My obsession with the movie Her isn’t about the complex plot depicting a man’s relationship with his gadget, it’s directed at the small wireless earbud Joaquin Phoenix used in the film. It was tiny and spectacular, unencumbered by technical realities.

That’s probably why I was enthralled when the company Earin launched its Kickstarter for a pair of impossibly small earbuds. Instead of only one playing in mono like in the movie, however, there are two–wirelessly connected–that can play in stereo.

Earin isn’t the only manufacturer making tiny earbuds. There’s also Bragi making The Dash, Ownphones, and Motorola, each creating some small wireless earbuds that tuck fashionably inside your ear.

The simultaneous timing of these product releases and announcements got me curious about what was behind these advancements. Turns out, these devices are using technology that is three years old.

“The hardware enabling these tiny new devices is the CSR8670, our leading-edge flash based audio system-on-chip platform,” says CSR senior manager of audio marketing Kevin Carey. “It integrates advanced wireless connectivity with embedded flash memory and many other capabilities that enable manufacturers to design leading-edge wireless headsets and speakers.”

Integrating all of the components so they spoke to one another required an operating system designed by us.

The CSR8670 hardware was released in September of 2011. So why the delay in getting this type of earbud to market? The release of a new ADK (accessory development kit) with the updated “True Wireless Audio” application looks like it may have been the turning point. The software allows manufacturers to design headsets and speakers that don’t need wires to connect the left and right speakers or earbuds together.

“We designed the application to ensure audio is so tightly synchronized it delivers the same user experience as a wired headset or speaker, and in conjunction with our aptX audio codec delivers CD-quality audio with no wires to be seen,” Carey says. “This capability seems to have fired the imagination of a number of companies who are using it in some exciting new products.”