Subtle’s Voicebuds Bet Big on Whisper-to-AI: $199 Earbuds Take Aim at Apple’s Transcription Tech

Subtle’s new earbuds promise to turn your quietest whispers into flawless AI commands—even in a cacophony.

The $199 Voicebuds include a year-long subscription to iOS/Mac apps for voice notes and AI chat. CEO Tyler Chen explained the company’s strategy:

We are seeing that there is a huge move towards voice as a new interface... we will give consumers a way to experience a voice interface in the form of our earbuds.

Subtle claims its transcription system has 5x fewer errors than Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 paired with OpenAI models.

Demo tests showed the earbuds capturing whispered audio in noisy environments. This positions them against competitors like Wispr Flow, Willow, Monolouge, and Superwhisper, which also offer in-app dictation support.

The Voicebuds will ship in the U.S. within months in black and white options. Pre-orders are available on Subtle’s website. The company has raised $6 million and partners with Qualcomm and Nothing for noise-isolation models.