Cleer Audio's engineers have been busy: the firm has revealed not one, not two but six new Arc 3 open-ear wireless headphones. They come with touchless, head-tilt controls; waterproof ear clip designs; hi-res and Dolby Atmos audio; and in some of the more premium models, AI-powered active noise cancellation, too.
All of the models in the range are built around 16.2mm drivers and driven by the Qualcomm QCC5181 chipset. That supports aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, Dolby Atmos, Hi-Res Audio, LDAC and Snapdragon Sound over multi-point Bluetooth 5.4. The aptX adaptive delivers up to 24-bit 96 kHz streaming and the LDAC offers up to 16-bit, 44.1kHz lossless streaming.
Cleer Audio Arc 3: key features and prices
There are some interesting features in these new headphones, such as dynamic bass enhancement to compensate for the comparatively bass-light sound you get from the best open-ear headphones. There are also noise and wind-cancelling mics for clearer calls.
For active users, the Arc 3 offers head-tilting controls: instead of fiddling with your earphones you can skip tracks or answer calls with a dip of the head, although they work with touch operation too. The charging case includes UV sterilization (like the LG Tone Free T90S), has an LCD touchscreen with a clock (kind of like the JBL Live Beam 3), and recharges the headphones up to four times.
The standard models are the Arc 3 Music and Arc 3 Sport. The Arc 3 Gaming and Max models come with a USB dongle for lower latency in gaming, and the gaming models are also tuned for gaming audio. Sport models have additional EQs while the Sports Pro model also has motion analysis to help you analyze your performance. The Music Pro and Max models have supposedly AI-powered noise cancelling.
Battery life depends on the model you go for: the gaming, music and sport versions have ten hours, the Pro has eight and the Max has four.
The Arc 3 range will be released in three stages. The Music Black, Sport Black & Red and Gaming White & Red models will go on sale on 13 September for roughly $248 to $274; the Music Pro and Sport Pro will be available from September 28 for around $303; and the Arc 3 Max will go on sale from 31 October for around $379. All of the models will be available via Cleer's Amazon store.
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