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Philips' izzy offers simple take on multiroom audio
As expected, a number of companies debuted multiroom audio gear here at CES, but Philips aims to make its system the easiest to use. With the izzy line of speakers, the company's goal is simplicity while still offering all of the perks of a multiroom setup. To accomplish that, the izzy speakers don't require an app to get going. Instead, the speakers create their own network by using so-called izzylink tech to pair with each other. When I asked if users should be concerned about range, a Philips rep assured me it wouldn't be an issue. I look forward to putting that to the test in the future.
Sony's new multi-room audio gear includes better speaker options
CES isn't the first time Sony's debuted speakers capable of multi-room audio. In fact, I spent some time with the company's SRS-X77 earlier this year. The wave of products that included that speaker offered a range of sizes, but didn't cover all the bases that Sonos does. With its announcements here in Las Vegas, Sony has a well-rounded stable of tech, with two speakers, a soundbar and a wireless sub. And those expanded options give it a better chance at taking a shot at the current top dog.
Bang and Olufsen's BeoSound 35 is an 'all-in-one' soundbar
If you're familiar with Bang & Olufsen, you're well aware of its high-end audio gear for the living room. At CES, the Danish company is showing off its latest speaker: the BeoSound 35. Taking on the design and speaker layout we typically see in soundbars, B&O has far greater aspirations for the BeoSound 35. Rather than only serving as a means of boosting audio from your television, this speaker is meant to be what the company calls an "all-in-one integrated music system." What does that mean exactly? Well, support for streaming services like Spotify and Deezer is integrated into the unit, so you don't have to futz with your phone to get the tunes going. It also supports Google Cast, AirPlay and Bluetooth connectivity.
Philips goes after Sonos with its izzy multi-room audio line
Companies have finally caught on to Sonos' style of multi-room audio and are trotting out similar products of their own. Philips is jumping on the bandwagon as well, and at CES this year, the company is debuting its izzy line. Made up of four speaker options, the izzy series aims to blanket your house with audio and it has a key feature that differentiates it from the competition. Most multi-room setups require an app to handle the configuration, but that's not the case here. Philips' izzy doesn't need a router or any extra software as the speakers create their own network and can be paired in a group of up to five with the push of a button.
Sony expands its multi-room audio line with two new speakers
Sony already has a stable of speakers to handle multi-room audio, and at CES 2016, the company is adding two more. With the SRS-ZR7 and SRS-ZR5, the company offers a pair of options that feature HDMI connections to improve the sound coming from your TV. Both the four-speaker SRS-ZR7 and the smaller SRS-ZR5 can be arranged in wireless stereo mode with either two of the same model or one of each. As was the case with the SRS-X77 we tested a while back, all of the multi-room setup and other controls are tweaked through Sony's SongPal app.
Sony's UHP-H1 Blu-ray player also does multi-room audio (updated)
Going into CES, we knew we'd see a number of Ultra HD Blu-ray players. It's no surprise Sony has one of its own: the UHP-H1. Oddly enough the UHP-H1 is not a 4K Blu-ray player -- its main attraction is its focus on audio. The player can be configured to play multi-room audio through Sony's SongPal app or bump songs stored on a USB drive. Its Bluetooth features also makes for easy pairing with speakers or headphones.
Harman Kardon's Omni+ speakers offer HD multi-room audio
When it comes to speakers, connected gadgets capable of multi-room audio are all the rage these days. At CES 2016, Harman Kardon pulled the wraps off its new line of devices that'll do just that. The Omni+ collection includes the Omni 10+, Omni 20+, OmniBar+, Adapt+, and the Omni 50+. That's four speakers, a soundbar and an add-on for those older non-wireless speakers. Each piece of audio gear handles high-definition audio streaming with 24-bit/192KHz quality and there's a controller app for beaming songs with either Spotify Connect of Google Cast. There's no mention of AirPlay, but that companion app is available on iOS and plays nice with other streaming services like Deezer and Tidal.
Google's Chromecast Audio beams music to multiple rooms
If you're been eyeing Google's Chromecast Audio for your holiday shopping spree, Mountain View just added some new features to sweeten the deal. First, the $35 gadget now supports high-res audio with 96KHz/24 bit lossless playback. This means that if you have the proper audiophile-grade setup, you can expect to hear better than CD quality music coming through your speakers.
Libratone jumps into multi-room audio with its latest speakers
Libratone isn't content with churning out more cloth-covered wireless speakers -- it wants to muscle in on Sonos' home turf. The upscale gear maker has launched both an updated Zipp speaker and a smaller Zipp Mini (shown above) that include multi-room audio. You can link as many as six of the zipper-clad speakers over WiFi, much like some of their peers. The key, as you might have guessed, is that everything is portable. If you're jonesing to move your entire setup to a new room, you can do it without feeling like you're moving house.
Sony's connected speakers take aim at Sonos, but come up short
When it comes to connected speakers and multi-room audio, Sonos is the clear leader in the clubhouse. Its devices are also typically more expensive than the competition. Sony, a name with a lot of home theater experience, is offering its own Sonos-like system with a collection of three speakers. The company's "SRS" line was announced earlier this year, and while the trio also features the larger SRS-X88 and SRS-X99, I've spent the past few weeks with the entry-level model, the $300 SRS-X77. With Sonos being the go-to name for gear like this, Sony has quite the uphill climb. That said, it at least makes a valiant effort.
The new Play:5 is Sonos' best speaker ever
The Sonos Play:5 is the wireless speaker that started it all. Sure, the Santa Barbara, California-based company had made products before it, but the Play:5 (known then as the S5) was its first all-in-one solution for home audio, and it was a hit. It's since been joined by a family of products, including the Play:3 and the diminutive Play:1. Now, Sonos has gone back to its beginnings, creating an all-new $499 speaker to replace its aging flagship. This is the Play:5. It's Sonos, reborn.
Bang & Olufsen is the latest to jump into multi-room audio
It's almost trivially easy to buy a multi-room audio system at this point, but what if you want stylish audio to go with your designer home? Don't worry -- Bang & Olufsen has you covered. The Danish brand has launched its own platform, BeoLink Multiroom, that pipes music throughout your home. While that concept isn't exactly novel, B&O is counting on simplicity to reel you in. All you do is tap devices to either start playing or link them to playback elsewhere. You might tap the BeoSound Moment (the company's adaptive music hub) to start listening in the living room, and a BeoPlay speaker to carry that sound into the kitchen. While you can use either a BeoMusic app on your phone or a BeoRemote One to steer the sound, you don't have to depend on controllers as much as you would with some rivals.
Sonos update makes it easier to play music in any room
Sonos' big controller app update from last year was a case of two steps forward and one step back. It was slicker and made it easier to find music, but playing music got harder -- among other issues, it required extra effort to send tunes to speakers around your home. Kinda defeats the point of multi-room audio, don't you think? At last, though, it looks like Sonos is ready to tackle some of those biggest hiccups. An upcoming version 5.3 update (not shown here) will put an always available room menu at the top of every screen, so it should take less time to deliver a radio stream to the living room or a podcast to your kitchen.
Spotify now handles multi-room streaming on Samsung devices
If you've decided to invest in Samsung's wireless audio multiroom system instead of similar offerings from the likes of Sonos, there's good news: it now supports Spotify's Connect system. If you'll recall, that'll allow you to stream music on your Samsung speakers directly from the Spotify app on your tablet or handset, in a similar way to Chromecast. In addition, Samsung claims it's the first to offer Spotify streaming to multiple wireless speakers at the same using its wireless audio multiroom system. To do so, you'll need Samsung speakers like the M5 or M7 (with or without its WAM250 streaming hub), but you can also hook in certain Samsung soundbars, TVs and home entertainment systems. If your phone has NFC, you'll be able to tap your wireless speakers to add them to Spotify. You can now give it a shot, if you've got a compatible Samsung speaker -- all you'll need is a downloadable app from Samsung and a subscription to Spotify's premium service.
You can now add another YouView box to your BT TV subscription
You used to need special hardware to replicate the set-top box experience in another room. Now, complicated setups and IR repeaters are almost unnecessary when you can just add another box to your TV subscription. This has been available to Sky and Virgin Media customers for some time, and today BT is catching up by launching the imaginatively named "Extra Box" subscription. Assuming you're already signed up with BT TV, a £99 one-off payment and £5 per month will buy you another YouView+ box for a different room.
Verizon FiOS Media Server arrives as Quantum TV DVR that records up to 12 channels at once
We double checked the calendar too, but no, it's not an April Fools joke -- Verizon's FIOS Media Server is finally available in a few areas as a part of the new Quantum TV package. The VMS1100 upgrades the standard cable boxes used by Verizon and other providers by shoving six tuners and a 1TB hard drive into a box that then feeds TV to other smaller set-top boxes in the rest of the house over existing cable wiring (MoCA). Better still, you can add more DVRs for the ability to record up to 12 channels at once, 2TB of storage and feeds for as many as ten TVs. Unlike some other multiroom systems, users can pause and rewind live TV on the extender boxes as well, or pause a program in one room, then resume it in another room.
Pure delves deeper into multi-room audio with higher-end Jongo and Evoke systems
Pure first set foot into the multi-room audio space at last year's CES with its frugal Jongo line; in 2014, it's targeting slightly more affluent listeners who would otherwise go for Sonos gear. Its $299 Jongo T4 speaker (above) is reaching the US for the first time, and carries enough oomph at 50W to fill a living room. The $229 Evoke F4 (below), meanwhile, is the company's first internet-savvy radio with Jongo support built-in. There's also a pair of big software upgrades on the way, including SiriusXM streaming (for subscribers) and a developer kit for third-party app support. Both the T4 and F4 reach the US this later this month, while the software should arrive during the first quarter of the year.
Intel demos 'headless' 6-tuner cable gateway for Comcast
Pre-CES rumors suggested Intel would announce a "virtual cable" service (before being stamped out) but the partnership with Comcast it actually revealed turned out to be far more conventional. Very similar to the tru2way multiroom box Intel demonstrated back at IDF in 2009, the Multi-Screen Video Gateway by Arris capitalizes on DLNA standards -- touted by the alliance earlier today -- to bring video to virtually any device in your home. It's "headless", because it's not built to connect directly to any TV, just shoved somewhere out of sight while you tune in on your various screens. Of course, these demos have been here before and the DTCP-IP technology behind it isn't particularly new either, so why could 2013 finally be the year we see these features roll out from major providers? As cited in the earlier press release, DirecTV has released Genie DVRs loaded with RVU that pushes video directly to TVs and even the PS3 in the past year, providing one example of the tech in action. The updated FCC IP interface requirements and continued work on the DLNA Premium Content guidelines are also forcing progress forward, albeit slowly. Finally, there's some hope that the CE and cable industry can actually work together, as seen in Comcast's RDK program that's pushing the development of this box and others (like that Humax box we spotted floating through the FCC) with similar capabilities. The box was running Comcast's new X1 cloud-based guide which has seen a limited rollout so far, but because of how it works is more easily accessed and updated on connected devices. Of course even with all that, we've been down this road before (again and again and again and again) so despite a slick demo we'll withhold excitement until hardware is actually released.
Pure unveils Jongo for low-cost multi-room audio, revamped Pure Connect app
Many consider Sonos the main game in town for mobile-friendly, multi-room audio. Pure wants to give us at least one major alternative. Its new Jongo speaker line delivers multi-speaker streaming for radio, podcasts and Pure Music subscriptions across the home through WiFi, rather than a proprietary network, and includes Bluetooth for those who want to skip the network altogether. The system promises to cut the traditionally high costs of spreading sound throughout the home, as well: the inaugural Jongo S340B portable speaker (at left) coming in the first quarter of the year should cost $229, or about $70 less than its stationary Play:3 rival. An A140B audio-to-WiFi bridge (bottom) and a 100W S640B flagship speaker (top) should fill out Pure's plans when they ship later in the first half of the year, although there's no immediate pricing for a point of reference. In tandem with the hardware, there's a matching refresh of the Pure Connect app. The software update brings in the control of Jongo speakers that you'd expect, but it also promises simpler navigation, tie-ins with Audioboo's user-recorded spoken word content and a dedicated discovery area to find music beyond the beaten path. Android and iOS users should have access to the app during the first quarter. Pure Music, a music store and a social listening component should reach the app in the near future, although Americans will have to wait until sometime in 2013 to use the service that their British and German friends have today. Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub. Ben Gilbert contributed to this report.
Sonos Playbar appears at the FCC (update: WiFi explained)
Sonos is the de facto choice for multi-room audio, but even some of its biggest proponents will grumble about the lack of built-in WiFi -- going wireless in any way has meant tacking a Bridge on to the cost of an already expensive system. An FCC filing for an upcoming device, the Playbar, hints that common sense might have the upper hand. While there's few details of the audio system itself, there's explicit mentions of dual-band 802.11n WiFi inside. Just what that WiFi does is another matter. Sonos prefers using its proprietary network to cut back on lag and interference, so the Playbar's additional wireless may extend functionality rather than simplify our lives. With approval out of the way, there's a better chance we'll know the full story in the near future. Update: We've done some digging, and the WiFi may be more innocuous: Sonos' proprietary network is actually WiFi that's just invisible most of the time. Android users have access to settings that expose Sonos' WiFi network and make it usable. As such, the Playbar may be more conventional than first thought, although its exact role in the home is still a mystery.
