Tag Archives: surround sound

Towering speaker gets the party started with 360-degree lights and powerful bass

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The majority of new home speakers coming out these days embrace more minimalist and discreet designs that make them blend with the rest of the room. After all, it’s really their sound that counts more than their appearance, though aesthetics also play an important role when it comes to integrating such devices into your overall interior decor. Of course, there will always be exceptions, including speaker designs that are meant to be seen with their more artistic and elegant appearances. This large and tall speaker, however, is none of those but unabashedly makes its presence known with psychedelic lighting and overwhelming audio output, making it better suited for home parties than a mellow movie night.

Designer: Sony

There’s no escaping how speakers need to be large in order to be really loud, though there are designs that try to get around this physical limitation through tricks and sleights of hand. The new Sony ULT Tower 10 speaker, however, makes no excuses for its size. In fact, it uses its hulking form to its advantage, making sure that partygoers not only feel but also see the power that it holds inside its towering form.

As part of Sony’s new ULT POWER SOUND series, the ULT Tower 10 bears two specially marked buttons that activate bass-related features. One enables deeper, low-frequency bass while the other turns on powerful, punch bass, presuming you can differentiate between these two distinct modes. Either way, the omnidirectional audio coming from this large speaker is more than enough to fill a whole room, ensuring all your guests hear the rumbling music as they dance to the beat.

The Sony ULT Tower 10 is made for parties in more ways than just its powerful output. With 34 different LED light zones, the tall speaker also boasts 360-degree light shows that can synchronize with the music. And given how many people love belting out songs during these parties, the speaker actually comes with a wireless microphone in addition to two other mic inputs. And though it was designed for such music-filled gatherings, the speaker can also connect wirelessly to other sound systems and TVs for an immersive movie-watching experience.

Given its size and power, not to mention its 29kg weight, it’s no surprise that the Sony ULT Tower 10 speaker isn’t something you’ll want to move around a lot, unlike its more portable ULT speaker siblings. It also needs to be plugged in, which limits its outdoor use. Besides, only its top, which houses the physical controls, is splashproof, which is meant to protect it more from accidental beverage spills than a rain shower. Admittedly, this speaker seems to target a very specific and niche market, one that will be willing to spend $1,199.99 for a speaker that’s clearly made to party.

The post Towering speaker gets the party started with 360-degree lights and powerful bass first appeared on Yanko Design.

Modular speaker concept creates an immersive audio experience anywhere

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Portable wireless speakers are becoming quite ubiquitous these days as a way to enjoy your favorite music anywhere you are, whether you’re outside or just in another room. In exchange for their portability, however, the quality of the sound these speakers produce is less impressive compared to bigger and more stationary equipment found at home. It would be nice if you could have the best of both worlds, enjoying an audio system that follows you around the house without missing a beat. You could try to buy multiple wireless speakers and hope they can be connected to each other, or you can hope that this peculiar speaker system concept becomes a reality, allowing you to pick up one or two speakers from their base as easily as you would pick up your takeout meal.

Designers: Junwoo Kim, Yoonjeong Lee, Heeyeol Yang, Jaehoon Jeong

For an audio experience to be considered truly immersive, it has to sound like it’s coming from all around you. More specifically, the right sounds have to come from the correct direction rather than equally from all directions. Making this possible with a single speaker or even a pair of headphones is possible but difficult to accomplish, requiring sophisticated algorithms and precise control to create the illusion of surround sound. Of course, you could set up a surround sound system in your entertainment den, but then that magic only takes effect in that room.

TakeOut is an LG-inspired concept for a modular speaker system that lets you design your own audio space in a snap. At its core is a 360-degree soundbar that tries to bring the sound to you wherever you are in the room by blasting it in all directions. But when you push down on one of the circles on the top of the soundbar, a short cylindrical wireless speaker pops up. It’s not a completely independent speaker and it works in tandem with the soundbar, but its most important feature is that you can take it anywhere with you in the house.

This portability means that you can set up your audio experience just the way you want it, whether you’re listening in the same room or elsewhere. Need to go to your home office for a while? Just pop out one of the speakers and let the music follow you there. You can also create your surround sound setup in a flash by positioning the four “sub-speakers” around the room, though that doesn’t necessarily mean that the system will know which sound needs to come from which speaker.

While the design of TakeOut is quite interesting, there might be some practical issues with it as well. For one, the concept doesn’t clarify if the individual speakers can be used separately from the soundbar or if they’re completely dependent on it. If it’s the latter, it also means that the speakers won’t function properly if they ever go out of range of the soundbar or if the data can’t reach them because of obstacles like walls. Those details, however, could actually be ironed out with some features that don’t take away anything from the spirit of this modular and immersive audio system.

The post Modular speaker concept creates an immersive audio experience anywhere first appeared on Yanko Design.

Futuristic-looking chair concept immerses you in a world of sound

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People are now becoming more aware of how poor-quality audio can ruin an otherwise impressive movie or game, but we can only do so much when we’re trying to experience these activities at home. Headphones and earbuds try to use smart algorithms to recreate the effects of 360-degree surround sound, but that’s only an approximation at best. You can also deck your TV room with the latest in Hi-Fi audio equipment but also lose some privacy in the process. There’s almost no middle ground, at least if you think of conventional solutions. This odd spherical chair is one such unconventional solution that tries to offer the best of both worlds to plunge you into your own personal listening space.

Designer: Swift Creatives Studio

The problem with ordinary home speakers and earbuds is that they often just blast sound in a single direction, either from our front or our sides. The way we naturally hear, however, is to take in all the audio waves around us, Which is why surround sound systems put multiple speakers around the room to emulate that effect, but at the expense of everyone within hearing range knowing what you’re doing. It would be nice if you could just sit inside a bubble and have the 360-degree listening experience without sacrificing your privacy, which is exactly what the XEO POD is promising.

Looking like a hollow polygonal sphere with its front chopped off, the pod-like chair actually hides as many as 20 speaker cones underneath the textile surface that lines the interior of the futuristic-looking furniture. It’s like having a mini surround sound system, one that’s confined to your immediate personal space to prevent sound from leaking out and bothering others. There’s a retractable overhead camera that can track your head’s movement and adjust the delivery of the sound instantly, giving the illusion of being in the middle of the scene whichever way you look.

The XEO POD isn’t just made for listening, though; it’s also made to make that activity as comfortable as it can be. Despite the hard, spaceship-like exterior, the upholstered interior offers comfort and style, regardless of the way you sit. A few extras also take the experience to whole new levels, like a swivel arm mount for a 42-inch TV and a side table with a built-in cup holder and wireless charging.

As a chair, the XEO POD isn’t limited to just one position either. You can sit upright while playing games or recline comfortably when watching a film. The pod will support you and make you forget about your surroundings, fully immersing you in the audiovisual experience in front of your very eyes and ears.

The post Futuristic-looking chair concept immerses you in a world of sound first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Japanese wireless speaker uses a LED show to elevate listening to music into an experience!

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We’re all the DJs of our own dance parties in quarantine. Whether we’re at that local jazz bar with Tuesday open mic nights or those rave-filled after-parties following a late Friday night, we’re all pretending we’re on the dancefloor. Until we can get back on the real one, take it from me, a solid speaker setup is crucial for solo Saturday night interpretative dance routines. Thankfully, Japanese design and manufacturing company, Balmuda has the portable speaker with surround sound we’ve been searching for to keep our quarantine dance parties going.

The Balmuda Speaker does a lot more than just play music too. Starting from the top, Balmuda’s 77mm full-range speaker was designed to reproduce realistic vocals and instrumentals the way they were made to be heard in the studio. The speaker’s drive unit was built to deliver a deep, robust cloud of sound with bass heard from below, providing a thick blanket of sound for the vocals to sit on and remain centered, while the treble hangs overhead, making each sound experience fill up every room. The speaker’s sound clarity was achieved through fully-enclosed, vacuum tubing made of organic glass, that traps air to act as a spring, delivering a bouncy and crisp sound with each play.

Then, while your music plays, an LED light show emanates from each speaker’s center to mimic the lights from live musical performances. The speed of lights synchronizes with each song played and can be manually adjusted to fit the mood of any hangout or dance party. The sound of a song is converted to pops of light at a speed of 0.004 seconds, so no matter which song is on queue, Balmuda Speaker automatically adjusts its light show. The Balmuda Speaker can either be connected via BlueTooth or AUX input, and its Live Light mode has three different settings: ‘Beat’ for uptempo songs, ‘Ambient’ for a relaxed mood, and ‘Candle’ for slower songs.

Designer: Balmuda

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Balmuda Speaker features an LED light show that syncs up to your music no matter the song.

For slower tunes, Balmuda Speaker can be adjusted to act like a candle, just like live music in candlelit jazz bars.

A vacuum tube constructed from organic glass helps to deliver crisp audio.

Balmuda can be taken anywhere, even outdoor hangouts at the park.

The sophisticated design and subtle elegance of Balmuda helps in making it fit into any room.

The speaker’s 7mm full-range speaker offers 360-degree sound to fill up the entire room.

Balmuda comes with the option for Bluetooth connectivity, offering wireless capabilities.

Also equipped with an AUX input terminal, Balmuda can play, music from any source.

The rear panel of Balmuda comes with three options for different Livelight shows: Beat, Ambient, and Candle.

Sony’s absurd electric-shaver-shaped wireless speaker can fill your entire room with rich sound

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When you think of smart speakers, Sony is a brand that’s name really doesn’t come to mind. The company never really invested its efforts in the smart-speaker game, or even in developing its own Voice AI the way Samsung and other Asian tech companies did. As fashionably late as Sony may be to the party, at least it knows how to make a grand entrance. The company just unveiled its series of premium wireless speakers, the SRS-RA3000 and the SRS-RA5000… and while those names aren’t really catchy, you could just call the SRS-RA5000 the shaver speaker, because well, just look at it.

The speaker’s design is a function of its audio driver layout. It features a 70mm subwoofer in its base, and six full-range 46mm drivers laid out around the sides and the top (quite similar to Amazon’s Echo Studio and the now obsolete Apple HomePod). Together, these drivers push out sound upward and outward, creating what Sony describes as “ambient room-filling sound”. Sony’s even outfitted the speaker with two microphones, but they aren’t for your voice. Rather, the microphones help the speaker automatically calibrate its sound based on where you place it in the room, allowing for it to adjust how the speaker throws sound when placed in a corner of the space versus the center. Although, if you do want your smart speaker to respond to voice commands, the SRS-RA5000 is compatible with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.

Sony’s speaker works over Bluetooth and WiFi, and is even compatible with Spotify Connect and Chromecast Audio. The speakers are optimized for Sony’s 360 Reality Audio format, which can ‘upscale’ regular tracks to make them sound more rich and immersive, although this feature currently works only with selected platforms like Tidal, Deezer, and Amazon Music HD. For other streaming services and offline music sources, Sony’s thrown in its DSEE technology which greatly improves the sound of compressed audio or lossy MP3s. Oh yes, I did say offline music, because the speaker even sports its own 3.5mm jack that lets you hook it up to analog audio sources like your iPod, a turntable, or even your TV! The Sony SRS-RA5000 is available for pre-order and is expected to ship as early as the first week of April… although it’s difficult to see past that electric-shaver-inspired design, and its $700 price tag!

Designer: Sony

Vizio’s rotating Dolby Atmos soundbar is now available for $1,000

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All the way back at CES, Vizio showed off a premium soundbar with channels that rotate upwards whenever it’s outputting Dolby Atmos and DTS:X encoded audio. Those speakers can blast audio off your ceiling to bolster height effects and they’ll point f...

HomePod will soon have Dolby Atmos support for Apple TV 4K

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An upcoming home cinema feature will soon enable Apple HomePod to blast Dolby Atmos audio from Apple TV 4K. The feature, which is on the way as part of a future firmware update, will also support 5.1 and 7.1 channel audio (via The Verge). Only the re...

Dolby and Avid make it easier for indie artists to use immersive Atmos tech

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Music tracks encoded with Dolby’s immersive Atmos Music tech recently started appearing on Tidal and other streaming services, but most are from artists backed by major labels. Now, Dolby and Pro Tools developer Avid are making it easier for independ...