Articles

Netflix starts testing 4K content with batch of public videos | Digital Trends

Netflix begins testing 4K video with goal of 2014 launch | Slashgear

Netflix posts 4K test video to streaming service as it prepares for planned 2014 launch | Gigaom

Netflix testing Ultra High Definition video ready for launch next year | Engadget

My Comments

As the price for 4K UHDTV sets becomes cheaper, it may hit the point were you may be considering buying one of these as the main-lounge-area TV. But the question that will be asked is what content will be available that is natively in this resolution rather than having the set upscale 1080p content?

At the moment, Sony is offering a media player and “download-to-own” content from some of their movie catalogue but this is focused towards those of us who purchased Sony 4K sets. Similarly, there is a European trial for broadcasting 4K content using satellite TV. But the reality is that most of this content will be streamed or downloaded via next-generation broadband and a sufficiently-fast home network.

This has been underscored with Netflix offering a trial service where they provide some test and demonstration footage in 4K UHDTV resolution. This company, known as a “gold standard” for providing “over-the-top” on-demand movie and TV content, are planning to have a full commercial service with real content up and running by 2014.

Netflix’s top brass want to become a key supplier of 4K content as the technology matures and these sets become commonplace. But customers will need to implement next-generation broadband or a premium broadband package with high bandwidth along with a home network that runs with Gigabit Ethernet, HomePlug AV2 or 802.11ac Wi-Fi in order for this service to work properly. For them, any shows that they commission like “House Of Cards” or “Lilyhammer” could be mastered in 4K UHDTV and then delivered as 4K UHDTV content as an option.

Of course, people who use computers with 1080p Full HD monitors or “Retina” displays will benefit from the high resolution, which could be a way to taste the ultra-high-resolution content offered in the demo footage.

Article – From the horse’s mouth

Solwise

http://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-cadisense.htm

CadiSense

Product Page

My Comments

There have been some trends taking place to make the home network become part of in-home health care. One of the previous trends was Fujitsu using a digital camera like what is equipped in a smartphone or Webcam as a tool for measuring your pulse. Similarly, another company implemented a set of urinalysis “control sticks” that can be assessed not through a reference chart on the packaging but by a platform smartphone app that uses the phone’s camera to read these sticks.

Now a device has been launched in the UK through Solwise which uses a wireless temperature sensor to provide continual body temperature monitoring using the home network. This device, known as “Cadisense” implements a wireless temperature sensor that attaches to the patient’s nappy (diaper) or undergarment and touches the lower abdomen to measure the temperature. This device sends these temperature readings to a plug-in network bridge that connects to your home network via Wi-Fi or Ethernet, with the network bridge keeping a long-term record of these observations that are taken every 30 seconds.

The data can be viewed on a Web server integrated in the network bridge that is accessible through the home network or via a remote link like what is used for most network devices that implement “remote access” or “cloud” functionality. The “dashboard” Website hosted by this Web server is optimised for viewing on a regular computer, tablet or smartphone and has the ability for regular-computer users to download the observations to the hard disk as a CSV file to import in to a spreadsheet application or email to their doctor. There are also the mobile-computing apps that work tightly with the iOS and Android platforms

At the moment, this device is focused towards observation-based clinical temperature measurement but shows that this concept can be proven beyond this application. There is a current limitation where the Cadisense temperature sensors can only work with the supplied network bridge but it is made up for the fact that the network bridge is a “3-way” wireless network device that can be either a Wi-Fi client bridge, a Wi-Fi range extender or an infill Wi-Fi access point.

For that matter, Cadisense are on a good wicket with their design because they could work this platform for a lot of in-home health-care applications including “ageing at home”. For example, their network bridge could come in to its own with the Ekahau Wi-Fi Pager Tags to be the core of a network-based “emergency-call” system that is a necessary part of caring for older people.

Once a system like this is built around industry-accepted standards like Z-Wave or Zigbee, it could mean a lot more for at-home health care and wellness applications amongst other applications like security and home automation.

Article

Cyrus Lyric Launches Down Under | Australian Hi-Fi

My Comments

Cyrus’s latest CD receiver

Previously I had reviewed the Rotel RCX-1000 as a network-capable CD receiver capable of high-quality sound from CDs, FM radio, DAB+ digital radio, Internet radio along with access to content held on one or more DLNA media servers. This, along with the Naim Uniti and a few others, was the kind of CD receiver you could pair off with a set of high-quality speakers of your choice, be a pair of new small bookshelf types that are on sale at the hi-fi store or that pair of good bookshelf or furniture-piece speakers that you had dusted off after finding them in your Dad’s garage.

This follows on from the music centres and casseivers of the 1970s and early 80s along with the steady run of high-grade integrated audio systems that Bang & Olufsen turned out i.e. the Beocenter 7000 series LP/cassette systems, the Beocenter 9000 series CD/cassette systems along with the Beosound 9000 6-CD system. This was also augmented with the Proton AI-3000 CD/cassette music system which came on the scene in 1988 and the arrival of the Bose Lifestyle music systems in 1990 and followed on with the Onkyo FR-435 CD/MiniDisc music system of the late 1990s.

Now Cyrus have launched the Lyric “full-width” CD-receiver range to the Australian market. This system which was premiered at the Australian Audio And AV Show which was held at the Intercontinental Melbourne The Rialto hotel, is one that follows from this lineage of integrated audio equipment that is about top-quality sound. Here, this unit can play CDs or tune in to FM, DAB+ or Internet radio broadcasts or stream in content from your NAS or PC-based network media server. It also uses Bluetooth with aptX to stream through content held on your smartphone or effectively work as your laptop’s sound-card. Here, I had seen the advance-preview sample in full-flight playing content from a smartphone via Bluetooth and driving a pair of newer “furniture piece” speakers that were being demoed at the show.

Even the way the product was styled eschewed various conventions like the classic “box with knobs and buttons” approach. Rather this used a touch-panel with a colour LCD screen for local control across the top half of the front panel along with a neatly-disguised CD-loading slot. This is similar to how the Bang & Olufsen Beocenter 9000 series was styled with a dynamically-lit-up touch panel below a large aluminium panel that had the CD and cassette bays hidden under doors that slid away.

There are two variants of this music system – the Lyric 5 with a a 100-watts/channel amplifier going for $4000 and the Lyric 9 with a 200-watts/channel amplifier going for $6000. I asked the demonstrator men about how much a decent music system for a small apartment which is based around the Lyric 5 CD receiver and he could call the Lyric 5 with commensurate-standard bookshelf speakers for around $6000.

This is definitely a sign of things to come for “integrated” lifestyle audio solutions that can work with any regular speaker, yet lead the way to a neat sound system that puts up some high-quality music.

Increasingly every home-networking equipment vendor is pitching a mid-range or high-end router range that offers “cloud” abilities and features. This kind of feature was simply offered as a remote-access feature but is being marketed under the cloud term, used as a way to make their devices appear to look cool to the customers.

These features are more about simplifying the process of providing authorised users remote access to the control functionality and similar features on these devices and providing this kind of access to someone who is using a smartphone or tablet. It also extends to file access for those of us who connect an external hard disk to these devices to purpose them as network storage.

What benefits does this offer for the home network router

The key feature that is offered for these devices is the ability to allow you to manage them from any Internet connection. This may be about troubleshooting your connection or locking down the Internet connection for rarely-occupied premises like a holiday home or city apartment.

If you connect an external hard disk to your cloud-capable router, you would have the same remote-access functionality as a cloud-capable NAS. This means that you could put and get data while you are on the road using your regular or mobile computing device and an Internet connection.

Some vendors integrate an application-level gateway to their cloud-assisted network services like video surveillance as part of this cloud functionality. This allows you to gain access to these services from the same point of entry as you are provided for your router.

How is this achieved

Like the cloud NAS, this involves the vendor providing a dynamic DNS service to aid in discovery of your router along with the use of SSL and other technologies to create a secure path to your router’s management dashboard.

It is also assisted with a client-side app for the mobile computing platforms so as to provide an integrated operational experience for your smartphone or tablet. This caters for items like access to the notification list, use of the interface style that is distinctive for the platform as well as the ability to get and put files according to what the platform allows.

Vendors who offer other cloud-based services would provide an application-level gateway in the router that ties in with these services and the devices that benefit from them. This is to provide a tight and finished user experience across all of their devices on your network, and is a way to keep you “vendor-loyal”.

Current limitations with this setup and what can be done

As we head towards cloud-capable network devices and add more of these devices to our networks, we will end up with a situation where we have to remember multiple Web addresses and user logins for each of these destinations. The manufacturers like D-Link would exploit this by integrating the cloud functionality for all of their devices or, more likely, devices within certain product ranges so that a user comes in to one entry point to benefit from the cloud functionality for that manufacturer’s device universe.

But the reality is that most of us would create a heterogenous network with devices supplied by different manufacturers and of different product classes. Here, one would have to keep a list of usernames, passwords and Web entry points or install multiple apps on a mobile device to benefit from every device’s cloud functionality.

Similarly, a manufacturer would be interested in evolving their “cloud-side” part of the equation for newer products but could place older products at risk of being shut out. Here, they could maintain the same functionality by keeping the remote access functionality alive and passing stability and security improvements to those of us who maintain the older devices.

Of course, working on systems that are true to industry standards and specifications like TR-069 for remote management can allow for pure interoperability and a future-proof environment. It can also allow for increased flexibility and the ability for third parties to provide the “cloud router” services with their own functionality and branding.

There may be difficulties running a Bluetooth speaker like this with multiple source devices in the same room

The Bluetooth A2DP audio playback setup which provides a wireless link between a mobile device and a sound system or Bluetooth speaker has now brought along its own set of complications. This is something that will show up more as the number of Bluetooth-capable wireless speakers, audio adaptors and music systems in circulation increases.

One main complication is that the last-connected Bluetooth-capable source device “lays claim” to the Bluetooth-capable sound system until either device’s Bluetooth functionality is turned off. This is even though the user of that source device stopped playing the audio content using the media player and can cause complications where, for example, an “established” Bluetooth device like a tablet cannot be used with the sound system it is normally used with because a guest “walked up” to the sound system and paired their iPhone full of their music collection to that unit to play some of their tunes.

The practice is expected to be common with music systems that are operated during a party where you want to let a guest “look after the tunes” for the evening; and will become common with cars when a group of people go on a long journey and one of these passengers offers to “look after the tunes” for a part of the trip. At the Australian Audio And AV Show 2013, the people who were demonstrating the Aktimate active speakers with a Bluetooth adaptor allowed me to try the speakers with a track on my phone but asked me to make sure the Bluetooth on my phone is off or the speakers removed from the phone’s devices list after I had finished playing the music.

Two or more devices paired to the one Bluetooth headset and on in the same vicinity may cause problems.

It can also show up when you use the same Bluetooth headset or audio adaptor amongst a group of devices which is common when you want to use your headset with your smartphone while walking down the street or use it with your laptop to make that Skype or Lync call.

How do you handle this situation

When you have finished using a Bluetooth sound system, especially one you use on an ad-hoc basis, you have to make sure you logically disconnect your computer or mobile device from that sound system. Most commonly, you may have to turn off your computer’s or mobile device’s Bluetooth functionality. But if you are using your own Bluetooth peripherals, then you have to enable the Bluetooth functionality again.

Logically disconnecting the device

The recent versions of the Android mobile operating system handle this better by allowing a Bluetooth device to be “disconnected” without the Android smartphone or tablet losing its paring data. Here, you enter the Android Bluetooth menu to tap on the currently-connected device to disconnect it immediately.  The ability to retain the pairing is important if you are using a particular Bluetooth device regularly such as a car sound system in the car you regularly drive or a commonly-used Bluetooth-capable hi-fi setup.

Unpairing or removing the device from your operating system

Most other desktop and mobile platforms require you to “remove” or “”unpair” the music system from the Bluetooth-capable source device. Then if you want to use the same Bluetooth device again, you have to put that device in to pairing mode which typically requires you to press and hold a button to invoke this mode; and use the operating system’s Bluetooth menu or “Add New Device” menu to add or pair with a new Bluetooth device.

In Windows, this requires you to go to the Devices Menu, select the device and select the Remove option to remove the sound system. There is the Bluetooth icon in the Taskbar which has the right-click option to “Show Connected Devices” to bring up all the Bluetooth devices associated with your system.

Macintosh users have to click on the “System Preferences” item under the Apple menu, select the Bluetooth icon in the System Preferences window, select the device in the left-hand list box and click the “-“ button to remove the device.

For iOS, you may have to go to the Bluetooth menu under Settings – General. and touch “Unpair” to detach the sound system.

What needs to happen

Support for “connect / disconnect” on all desktop and mobile operating systems

An improvement that needs to be able to exist for an operating system’s Bluetooth functionality is to allow the user to logically “connect” and “disconnect” a Bluetooth peripheral manually. Here, the parings are retained in the host device while it is disconnected yet, when you connect, they come in to play as part of attempting to connect up with the device. This doesn’t remove the ability for a device to immediately connect when it is paired but  allows it to stay paired without being connected.

Bluetooth-capable audio equipment to support multiple connections

We are starting to see some Bluetooth headsets, speakers and in-car setups able to support multiple connections to different devices. This is typically to facilitate a media-player-only device like an Apple iPod Touch to play content while the device serves as a hands-free for a smartphone that is not necessarily used as a media player. Sony has made an effort with their SBH-20 Bluetooth headset adaptor to support the multiple-connection requirement for two smartphones thus facilitating one-touch answer from either phone.

Similarly, a Bluetooth-capable audio device could implement a multiple-connection setup where it can stay connected to many Bluetooth host devices. Each of these host devices can be enumerated as a virtual source as far as the Bluetooth-capable audio device is concerned and there is a user interface on the Bluetooth audio device to select between the different hosts.

Automotive implementations could allow multiple smartphones to connect with one being determined as a “primary” device for making and taking calls and receiving messages and others determined as either “secondary” devices used primarily to take calls or as “media-player” devices that only play media.

Conclusion

This issue of having Bluetooth devices, especially Bluetooth audio devices, work with multiple host computing devices is something that has caused headaches and will be doing so until the people designing the operating systems and devices can handle this reality properly and easily.

Toshiba AT300 10″ Android tablet computer

Previously, if anyone though of a mobile-platform tablet device, they thought of an Apple iPad which was a 10” tablet that had its success driven by a large quantity of apps along with ease of use that made it appeal to those of us who didn’t have much for computer skills.

Very shortly after, the Android platform, driven by the 3.0 “Honeycomb” version of this operating system, came to the fore as far as mobile-platform tablets were concerned. Some of the manufacturers offered the tablets in two different screen sizes – a 7” size that can be kept in a coat pocket or handbag or a 10” that can be rested on the lap like the iPad.

This has continued on with Blackberry having a “bite at the cherry” with their Playbook “business-pitched” tablet to go with their business smartphones. But Microsoft stepped forward with Windows 8 and its Modern UI (née Metro UI) and this saw the arrival of the Surface tablet under their banner along with other PC vendors offering 11” tablets and convertible computers. Now Microsoft released a mature Windows 8.1 operating system with the ability to work on 7” displays along with a mature Surface 2 series of tablet computers. This has been underscored with other manufacturers offering keenly-priced 7”-8” Windows 8.1 tablets that run the Intel “Bay Trail” Atom processors.

This is very similar to what has come about with the regular computing market where three main platforms have surfaced in the form of the Apple Macintosh, Microsoft Windows and the open-source “desktop Linux” platform. The latter two have focused on the use of commonly-available hardware designs with commonly-available peripheral and network interfaces, thus allowing for low-cost systems to be built around these platforms.

Bridge devices

Convertible laptop-tablet devices

Sony VAIO Duo 11

Since Windows XP offered “tablet with stylus” support, there have been a few so-called “convertible” laptops that become tablet computers. These computers appeared very much in a trickle of highly-priced business computers which were hard for most of us to come by. But Windows 8 with its touchscreen user interface,along with Android underscored this need for the “convertible” tablet-computer device.

These came in either a form with a fixed keyboard but having a screen that either swivelled or slid out, which is underscored by the Sony VAIO Duo 11; or a detachable-keyboard form where the keyboard was able to be unclipped from the tablet computer; which is underscored by the ASUS EeePad Transformer Prime or the HP x2 series. They legitimised the ability for one of these to work as a small content-creation laptop or a tablet that comes in to its own for browsing content.

The “phablet” or large-screen smartphone

Android users are also seeing more of the 5”-6” large-screen smartphones which are being referred to as “phablets” because the screen size is close to that for a small tablet. This was brought on by Samsung with their Galaxy Note series but Sony, HTC and others are pitching in to the game for this screen size. What is being valued here is more or less the small handheld device that comfortably works as a phone for making and taking calls.

Answering this trend

Something that can easily fall short in the “three-horse race” which describes the tablet market is the availability of apps for each of these platforms. This is manifest with the app stores for the iOS and Android platforms having more software available than what is currently available in the Windows Store for Windows 8.1 .

SBS and Facebook had made positive efforts to reach all the tablet platforms especially with Facebook offering a comprehensive “dashboard” app to the Windows Store for Windows 8 and 8.1 users.

But a problem that may affect the short-order and custom app-development scene, where apps are turned out for particular events and locations is that they will have to develop apps for three platforms each with their different interface abilities and needs. This same problem can affect the so-called “app-cessory” scene where devices are linked to a tablet or smartphone via USB, Bluetooth or the home network and benefit from an app that provides extended functionality.

As far as designing hardware accessories is concerned, it will be easier to design for the Android and the Windows 8.1 platforms. This is through these platforms encouraging an open-frame attitude when it comes to developing accessories and software for these tablets. Here, most of the connections used on devices that work to these platforms are designed around common industry standards. For that matter, it could allow the availability of low-cost tablets and similar devices that work on these platforms.

What I see of this

Once manufacturers present tablets that offer more that what the Apple iPad offers for a reasonable price but without a steep learning curve especially for computer novices, this could displace Apple’s market lead in this product space.

Similarly, a company offering a product form factor that impresses customers more than what is out there, whether in looks or functionality, can allow a particular tablet platform to break through more easily.

This past weekend I had visited the Australian Audio & AV Show which was hosted at the Intercontinental Melbourne The Rialto hotel in Collins Street, Melbourne. This is one of the hotel-based hi-fi shows where, in addition to most if not all the banquet rooms at the hotel being used, at least two, if not three floors of guest-rooms are block-booked with the beds removed out of most, if not all of the rooms. Here, these rooms serve as demonstration rooms with the aesthetics and sound qualities comparable to most living rooms, music rooms or home theatres.

This show underscored particular audio and AV trends, especially the use of network-based digital audio setups. This is more so as the file-based “download-to-own” audio services and the subscription-driven “cyber jukeboxes” like Spotify mature and gain real traction. Of course, it wasn’t feasible to demonstrate the online services from the equipment involved due to the common situation where public-access wireless networks such as what exists at this hotel implement that browser-based authentication routine which doesn’t work with consumer electronics.

One concept that was underscored through this show is that all the good quality recording and playback equipment in the world can show up the poor recording or remastering techniques that can occur in the studio. It doesn’t matter whether the recording had been worked up to a 24 bit 192 kbz master file or turned out as a “new-cut” vinyl record or digital-remaster CD.

Preservation of Media and Technology Comfort Zones

Linn Sondek LP12 – the 40-year-old turntable keeps on as a legend

There was an effort to preserve media and technology comfort zones with a few demonstration systems playing from vinyl or regular CDs and some of the systems in “full flight” were based on valve (tube) amplification. An example of this was McIntosh, an American hi-fi legend, showing one of their valve power amplifiers while some other companies even ran with amplifiers that implemented valve/solid-state hybrid construction.

One company even played a “new-cut” vinyl pressing of “Blood Sweat And Tears” which sounded so clear on their demonstration equipment. As well, the distributer for Harman and JBL had a setup which was based on a regular CD player playing through JBL floor-standing speakers and I had played Genesis’s “Many Too Many” off my CD copy of “And Then There Were Three” through this setup.

Yamaha and a few others even ran demonstration systems where a turntable, CD player and network audio player were connected to the system’s amplifier to show that these sources had an equal chance of yielding high-quality sound when fed good recordings no matter the medium. Similarly, Linn demonstrated their legendary Sondek LP12 turntable which was celebrating the 40th anniversary of this classic’s design and presented a record which was a compilation of choice cuts from their record library while they put the way forward with file-based digital audio with their DSM network media players.

Wirelessly-networked audio setups

I had watched a presentation by Cambridge Audio about the direction for wirelessly-networked audio setups and they mentioned that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi were on a level footing.

Arcam rBlink does a very good job of linking your Bluetooth phone to your stereo

There has been a message that, even though vinyl has been making its steady return, convenience-based AV technologies aren’t undermining the sound quality. This is similar to how I saw the cassette format “earn its stripes” and become respected through the late 70s and the early 80s, what with Dolby noise reduction, better tape formulations like chrome dioxide, Dolby HX recording-improvement technology along with those high-grade musicassettes issued through the mid 80s.

Pure Jongo T6 wireless speaker playing from my phone

Here, the aptX codec was introduced in to Bluetooth A2DP setups to provide high-grade audio quality when you use Bluetooth headsets or speakers as I had noticed when I played “You And I” by Delegation from my Samsung Galaxy Note II through a pair of Aktimate Blue Bluetooth speakers and they yielded that punchy bass and clear treble.

The DLNA / UPnP AV technology had been highlighted by Cambridge Audio as enabling high-quality open-frame audio distribution over Wi-Fi and Ethernet home networks. This technology allowed equipment that was able to play 24-bit audio content to discover and play this content off a NAS or similar media server.

USB-driven hi-fi speakers rais the bar for laptop sound and bring through audiophile quality

The idea of one-source multiple-speaker wireless audio setups is not perfect due to the use of packet-based technologies implemented with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. This typically requires the implementation of a “master device” which keeps all the devices in sync when it comes to what they are playing and Pure implemented this with one of their Jongo devices being considered a “master devices”. This network was simply served by an ordinary wireless router that served as an access point and DHCP server to cover that room where the speakers were shown. Their solution allowed for “party-streaming” from multiple speakers and  a pair of the same-model speakers to operate as a stereo pair for wider separation.  Dynaudio demonstrated a wireless speaker setup that worked on their own wireless-distribution technology which was primarily circuit-based rather than packet-based.

Stronger foothold for file-based audio distribution

This leads me to the fact that there is a stronger foothold in file-based audio distribution in the hi-fi space. In this show, a lot of companies were demonstrating music that was played either through a room-wide DLNA Home Media Network or a laptop that was connected to a USB digital-analogue converter.

The USB digital-analogue converters that were used in this show typically presented themselves to Macintosh OS X or Windows as another “sound card” according to USB Audio specifications. Some of these devices were components that were connected to existing amplifiers or were part of a control amplifier, integrated amplifier or powered speakers.

A NAS like this ReadyNAS or the ripping NAS nearby is as much a hi-fi component

On the other hand, the more popular method for file-based audio distribution was the UPnP AV / DLNA Home Media Network. A significant number of the rooms were running these networks that comprised of a NAS full of music and one or more components or systems capable of audio playback from a network, typically a Wi-Fi wireless network. A typical router served as the “glue” to hold each room’s network together.

With these setups, it was feasible to run content presented as 24-bit FLAC or similar files or regular PCM-format WAV files to allow the hi-fi equipment to perform at its best. Some of these networks used a heterogenous mix of devices with only the exhibitor’s brand being highly positioned.

Cocktail X30 full-width music server and receiver

Cocktail X10 music server which is a stereo system

I had also seen on show the Cocktail Audio X10 and X30 network media servers which are themselves capable of being the heart of a 3-piece music system or working with another sound system. I had previously covered the X10 on this site but the newly-previewed X30 full-width unit has more inputs, an FM radio tuner, and a highly-powerful amplifier with proper binding-post speaker connections. These units can be DLNA music servers for a home network or be capable of pulling up content on a network-attached storage this way,

Rise of Spotify and similar online services

There is the rise of the online service, especially Spotify which been perceived as the “online jukebox”. It still works on the three tiers with a free ad-based setup, an “unlimited” desktop-only setup as well as a premium setup with desktop and mobile ad-free listening. Some markets have a “mobile free” listening service but it will be rolled out to all of the markets. The mobile services provide content download to the local storage on the mobile device while the desktop service is primarily about streaming the content.

Naim NDS network audio player

The Spotify Connect feature that was just launched is more about “passing” content playback directions to equipment that supports this service via the home network. This has been more about “freeing up” a smartphone or tablet that is the Spotify control surface to be able to be used for communications or game playing.

Denon DNP-F109 network audio player

Similarly, Spotify is working with vehicle builders to provide an integrated experience for drivers. Ford’s AppSync variant is focused on the app in the mobile device doing the heavy lifting and the dashboard working as a remote control surface and AUX input.

High-quality lifestyle audio

A class of audio-playback equipment that tends to be forgotten about in the hi-fi sphere is “lifestyle audio” or “lifestyle-centric audio”, This represents the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi speakers along with the CD receivers or network media receivers that are the hub of a three-piece music system. Traditional hi-fi enthusiasts find that if you don’t have the component-driven setup with individual pieces of equipment in separate boxes doing their job, you are not leading to good sound but the “lifestyle” equipment that was shown here was about equipment that can yield high-quality sound yet be in a compact enclosure that is still aesthetically pleasing.

As I said in my review of the Rotel RCX-1500 CD receiver, I touched on the music centres and casseivers (receivers with integrated cassette deck) of the late 1970s where mid-priced and high-end variants had the expectations of a good component-based hi-fi system in one piece. Then Bang & Olufsen kept the flag going with their Beocenter and Beosound products like the legendary Beocenter 7000 series through the 80s until the likes of Bose and Proton drew back this class of system as a high-quality “lifestyle” product.

The Naim Uniti!Qute 2 – a high-quality network-connected music system for that small room

A system that demonstrated this concept very well was a Naim UnitiQute 2 network media receiver that was connected to a pair of Totem DreamCatcher bookshelf speakers and presented on a dressing table in one of the hotel’s Club Junior Suite rooms. This conveyed to me an image of something that would fit in well in an elegant master bedroom or the kitchen where you show off your gourmet cooking skills.

Cyrus’s latest CD receiver

There has been an increased number of full-width slimline CD receivers which have Wi-Fi DLNA home-network connectivity including an advance-sample preview of Cyrus’s first CD receiver. This unit was demonstrated through a pair of floorstanding speakers which show up how flexible these systems were. Here, it could play CDs, receive FM or DAB+ broadcast radio, stream from a Bluetooth smartphone or pull in network or Internet hosted content with an integrated Wi-Fi module. Other examples included Arcam’s Solo Neo and Naim’s Uniti 2.

Arcam Solo Neo CD receiver

One lifestyle system, the Elipson Planet series, which had speakers shaped like spheres and a centre unit shaped like a cylinder implements the Bang & Olufsen icePower power-amplification technology for its power amplifiers. This system’s industrial design along with the use of B&O icePower technology could be seen as “Clayton’s” B&O music system – a B&O when you don’t have a B&O.

Elipson Planet music system – the B&O when you don’t have a B&O

These three-piece systems are being considered because of their relevance to the “downsized home”, which is becoming more real with baby-boomer couples moving to smaller homes as their children grow their feathers and fly the nest. Similarly, the look towards the minimalist interior design is underscoring the need for these systems as is the concept of some of these systems offering “primary-system” capability and quality in a package suited to a secondary music system.

At the same time, there has been an increased number of wireless speakers that work with Bluetooth or Wi-Fi wireless networks with Pure launching a good range of the “Jongo” speakers which are able to exploit a Wi-Fi segment as a self-sustaining synchronised multi-speaker network. Cambridge Audio also used this to launch a range of Bluetooth / Wi-Fi speakers that work with Spotify Connect.

Speaker technology

These classic speaker designs still hang on in the hi-fi conscience

There were some manufacturers and distributors showing the traditional floor-standing speakers with Harman and VAF showing some that would be considered “furniture pieces”. The ones that Harman showed were a pair of JBLs that would be considered par for the course with a 1970s receiver and had the large horns for the tweeters while VAF presented a speaker with wallpaper on the outside and 50s-style spindle legs, calling it “Maximising Spousal Acceptance Factor”.

But many manufacturers were demonstrating small traditional-arrangement bookshelf speakers that could put up a very punchy sound. With these speakers, it could be easy to doubt whether they are working by themselves or whether people who are demonstrating them are using a subwoofer as part of the setup.

Aktimate bookshelf active speakers do punch out the music

As well, there has been an increased number of active speakers which have integrated amplifiers. This class of speaker was being given ore thought in the hi-fi world and not just thought of as computer speakers, lifestyle speakers (B&O, Bose) or as PA speakers. This is even though at the early stages of hi-fi, audiophiles used public-address amplifiers that they tuned to drive their custom-built speakers.

One company used another of the Club Junior Suites to demonstrate a set of floor-standing active speakers which used two power amplifiers per cabinet and line-level crossovers, thus proving that you can have a decent-sounding hi-fi in full flight based around this technology. Another regular-sized hotel room was used to demonstrate the Aktimate speakers which are bookshelf speakers that have an integrated stereo amplifier

I also see this as providing for high-grade right-sized sound-reinforcement setups where you can create an all-active-speaker sound system around JBL EON PA speakers for a large room full of people or an outdoor setting while these hi-fi active speakers could satisfy a smaller room where extra sound quality comes in to play,

To the same extent, Linn improved on what Philips started on in the early 1990s by refining a high-quality digital speaker system fit for the 24-bit studio master recording. This system, known as the Exakt is set around a digital sound path to just before the actual speaker driver with the Exakt speakers implementing a digital crossover and one digital amplifier for each driver. This implements a proprietary “Exakt Link” from the controller which is the Klimax Exakt DSM to these speakers.

Headphones

There was a special section of this show dedicated to headphone technology and you may think that this is to be taken up by exotic audiophile headphones. But these headphones also shared the HeadZone space with headphones that are capable of delivering high-quality sound from your smartphone, tablet or laptop while you are on the train for a reasonable price.  This increased show space underscored the reality that the role of “cans” as part of our AV equipment is increasingly important with out portable entertainment gadgets rather than just as accessories.

As well Denon and Sennheiser used space in their banquet rooms to show off their headphones that suited most user needs. Oh yeah, I had compared a pair of the higher-grade UrbanRaver AH-D400s against the Urban Raver AH-D320 “cans” that I had reviewed and the ‘D400s had the stronger punch in the sound. Yet I still consider the D320s as the value option that still does justice to rock and pop.

Conclusion

Here, the Australian Audio And AV Show 2013 had exemplified that the digital audio that is hosted via a home network or the Internet is the way forward. This includes using a smartphone or tablet with a Bluetooth link to play music either to a wireless speaker or to a high-quality Bluetooth adaptor plugged in to your favourite hi-fi system’s digital or line input.

In some ways, you could even create a music system around top-notch equipment and speakers that is ready to play vinyl, CD and/or network-hosted media.