CEDIA 2018

GoldenEar Technology offered a sneak peek of the compact stand-mount DigitalAktiv3, a wireless speaker based on the WiSA standard that looks to be right track for today’s market. Since the lighting in the GoldenEar sound room at CEDIA made a good photo impossible, the photo here was taken at last January's CES of an earlier prototype, but the physical appearance of the speaker as shown at CEDIA is the same.

While I’m not (yet) into wireless, self-powered speakers, they have clear advantages. The DA 3 is equipped for Wi-Fi connectivity (via Chromecast) and Bluetooth, and incorporates a 6” bass/midrange driver derived from the Titan Reference loudspeaker and the Reference’s HVFR tweeter. Two 8-inch passive radiators help support the bottom end.

The two drivers are bi-amped (200W for the bass/mid and 60W for the tweeter, both Class A/B). All crossovers are accomplished by DSP. If used as a stereo pair (and why wouldn’t they be, though single speaker use is supported), the two DA 3s are linked via WiSA radio. Voice command will also be supported using a Google Home device.

The speaker showed great promise in a brief audition using streamed music. Availability is expected early in 2019.