New Products

Last night we got to check out the latest offering in Bang & Olufsen's wireless-lifestyle Play line, a wireless speaker system known as the BeoPlay A9 ($2,699). Now, obviously at that price it's got to offer something more than the average dock, and indeed it does. 

We first heard tell of the new SoloCinema XTR soundbar from Definitive Technology back in January, at the 2012 CES, and the unit impressed us there with the sheer feature set and wattage the Baltimore firm had packed into a 43-inch wide, 2 and 3/8-inch deep profile.

Affordable audiophile and home-theater gear leaders Emotiva have announced the new XMC-1, the first product to emerge in a revamped lineup of digital products from the company, designed by Moog and B&K veteran digital systems wizard and Emotiva VP of Engineering Ray Dennison.

When we looked at FiiO's desktop headphone amp, the E9, we had a few quibbles with the design, though few complaints about the sound or the bang it delivered for the buck.

We came across the new iHome iP76 ($199) at the CEA Line Shows earlier this month, the glowing, pulsing, three-foot-tall tower speaker seemed like the kind of thing you might see nestled beside some fancy tobacco smoking gear.

Over the past few weeks, we've been looking into some promising new room correction solutions, using both frequency-domain and time-domain approaches. If you've been wondering why nobody's been applying such thinking to headphones, think again - in-ear monitor innovator JH Audio has been on the case.

Last week we got a chance to check out the new stuff Klipsch has up its sleeve for Fall 2012, and while we'll have lots more to tell you about soon, the first product to get an official announcement is a refreshed version of the company's well-regarded affordable in-ear 'phone, the Klipsch Image S4. The lineup remains the same as before, with updates to the basic Image S4 ($79.99), as well as the Android-friendly S4A and the iOS-remote sporting S4i (both $99.99)