiggins, so you have an idea what I'm talking about, this is Minelab the biggest metal detector manufacturers attempt at a product we would like, they did well except for the poor latency.

Note the built in speaker, it also has volume control, and it is very loud and can easily be used in high wind.  

Something like this, and sharing the same transmit module with 20ms LE Audio and also have the Neck band would be a very good combination to sell for Avantree.

You could sell the transmit module, a package as a transmit and speaker or neck band, and just the speaker and neck band individually.

Another advantage to the speaker receiver is it can be used for any plug in headphones thereby giving them LE audio while being untethered from the detector.  Ideally the speaker and transmitter would be water resistant too, at least from rain.  You could even make it so you could run a pair of the speakers off the transmitter as many gold prospectors prefer two speakers, one on each shoulder and that gives you the opportunity to sell more speakers.  You could also design a good set of LE 20ms headphones for outdoor use with some water resistance and a solid build quality to top off the combination of detecting equipment.

Gold prospectors pay $10,000 or more for their detecting equipment, throwing a few hundred dollars at some good audio equipment to go with that is nothing, especially when the audio is one of the most important factors of detecting.

[mixeycray]

I bought a Torus this past summer based on the reviews here and on other forums. Worked great listening to music but audio was broken when connected to equinox and another LL transmitter adapter. Contacted customer support and they were great. Shipped out a replacement and all is good now. 

[Wiggins]

Hi guys,

Taking in everyone's feedback so far, I'd like to ask if you would be interested in the form factor of our NB18 neckband earbuds for your metal detectors:

https://avantree.com/nb18-bluetooth-neckband-earbuds-with-eq-enhancements

• Neckband form factor: not intrusive if you wear hats or glasses, and makes it so it's less likely to lose if it falls out. It should stay in place in rough environments.
• Loud and boosted volume
• In-line volume controls to easily adjust your volume.

Would you see yourself using earbuds like this with your metal detector?

[GR Guy]

8 minutes ago, Wiggins said:

Hi guys,

Taking in everyone's feedback so far, I'd like to ask if you would be interested in the form factor of our NB18 neckband earbuds for your metal detectors:

https://avantree.com/nb18-bluetooth-neckband-earbuds-with-eq-enhancements

• Neckband form factor: not intrusive if you wear hats or glasses, and makes it so it's less likely to lose if it falls out. It should stay in place in rough environments.
• Loud and boosted volume
• In-line volume controls to easily adjust your volume.

Would you see yourself using earbuds like this with your metal detector?

To be honest I don’t use the earbuds on the Torus just the speaker. Allows you to get good spatial hearing in the bush and still has the volume to identify threshold changes which could be targets 

[Norvic]

My preference also is speaker as per Gr Guy, earbuds are not used, thus https://avantree.com/nb18-bluetooth-neckband-earbuds-with-eq-enhancements are out for me. The Torus after 100s of hours use in the field without failure and top performance (nuggetoes?) is the best compromise for me, maybe waterproofed if possible.