Audio News for April 20, 2012

by | Apr 20, 2012 | Audio News

Home Audio Developments – Yamaha has added both Apple’s AirPlay and iPad charging to its AV receivers and reduced the entry level price point on networked AVRs from $549 to $399. Pioneer provides AirPlay in a lower price point of its Elite series. Onkyo has expanded its TX series AVRs with InstaPrevue and Mobile High Definition Link, and reduced the opening price of DTS Neo:X surround processing and Audyssey MultEQ XT32 room correction. (It’s really the system being corrected—not the room; this is the wrong term.) Atlantic Technology has launched five new ceiling speakers, including their first flat-grille models.
Ethernet Gadgets for Home Networks – Everything from audio components to TVs and Blu-ray players are now sporting network connectivity.  But many don’t feature wireless support—only wired. Many entry-level media players and AV receivers don’t include wireless, though some makers offer USB dongles for that at extra cost.    Remember that with wired Ethernet you will have more stable Internet performance.
Audio-Technica Study of UK Music Listeners – showed that the average person in the UK will listen to more than 13 years’ worth of music before they die. Questioning over 1000 people, in connection with the 50th anniversary of Audio-Technica, they found that the majority of people in the UK actively listen to four hours of music a day, which equals more than 60 days per year. A representative said, “We have found that music is much more engrained in our daily lives than it was even ten years ago. Our research has identified a seismic shift in the amount of time people are spending listening and sharing their music and experiences with friends.” Audio-Technica is tapping into this national passion with a search for “Music Reviewer of 2012.” They invite entrants to write an entertaining review of a music gig they have attended—whether it is positive, negative or neutral. The winner of the competition will be announced later this year and will receive a bag of  AT headphones and other goodies and tickets to the Reading Festival. The study also asked respondents how long they would be willing to queue up to get tickets for a summer show. More than a quarter said they would wait an hour and almost one in five said they would be prepared to wait four hours.
DTS Neural Surround For Next Generation of VOD Services – Transcoders made by ATEME integrate DTS Neural Surround technology to enable the latest generation of IPTV and VOD service to have immersive audio in the home. It is estimated that fiber broadband subscriber numbers will more than double by 2016 to 142 million subscribers, as consumers increasingly use higher bandwidth services, and ATEME and DTS will provide the highest quality encoded surround content to take home entertainment to the next stage.

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