Tag Archives: intel compute stick

Multi-room

Multi-room news from ces 2016 part 2

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Read part 1 here.

srs-zr7

Sony has announced two new wireless speakers. The SRS-ZR7 with four built-in speakers, Hi-Res audio playback, support for Google Cast, Spotify Connect and Multi-room capability through the SongPal app. SRS-ZR7 also has HDMI with ARC so it can be connected to a TV to play Dolby Digital/DTS audio.

The SRS-ZR5 is smaller than its big brother but has the same features except that it lacks Hi-Res audio support and instead has Bluetooth with LDAC and NFC support.

They are both available in spring 2016.

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Sony also has two new sound bars that both has Multi-room support in the same way as their wireless speakers. The HT-NT5 sound bar with a wireless subwoofer has Hi-Res Audio playback, support for 4K content,HDR via HDMI HDCP 2.2. The HT-CT790 has similar specs and a few more HDMI inputs.

str-dn1070front-mid

Finally Sony upgrades its A/V receiver line with the STR-DN1070 A/V receiver. It has a new DAC with support for DSD native playback of High-res Audio files. It has 8 HDMI ports (6 in/2 out) with HDCP 2.2 for 4K/60p thus supporting 4K and HDR content. It has support for Sony’s other multi-room speakers, AirPlay, Bluetooth, Google Cast and Spotify Connect. So they all play nice together through the SongPal app.

In all, impressive upgrades across the multi-room product line by Sony.

Libratone

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Libratone Zipp now comes in an updated design, the Copenhagen edition. The wireless multi-room speakers technology was updated a few months ago and has 360 audio, AirPlay, Spotify Connect, Bluetooth (APTX) and DLNA. The new covers comes in Salty Grey, Pepper Black, Raspberry Red and Steel Blue.

Samsung

Samsung_radiant

Samsung has its Radiant wireless multi-room audio speakers and will launch four new sound bars that will be a part of Samsung’s wireless multiroom-audio system. No mention of their product names yet, exempt for the HW-K950 mentioned in yesterday’s post. They have also added support for the streaming services SiriusXM and Tidal.

All multi-room products will become part of Samsung’s home-automation network controlled by their new line of TVs, that will be home automation hubs.

Intel Compute Stick

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If you want to build your own multi-room device based on windows 10, then the new Intel Compute stick line is something to look closer at. The entry level atom has twice the power of last years top device and they have also added the m3 and m5 with even better cpus paired with 4 gig ram and 64 gig on board storage. So with HDMI output and two real USB ports, you can easily play Hi-res audio, stream Spotify and AirPlay, with the right software of course.

Multi-room

CES Multi-room News part 3

Leave a comment

Read part 1 here and part 2 here.

intel-compute-stick
Intel Compute Stick seems like the multi-room DIY dream. Put it in a receiver and you get digital audio (and video) from a full fledged computer with the size of a (large) usb stick and the power footprint of a smartphone charger. Put spotify on it to enable Spotify Connect functionality and AirServer for AirPlay functionality. Pick your software choice for playing music from the device and your network. I will get back to this type of DIY setup in more detail in the future.

Bluetooth 4.0 is built in. It has a quad-core Atom processor, Windows 8.1, 32 GB of eMMC storage, 2 GB of RAM, HDMI, USB, a microSD slot and wireless 802.11b/g/n. All this for 149$. There is also a 1GB RAM/8GB memory Linux version priced at $89. Both arrive in march.

phplukbcw
Philips adds the Spotify Multiroom Adapter SW100M to its existing Spotify Connect lineup.

The adapter can be connected to existing audio systems through analog (RCA) or digital (coaxial, optical). Then you’ll be able to send music from your Spotify app on your smartphone to the adapter or send it to more than one Philips speaker/adapter in party mode.
It launches in Spring 2015.

omni-bar
Harman Kardon has a new addition to its Omni family of wireless audio products. The Omni Bar is a 2.1 soundbar and has its own wireless subwoofer. The system will cost $800 and arives in April 2015.

The Omni Bar connects to a TV through digital optical or HDMI, and connects to your home wi-fi network. It’s controlled with Harman Kardon’s Controller App. You can stream the same audio (including TV audio) to the rest of the Omni speakers in your system. As the rest of the Omni family, it supports playback of 24-bit/96kHz high-resolution audio.

The Omni system also gets more compatible services including Tidal, Qobuz, Tunein, Rhapsody and Juke, made available in April 2015.

Sony-SRS-X99
Sony announces multiple speakers, support for Google Cast and a new Song Link app to control them with in a multi-room environment, up to 10 wireless speakers/devices.

Among them, the new Sony SRS-X99 wireless speaker that has Hi-Res audio, 154 Watts, supports Google Cast, Spotify Connect, Bluetooth and NFC. The SRS-X99 also supports Hi-Res audio up to 24bit/192kHz.

Sony uses a new LDAC codec that, they claim, transmits data three times more efficiently than Bluetooth.