Virtual surround sound from a single speaker - Cear Pavé wireless speaker now available for public purchase

Cear has opened orders for its Pavé palm-sized wireless speaker to the general public following a successful crowdfunding campaign on Green Funding. The Pavé utilizes patented technologies to create the wide audio experience of a larger 2.1 stereo system (left, right, and center channels) from a single cube speaker with two 15-watt drivers. An internal CearField gyroscope monitors the direction of the Pavé and is used when rotating the virtual stereo field. All sound processing is done by a Qualcomm S5 Gen 2 SoC.

Although humans only have two ears, they sense audio coming from 360 degrees due to the minute differences in delay and frequencies of sound reaching the eardrums from outside sound sources. Binaural recordings, like this one (wear headphones), retain the full sense of surround sound for headphone wearers. However, special recording microphones and equipment must be used.

The Pavé uses its Qualcomm SoC to calculate what the sound reproduction of an audio recording should be if it were to emanate from an actual 2.1 stereo speaker setup, then produces that processed sound. Human ears perceive a much wider stereo setup than the single Pavé speaker as a result.

The wireless speaker has Snapdragon Sound certification for low-latency, reliable, high-resolution music connections over Bluetooth 5.4. Transmission delays are less than 50 msec. The line-in jack and USB-C port can also be used to connect external audio sources.

The Pavé also has Bluetooth LE to support Auracast broadcast audio and Low Complexity Communications Codec (LC3), the successor to the widely-supported low-complexity subband codec (SBC) with improved audio quality. Other supported codecs include SBC, AAC, aptX, and aptX Adaptive (24-bit, 96 kHz, low latency, lossless).

The palm-sized speaker measures 3.66 x 3.66 x 3.43 in. (93 x 93 x 87 mm) and weighs 1.09 lbs. (496 g). The internal battery has a runtime of up to 8.5 hours and recharges using a USB-C power source. The speaker is IPX7-rated to withstand water immersion up to 3 ft. 3 in. (1 m) deep.

Readers interested in the Cear Pavé can place their name on the waiting list linked from Cear's Japanese website because the high demand has consistently outstripped Cear's production capacity. The Pavé speaker has an MSRP of 39,800 yen (~$254) and comes in black or white.

Readers who want to experience surround sound from a single speaker unit but don't want to wait for the Pavé can buy the Sony SRS-RA3000 360 Reality Audio wireless speaker from Amazon today to use with 360 Reality Audio tracks from a compatible music streaming service.