Its no secret that audiophiles and hi-fi enthusiasts are skeptical of wireless speakers.
Hi-fi manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins claims to have solved these problems with its newFormation suiteof wireless products.
I had the chance to listen to the speakers, and theyre like Sonos on steroids.
The Formation family consists of five products at launch.
But the real star of the show is the wireless technology behind the speakers.
This online grid has a ridiculously low one-microsecond latency.
Again,microsecond, not millisecond.
That means any latency from the source would be completely inaudible to human ears.
Theyre also capable of streaming at 96khz/24-bit resolution, safely in hi-fi territory.
It has the same 6.5-inch Continuum woofer on the companys 800 Diamond series.
The tweeter is borrowed from the 700 series.
To this, it applies custom DSP and Dynamic EQ with custom tuned internal amplifiers to boost performance further.
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I would hope, for $4,000.
Two, these things havebass good bass.
B&W rates them way down to 25hz, so a subwoofer will be overkill for most people.
Most speakers simply wimp out halfway through.
My KEF LS50W doesnt make it all the way.
Three, these are lookers.
The curvy shape might not be for everyone, but I think the Duos are stunning.
Its nice to see an audiophile-grade speaker that isnt just another boring wooden or glossy box.
My problem with the Formation line is its lack of additional features.
For one, Id have liked to see at least some degree of room correction.
You speakers placement can dramatically alter the sound a speaker in a corner often sounds boomy, for instance.
Second is the lack of wired inputs.
The Bar only has an optical port to connect to your TV.
The Duos have no wired inputs at all.
No USB, optical, RCA or even an aux jack.
For that, youll need to shell out an extra $699 for the Formation Audio.
Im all for making wireless tech better, but this neednt come at the expense of useful features.
I dont know about you, but I dont know anyone whoonlyuses their fancy stereo speakers for streaming music.
They usually double as TV or computer speakers.
Sure, some audiophiles have dedicated listening rooms, but I imagine they must be in the minority.
If you want to services other than Spotify or Apple Music without Bluetooth orRoon, youre out of luck.
Even Sonos, a more techy audio company, provides an aux jack.
Ill never get why companies think they need to remove useful functions to make a product simpler.
See: theloss of the headphone jack, a smartphone trend thats benefited no one except dongle manufacturers.
Stay tuned for further thoughts once we get our review unit in.
