Monthly Archives: August 2014

Multi-room

LG let’s the Music Flow

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Music_Flow_system

Yet another electronics dragon enters the multi-room market, LG, with the Music Flow system. Targeting Sonos of course and bringing both usual and unusual functionality to the fight.

Music Flow supports 24 bit, 192kHz quality audio across its devices, offering HD music playback. Which Sonos does not.

Music Flow is controlled by the Music Flow Player app on iOS or Android, which streams music sources and services such as Spotify (integrated with Spotify Connect), Deezer, Napster, Internet radio, or sources connected to your Wi-Fi. The devices connect with mesh network technology and dual-band Wi-Fi. They pair with a single tap via NFC (which iPhone does not have). The system has a party mode for playing the same music in all zones and a cinema mode for watching movies.

The Music Flow Player app can also be used for listen to music when you’re on the move.The app works as a standard music player on your phone when it isn’t connected to the speaker setup, so the music can continue to play in it when you leave the house.

You can also interact with the system through instant messages with an IM app. That’s called HomeChat and lets you ask the system for musical recommendations when you are away from home and more. Why is the first question that comes to mind but maybe it has a good answer?

The R1 network bridge (£49.99),  the 40W H5 speaker (£229.99) and 70W H7 speaker (£328.99) will hit the shops first, arriving within a month. The 30W H3 speaker (£149.99) and the HS6 320W Sound bar (£499.99) will follow soon after, according to LG.

Summary

The LG Music Flow system is unusually mature at launch. It meets the core requirements for a multi-room system well and also supports HD audio which not even Sonos does. The competition for the number two spot, behind Sonos, has gotten tighter.

Multi-room

HEOS by Denon challenges Sonos

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heos product family

Read about Denon upgraded HEOS line with hi-res and Bluetooth.

HEOS is a new multi-room music system by Denon that wants and has to compete with the market leader Sonos.

HEOS is made up of three stand alone speakers, the HEOS 3, 5 and 7. And two players without speakers, the HEOS Amp and HEOS Link pre-amp. Then there is the wi-fi extender HEOS Extend. The system is controlled with an iOS and an Android app.

HEOS has support for Spotify Connect which means that you play Spotify from Spotify’s own smartphone app. Other streaming services available are TuneIn Radio, Pandora, Deezer, Napster and Rhapsody. HEOS also plays music from a NAS or PC,  attached hard drives and local music on iOS and Android devices. The system supports FLAC lossless audio, MP3, WAV, AAC, WMA, ASF and MP4.

HEOS 3 has dual custom full-range drivers and a two-channel digital amp. You can pair it with another HEOS 3 for stereo.

HEOS 5 has a carrying handle. It has four class D amplifiers, two tweeters, two mid-range drivers and a passive radiator.

HEOS 7 has a subwoofer, two full-range drivers, two tweeters and two passive radiators.

HEOS Amp drives external speakers.

HEOS Link pre-amp turns your existing Hi-Fi or AV receiver into a HEOS zone.

Connectivity

HEOS 3, 5 and 7 has the same inputs on the back. A USB in, a aux in and an ethernet port. The HEOS 7 also has a 3.5mm connector on the side side for headphones. Both Amp and Link has a digital out, a digital in and a USB in.

If you attach a music source through USB, it is playable by all devices in the system.

The HEOS system uses your existing Wi-Fi network to get connected, with support for dual-band 5GHz 802.11n.

Summary

So, does all this sounds familiar? Well, yes, everything from names to functions to designs has Sonos written all over it. But less trimmed and missing features here and there because of less time in the market. Spotify Connect is a welcome addition but at the same time goes outside of the usual way of controlling the system, thus making the user experience less stringent.

Denon is a welcome player in the multi-room market and the HEOS system is well thought through. But it needs to support more services and techniques (Google Music, Wimp, Rdio, AirPlay, Bluetooth) to stand out.

Multi-room

Samsung Shape gets Spotify Connect

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Samsung Shape gets Spotify Connect

Samsung Shape continues its big push into the wireless audio market and becomes the first multi-room system to support Spotify Connect.

Shape users will be able to use the native Spotify app, rather than the Shape app, to queue up and play songs.

The update applies to all Samsung Shape speakers. The Shape M7, Shape M5 and other audio components like Shape-compatible sound bars and Blu-ray players.

The addition strengthens both the Shape platform and Spotify, that needs adoption in the market for Spotify Connect.