One company that’s looking to break into the wireless speaker market for gamers is Divoom, who just announced today a new Bluetooth gaming speaker called the ONBEAT-X1. The speaker has specially-designed suction cups on the back that allow you to easily stick the speaker onto the back of a smartphone or tablet for better audio quality.
The new speaker features force feedback, which Divoom calls “Vibration Bass,” and it essentially reacts to gaming actions with shakes and vibrations for a more realistic experience when it comes to gameplay. The ONBEAT-X1 Bluetooth gaming speaker also provides 8 hours of music playback, thanks to the built-in lithium ion battery that’s rechargeable via microUSB.
The speaker works with all Bluetooth devices, including pretty much all smartphones and tablet, but if you don’t have a Bluetooth-enabled device, you can plug directly into the speaker using a traditional 3.5mm audio cable that comes included with the package. You’ll probably get better quality through the cable anyways, since Bluetooth tends to degrade audio quality just a tad.
As far as pricing and availability, the ONBEAT-X1 will be on sale starting later this month, and it will be available in either black or white. You’ll be able to pick one up for $39 once they become available. The speaker comes with suction cups to attach to your device, a microUSB cable for charging, and a 3.5mm audio cable for connecting to non-Bluetooth devices.
Streaming music specialist Sonos has been hinting at home theater expansion for years now, but it’s taken until today for the fruits of that ambition to arrive: the Sonos PLAYBAR, aiming for a spot under your TV. Promising the traditional Sonos ease of setup and use, but with a dual-personality catering both for TV and movie audio, and for music, the PLAYBAR hooks up as another zone in your home entertainment network and packs nine speakers as well as playing nicely with other PLAY models. We caught up with Sonos to find out why the PLAYBAR was special.
The company’s reluctance to extend itself beyond musical speakers has been down to a fear of losing focus: the audience is still dedicated music lovers, Sonos says, but concedes that many in that audience also love films. Meanwhile, while display technology has advanced hugely, skinny flat-panel TV sets have squeezed speakers into something of an afterthought, thus opening the door to hardware like the PLAYBAR.
All-in-one speakers aren’t new, of course, but PLAYBAR does some things differently. That starts with setup: there’s wireless onboard, for the easiest way of connecting, but you also get a pair of ethernet ports on the back for wired networks (and for passing the connection through, say, to your smart TV, or being the first node hard-wired to your router for an overall Sonos installation). Otherwise there’s just power and an optical digital input – no HDMI, since Sonos expects the TV to remain the “brains” in charge of switching and managing media – along with the usual three physical buttons for mute and volume up/down which are on one end of the bar.
When you first set up, the PLAYBAR can learn the volume buttons on your favorite remote (whether that be for your TV, your Blu-ray player, or your set-top box). Out of the box there’s presets for the popular brands/models – most users will just have to press the volume-up key for the PLAYBAR to recognize it – but there’s also a nine-key-press learning mode for new sets. Cleverly, Sonos collects up those programming settings and updates them across all PLAYBAR units, meaning the next user with the same remote won’t have to go through the teaching process. On the back of the soundbar there’s a broad IR repeater strip, just in case placing the PLAYBAR in front of your TV blocks its IR receiver, and there are two IR windows on the Sonos itself, catering for table or wall mounting.
Back when the PLAYBAR was first spotted sneaking through the FCC, there was speculation as to what its dual wireless chipsets might be used for. As the company explained to us, it’s all down to latency – or the avoidance of it – in surround sound mode. The PLAYBAR has one regular WiFi chip to hook up to the network as per all Sonos speakers, but also has a second, ultra-low-latency chip which is used to maintain up to three perfectly-synchronized channels in a surround setup, feeding two PLAY:3 rear speakers and a SUB subwoofer.
As for the speakers inside the PLAYBAR itself, there are six mid-woofers and three tweeters, the latter spread across the outer edges and one in the middle. At normal volumes, the woofers are synchronized, but they can automatically shift out of phase if required – complete with some clever DSP – to avoid distortion when you crank up the audio. Sonos has also equipped the PLAYBAR with completely different settings for music and movies (in fact they automatically change depending on physical orientation, too).
Most importantly, in either mode, it sounds great. Music has a surprising degree of precision, with vocals coming through clearly in the center while the rest of the soundstage has a spread that belies the placing of the speakers. Movies, meanwhile, go even further: the virtual surround you get with the PLAYBAR alone is impressively effective, and the bass has some decent thump to it (given the limitations of the 36 x 5.5 x 3.4 inch footprint and the speakers Sonos has been able to fit), but group it up with a couple of PLAY:3 rear channels and the SUB, and it’s both incredibly loud and precise.
Sonos PLAYBAR overvew video:
Control, as you’d expect, is via Sonos’ existing PC, Mac, iOS, and Android apps: the PLAYBAR shows up as a regular zone, which means you can group it up for party music. However, there’s a little extra consideration for the TV focus there too; if you try to add the PLAYBAR to a group, it’ll double-check to make entirely sure you want to do that, and if you start playback on your TV, the soundbar will automatically switch to whatever is coming through its optical input. You can, though, manually change the audio while leaving the screen on, handy if you want to show a photo slideshow with music from, say Spotify.
The Sonos PLAYBAR will go on sale on March 5, priced at $699 in the US, £599 in the UK, and €699 in Europe.
A Swedish audio company called Audio Pro has unveiled the new wireless speaker that supports Apple AirPlay. The speaker is called the Allroom Air One and supports DNLA devices. The wireless capability of the device allows users to stream music from their iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and other devices.
Users can also stream music to the speaker directly from a Mac or PC running iTunes. Windows Phone and Android users are able to stream music to the speaker using DNLA technology. The wireless speaker also has a Direct Link feature to allow streaming of music when wireless network isn’t available.
The speaker has a pair of one-inch soft dome tweeters and a pair of 4.5-inch bass units. The device is driven by a 100 W amplifier achieved using a quartet of 25 Wt class D amplifiers linked to a Digital Sound Processor. The speaker is covered in leather and is available in black, white, or red.
Other connectivity options include a USB port, 3.5 mm port, and an optical digital TOSLINK input. The speaker also ships with a wireless remote control allowing you to control the volume, track, and pause or play content from across the room. The device also has an app giving greater control functionality designed for the iPhone. The speaker is available in Europe right now for €700.
It’s been a long time since we didn’t see anything remotely interesting from Princeton Japan, but today they introduced not one but three new product worth of interest with first the JUICEBOX PSP-BTS2. the JUICEBOX PSP-BTS2, available in three different colors, comes with a 2x3W output and 50mm driver units, but the most interesting part here is that the JUICEBOX PSP-BTS2 will stream wirelessly your tunes via a Bluetooth connection (Bluetooth 2.1+EDR) or NFC! If you do not own any …
There are many products which have been sold as a “party in a box,” but I’ve never heard the term applied to a music player. This audio player is named thusly because it’s completely self-contained, and aims to be the life of your next party – hopefully waking up your neighbors very late at night.
The Soul Party In A Box P910 is a room-rattling portable speaker system. It has a dock for your iOS device, Bluetooth with AptX support, a USB port, and an auxiliary audio port. It has a total of 8 speakers, including dual 6.5-inch subwoofers, 3-inch midrange drivers, front firing 1.5-inch midranges and 1-inch tweeters.
It’s also got an HDMI output, a karaoke mode with microphone input, and a remote control. It’s also got an FM radio with RDS track and artist display. There’s also a built-in handle, and a universal world power supply so that you can take the party anywhere. While functions are managed using a modern LCD screen, the old-school analog VU meters are also a nice touch.
So how much will all this party rockin’ set you back? Priced at $999.99(USD), the Party in a Box is definitely no cheap boombox. Let’s hope its sound lives up to its price tag. At least Soul softens the blow a little bit by throwing in a pair of their high-end SL300 headphones ($249 value) with your purchase for now.
Speakers now come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, so it’s quite a feat when someone announces that they’ve developed a speaker that no one else has thought to make before (except maybe these guys). That’s the position Fujifilm currently finds themselves in with their Beat diaphragm speakers.
The Beat Diaphragm is a portable speaker technology made up of ultra-flexible materials. It’s so flexible, in fact, that you can curl and roll it up when you’re done using it. At Tokyo’s nano tech 2013 tradeshow, Fujifilm also showed off the speakers in a variety of form factors, including shiny flat panels, and even in a Japanese folding fan.
The speaker is constructed with a soft polymer on the surface, which makes the rolling-up action possible. However, when sounds from 20Hz to 20kHz are coursed through the speaker, the material hardens. Additionally, the sound is provided by piezoelectric ceramics.
The potential for this is huge, although the technology has yet to find its way into any actual products you can buy.
Logitec Japan (And not Logitech), launched last week the LBT-AVP7000 a new desktop/house speaker designed to offer a better sound quality that the one coming from most laptop nowadays. Unfortunately not battery powered, the LBT-AVP7000 comes however with a nice 5Wx2ch output with a pair of 54mm driver unit. But, what’s more interesting here is that the LBT-AVP7000 comes with USB Audio, Bluetooth 3.0 +A2DP, and Aux IN as well as the support AAC and apt-X codec! Announced for mid-february …
We appreciate any product that lets us not only openly reference Lamb, but also blast that band’s tracks in our backyard. Which is what Bowers & Wilkinsweatherproof AM-1 (Architectural Monitor) was built to do: blare out the tunes no matter the weather while retaining a subdued, stylish look. The rustproof speaker, which comes in black or white, is made for easy mounting, can rotate 110-degrees from either landscape or portrait orientation and, according to the company’s claims, should provide better sound when positioned high up (thanks to an inverted drive unit). Of course, you don’t have to fasten this fella to your outdoor veranda — it’ll also be right at home from inside your… home, bar or even that meticulously maintained secret cellar. Look for the AM-1 to hit retail for $300 sometime next month, but buyer beware, you’ll have to supply the trip hop tuneage yourself.
Most of us carry at least a single device that has a built-in capability to play back audio files, which is why those of us who tend to commute a whole lot to and from work daily tend to tune in to our favorite songs, being oblivious to whatever’s going on around the world, at least, until we see where the train has stopped in order to get off. Well, that is just fine and dandy, but some of us do hope that we are able to share the next best musical act (in our books, at least) with the rest of the crowd, and one of the ways to do so is to have a decent portable speaker – preferably wireless. This is where the Switch wireless portable speaker would come into play.
Basically, Switch allows you to enjoy your music, movies and games with powerful sound and active bass. Apart from keeping folks entertained, it also doubles up as a professional conference call solution that will play nice with the rest of all Bluetooth enabled devices. Oh, the pros of the Switch do not just end there, as it can also function as a power bank and juice up whatever tired USB mobile devices that are in your possession on the go. Just like the Sony PS2, it does not matter if you want to place the Switch wireless portable speaker in a vertical or horizontal manner, the decision ultimately lies with you without causing any degradation in sound quality.
The Switch wireless portable speaker was launched at CES earlier this year, and it will retail for $149.99 a pop. Your ears will definitely be able to appreciate all the technology parked underneath the hood, as it is powered by a trio of high performance drivers, aided by an active sub-woofer which ensures your tunes will sound amazing regardless of the musical genres of your choice.
We have seen our fair share of bendable and flexible displays in the past, but here is something that you might want to consider to accompany your Samsung flexible display in the future – the bendable and foldable speakers which can roll-up from Fujifilm. Makes you wonder just what the heck is a company like Fujifilm who is more often than not associated with digital imaging products such as digital cameras.
Well, Fujifilm’s attempt in working on film which can function as the diaphragm (in other words, a vibrating plate) of a speaker, where they unveiled it at the Nano Tech 2013 trade show which will conclude today in Tokyo, Japan. The diaphragm has been dubbed as the “Beat” by Fujifilm, making it possible to churn out a speaker which can be bent and folded. At the trade show, the slim and retractable speaker was displayed, in addition to a speaker that is easily mistaken for a Japanese fan at first glance. We do wonder whether such speakers are fragile or not, and just how much will they cost when they enter production?
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The Beat Diaphragm is a portable speaker technology made up of ultra-flexible materials. It’s so flexible, in fact, that you can curl and roll it up when you’re done using it. At Tokyo’s 
We have seen our fair share of bendable and flexible displays in the past, but here is something that you might want to consider to accompany your 
