Smart Earbuds Startup Doppler Labs Closes its Doors

Doppler Labs, maker of the Hear Active and Hear One smart earbuds, announced that it is ceasing operations December 1.

The startup had raised more than $50 million since its founding in 2013 but was unable to secure funding to continue running the business and develop new products. Backers included Universal Music, Live Nation and a number of music industry heavyweights, including Quincy Jones, Mark Ronson, and Hans Zimmer.

In a farewell post on its website, Doppler wrote: “To put it simply, over the past months, we took hundreds of meetings in an attempt to secure the necessary capital to continue running our business and build our next product — which would have been a true alternative to traditional hearing aids. However, we couldn’t find the needed capital to develop another complex hardware product.”

In his review of the Hear Active — wireless earbuds designed not to play music but to shape the sound of the world around you — Mike Mettler did extensive listening at live concerts and was impressed with the ability to control live sound using a five-band EQ provided on the companion app.

The Hear Active was replaced by the Here One wireless earbuds, which combined those features with the ability to create a “perfect blend” of the music you’re listening to and the sounds around you. The product was greeted with enthusiasm but ultimately beset with delays and faulted for having a battery life that fell short of what was promised.

Doppler says its Hear One earbuds and app will continue to work and noted that the app is available from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

The company also plans to make available a new version of the Here One app it had been working on and an accompanying hearing service that functions as an alternative to a traditional hearing aid. “We weren’t able to put the finishing touches on this new app — called Here Plus — and formally launch it in December, but we’re making it available for download from the Apple App Store so all Here One customers can download it and experience our final effort as a company, for free.”

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