Tag: speakers

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Connected Objects Music

Spaco compact speakers save space and work via voice control

One problem with small wireless speakers is the quality of their sound. In other words, let’s face it: They tend to not even be all that great at the main function they were designed for.

patent-claimedSpaco is a line of 720-degree, voice-controlled speakers with adjustable lighting that also tout high-end audio performance. The speakers can be controlled by voice even in noisy situations and also offer a special levitation feature providing what its makers call uninterrupted surround sound. A 720-degree acoustics field is created by the combination of 28 dynamic and electrostatic diaphragm drivers that provide what they say is multidimensional, movie-theater grade audio. Music can be streamed from any device that has Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, and Spaco supports  Wi-Fi networks with any 802.11b/g, 2.4GHz broadcast-capable router. Set-up is done via an Android and iOS app.

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Music

Tiny ONEmicro speaker uses cordless phone tech for a Bluetooth extraction

There is no shortage of small, wireless speakers on the market that use Bluetooth technology. But the sound quality of many of them leave a lot to be desired.

ONEmicro is a small, portable wireless speaker that uses the Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) standard instead of Bluetooth. DECT provides superior sound quality, its manufacturer, ONEaudio, says. The speakers have been tested at over 90 dB and they fill up 120 square feet of space. The battery lasts 20 hours in HQ mode and 25 hours in ECO mode.

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Music

Sonic Blocks let you roll your own speaker set

Wireless speakers continue to be popular thanks to the growing popularity of mobile devices and the convenience of streaming music from them using Bluetooth. Networked wireless speaker systems, meanwhile, have become popular also for much the same reason, as well as the success of Sonos.

patent-claimedSonic Blocks is a wireless speaker system that goes at least a couple of steps further than most rival products. First off, it’s a modular system made up of 6-inch speaker blocks. Second, while most wireless speakers rely solely on Bluetooth, Sonic Blocks also allows users to stream music via Wi-Fi for superior sound quality. It’s also compatible with the DTS Play-Fi multi-zone wireless audio technology for Android smartphones and tablets.

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Television

AccuVoice speaker makes TV dialogue rise above the noise

Soundbars have become popular in recent years in part due to the declining quality of speakers that come with TVs. After all, today’s flat-panel TVs tend to be so thin that there is nowhere to put good-quality speakers anymore. That’s especially a problem for older TV viewers and others with hearing difficulties.

patent-claimedAccuVoice is a TV speaker from audio device manufacturer Zvox that goes a step further than one of its soundbars. That’s because AccuVoice has been specifically designed to help people with hearing loss hear dialogue from whatever show or movie they’re watching on TV. The aluminum speaker is only 17 inches wide and about 2.5 inches high and is simple to hook up because it only has one connecting cord.

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Music Networking

TurnUp lets you turn up your with the flip of a switch

Wireless, multi-room speakers are becoming increasingly popular. But they don’t come cheap –- especially if customers want to install them on the wall instead of on a table or shelf.

patent-claimedTurnUp is a multi-room, wireless speaker that fits in a light switch or wall power outlet and can be used to control not only music, but a room’s lights. The speaker uses Bluetooth 4.0 and is easy to install. It can be controlled by voice from any computer, as well as from any smartphone or tablet.

Up to eight speakers can be connected. The device also answers phone calls. It works in conjunction with an Android and iOS app. TurnUp ships in December at future pricing of $129.99. But Kickstarter backers can get one for a pledge that starts at $89 for early birds. Its makers hope to raise $77,000 by June 10.

 

 

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Music Networking

Hub lets you stream wireless hi-fi audio to multiple users

It would be nice if multiple people could all listen to a song, play a videogame, or watch TV using their own headphones or earbuds. It would be especially nice if the sound provided was hi-fi-quality.

Hub is a device that enables existing headphones or speakers to receive wireless, hi-fi audio from any source. Each user just selects a battery-powered sound “puck” receiver from the Hub base station. Each person can control the volume on their own headphones. In addition to promising better sound quality than many wireless audio solutions,

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Music

“A” speaker can send audio only to “U”

When listening to music at work or watching TV at home while other people are sleeping, it’s convenient to have a speaker that only delivers sound in the user’s direction.

patent-claimed“A” speaker does exactly that. It’s parametric speaker, that is, a speaker that sends audio only to those people who want to hear it by creating a narrow beam of sound, in much the same way that a laser creates a beam of light to focus on a precise area. Instead of producing ordinary sound waves with a single, moving electromagnetic coil and cone, “A” generates ultrasonic waves (high-frequency sound waves) that are then turned into audible sound waves. Users can connect “A” to mobile devices, stereos, TVs or any other audio sources via a 3.5mm mini-jack.

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Connected Objects Music

MoodBox speaker senses your mood to play blues, show hues

editors-choiceMany people select music that’s based on their mood at any given time. MoodBox is a device designed to take full advantage of that.

It’s a 360-degree omnidirectional speaker with LEDs that responds to mood-matching music requests via voice command. MoodBox uses artificial intelligence and predictive modeling to help it learn different genres and moods of music and ambient lighting that the user likes. Music can be streamed from services including iTunes and Spotify via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

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Music

Music Wrap gently shares your audio aura with those around you

The dangers of hearing loss are always nipping at the ear lobe, yet everyone still regards the use of headphones to be perfectly normal. In addition, since the advent of the iPod and iPhone and their highly-valued place in society, much hullabaloo has been made about the unaware state in which headphones put people in — making them more of a target for thieves and other criminal types preying on people not having a clue.

The Music Wrap wants to envelop the ear in sonic goodness without all the negative effect.  The durable, highly transformable form factor allows users to take it wherever they want, however they want, as it features an IPX5 water resistant coating and anti-shock tech. Whether it be placed over the neck on bike ride or strapped to a book bag on a walk, the Music Wrap creates a directional sound field that can either be comfortably audible when near the ear or loud so it can serve as a Bluetooth speaker when farther away.

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Smart Home

Nucleus intercom system avoids the horror of walking to another room

The intercom of yesteryear is a patently outdated fixture in most homes. So much so, in fact, that most homeowners probably don’t even use it. Considering the increasingly connected direction homes are going in, intercoms are wildly limited in scope and unpleasant to look at to boot.

Taking a product name page out of Gavin Belson’s playbook, Nucleus hopes to become the modern intercom system for the connected home. The Wi-Fi enabled, slimly-shaped slab can either be mounted on a wall or propped up on a table to facilitate instant communication with any other Nucleus device around the world with a tap or voice command. The company boasts connection speeds of less than 200 milliseconds, or about the time it takes someone to blink, through tight integration of all components and software.

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