Pioneer and Onkyo U.S.A Corp. have announces a new “Smart Mute” feature for the Rayz and Rayz Plus Lightning earphones (www.pioneerrayz.com), along with new Rayz Plus colors – black and rose gold – which are available exclusively at Apple.com and at Apple Retail stores worldwide for $99.95 and $149.95, respectively.

Rayz Plus are Lightning earphones with an inline charging node that allows you to charge the iPhone and listen to music or talk at the same time. It uses Apple’s newest Lightning audio technology, powered by Avnera’s LightX platform.

The new “Smart Mute” feature for Rayz and Rayz Plus automatically mutes the microphone when a user isn’t speaking and unmutes the microphone when the user begins speaking again. Users can get Smart Mute by downloading the latest Rayz app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch on the Apple App Store and performing a Rayz software update.