Brilliant Halo’s 4 November firmware fixes stereo audio routing

At a glance

The short version: Halo firmware 0.8.25 fixes stereo playback routing in the project’s engineering tests.

Do this first: check your installed version, then listen for separate left and right playback and usable loudness.

Brilliant Halo has a useful audio fix in firmware 0.8.25, released on 4 November. The official project says stereo streams now play through the correct left and right sides. Previously, every stream played as mono on both speakers. For owners using an app that requests stereo audio, the update addresses a concrete limitation in how those channels reached the glasses.[1]

The public development record explains what was checked. In a change merged on 3 November, contributor CitizenOneX describes playing different test tones on a Halo development kit and checking an Android phone’s stereo stream on a Halo unit. The account reports the left channel coming from the left arm and the right channel from the right. These are the project’s own engineering checks.[2]

Loudness deserves its own check after updating. With both channels playing, the contributor measured a lower level on each side than when a side played alone, and suggested that the protection limiter might need tuning. Correct stereo routing gives each channel its intended side; the level of simultaneous playback remains a question for a current listening demonstration. A favourite stereo recording is a useful place for an owner to hear the difference.[2]

This follows firmware 0.8.24 on 2 November, which addressed motion-sensor reads failing while Bluetooth traffic was busy. The published test report describes a unit that previously failed three reads in 840 completing 12,000 reads without a failure. That developer test gives apps using the motion sensor alongside Bluetooth a specific reliability improvement to check.[3]

Halo’s official firmware repository supports owners building modified software and installing it wirelessly on their own glasses. For an existing owner, these release records give a precise reason to check the installed version. For a buyer considering music playback, the next useful evidence is a listening demonstration on 0.8.25 that checks usable loudness as well as channel separation.[4]