We are not just making products for India, we are gearing up for the world stage: Noise founder Amit Khatri

Noise has been in the industry for 10 years now, and just recently, I had the chance to sit down with Amit Khatri, the company’s co-founder, as we talked about the brand’s journey over the years. For those who are not aware, most people know Noise for their sheer dominance in the affordable Indian smartwatch market. But the brand has also gotten quite serious about premium audio lately, especially in the last couple of years. With their partnership with Bose and the unveiling of the Master Buds 2 at CES, it’s pretty clear that the company no longer wants to just focus on high-volume sales, but also design-led products.

Amit and I also chatted about the origin of Noise, how they are integrating AI into wearables, and their plan to take an Indian brand to the global stage. Here is the full conversation.

Also read: Noise Master Buds 2 review: Do they stand out in a competitive market?

Aman: Most people know about Noise as the leading wearable brand in India, but I’d love to start from your perspective. How did Noise begin, and where does the company stand today in terms of its journey and scale?

Amit: We started close to ten years back. Our thesis back then was based on a huge gap we saw in the market. Whenever we or someone we knew travelled abroad, we used to ask them to bring something back because there were only the big global brands or cheap Chinese knock-offs available here. That is where the origin of Noise happened. We wanted to see if we could bring something for an Indian user who is willing to pay for a better quality product and a better design.

As an organisation, we have really evolved. We started as a mobile accessory brand, and today we are among the top five brands globally for wearables, specifically smartwatches. We are also among the top three brands in the country for truly wireless audio devices. We believe we should be offering an ecosystem of devices to users. The Indian market is growing, and customers are very educated because of digital media. If you offer them a good product and experience, they are willing to pay for it.

Aman: Noise built strong leadership in smartwatches first, but we can now see that you guys are clearly stepping into the premium audio segment. What changed inside the company that made audio such an important focus area?

Amit: We are into consumer devices, and I believe that in the coming time, voice is going to play a very big role. The way we interact and talk to our devices, voice will be a major part of that. Audio comes from there. I never look at a company as just a smartwatch or audio company; it is an ecosystem. Smartwatches allow every consumer to pair an app with a watch, which gives us access to their consumer patterns. In the AI era, audio will help us give them a 360-degree ecosystem experience. It is about building connected devices, whether it is audio, watches, rings, or whatever form factor comes next.

Aman: The Master Series feels like a different direction for Noise compared to the rest of your portfolio, like the Air Clips and the Air Buds Max. How do you define the role of the Master Series within the brand?

Amit: The Master Series is a different avatar of Noise. I see how the brand has evolved in the last ten years, and I believe consumers are now well-aware of what is available globally. Our thesis with the Master Series is to offer flagship experiences at prices that are accessible to the majority of users. We are taking on global products with designs that perform well and sound great.

Aman: The first Master Buds already positioned Noise differently in the audio space. Now, we have seen the Master Buds 2 get unveiled at CES, and they carry on the design language of the first-gen model. I want to understand what the buyer can expect in terms of the real-world features and upgrades with the newer model.

Amit: Normally, we see audio companies launching iterative products that are just slightly better than the previous generation. With this product, we have really built it from the ground up. It has the best noise cancellation performance. If you compare it to any leader in the market, our performance is better because we redesigned the sound architecture and cavity, borrowing insights from Bose.

Secondly, we worked extensively on the drivers and tuning with Bose to ensure the sound is well-balanced. Third, we invested heavily in the software layer to deliver good AI experiences. Beyond that, it features spatial audio. We realised people watch a lot of 4K content and want a cinematic sound, so we worked on head-tracking. If I move my head to the left, the sound will feel like it is coming from that direction.

Aman: Bose investing in Noise was a big moment for the Indian consumer tech ecosystem. In practical terms, how has that partnership influenced the way Noise designs and develops its audio products today?

Amit: Noise brings scale, accessibility, and desire, while Bose brings six decades of audio R&D. India is a very different market, and our goal was to bring these two leaders together to offer a great experience to a broad range of users. No international brand can ignore India today.

Working with them gave us access to their labs. I personally travelled there and realised that audio is experienced very differently in international markets. The investment that goes into designing great sound is huge. This partnership fast-tracked our journey by showing us how global leaders think about everything from tuning and noise cancellation to materials and drivers. It might have taken us ten years to get there on our own; they helped us do it in two.

Aman: Can you share a specific example of something that actually changed in your product development process because of the Bose partnership?

Amit: Our quality benchmarks went up significantly. It was very clear that our products would be benchmarked against the best global brands. Whatever a consumer gets here, Bose is validating it. Whether it is the voice pickup, which is critical for Indian users, or the noise cancellation, they have to validate the claims. To build that experience, Noise had to unlearn a lot and start fresh. It is great for Indian users because they can now get flagship-level sound quality at accessible prices without spending three or four times the cost.

Aman: For a long time, the Indian audio market has been very price-driven. Are you now seeing a real shift where consumers are willing to pay more for better sound, better design, and overall premium experiences?

Amit: The audio market is super competitive. For many years, brands focused on penetration and accessibility. But the Indian user is mature and evolving. We have a very young population that learns fast. We have seen that if a product justifies the experience at the right price point, people are 100 per cent willing to pay more. They want a design that resonates with their personality, not just a commodity. They want immersive technology, comfort for long hours of listening, and great noise cancellation because the Indian environment is very noisy.

Aman: With features like an AI voice assistant coming into earbuds, the product seems to be evolving beyond just listening devices. How do you see earbuds changing over the next few years?

Amit: All consumer devices will become companion devices. People will not want to buy ‘dumb’ devices that only do one job. You won’t have one device for taking notes and another just for music. They will be smarter, connected to an app ecosystem, and will stay updated over time through software. Instead of opening my phone to type, I should be able to tap my earbuds and say, ‘Hey Noise AI, I am meeting Aman from Digit, tell me more about him.’ Nobody wants to type anymore.

Also read: Noise Master Buds Max first impressions: When Noise goes ambitious with Bose’s touch

Aman: If we look ahead, where do you see Noise in the next five years, both as a brand in India and in terms of its global ambitions?

Amit: Five years is too far now in this journey, but I can comment on the next two to three years. We announced our latest launch at the global CES. This is a signal to the world that Indian brands are no longer just making products for the country. We have the capability to produce competitive hardware, partner with global brands, and create well-designed products. We are gearing up for the world stage. In three years, we want a strong global presence where Indian brands are seen as equals to international brands.