NS2 Air Monitors By Nocs Come With AirPlay Direct, Now Available

Nocs has finally released its first set of high-powered monitor speakers called the NS2 Air Monitors. It's been a long time coming, and we think these are the sleekest looking pair of monitors we've seen in a long time. The minimalist Swedish designed NS2 Air Monitors are one of the first monitor speakers to feature AirPlay Direct functionality, which lets you wirelessly stream high quality music and audio on a WiFi network from your Mac, PC and iOS device. The cool bit is that the NS2 Air Monitors will even create their own little WiFi network in case you don't have an internet connection thanks to the AirPlay Direct technology. So you could always enjoy the fruits of wireless AirPlay streaming no matter how bad your ISP is. 

Each monitor houses a 3-inch kevlar coned woofer with dual magnets, and a 3/4" silk dome tweeter tucked inside a beautifully hand-built rubber coated cabinet. Nocs' NS2 Air Monitors will set you back $449, but for that sum of money you'll be enjoying accurate and well balanced sound you can bet will blow your pants off. Not to mention the option of picking between six vibrant colors ranging from orange, yellow, red, black, white and gray. These are available now and can be ordered directly off of Nocs' website in the USA and in Europe.

Bowers & Wilkins Announces Their Newest Airplay Speakers

Say hello to the new additions of Bowers And Wilkins' dedicated AirPlay speakers lineup. The A7 and A5 feature a sleek and minimalistic design that will sit quietly and discretly while it's off, and be the highlight of the room once you have it on. It's Hi Fi Audiophile quality audio will satisfy just about everybody's ears, just as we'd expect from Bowers and Wilkins. 

The A7 features 2 one-inch aluminum tweeters, 2 three-inch mid range drivers, and a thumping 6-inch subwoofer in its enclosure to cover the entire audio spectrum. It is specifically designed to cooperate with your Apple devices through AirPlay but is also capable of USB streaming if you choose. The A5 packs similar features but in a smaller package. 

The A7 will drop you down $800 and the A5 will be a little more modest $500 come October. 

Pure Announces Their AirPlay Solution

When you’ve had a long day at work or school and just want nothing but to lay on your couch and have a long overdue rest, you suddenly feel the urge to listen to music. Problem is, your speakers are ALL the way across the room, and getting up and plugging your iPhone in is just not worth it. Thank goodness for AirPlay, Apple’s wireless streaming technology. Just turn it on, connect to your WiFi, and your favorite tunes will come blasting from your AirPlay capable speakers.

Pure has created the perfect solution to your wireless streaming needs. The Contour 200i Air is compatible with your iPod, iPhone, iPad, or your iTunes from your computer. Pure doesn’t plan for you to listen to cheap quality sound either; delivering 36W of audio heaven to your ears. Best of all, if you have multiple Contours set up throughout your house, you can stream music to all of them. If you choose to, you can take advantage of their free app, the Pure Lounge, where you can find a plethora of radio stations catering to your needs.

Pure has yet to announce the official price or release date, but don’t worry, it’s coming soon. 

Libratone Debuts AirPlay Enabled Lounge & Live Speakers

Amongst the sea of AirPlay enabled audio speakers and docks, the European high-end sound systems makers Libartone has announced a few of its own gorgeous and well designed AirPlay enabled wireless speakers with simplistic Scandinavian design and made from hand picked materials that include Italian cashmere, wool, satin plated chrome and wood. Libratone is releasing both of its AirPlay boasting Lounge and Live wireless speakers in the US for all to enjoy state-of-the-art sound and stream their music thru iTunes on a Mac or PC as well as any iOS device over a WiFi network. The Libratone Lounge is geared towards living in your living room space and can be hooked up to your TV for a 360 degree Hi-Fi sound experience.

Libratone's smaller and more portable Live speaker also utilizes Libratone's FullRoom technology found in the Lounge speaker to output sound in a 360 degree angle. Both Live and Lounge are available now in a variety of colors for $699 and $1,299, while you should expect to drop more for the cashmere models.

Audyssey Debuts Lower East Side Audio Dock Air With AirPlay

Our favorite speaker dock maker, Audyssey, has announced of a new AirPlay wireless music streaming machine of a speaker dock called the Lower East Side Audio Dock Air. Yes that's a long time, and yes this is in many ways similar to the good old South Of Market speaker dock we reviewed and fell in love with last year, only with less of a head turning streamline design. Audyssey's latest and greatest promises to outperform any comparably priced AirPlay audio dock on the market thanks to Audyssey's proprietary Smart Speaker technology. These are big words we can just about believe after using Audyssey's South Of Market dock. Wireless streaming is obviously the main focus here, so much that there isn't an actual dock to dock your iPhone or iPod. You'll be able to stream music from your computer using iTunes and with iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad with AirPlay.

under the hood, the Lower East Side Audio Dock Air is packing two 4-inch passive bass radiators for that signature rumbling deep lows Audyssey is known for, two 3-inch midrange woofers, two 1-inch tweeters all delivering distortion-free, power and precise sound quality. If you feel like using some cables, there are 3.5mm line input and 3.5mm headphone output ports as well. Good sound doesn't come cheap, you'll be dropping $400 on the Lower Easy Side Audio Dock Air. It'll be available starting November. 

Pioneer's Airplay Compatible iPod Docks

Pioneer has just announced two new iPod docks with the Airplay streaming. There are two new models, Pioneer X-SMC3-S(Pictured Above) and the X-SMC4-K Elite(Below). If you do not want to use AirPlay you can choose wireless or the 30-pin iPod dock connector, an Aux input and a USB port. The systems are almost exactly the same except the elite offers bluetooth as an add-on. They will be available in October for $400 for the X-SMC3-S and $480 for X-SMC4-K Elite.

Apple Sells 1 Million Apple TVs

 

Last week Apple said it expected the new Apple TV to top one million units before Christmas and now they have told us the have. With the addition of AirPlay for wireless streaming content from your Apple devices and how the Apple TV now costs $99 have pushed up the sales of the Apple TV. One million sold in 3 months. Not bad for a hobby. Not bad. 

Source MacRumours

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