The highly anticipated follow-up to the award-winning TH1 brings true two-channel system architecture into a wearable form.
San Diego, California — February 16, 2026 — In a market dominated by system-on-chip headphone designs, écoute launches the first wearable built on the gold-standard architecture of a true two-channel hi-fi system.
Most headphones collapse amplification, channel separation, and processing into a single shared chip. It’s efficient. It’s compact. It’s practical.
It’s also a compromise—a compromise you can hear.
For decades, the established signal path in high-end audio has been clear: separate components, dedicated left and right channels, and proper analog gain stages.
Until now, that standard stopped at the headphone jack.
écoute was founded on a simple refusal: portable should never mean compromise.
Two years ago, écoute introduced the TH1—the world’s first headphones built with a real vacuum tube preamp and true dual-mono amplification. The TH1 challenged long-standing assumptions about portable hi-fi and earned critical acclaim, including an Editor’s Choice Award from Magnetic Magazine, which wrote:
“These headphones don’t sound like headphones. They sound like a reference-grade two-channel system.”
Now, the evolution continues.
The newly launched écoute TH2, now live on Kickstarter, funded in minutes and surpassed $200,000 in pledges within the first 24 hours—an unusually rapid response for a high-end audio product built around analog architecture rather than mass-market features.
No other headphones are built like écoute
No other headphone on the market uses true dual-mono architecture with real vacuum tube preamplification.
The TH2 does not simulate a system. It is one.
Instead of sharing circuitry between channels, TH2 mirrors the architecture of a proper home hi-fi setup inside a headset. Each channel runs its own complete signal path from digital conversion to driver output:
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Dual high-resolution DAC cores
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Dual vacuum tube preamp stages
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Dual discrete analog amplifiers
A true end-to-end dual-mono architecture—inside a wearable form.
In a category built on shared circuitry, the TH2 is a structural departure. It brings high-end two-channel system architecture into a truly portable form.
At the heart of TH2 are real vacuum tube triodes performing actual voltage gain. Not DSP emulation. Not a filter. The same fundamental gain architecture that has defined high-end systems for decades—now condensed into a form you can carry onto a plane.
The TH2 is the evolution of vacuum tube audio—no longer confined to rack systems, but engineered into a mobile platform without abandoning its core architecture.
Left and right channels remain fully isolated throughout the signal path, effectively eliminating crosstalk at the source. The result? Imaging that unfolds in front of you instead of collapsing inside your head. Instruments take their place in three-dimensional space. Vocals breathe. The illusion holds. You don’t just hear the music—you hear the room it was performed in.
As sound engineer Henri Zalamea noted:
“The sound reproduction not only matches my home tube setup but, on certain tracks, actually surpasses it. The clarity, detail, and tonal balance are exceptional, making it a genuinely satisfying audiophile experience.”
That same architectural discipline extends to tuning. Most headphones apply app-based EQ as an overlay on top of the signal. TH2 reshapes its response curves at the firmware level inside the DSP—integrated into the signal path, not layered on top of it. The result is precise voicing without compromising resolution or signal integrity.
The TH1 rewrote the rules. The TH2 refines the architecture.
The TH2 builds on the foundation laid by the award-winning TH1, further refining both sonic performance and physical design.
What’s new in the TH2:
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Deeper bass extension and more extended treble for increased overall resolution
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Lower-noise active noise cancellation and a more natural transparency mode
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Improved passive isolation with reduced sound bleed
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Enhanced RF and microphonic shielding around the tube stage
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Eight-band firmware-level tuning with ±12 dB per band
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Modular construction with interchangeable pads and headband wraps
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Redesigned chassis and hybrid suspension headband for improved durability, comfort, and weight distribution
But the philosophy remains unchanged: Portability should never require compromise.
Where you listen should not dictate what you hear—whether you are seated in your listening chair at home or in seat 42B thirty thousand feet in the air. The TH2 is the evolution of that conviction, bringing home hi-fi architecture into a mobile format without abandoning what made serious listening serious.
The écoute TH2 campaign is now live on Kickstarter:
https://bit.ly/TH2-Kickstarter
About écoute audio
écoute audio is an award-winning high-end headphone company redefining portable hi-fi. As the first company to successfully integrate both true dual-mono architecture and a genuine vacuum tube gain stage into a wireless headphone, écoute brings the proven design principles of reference-grade home systems into a compact, wearable format.
