MISCO Announces Partnership with ComHear on Immersive Audio Solutions for OEM Product Developers

MISCO Speakers announced a new venture to expand its portfolio of loudspeaker and audio solutions engineered and assembled in the US, targeting immersive designs and soundbars. The audio solutions manufacturer from Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul has partnered with ComHear, the creators of a pioneering algorithmic beamsteering platform and the first 3D audio soundbar using adaptive audio technology. 
 

The last time audioXpress reported about ComHear (and it had been a significant hiatus), the company was (supposedly) acquired by WiSA Technologies. WiSA has meanwhile turned into Datavault-ai (self-described as “a leader in AI-driven blockchain and data monetization”… likely to scare anyone considering any form of business). The good news, as the current announcement confirms, is that ComHear was never acquired, and its IP and technology remain available and represented.

The San Diego-based company definitely left a mark in the audio industry for being the first to bring to market a 3D audio soundbar that could create a convincing personal audio field for both work and entertainment applications. ComHear successfully completed a crowdfunding campaign for its YARRA 3DX immersive audio soundbar using the patented MyBeam technology in 2018, which effectively was introduced to the market shortly after.

It is this technology that motivated MISCO to combine its expertise in driver and electronics engineering, looking to create advanced, immersive experiences for OEM customer products. This also allows MISCO to explore how beam steering technology could address specific audio challenges and unlock new possibilities for all sorts of projects.

According to the announcement, the MISCO and ComHear partnership “emerged from a shared understanding of the needs of manufacturers within demanding industries.” Mike Binn, CEO of Apical Point Partners and Senior Vice President of ComHear, previously worked with overseas original design manufacturers (ODMs) and reports a frustratingly slow pace of prototype development, a lack of dedicated focus on the B2B market, and less-than-ideal technology marketing.

“Our experience had been with overseas ODMs, and they had difficulty turning around prototypes and getting the type of engineering response time we needed,” Binn recounted. “They were all focused on electronics and couldn’t effectively sell the product and technology.”

MISCO’s work with ComHear offers mutual benefits that extend beyond a simple vendor-supplier relationship. ComHear gains access to MISCO’s audio engineering expertise, agility in rapid prototyping, and commitment to manufacturing quality. As a result, ComHear can expand its technological horizons, offering cutting-edge beam steering and 3D audio capabilities. For MISCO’s customers, the partnership offers speaker hardware that is seamlessly integrated with spatial audio algorithms and backed by the collective expertise of two industry leaders.

“ComHear’s technology is allowing MISCO to provide an end-user experience that was previously difficult to achieve with only a few speakers,” shares Dan Digre, CEO and President of MISCO. “We are looking forward to bringing this technology to our customers because we know that it will improve their customers’ experience.”

 

As MISCO expands, the partnership with ComHear offers key advantages for product development teams, simplifying the implementation of 3D audio experiences without the complexity typically associated with implementing such features. “You can have the sound of 32 speakers coming over a soundbar that just has two speakers,” Binn notes. “You’ll be hearing multiple channels of audio without added hardware.”

The combined solutions will accommodate space constraints that often challenge product development teams. This adaptability helps manufacturers maintain their design vision while still incorporating quality, directional, and 3D audio. Also, MISCO’s unique expertise with Klippel measurement tools enables analysis of vibrational behavior under real-world conditions, resulting in better-performing, consistent, and cost-effective products.

As MISCO expands, the collaboration with ComHear aims to address persistent spatial challenges across many manufacturer applications, including creating personal audio zones around gaming machines in casinos, focusing attention in drive-thru lanes and kiosks, both markets that MISCO knows and has served for many years.

“When you receive a MISCO product with ComHear technology, we offer support from the concept stage all the way through production. We provide quick sample delivery and technical assistance during early integration to resolve issues before they affect timelines, and we ensure consistent quality and dependable delivery to meet manufacturing schedules, leveraging MISCO’s proven expertise as a trusted OEM partner,” the announcement adds.

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