If there are three things from Denmark that I love, it would be these three – in no particular order, of course. They are (can I have some drum rolls, please) Danish butter cookies, Carlsberg beer, and of course, the high end stuff from Bang & Olufsen. We will be munching on cookies and drinking beer on this lazy Sunday morning while talking about the Bang & Olufsen Playmaker, their latest, state-of-the-art receiver which is said to be able to wirelessly connect digital music sources to just about any Bang & Olufsen speakers.
Normally, the name ‘Playmaker’ is invoked when it comes to team sports, where there is a central figure in the team who calls the shots and actually pulls the strings of the game. Bang & Olufsen’s Playmaker, I suppose, lives up to its name on paper – where it is capable of unleashing the true, high-quality sound experience of Bang & Olufsen speakers within one’s digital music realm, thanks to one-step wireless operation straight from any smartphone. Not only that, it is also DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) and AirPlay compatible. What does that mean? Head on after the jump to find out.
Basically, the Playmaker is able to stream music from practically any smart phone, tablet, Mac, PC or media server. It also delivers what Bang & Olufsen claims to be a “second-to-none sound performance”, courtesy of its high performance Digital Audio converter which was specified for even the most powerful B&O speakers.
The Playmaker in essence delivers the best of both worlds to music lovers, ranging from outstanding audio quality from Bang & Olufsen’s extensive range of premium active speakers and one-touch access to digital music collections, all sans pesky wires that might trip you or your house guests up.
It is said that the Playmaker comes with extremely ease-to-use and intuitive operation, where you can add Playmaker to just about any set of Bang & Olufsen active loudspeakers, and it will take nothing but seconds for you to discover just how good a smartphone actually sounds. Playmaker is also capable of creating new wireless music scenarios, similar to how one is able to easily set different music zones in the house.
The asking price for the Playmaker when it arrives in Bang & Olufsen showrooms in US, Canada and Mexico at the end of July would be $425, although you can opt to have it bundled with a powerful BeoLab 3 loudspeaker for $4,310.
[ Bang & Olufsen Playmaker offers wireless connectivity copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
If you wished that more Bang & Olufsen products offered AirPlay or DLNA support, you might be in luck as the company has recently taken the wraps off the Playmaker (pictured above in the center). With the receiver hooked up, your AirPlay and DLNA devices will be able to stream audio to pretty much any of the company’s speaker offerings. Now we’re sure that some of you guys, particularly audiophiles, who might be concerned about the drop in quality due to wireless streaming. Well while we haven’t actually got a chance to try the Playmaker out ourselves, Bang & Olufsen is promising that the device will still help to provide clean and powerful sound thanks to a built-in DAC.
