Polk Audio Introduces Omni System...

[Deleted User]

Hello,
Some really exciting news from Polk Audio, they have launched its wireless speaker collection. Here are some links to help you find out what the first great-sounding wireless speaker system is all about:
http://wireless.polkaudio.com/

News articles:
http://www.livetradingnews.com/polk-launches-first-great-sounding-wireless-music-system-69544.htm#.VA6Ti_mwJgk
http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/polk-definitive-technology-wireless-audio/
http://www.core77.com/blog/consumer_electronics/sound_united_cuts_the_proverbial_cord_michael_ditullo_on_the_debut_of_polk_omni_and_definitive_technology_wireless_music_systems_27582.asp?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+core77/blog+(Core77.com)

There's going to be someone from Polk's Marketing staff who will join us on CP and provide first-hand information concerning this amazing system.
Enjoy, Ken

cnh

A completely wireless system? Hmmmm! What will that do to all the boys and girls that LOVE their cables, I wonder? No cables of any kind?

Then there is the question about transmission "quality"? What means, frequencies, formats will be so "wirelessly" transmitted.

No doubt this is an ultimate convenience system for younger couples who may "graduate" to better sounding systems in the future.

You young Dudes, take NOTICE here! At least this is up the scale from the simple "sound-bar"!

cnh

hochpt21

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is basically a SONOS or squeezebox type of system.

It's really nice to be able to stream to your main rig, but also have satellite speakers to take out on the deck, garage, basement...etc...

It'll be interesting to hear the reviews.

[Deleted User]

Here's the discussion started by Lanie at Polk, it's your chance to ask questions about this new product:

http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/163940/omni-wireless-collection-q-a#latest

Ken

[Deleted User]

My first mod will be an air purifier.

F1nut

rednedtugent wrote: »

My first mod will be an air purifier.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

agfrost

rednedtugent wrote: »

My first mod will be an air purifier.

Best one-liner in recent memory!

tonyb

Kind of depressing in my book.

We really need another wireless speaker that everyone and their brother has one in their lineup already ? Kinda late to the party imho. What I see is another cheap Chinese product with another logo on it. So much for innovation and being ahead of the curve.

What sets Polk apart from it's competitors.....that's the question the product designers should be asking. If this Omni stuff were to do hi-rez, that would have been a great selling point over many competitors. Polk did it with the SDA's, I think they did it again recently with the LSIM's....but innovation and being ahead of the curve seems to be lacking. Being mediocre in an ocean of other companies in mediocre land does nothing to direct any of my spendable income Polks way.

[Deleted User]

Hello,
Actually the Play-Fi wireless system, which the Omni has, can transmit high-res audio up to 192kHz at 24bit fidelity. This is not another "me-too" system, believe me.
Ken

[Deleted User]

I think the S2 rechargeable wireless speaker that's weather resistant with a range of 100 yards (football field) is pretty cool. I'd like to try that one out. I think that would reach the "cement pond", Ellie May!

tonyb

Kenneth Swauger wrote: »

Hello,
Actually the Play-Fi wireless system, which the Omni has, can transmit high-res audio up to 192kHz at 24bit fidelity. This is not another "me-too" system, believe me.
Ken

I stand corrected then. The info I saw simply said "lossless" audio, which I took as cd quality only. Not that cd quality is bad, just that so many other products are hitting the hi-rez crowd. Glad to see Polk at least expanding upward to reach those hi-rez people. Though, for me anyway, listening to hi-rez on small speakers does little for me. These wireless systems seem to occupy a more casual listening environment which hi-rez and casual listening aren't exactly peanut butter and jelly.

[Deleted User]

I understand, but as I understand the system approach, you can have the wireless, high-res sound to any other speaker pair. The Omni A1 amp is 75W/channel that if connected to a nice pair of LSi7/LSiM703 gives new possibilities.

tonyb

Yeah it does, agree on that point Ken. Even though something may not be my cup of tea, doesn't mean it won't be anothers. Personally, I find SQ to be the driving force, if you can couple that with ease of use and versatility, then a winning product you will have.

Haven't tried many, but the products with built in amps like those from Sonos, the ZP120 for instance, sounded like dog poo to me. The actual digital transmission of music files is the easy part, between the digital files and the speakers are what constitutes some attention in my book. A small integrated attached to most digital transmission devices can still put out some decent SQ. Hopefully the Omni will be up to snuff for the SQ crowd.

mhardy6647

cnh wrote: »

A completely wireless system? Hmmmm! What will that do to all the boys and girls that LOVE their cables, I wonder? No cables of any kind?

Then there is the question about transmission "quality"? What means, frequencies, formats will be so "wirelessly" transmitted.

No doubt this is an ultimate convenience system for younger couples who may "graduate" to better sounding systems in the future.

You young Dudes, take NOTICE here! At least this is up the scale from the simple "sound-bar"!

cnh

But, but... the opportunities to market boutique aether for the transmission of the WiFi signals is limitless; you've got think innovatively, old son!

;-)

WilliamM2

No offense, but did I read the specs right? 2" full range drivers? I don't think it matters if it does high res. at that point.

I also noticed most of the links use Polk’s in the description, instead of Polk Audio.

Mikey081057

I was trying to determine the differences between the Omni P1 and the Def W Adapt and besides the visual difference the only thing I see is that the W Adapt has a hard wire ethernet jack and the P1 does not... Is that true Ken? So if you are bent on wiring everything you can then you would need the W Adapt.

tonyb

Kenneth Swauger wrote: »

Hello,
Actually the Play-Fi wireless system, which the Omni has, can transmit high-res audio up to 192kHz at 24bit fidelity. This is not another "me-too" system, believe me.
Ken

Not what the info says on the home page Ken, which is it ?


HD Audio

If I have HD Audio (96/24, 192/24) files on my smart device or home network, will the Polk system play and distribute these files? The Polk wireless products will play HD Audio at up to 48/16. 192/24 is not supported at this time. 96/24 files will be down sampled and played at 48/16 resolution. Streaming hi-resolution files is bandwidth intensive so we do not recommend streaming full hi-res to multiple wireless devices simultaneously. Hard wiring Ethernet to primary hi fidelity systems is recommended to minimize wireless bandwidth usage.

mrbigbluelight

Little blurb from Michael DiTullo, the Chief Design Officer, about Play-Fi:
http://www.core77.com/blog/consumer_electronics/sound_united_cuts_the_proverbial_cord_michael_ditullo_on_the_debut_of_polk_omni_and_definitive_technology_wireless_music_systems_27582.asp?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+core77/blog+(Core77.com)

"On the technology side of things, did you consider wireless audio solutions besides DTS Play-Fi? What makes them the best fit for Polk and Definitive?

We did an exhaustive amount of research on ecosystems, both open and proprietary. Play-Fi was the best fit for us for several reasons—it can handle very high-res files, something our competitors don't do and something that was important to us, especially as the streaming services have raised their bit rates. Secondly, the platform is very stable and they were already making and shipping real product using it. [BOLD]Lastly, Play-Fi is owned by DTS which has been a long time partner of ours [/bold] and knows the high-end audio business. We knew they were just as committed to building a quality system as we were and they were eager to work with us to continually improve and evolve the system. "

So Play-Fi is owed in house by Def Tech from what I gather. They will be the ones responsible for technical support, updates, etc ?
And, long story short, one will need a smartphone in order to access component controls/functions/settings ? An activated smartphone ? Or will, for instance, a wifi-enabled pad be able to do the deed (kind of like a fancy Harmony remote) ?

Play-Fi supports Android and Ios, but is there a minimum version of each needed ?
My Kmart cheapo smartphone has .... uh ..... an Android 2.X system (my flip phone got wet and died !). Would it be a case of "Oh, I'm sorry, your operating system doesn't support yadda-yadda" which would require a phone upgrade ? (Hey, I already spent $19 for this )
The 2nd video on this page seems to imply control is available via a pad, but is my interpretation correct ? Or is it a case of "Oh, you can ACCESS your music files stored on a pad, but you still need a smartphone for control" ?
That video, btw, flat out says that music is played LOSSLESS.


Just curious. It definitely appears that Polk/DefTech/Sound United is going full guns on the handheld, wireless route which may be the shape of things to come. In any event, best wishes and good luck.

tonyb

Lossless covers a gambit of bit rates. 16/44....cd quality can be lossless. Using the words "HD Audio" though assumes something higher than cd quality. The Omni will work off an app, available to any android device/computer/tablet/ and I believe Mac too.

Most do have a minimum system requirement for such wireless systems. If you don't, you'll experience annoying drop outs and some won't even play at all. I did notice not a lot of choices in the music service providers but that may grow over time.

For me, a big part of wireless is dependability. Nobody likes listening to music when it skips/stops/ or is a pain to implement. Still waiting for some user reviews or professional reviews.

A lot of audio these days is being software driven, but what happens when that software is no longer supported or the company goes belly up ala Squeezebox ?

Will software for the Omni have automatic updates....instantly downloaded or will you have to pay for them ? Will it work with a variety of computer systems ?

Lanie_Polk

Hello, Everyone! You asked... we answered! We picked top questions about the Omni Collection asked on this very forum to be answered by our speaker expert and Head of Engineering, Matt Lyons.

Watch the video response here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGYSLW-3FoA

Still have questions about the wireless music system? Keep posting! We will check back to see what we can answer for you.

Completely sold on the new Omni Collection? Place your pre-order today! http://wireless.polkaudio.com/

Lanie_Polk

Matt Lyons is SVP of New product development at Polk. Matt has been developing products in the audio industry for over 25 years. He is a graduate of the Peabody institute of the Johns Hopkins University and was an adjunct faculty member for over 20 years.

Matt is your basic audio nerd who also loves baseball. Has anyone met Matt?

Emlyn

It's still unclear to me what the capabilities are of the Omni system regarding high resolution (192/24 or 96/24) audio tracks. The documentation on the Definitive Tech unit says that high resolution audio is downsampled to 16 bit, or CD quality, over Play-Fi. I can't find similar documentation on the Omni site. If the intent of the system is to provide distributed audio at CD quality only, with no plans to allow owners the option of playing back high resolution audio at full sound quality, the new system falls short of what I would need for use in a main audio system.

I have been using Squeezebox Touch devices for a few years now, and they do support high resolution audio. I have observed the wifi bandwidth demands of 192/24 tracks on the Squeezebox. It will occasionally take a second or two to load a high resolution track over wifi, where a 16 bit WAV track will transmit from the hard drive with no delay. Other than that, I have experienced flawless playback once the tracks are running. There are other devices such as the Oppo BDP-105 that basically allow for the same thing with streaming high resolution audio. It would be nice to at least have the option, whether it is fully enabled by default or is user selectable, to play back full bandwidth high resolution audio. If it doesn't work out with a particular user's wifi connection, it could then be downsampled. Another disadvantage compared to the Squeezebox Touch is that no tablet or smart phone is needed to use the Squeezebox Touch.

At the moment, it seems as if the Omni system is primarily oriented as a convenience/lifestyle system rather than a true audiophile system. I do see a potential use for the Omni system for me, which would be to replace a Squeezebox Touch/Polk iSonic combination system I use in my gym over wifi. In that setting high resolution tracks don't make much difference.

I would consider buying something in the Omni line, but I'd like to know more hard information first. The site seems to be lacking in that regard.

tonyb

Emlyn wrote: »

At the moment, it seems as if the Omni system is primarily oriented as a convenience/lifestyle system rather than a true audiophile system.

I think that nailed it for ya. Don't think Polk ever advertised it either as an audiophile type quality device either. Then again, most these smaller cheaper products are indeed convenience/lifestyle products.

I don't know what other info you need that hasn't already been talked about. The Bluesound node is capable of higher formats if that interests you. You already have a good player in the SB Touch, why not get a small integrated and a set of bookies and be done ?