Sonos headphones seem on the way after Bluetooth technology company takeover

Sonos quietly acquired T2 Software last year. That company was working on the implementation of new bluetooth techniques. Now Sonos is looking for a marketing company to introduce a new product. It is probably a headset.

Sonos has not announced the acquisition of T2 Software itself, but the audio company confirms to Protocol that the American start-up was acquired last year. In November, T2 Software merged with Sonos. That company had been around since 2018 and was founded by Tim Reilley, who previously worked on wearables at Qualcomm.

Until it was bought, T2 Software was working on the implementation of Bluetooth LC3. That is an audio codec for the Bluetooth LE Audio standard. That standard was presented at the beginning of 2020 as a new standard for audio that works via Bluetooth low energy, with a number of new properties.

Sonos headphones in patent application

The codec would enable high sound quality at a much lower bitrate than current codecs in bluetooth audio devices. That should also result in energy savings, T2 Software wrote on its site. The company’s website was taken offline after the acquisition. Bluetooth LC3 also supports broadcasting to multiple devices. That would make it possible to send audio from a phone or tablet to multiple wireless headphones at the same time.

Protocol thinks Sonos plans to announce its own wireless headphones soon. There have been rumors about this since 2019 and in 2020 Sonos headphones were featured in a patent application from the company.

Sonos’s marketing executive recently said on LinkedIn that the company is seeking a marketing firm to launch one of its “most ambitious projects ever.” It would be a new product category for Sonos, but that category itself is already well developed. Headphones fit that description well. Sonos has not responded to questions about the headphones.