BIf virtual or augmented reality glasses look like normal glasses, it will take some time. But audio glasses come very close to this goal. The start-up Fauna from Austria designed its glasses so that they look exactly like this: like striking glasses. We liked that. But basically nobody wears a fauna just because of its design. The test shows that there are much more convincing reasons for this.
The main reason for wearing audio glasses is to use them to hear sounds. This is exactly why the fauna has built a lot of technology into their glasses temples. There is a two-way sound system on each side with tiny speakers aimed at the user’s ear. There are also small batteries and two microphones. The front area of the temples is touch-sensitive; functions can be controlled here by tapping or swiping.
There is no memory in the glasses. Sounds come wirelessly to the fauna via Bluetooth. To do this, it must first be connected to a smartphone or a computer. The manufacturer made this as easy as possible. If the fauna is taken out of its case, it already begins the so-called pairing.
Now the user has to go to the Bluetooth settings in his playback device – we tested this with smartphones and notebooks – and confirm the connection with the glasses. The next time the Fauna will automatically connect to the device it was connected to last time.
Fauna audio glasses and their functions
Those: Fauna
You shouldn’t set your standards too high when it comes to sound quality. We would describe the sound as mediocre to flat at most. But you do the glasses an injustice if you compare them with real earphones that are placed in or directly in front of the ear canal. Since the tones come from the loudspeakers in the bracket, the bass in particular is extremely weak. That’s okay for background music, but nothing more. The fauna is just not a hi-fi device.
Once you’ve come to terms with it, things get interesting. The fauna is definitely sufficient for listening to podcasts or audio books. In addition, you can still hear all ambient noise, which is safer, especially in traffic, than isolating with real earphones or headphones.
On a busy street, however, the traffic noise can exceed the volume of the fauna, so that you can no longer hear much from their mini speakers. In the office, on the other hand, you can listen to podcasts or music with the Fauna without signaling to everyone else that you are not available.
Can be charged up to four times in the case
Those: Fauna
However, if the environment is very quiet, people can still see from a distance of two meters which piece of music is being heard when the maximum volume is set. At half the volume, only a barely audible whisper can be heard from this distance. We therefore consider the computer workstation to be the optimal application scenario for the fauna, as videos can be played here, among other things, without colleagues having to listen to the sound.
The glasses are also ideal for making phone calls, provided it is not too windy. In the test, the interviewees usually got along very well with us. If this was not the case, it was due to the Bluetooth connection. A new coupling then corrected that. Since the fauna has no buttons, it can only be controlled via the touch-sensitive surface of the bracket.
Tapping twice on the left will answer or end a call, for example. When playing music, the current song is paused and played in this way. A double tap on the right side calls up the digital voice assistant on the smartphone. If the finger is held on the bracket on the left for four seconds, the music jumps to the next song; on the right, a new Bluetooth pairing starts. And swiping forwards or backwards on the left bracket varies the volume.
The Fauna glasses automatically activate the Bluetooth connection when they are removed from their case
Those: Fauna
Conclusion: Fauna has thought through its audio glasses well and has made them a useful helper, especially in the office. Despite all the technology, the glasses are still pleasantly light to wear at 50 grams. The glasses are available in four different designs. The batteries last up to four hours when playing music, and up to 20 hours in standby.
In the test, we were connected to the computer all day long without any problems. The supplied case also has a built-in battery that charges the glasses up to four times.
There is an English-language app for glasses, but it is largely useless. You can only set so-called whistles via the application, so that you are regularly reminded to drink water or to get up from a chair. Unfortunately, the glasses are unable to automatically pause the music when you take them off your nose.
You can’t tell from it how full the battery is. We also missed the ability to connect the glasses to two devices at the same time. The fauna costs 200 euros and comes with blue light filter or sun glasses. Opticians can, however, also fit lenses with corrective powers.
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