We've grown used to having voice assistants on our phones and in our homes, and now the next big frontier appears to be headphones, with brands up and down the price spectrum building in support.
Bose got the ball rolling last year with the release of the Bose QuietComfort 35 IIs, and now at CES 2018 mid-range brand JBL has announced that it's doing the same with its upcoming Everest 710GA and Everest 110GA headphones.
Both the over-ear 710GA (pictured above) and the in-ear 110GA will offer support for Google Assistant, which can be activated with a quick tap on the earcup, allowing access to voice controls and notifications.
Speaker-easy
JBL already has a number of Bluetooth speakers on the market (a few have even made it onto our list of the best Bluetooth speakers), and it's launching a handful more at the show.
The JBL Go 2 is a small brick of a speaker, the Clip 3 is circular and features – you've guessed it – a clip, and the Xtreme 2 has the manufacturer's traditional cylindrical design.
The new speakers are "designed especially so the party doesn't have to stop", and while we're not sure exactly what that means, in principle we're in favor of any innovation that prevents our parties ending prematurely.
Finally, JBL's sister's brand AKG also has a new pair of in-ear headphones launching at the show. The £999.99 AKG N5005s are unlikely to sit within too many people's budgets, but its five-driver configuration and support for hi-res audio should be enough to pique the interests of most audiophiles.
