Fauna, an Italian company, combines eyewear and audio in its new line of smart tech glasses. They look just like glasses, but play music with crystal clear sound.
The model I tested was "spiro transparent brown," which translates to sunglasses with transparent frames. Built with Bluetooth 5.0 for easy pairing to an Android or iOS wireless device, each arm of the glasses is equipped with water-resistant micro-speakers and electrodynamic woofers. There's a touchpad control, and a pair of microphones on the right for hands-free (and ears-free) calls. With no earbuds to plug up your ears, they're safer when navigating busy streets, allowing you to hear ambient noises.
If you expect a full surround sound system to be blaring in your ears, this is not for you. The Fauna is built for convenience, and on that score they did a great job. The lenses are available in four attractive styles with each having a different frame design, lens color (blue light filter lenses, sunglasses, or cat-eye sunglasses), and the built-in speaker system. The glass is interchangeable, enabling an optician to change the lenses to your prescription.
The glasses can play up to four hours of music and calls. The hard storage case doubles as a charger. The case's battery takes about two hours to fully charge the glasses. A USB-C cable is included, along with a cleaning cloth. (wearfauna.com, $298)
