A few weeks ago, we highlighted the NYNE SMC-1000 media center, a connected, compatible media center that the company will be showcasing at CES 2013. NYNE’s press materials have been heavy on those two adjectives in the lead-up to next week’s CES, as have been references to its “new direction.”
The company seems to foresee an equally-connective, universally-compatible future – and is ready to pounce on it.
That hunch is supported by recent news that NYNE will debut two new “lifestyle inspired speakers” at next week’s show: the NB-500 and the NB-550. Both are described as “Device-Agnostic,” in what is probably a dig at the religious-like reverence that some audio manufacturers have for anything with a certain piece of fruit on it. More importantly, however, it signifies a shift in focus. Let’s take a look at the new speakers.
NB-500 – This speaker is the more compact and portable of the two, but NYNE insists that its audio signature is robust enough to please even the most ardent audiophiles. The speaker connects to devices via cutting-edge Bluetooth 4.0 technology, a fact NYNE says will make the speaker compatible (there’s that word again) with both current and future devices, across the gamut of platforms.
- Release: Q2 2013
- Price: $200
NB-550 – A larger version of its sibling speaker, the NB-550 touts a potent 100-watts of power. The speaker also connects via Bluetooth 4.0 and – like the NB-500 – features USB charging and an auxiliary input to keep you connected (there’s that word again) even if your device doesn’t support wireless streaming.
- Release: Q2 2013
- Price: $300
It’s fair to say that we’re at a sort of crossroads in the portable and wireless audio space. It seems as if everyone is going a different direction, so it will be interesting to see if NYNE’s agnostic route will be highly trafficked, or the road less traveled.
