{"id":553662,"date":"2026-03-20T22:02:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T22:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/553662\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T22:02:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T22:02:14","slug":"im-helpless-against-the-80s-nostalgia-in-philips-new-wireless-speakers-and-headphones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/553662\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019m Helpless Against the \u201980s Nostalgia in Philips\u2019 New Wireless Speakers and Headphones"},"content":{"rendered":"

If there\u2019s one way to get my attention with audio gear, it\u2019s a big-ass boombox<\/a>\u2014one that I don\u2019t need but want all the same. If there\u2019s another way to get my attention, it\u2019s unbridled nostalgia. Philips, much to the trepidation of my wallet, has seemingly bored into my brain and uncovered both of these truths and is set to release a bunch of retro-inspired audio gear that I already need want.<\/p>\n

The wireless speakers and earbuds in question are a part of Philips\u2019 Moving Sound revival, which draws on a line of products from the 1980s. While they were announced in September<\/a>, we now have final names, specs, and prices per What Hi-Fi,<\/a> which confirmed details at a recent event<\/a>. First up are a pair of wireless speakers: the Tube and the Roller. The Tube is named as such for its, well, tubular design and is the bigger of the two with 140W of output from two side-firing passive radiators, two five-inch woofers, and two 1.5-inch tweeters. Battery life is 24 hours, and you can connect via Bluetooth 5.5. It\u2019s priced at 349.99 euros (around $402).<\/p>\n

\"Philips\u00a9 Philips <\/p>\n

The Roller, on the other hand, is a little bit smaller and more portable, but also has less power\u201460W of output coming from two woofers, two tweeters, and two passive radiators. The Roller costs 179.99 euros (about $208).<\/p>\n

Both speakers, as you can see, go hard on the nostalgia from a design perspective, featuring boombox-like handles and an \u201980s-friendly yellow color, though they can be purchased in black if you\u2019re boring and hate fun. They also both have built-in color displays, which loop a cassette animation, just to hammer the whole retro thing home, and they both have lights.<\/p>\n

If portable speakers aren\u2019t your thing, there\u2019s also a pair of wireless headphones<\/a> and earbuds that are equally (if not more) playful. The Ringo Duo is a pair of over-ear wireless headphones that evoke the Walkman. This 34.99-euro (about $40) pair of headphones<\/a> come with 40mm drivers and have both USB-C wired and Bluetooth capabilities. They get up to 26 hours of battery life, and the wireless headphones also have a microphone for calling.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\"Philips<\/a> \t\t\t \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\u00a9 Philips \t\t\t\t \t\t\t \t\t\t\t\"Philips<\/a> \t\t\t \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\u00a9 Philips \t\t\t\t \t\t <\/p>\n

Finally, there are wireless earbuds<\/a>, which are something that was definitely not a thing in the \u201980s, but are retro-looking all the same. The 79.99-euro (about $92) \u201cBuds,\u201d as Philips is calling them, have hybrid active noise cancellation (ANC), and they\u2019ll get 42 hours of battery life with ANC off, though that\u2019s with the charging case.\u00a0 Philips hasn\u2019t shared any info on battery life with ANC on. That\u2019s either a PR oversight or it\u2019s afraid to share battery life because it might be low. Like the Roller and the Tube, there\u2019s also a display, though it\u2019s on the Buds\u2019 charging case\u2014it shows the same cassette animation as the Tube and Roller and can be used for controlling playback.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, all this gear is about the looks just as much as the sound, and on that end, Philips nailed the nostalgia bait. If you\u2019re itching to get your hands on any of this retro-inspired audio gear like I am, you\u2019re going to have to wait a bit. Philips says the Moving Sound line will launch in the second quarter of this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If there\u2019s one way to get my attention with audio gear, it\u2019s a big-ass boombox\u2014one that I don\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,1590,63,184845,125480,105,79453,69889],"class_list":["post-553662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-au","tag-audio","tag-australia","tag-bluetooth-speakers","tag-philips","tag-technology","tag-wireless-earbuds","tag-wireless-headphones"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}