HiFiMan is an independent manufacturer of a variety of largely high-performance audio products. We first met the company two years ago at CES, and were amused and impressed with company founder Dr. Fang Bian. Bian is an enthusiastic lover of high quality music and created some superior digital media players and headphones to better reproduce it. Serious, but sincere, Bian’s company has launched two new interesting digital music players – one offering “reference” level performance…and the other a more affordable option for the music lover on a budget.
Shows & Events
GoldenEar Continues Line Expansion, Launches New Triton One Flagship Speaker at CES
GoldenEar Technology is one of specialty audio’s success stories, launching only a few short years ago, in late 2010. Many industry insiders told us at that time that the industry had no room for yet another loudspeaker line. And yet, since GoldenEar launched, we’ve heard nothing but accolades from industry reviewers…and more importantly, dealers. We’ve also watched their dealer network, and their product line-up, continue to grow.
Now GoldenEar’s Sandy Gross has launched a new flagship model called the Triton One… [Read more…] about GoldenEar Continues Line Expansion, Launches New Triton One Flagship Speaker at CES
At CES: Samsung Shifts Emphasis from Smart TVs to Smart Home
Samsung’s press day conference was the most unusual we’ve seen with everything from a product that caused an audible gasp of amazement from the crowd…to one of their celebrity presenters running from the stage in mid-presentation. But we believe we detected a subtle but significant shift with their TV business being less prominent and more in balance with the company’s other products such as their appliance, computer, and mobile businesses.
See more on our initial impressions of Samsung below… [Read more…] about At CES: Samsung Shifts Emphasis from Smart TVs to Smart Home
Panasonic Gives the Back Seat to Consumers, at the Consumer Electronics Show
One of the bigger surprises on Press Day (the day before the show opens) at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was the Panasonic press conference. We were quite surprised when Panasonic opened their press conference at the consumer electronics show, talking at length about their non-consumer businesses.
Their official tag line at the event…Panasonic A Better Life. A Better World…seemed very generic and not particularly entertainment linked. But the more interesting tag phrase that we heard several times throughout the presentation was – Panasonic is more than a TV company…seemed to suggest that the company was distancing itself from its consumer TV business. Or at least, re-prioritizing their business segments as they spent the first several minutes of their presentation talking government, security, and commercial applications for Panasonic technology.
See more from this surprising Panasonic presentation… [Read more…] about Panasonic Gives the Back Seat to Consumers, at the Consumer Electronics Show
CES Opens to Press and Already…A Couple of Surprises
Press Day at CES is – to put it mildly – a bit of a grind. A seemingly never-ending series of scheduled press presentations that are scheduled one hour apart so the press can run from one supposedly 45-minute (of course they all run long) event to the next. The hallways often look more like a mosh pit as reporters, bloggers, and editors push, shove, and elbow their way to the next presentation hoping to get a seat close enough that the presenters don’t look like ants.
It’s easy to become jaded, as one sits through slickly produced, Hollywood-style presentation after another. Rarely, do we get surprised.
But this time…we got a couple of surprises… [Read more…] about CES Opens to Press and Already…A Couple of Surprises
Energy Squad Says Dealers Found ‘LED Diet’ Training Quite Fulfilling
Energy Squad, LLC, a distributor exclusively focused on offering energy-efficient or “green” technology products nationally, announced today that earlier this month it had completed its first round of dealer training on their “LED Diet” program – a solution first announced at this past CEDIA Expo. For this first 2½-day intensive training, the company brought in dealers from all across the United States who were interested in learning how Energy Squad’s LED Diet program could help make their customer’s energy usage lean – while making their integrators’ profits fat.
See more on how Energy Squad customers are putting their clients on an LED Diet… [Read more…] about Energy Squad Says Dealers Found ‘LED Diet’ Training Quite Fulfilling
Easy Access Distribution Says 14th Annual Dealer Event a Huge Success
Easy Access Distributing announced last week that their dealer event held last month, called the Emerging Technologies & Home Awareness Expo was a huge success. Held at the Courtyard by Marriott in Billerica, Massachusetts, the company said the event drew an attendance of 170 area integrators over two days.
See more about this large area event… [Read more…] about Easy Access Distribution Says 14th Annual Dealer Event a Huge Success
Strata-gee’s Editor Appears in Latest Edition of AV Week Webcast
Not having learned their lesson last time, AV Nation once again invited me to participate in the latest edition of their AV Week webcast to discuss the hot A/V topics of the day. Also appearing in this week’s episode of AV Week was Sam Malik of ASK Proxima and Kevin Iselli of Crestron Electronics. And, of course, AV Week is hosted by the incomparable Tim Albright, founder of AV Nation.
What topics did the guests on AV Week ponder? See more below… [Read more…] about Strata-gee’s Editor Appears in Latest Edition of AV Week Webcast
HTSA Announces Their Top Vendors for 2013
The Home Technology Specialists of America (HTSA) on Tuesday announced their top vendor awards for 2013. These awards were handed out at their Fall 2013 dealer conference held last week and included a special Lifetime Achievement Award.
See who earned top honors from the national dealer group below… [Read more…] about HTSA Announces Their Top Vendors for 2013
Promising Newcomer AudioXperts Abruptly Ceases Operations
BREAKING NEWS
After only a little more than one year in operation, AudioXperts – a new specialty brand of audio electronics targeted at the luxury consumer market – has closed down operations. According to AudioXperts President Eli Harary, the company was forced to shut down last Friday after a key investor stopped all funding.