…and at $299, they will certainly make an impact in the nascent soundbar market.
Vizio is known for it’s line of LCD and Plasma HDTVs, and specifically known for being very value oriented and offered through retailers like Walmart, Costco, Target, Sears, etc. Well with that go-to-market strategy, Vizio has made themselves the market leader in North America, and simultaneously one of the biggest targets in the industry. As the likes of LG, Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, and Philips all drop trau and shrink margins, Vizio and the entire FPTV market is headed into its inevitable commoditization cycles. The shakeout will begin.
In this environment, it’s not surprising that Vizio is entering the TV accessory business. The soundbar is a rapidly growing segment, as consumers demand a better, richer, audio experience that the cheap speakers built into panels can deliver. Often for second, third, and fourth TVs in a household, a full AVR or home theater setup is not in the cards for most consumers. So, CNET is reporting that Vizio is launching a soundbar that includes:
Wireless subwoofer (with wireless link by a company not unspoken of here at Wireless Audio Blog)
Audio quality that will blow your mind, because it will cost only…
$299 MSRP
The third bullet is what I’m most excited about. Vizio is one of the most clever technology sourcing companies in the world today. They understand the value function very well, value=f(performance/cost). I happen know that Vizio has found themselves some pretty disruptive IP that will make this soundbar sound unlike any other. It will surpass models that cost twice as much… easily. I am anxiously awaiting the reviews once Vizio gets this bar into the hands of the likes of Crave, EngadgetHD, Sound and Vision, etc. I think the consumers who swim in the audio gear market will greet Vizio with open arms.
One of the features that sets the HS-1200 apart from products like the FREETALK or the Clearchat, is the SoundBlaster X-Fi technology that Creative bundles in. X-Fi delivers some pretty kick-ass virtualization for up to 7.1 surround sound via CMSS-3D and restores clarity lost in many of our compressed music files via Crystalizer. With the accompanying X-Fi package, these headsets deliver gamer-certified performance as well as the versatility that comes with products like the FREETALK and Clearchat models from other companies.
From a pure design perspective, these ear-pads are particularly comfortable for my taste…. Plus, if you’re of the unusually large-headed variety (like me, hat-size 8), you’ll appreciate the fit of the HS-1200.
My favorite part though (and secretly how the HS-1200 really differentiates itself) is the mic boom — it’s simply the best I’ve used on any headset, wired or wireless. The boom is slick to the touch, adjusts its contours with perfectly “plastic” precision — no elastic memory behavior that plagues many flexi-booms, and it is long, allowing you place the mic right where it should be, in front of your mouth. All other headset makers should simply copy this design. It rocks.
More good news. This month, Rocketfish started selling two new wireless headphone models in Best Buy stores nationwide. There are two models, the RF-WHP01 and RF-WHP02. Each model has Avnera’s first generation wireless audio system, which at this point is popping up in many other places.
Both models are targeted at TV and home AV environments.
Key application usages:
Watching TV at night without disturbing house-mates (Killer frickin’ app)
Enhancing TV/AV audio for people with diminished hearing
Listening to music from iPod dock, PC, home stereo while cooking dinner, doing housework, etc.
The RF-WHP01 and RF-WHPo2 are both very similar models, with the primary difference being:
RF-WHP02 is mainly targeted at TV users, so it offers some hook-up flexibility. Including a boom mic option for older sets that don’t have supplementary audio outputs. This is also a quick and dirty way for someone to enjoy music at a higher volume level than others also watching the same TV, without headphones.
RF-WHP02 has a spatial enhancement feature to enhance stereo sound.
RF-WHP02 also offers some voice enhancement meant for people with diminished hearing who have difficulty picking out speech when watching TV.
RF-WHP01 has black trim. The RF-WHP02 has metallic maroon trim.
The RF-WHP01 & RFWHP02 are available now at Best Buy stores. As of the writing of this article, they are not yet available online, though that’s only a matter of time.
UPDATE: They are available now online: RF-WHP01 for $79.99 and RF-WHP02 for $99.99.
To get a sense of what a killer deal this is… compare this to Sony’s 2.4GHz and the 60-some dB SNR 900 MHz junk that is still hanging around…
So forget IR, forget 900 MHz, forget paying north of $200… pick up a pair of Rocketfish headphones that just work.
Comment thread here pretty decent as well… fair and balanced folks. Although again, many of the negative experiences mentioned in the thread could have been addressed if they visit this comment thread. I’m also loving the shout-0uts for AudioEngine’s AW1. Which rocks in its own way.
These are the best sounding wireless headphones we’ve done to date. They are great for music. These 2.1 headphones have been discussed as we sampled this to the Press during our launch. They are in full production now, and you should see them in stores this Spring and more and more throughout the Summer.
While I know that everyone’s blog is just as accessible as another, these blog/media machines — like Gizmodo’s Gawker Media and Engadget’s Weblogs Inc. — just know how to attract the eyeballs. They’re undeniably centers of gravity when it comes to attracting the gadget lusty peanut gallery. I just wish they spelled “AvneraAudio” correctly.
this is a product that makes you think “why didn’t i think of that?”
Well the folks at Avnera did (way back in 2004!), and we made a single chip that will bring devices like this (and more) to market for years to come, at prices consistent with any other common PC accessory.
Logitech, the number one PC accessory maker in the world, also saw the possibilities right away. At Cebit, Logitech launched the ClearChat Wireless PC Headset. We’ve been waiting for this meticulously designed headset to hit the streets. Looks like we are a few weeks away from it being in stores. This is really exciting, because Logitech is the first customer of ours to take our core chip-set and then, on their own, set out to design a world-class product around it. It has been a long time coming, but we’ve now seen why. Logitech pays attention to every detail, and does take their time to widdle away design risks and functional quirks to arrive at a product that is well-though-out and with some clever details that differentiate it from what else is out there, wired or wireless — Logitech brings crisp, classic industrial design, materials with great feel, and ergonomic expertise to yield probably the most comfortable headset I’ve worn, including those from Logitech’s wired product-line. Among other cool tricks is the microphone boom that illuminates when muted, so people around you can learn when they can talk to you without being heard, and to remind you when it’s prudent to curse the folks on the other end of the call.
People will ask, can’t Bluetooth do this? The short answer is no.
They will say, “if it isn’t Bluetooth, I don’t want it.” The consequence is they won’t be able to use one of the most practical accessories for the PC to come along in years.
You see, BT does not deliver:
The audio quality of uncompressed PCM 48 KHz audio. This headset delivers 1500 Kbps audio, BT only 320 Kbps.
The fixed latency of an isochronous audio signal path - with an end-to-end delay that is less than one frame of video. This means you will hear the bullet shells hit the floor when you see them hit the floor.
Full duplex stereo and voice for gaming. With BT you only get mono voice quality audio in both directions when you give up the stereo. And there is no software out there today that robustly manages the profile switching necessary to put the BT device in the right mode for the application at hand.
Zero installation steps.ClearChat is Plug & Play with Mac OS, Windows XP and Vista, UPDATE: and very soon Ubuntu
While the majority of computer gamers will probably (rightly) say this thing is great for World of Warcraft or whatever, the applications that I use my wireless headset for (in order of frequency) are:
Making calls and attending conference calls via Skype
Listening to music on Pandora or Slacker while I work on my PC
Cool impromptu interview with Creative’s marketing folks by Gaming Shogun. Unfortunately, I think the guy from Creative confused some folks when he said compression technology. This product uses Avnera’s chipset and wireless audio protocol. I can firmly state that this is uncompressed audio. It is full bandwidth, 48 KHz stereo to the headphones, and wideband 16 KHz on the voice back-channel. As he said, the protocol is full duplex. I’ve read some interesting threads around the internet about this interview, and gamers have every reason to be skeptical with all the noise out there in the market, in general. But I am pretty confident the audio quality of this headset will impress even the most difficult-to-please.
…and at $299, they will certainly make an impact in the nascent soundbar market.
One of the features that sets the HS-1200 apart from products like the 
While the majority of computer gamers will probably (rightly) say this thing is great for World of Warcraft or whatever, the applications that I use my wireless headset for (in order of frequency) are:
