Naim Audio
Naim Audio
Bluesound
Lumin
Lumin

High End 2018, in Munich, Germany, was packed with introductions of streaming products. While much of the gear displayed was at the upper end of the hi-fi price curve, there were also a number of new integrated amplifiers and wireless speakers -- from companies such as Technics, Cambridge Audio, and Cocktail Audio -- that can be had for more reasonable prices. What follows is a list of Simplifi-approved products I ran across during my time roaming the halls of the MOC in Munich.

Recently, I reviewed the JBL Link 500, a Wi-Fi speaker that incorporates the Google Assistant platform. To me, being able to question a speaker about the weather for the upcoming weekend, and to get a personalized response based on data Google had previously collected, seemed more a novelty than a great technological leap forward. Still, while the idea of having a speaker in my bedroom with a built-in microphone that relays data to Google’s servers didn’t make me paranoid, I was glad that the Link 500 also has a button for switching that microphone off.

In last month’s editorial, I explained my decision to sit out this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. Turns out my absence didn’t make a difference: When Laundroid, the artificial intelligence-powered laundry-folding machine, was introduced at the Las Vegas Convention Center, plenty of news outlets were onsite to pick up the slack. I can’t say I regret missing CES 2018, but I do wish I’d been around to see the LVCC’s lights go out for two hours on opening day. An electronics show with no electricity -- now that’s news.

When Apple released its new HomePod smart speaker in early 2017, most early reviews echoed the same sentiments: the sound is impressive; the contribution of Siri, the company’s digital assistant, much less so. A review in the New York Times raved about how much better the HomePod’s audio quality was than those of similar offerings from Amazon and Google, but went on to bash the Apple for its inability to summon rides from Uber.

I made my first trip to the Consumer Electronics Show, held each January in Las Vegas, in 1994. Most high-end gear was then exhibited in the Sahara hotel, a now-defunct icon of the Rat Pack era, where they butted up against a different home-entertainment event: the Adult Entertainment Expo. While the combination of consumer electronics and porn was an uncomfortable one -- it came undone in 1998, when the porn-video industry broke away to establish its own, independent show -- the high-end audio scene at that moment seemed to have a bigger worry: home theater.

Recently, on seeing the Apple Music app on my phone, a friend’s kid smirked. The problem? Apparently, I’d decided to spend my money on uncool Apple Music rather than on cool Spotify. Lame!

When I recently reviewed Yamaha’s R-N803 network stereo receiver ($749.95 USD), one highlight turned out to be the company’s Yamaha Parametric Acoustic Optimizer (YPAO) room-equalization software, which I found benefited the sound. YPAO has long been a feature of Yamaha’s A/V receivers, but the R-N803 marked its debut in a stereo receiver. Which led me to wonder: Why had it taken so long? It also got me wondering: Why there aren’t more stereo-only products with room-correction software?

  1. Social Streaming
  2. CEDIA 2017, Simplifi’d
  3. Classical Prime Time
  4. The Röst Reconsidered
  5. High End 2017, Simplifi'd
  6. Vinyl: There's an App for That
  7. Metadata: Life with Roon
  8. The Internet and Audio: The Good, the Bad, and the Impossible
  9. The State of Streaming
  10. CES 2017, Simplifi'd
  11. Why "Simplifi"