I’ve been fascinated with player pianos ever since I visited the Alamo Saloon in Old Abilene Town years ago as a kid. The reenactment of Wild Bill Hickok’s famous gunfight was a hoot, but watching those cancan girls dance to an upright piano that was playing itself was downright mesmerizing. I recently visited the Yamaha Artist Services facility in New York to experience a modern, super-charged version of that old player piano—the Disklavier Enspire.
Periodic Audio, formed last year by consumer electronics veterans Daniel Wiggins and Mike Kim and backed by a team of engineers with deep audio experience, introduced its first in-ear monitors over the weekend at the CanJam NYC headphone expo.
Oppo Digital has introduced an audiophile-grade digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that doubles as an app-based media streamer that supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and AirPlay.
Soundcast VG1 Waterproof Speaker
If you’re looking for a speaker you can use near water—in the bathroom, by the pool—why mess around? The IP67-rated VG1 is waterproof, not just “water-resistant,” meaning it has withstood testing to ensure it’s impervious to dust and submersible in 3 feet of water.
Take It Anywhere: Described as a perfect travel companion, the speaker teams a pair
of 2-inch aluminum-cone drivers with
a rear-firing bass radiator and is designed to keep an impromptu party going for up to 15 hours when its battery is fully charged. The VG1 supports Bluetooth streaming via aptX and AAC codecs, or you can use its minijack for a hard-wire hookup. It also has a built-in microphone and is compatible with Siri for hands-free control. Two VG1s can be connected for a wireless stereo experience. Price: $150
Soundcast • (619) 591-0126 • gosoundcast.com
Severtson Screens, the family-owned Mesa, Arizona-based company that celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2016, has introduced a new line of acoustically-transparent projection screens featuring a “finer weave and brighter white material” for enhanced picture performance.
As we progress into 2017, Klipsch continues its 70th anniversary celebration with two new Heritage Series speakers that recall the grandeur of its earliest designs.
Onkyo previewed an Alexa voice-enabled wireless smart speaker at CES last week, marking its foray into the super-hot product category Amazon created with its line of Echo smart speakers.