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Meet the Aperion Aris, a Windows-only wireless speaker | Crave – CNET
My Comments
Not everyone has to have an Apple device like an iPhone or iPad but a lot of audio devices, especially network-enabled speaker systems, seem to be designed so that they work best with Apple devices.
Now there has been exhibited a network-enabled single-piece speaker that is pitched at platforms other than Apple. This unit, the Aperion Aris, has been billed as working only with Windows 7 and 8 by supporting the “Play To” functionality in these regular-computer operating systems.
But the “Play To” functionality is actually about UPnP AV / DLNA MediaRenderer functionality and should work with other UPnP AV / DLNA audio control point software. This could really mean that your iOS, Android or Windows Phone 7 mobile device could drive this speaker if it runs TwonkyMedia, AllShare or other DLNA control point program.
But an Apple Macintosh computer can still work with this speaker if it is running a DLNA media-controller apps. Examples of this include Songbook Mac, TwonkyMedia or PlugPlayer, the latter of which is available through the Mac App Store.
The speaker system is based around a six-speaker design that has two drivers per channel and two passive-radiators with a claimed power rating of 50 watts per channel. But it would be really interesting to hear how it sounds as in whether it can fill an average room with sound and whether there is some “punch” in the sound.
Personally, I would like to see network speakers support AirPlay and DLNA or at least use DLNA as a common denominator due to the level playing field that this standard offers for network audio delivery.
