Audio News for July 24, 2012

by | Jul 24, 2012 | Audio News

DTS Purchases SRS Labs – The $148 million acquisition of the company whose post-processing audio technologies are in TVs, PCs, cellphones and vehicle audio systems, brings together two companies whose patent portfolios of audio-related technologies are complementary. The move gives DTS one of the broadest portfolios of audio-related intellectual properties—including over 1000 registered and pending patents. In its first quarter SRS had shown a 10% revenue growth. DTS said it expects its second-quarter net income to be impacted by costs associated with its acquisition of SRS Labs, plus “macroeconomic factors” that affected DTS’s Blu-ray markets. DTS’s surround sound codecs appear in Blu-ray/DVD players, AV receivers, HT systems, car audio systems, computers and game consoles. Their technologies are also found in set-top boxes, digital media players and cellphones. A recent cellphone technology is Envelo post-processing, which improves vocals, adds definition to instruments and delivers more immersive sound.
Onkyo Expands Music Streaming Features in Receivers – Realizing the importance of music streaming to many users today, Onkyo has added streaming capabilities to its remote control apps for iPod Touch/iPhone and Android/Kindle platforms, plus having introduced its UBT-1 Bluetooth USB Adapter (using CSR’s aptX compression-reduction codec), allowing Bluetooth-enabled wireless phones, tablets and other devices to stream music to Onkyo’s 2012 network AV receivers. The UBT-1 is about the size of a USB flash drive, and plugs into the front USB port on a 2012 Onkyo Network receiver. It supports AAC file format and is $59. The upgraded Remote 2 App for iPod and iPhone allows streaming at CD quality 44.1K/16-bit rates and supports Track name, Album name, Artist name, Album art and Time data. The Android version now supports streaming directly from the Kindle Fire. The free apps will be available at the end of this month from the Apple App Store, Google Play, and Amazon’s App Store for Android, as well as at www.onkyousa.com.
Pioneer Demonstrates Smartphone Wireless Streaming Over 30 Metres – Pioneer Home Electronics has collaborated with HTC Connect to demonstrate wireless music streaming from an Android OS device to Pioneer wireless speakers. The result is described as being better than Bluetooth, in that uncompressed music could be played over a wireless network from up to 30 metres away – much further than Bluetooth would allow. HTC also plans to add video streaming shortly. Pioneer’s A1 and A3 speakers connect to home wireless networks, and the latter adds a rechareable battery. The A4 model ($399) is a complete five-speaker plus subwoofer HT system.

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