Consumer technology is nothing without a relentless push to make handy gadgets ever smaller, cheaper, and more convenient. This is especially true of wireless audio gear, which increasingly look poised to make cumbersome cables a thing of the past.

Chinese audio equipment manufacturer OCVACO Electronic Ltd. is at the leading edge of this wave. The 21-year old Zhongshan-based firm took flight soon after the invention of the Bluetooth wireless system by Ericsson in 1994, and functions primarily as an OEM/ODM supplier for the likes of JLab, JBL, Logitec, Pioneer, Maxell, and Elecom and others under its K-mate brand.

The firm manufactures a range of conventional sized Bluetooth-enabled headsets, but its marquee item is the finger-sized BTH109 Truewireless unit, which became a show-stopper at the spring Hong Kong Electronics Fair. Still in development at the time of the expo, the miniaturization of OCVACO's knowhow represents a quantum leap for the firm, and may signal new wave of cool gadgets for audiophiles.

The BTH109 is a two-way stereo transceiver built to V4.0 Class II Bluetooth and HFP (Hands-Free Profile) 1.6 specs. The unit sports a 80 milliamp built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery good for five hours of talking or 4.5 hours of music listening. It has one on/off button and one touch-sensitive button for answer/end and play/pause. The entire system is rated at IPX6, meaning it should hold up against a fair amount of rain and splash when taken outdoors.

The BTH109's soft rubber earbuds settle snugly into the ear canal, while the main body wraps behind the ear, partially out of site. With a 10-meter reception range, the fit and sound were both good. At a prospective wholesale price point of around $60 per set, the company should stand to generate strong sales, even with a sizeable retail markup.

"Size considerations have presented a range of challenges in perfecting the design," says OCVACO senior sales and marketing manager Michael So. "Dealing with interference and noise suppression are ongoing issues with nearly all Bluetooth systems." The company is eyeing a summer 2016 release for the unit, he adds.

Wireless audio has indeed been a long time coming, but problems with wireless audio gear have been well documented, and they remain prevalent enough to forestall a full-scale takeover from traditional cable-tethered systems.

Bluetooth's chief drawback is its limited range; currently, most headsets top out at about 10 meters - and this doesn't account for stuff being in the way, notes Jabra.com writer Daniel Gniazdo. "Bluetooth can't sneak around an obstacle and find its way to your phone, so if there's something solid between the two, the connection may drop," he says. "Unfortunately, 'something solid' can often be your own body.:

This sometimes leads to sounds disappearing for a few seconds or crackling noises, leading to buyer's remorse.

But strides are being made to address such issues. A dozen or so other companies are toiling away on the concept of perfecting the idea of a truly wireless earbud pair. In Germany, engineers at tech startup Bragi are set to put their Dash device on the market, a cool gadget that sports 23 embedded sensors and functions like a fitness coach, a health aid and a connected digital assistant all in one device.

Dash's right and left earbuds communicate with each other using near-field magnetic induction, (a technology borrowed from hearing aids) which eliminates latency and allows both earbuds to pipe out synchronous audio. Meanwhile, Bluetooth is used to communicate with the owner's cell phone. The earbuds can be paired via app with an iPhone or Android smartphone, and ship with 4GB of storage built in.

Bragi's ambitious goal appears to be someday turning Dash into a standalone computer, says Chuong Nguyen of wareable.com, a tech review site. That might at least justify the $299 retail price tag.

In the U.S., Seattle-based startup Human Inc. is developing its "Sound" project, a wireless, egg-shaped, over-the-ear headphone kit that that plays audio from a device of one's choosing. The company is targeting a fall 2016 launch for its device.

Meanwhile, Bluetooth's creators aren't sitting still. Announced in June, Bluetooth 5 promises a four-fold range increase, double the speed, and an eight-fold increase in data broadcasting capacity over older versions of the software.

Much like the advent of the personal computer, wireless earphones appear destined to have their day.