A 5G-powered app could be the solution to muddy speakers at concerts and sporting events — but it's not for everyone

• Mixhalo is an app that streams sound directly from the mixing board to concertgoers' earphones.
• It fixes muddy speaker sounds and background noise, but not everyone likes wearing headphones.
• The app is powered by 5G, the latest in high-speed, low-latency mobile connectivity. 
• This article is part of "5G Playbook," a series exploring one of our generation's most important tech innovations. 

Live events hold a special place for many. Being part of a roaring crowd, immersed in music, or passionately cheering for our favorite teams can be an experience like no other.

Yet live events often face audio-quality issues, such as vocals getting drowned out by instruments, distortion from excessive volume, acoustic challenges, speaker feedback, and noise from the crowd. 

But with the increasing availability of 5G — a cellular wireless technology that delivers high-speed internet to our mobile phones — app developers say it offers a new way to experience live events without interference. 

The Mixhalo app is using 5G for a more immersive event experience

5G technology is the fifth generation of wireless connectivity and was designed to increase data speeds, lower latency, and increase device capacity. Because 5G can offer faster download speeds and a more reliable connection, it theoretically has the power to change the live-event experience for many fans. 

The audio platform Mixhalo is leveraging 5G to deliver high-quality audio directly to event attendees' earbuds in real time.

Originally conceptualized by Mike Einziger, the guitarist for the band Incubus, and his wife, the internationally acclaimed violinist Ann Marie Simpson-Einziger, Mixhalo's goal is to recreate the immersive onstage audio experience for audiences on their devices. 

Using the Mixhalo app on a smartphone, fans can access the same audio musicians hear onstage by streaming audio directly from the soundboard and even accessing isolated mixes for guitar, vocals, and drums. 

Corey Laplante, the president of Mixhalo, told Insider, "We wanted to give every fan in the venue the same stellar sound the artists hear through in-ear monitors while performing." The download speed, capacity, and reliability of 5G make that possible in the confined space of a concert venue.

Concertgoers say the app achieves its goals

An app like this isn't for everyone — wearing headphones at a concert or sporting event might not appeal to some fans. But users online agree that Mixhalo does achieve its goal of providing a more immersive experience.

One reviewer in the Apple App Store wrote, "It felt a little strange at first having earbuds in at a show, but I got past that very quickly. I could hear EVERY note and every word. I loved being able to adjust the sound level for each instrument to make my own mix."

Another commenter on Reddit gave rave reviews for the audio quality but expressed disappointment in the overall experience. 

The app was "100% necessary to hear the sound from the side of the stage. Felt bad for the people who didn't have iPhones/headphones, speaker sound was muddy garbage," they wrote. "I do feel the experience was not the same. It felt very isolating to be wearing headphones all night. A concert is a communal experience. I found myself frequently taking out my right headphone to hear more of the crowd in the mix."

Like all tech, Mixhalo sometimes glitches. According to Mixhalo's FAQs, users may experience clips and skips in the audio stream, often attributed to being out of range from the audio source. And sync issues between the live sound and the app can also happen, particularly when using wireless or Bluetooth headphones. And despite using 5G, latency problems may arise, leading to an unsynchronized audio stream. 

While not everyone will gravitate to an app like this, Laplante said the goal is to "connect users to the experience, not their phones." Highlighting the social aspects of the tech, he said that at sporting events, "we often see fans throw in one earbud so they can hear the commentary and still go on talking to friends about the game — and often about the commentary itself." 

Mixhalo is currently available on the Incubus tour, at the Stern Grove Festival in San Francisco, and at the Sting residency in Las Vegas. For sports fans, Mixhalo is in use by the Los Angeles Football Club, the Sacramento Kings, and at NASCAR events.