Audio snob, now you can listen to your Ipod with a portable and high-fidelity wireless stereo earphone system. Onkyo wants to preserve the originality of audio playback, unlike Bluetooth technology with compressed audio; their MHP-UW2 wireless system uses an uncompressed and robust 2.4Ghz digital connection, promises to deliver truly CD quality sound over the air.
Announced last month, two mid-range audio video receivers from Integra are ready to ship to your neighborhood custom reinstallers. DTR-7.9 upgrades from 7.8 now featuring THX Ultra2 Plus certification, Faroudja DCDi chip for a full 1080p upsizing over HDMI and extra pair of 1.3a HDMI to a total of 5 HDMI outputs. So you get the new features set at the same price of $1,300.The catch? It’s now Made in Malaysia instead of Japan.
Second appearance of the day for Sotec, with a desktop PC quite suited, perhaps, to the OneLessDesk; it might not be an iMac, but it does have a built-in iPod dock. The Sotec E7’s 21.6-inch 1680 x 1050 display hides a choice of dual-core Pentium E2180 2GHz or Core 2 Duo E7200 2.53GHz processors, a range of hard-drives from 160GB to 500GB, and from 1GB to 4GB of RAM.
Onkyo have announced a number of new home entertainment products, including two THX-certified receivers and two new “Home Theater in a Box” systems. The receivers – the TX-SR806 and TX-SR706 – both include the new THX Loudness Plus audio processing technology for improved low-volume-level listening, while the SR806 has THX Ultra2 Plus certification and the SR706 has Select2 Plus certification. Each can upscale HDMI digital video sources to a 1080p output courtesy of the Faroudja DCDi Cinema video processor, and the SR806 can also upscale analog sources to 1080i.
Having hopped resolutely onto the HD-DVD bandwagon – and then promptly jumped back off again when the format started to slide – Onkyo is stepping back into the high-definition home entertainment market with their first Blu-ray player. Details are scant (including an absence of pictures – don’t Onkyo know that nobody reads any more?) but they’ve confirmed that the new player will go happily hand-in-hand with their latest AV receivers.
Onkyo are set to release a new home entertainment system that seems to be aimed at people unsure whether they want extra wires and rear speakers. The GKW-2.1HD consists of two 30W front stereo speakers, a 60W subwoofer and control unit, and a remote. Out of the box it supports 2.1HD audio, but add a few extra speakers and you’ll have a full 5.1-channel surround sound setup.
Onkyo’s latest mini-HiFi system, the X-NX10A, might look pretty mainstream (although that color LCD is on the large size), but its demure appearance hides a few pleasantly up-to-date features. For a start, there’s an 80GB hard-drive that you can rip CDs to or, via a USB port, copy across your existing digital music files. An ethernet port also allows the HiFi to look up track and artist information online, or download (non-DRM) tracks directly.
Starting with the TX-SR606, then the TX-SR576, and lastly the TX-SR506, all packing 7.1 capabilities, HDMI ports, Dolby and DTS technologies, and not a single one prices below $500. For Onkyo, the $800 price tag of the most expensive of the three is comparatively affordable.
Little did I know about Onkyo line of HD HTPC products in US, but they already on 2nd generation releases in Japan with the announcement of APX-2. The new HD audio PC is a joint venture effort with the Japanese PC company, SOTEC as distribution store front.
Do you know how many CE manufacturers that are really supported HD-DVD and what they have in common? The RCA, Xbox 360, Venturer and Onkyo are all rebadged or manufactured by Toshiba, not counting the Korean Giants with combo player like LG and Samsung. The RCA went back to legacy DVD, Venture didn’t sell well and the word on the street is Onkyo is pulling out as well.
SlashGear Japan
