John Sciacca

PRICE $3,295 as reviewed

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Stellar audio quality
Sleek-looking components

Minus
Android app is pretty basic
iOS app very limited
Doesn’t currently support true high-res listening

THE VERDICT
The speakers sound amazing and the W Studio soundbar is a home run even without its multiroom capabilities, but the limited Play-Fi app for streaming leaves Def Tech’s W system lagging behind the best multiroom systems.

For a while, audio manufacturers seemed resigned to give it the ol’ “lie back and think of England” routine when it came to accepting Sonos as the dominant force in the wireless audio world. Sure, they might not have liked it, but they weren’t offering any compelling alternatives of their own. And while there had been some challengers in the past, most fell well short of the Sonos benchmark and quickly faded.

This tide has changed lately, however, and the war for wireless audio is heating up. Multiple systems are now offering their spin on wireless music distribution and hoping to take a bite out of the Wi-Fi audio pie. And unlike past attempts, several of these new solutions are not only good, they’re great. Darryl Wilkinson recently reviewed two top rivals for Sonos’ throne, Bluesound (S&V, June 2014) and Denon’s HEOS (S&V, January 2015). Now, well-regarded speaker manufacturer Definitive Technology is throwing its hat into the ring by embracing Play-Fi in its new Wireless Collection.

DISH continues to expand the Hopper ecosystem with its new 4K Joey, expected to arrive by November. The new player features an ultra-slim form-factor that can slip behind a wall-mounted flat panel TV and will cost DISH subscribers only $50 to upgrade and carry the same monthly fee as current Joeys, so there is no reason for DISH subscribers not to grab one!

Auto tracking satellite antennas certainly aren’t anything new, but they have always come at a rather premium price. And, sure, if you want to roll down the highway in you Winnebago and have a dish continuously track satellites soaring overhead in geosynchronous orbit, well, that’s still gonna cost you.

But if you just want to pull up to a camp site, or parking lot for your pre-game tailgate, whip out a simple antenna and not have to futz around with aiming and azimuth and angle so you can enjoy a little TV before the big game, DISH is making that a whole lot simpler and cheaper for you to enjoy!

A common talking point amongst IoT providers at CES is how they are designing products to protect against malicious Internet DDOS attacks like the Mirai botnet that recently took down the Net for millions back in September. The reality is that network security is a complex, difficult to understand concept for many people, and creating a truly secure network is simply beyond the ability of most users and their networking components. That’s where Dojo comes in, becoming your own full-time network protecting ninja!