CES 2018: Mars wireless earbuds can translate conversations in real-time

The Google Pixel Buds made headlines last year thanks to their ability to seemingly translate speech on the fly. The headphones used Google Assistant and a Google Pixel 2 phone to translate foreign languages straight into your earlobes - 'the babel fish earbuds'.

The Mars earphones, on show at CES 2018, promise to take it a step further, working with any Android or iOS phone, and enabling person-to-person real-time translation. Thanks to the two separate wireless earbuds, one user can wear one earbud, one person the other, and using an app on a smartphone you can translate a previously disjointed conversation.

The earbuds can of course play music, too, offer noise-cancelling techonology and can take voice calls. They promise three hours of battery life and come with a charging case.

There's no official price as yet, but the Mars earbuds are scheduled for release in the summer.

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Joe is the Content Director for What Hi-Fi? and Future’s Product Testing, having previously been the Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi?. He has worked on What Hi-Fi? across the print magazine and website for almost 20 years, writing news, reviews and features on everything from turntables to TVs, headphones to hi-fi separates. He has covered product launch events across the world, from Apple to Technics, Sony and Samsung; reported from CES, the Bristol Show, and Munich High End for many years; and written for sites such as the BBC, Stuff and The Guardian. In his spare time, he enjoys expanding his vinyl collection and cycling (not at the same time).