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Top 2012 Trend: Desktop/Computer Audio
As home entertainment continues to evolve, the next big development could be computer-based audio.
Natural Sound says it demonstrates step-up digital audio systems that include Bryston’s BDP-1 digital audio player and companion BDA-1 external DAC.
Back when Jim Lackey, president of Natural Sound, first opened his business, consumers were entrenched in audiophile music. Alternative entertainment solutions - aside from two-channel stereo - were few and far between during Natural Sound's early years. Consumers were just getting their first look at the original gaming system (the Atari 2600).
Since then, consumer electronics have evolved into VCRs, personal computers, DVDs, the Internet, HD and now streaming media. Natural Sound, like other small consumer electronics stores, has had to add these new technologies into their portfolio.
The company still has audio at its core … but along with home theater sound and even vinyl sales, Lackey and his staff are now adopting computer-based digital audio.
The once mighty CD is experiencing a sales slump that makes people sound off on the death of physical media. According to
During the same time frame, the number of albums downloaded increased from 63.6 million in 2008 to just over 83 million in 2010, the RIAA says. Overall, the RIAA says the U.S. digital music market grew to $3.2 billion in 2010, a 3 percent increase over 2009.
Eric Gaunt, marketing manager and sales consultant for Natural Sound, says the company's digital audio sales have grown in conjunction with the RIAA’s numbers. “There’s been a pretty significant increase in what we sell. A lot of it has to do with Sonos because they are add-on systems. I would say that 75 to 80 percent of the systems we sell have a computer-based component to it,” Gaunt says. “Our sales tie into that stuff now heavily. I would say 50 to 60 percent of our growth is now with Sonos being a part of our sales, and DACs [digital-to-analog converters] are a heavy growth area for us right now, too.”
“Generally, normal consumers are coming in and asking how to integrate their iPod into their systems,” he says. “From there we go into the different solutions that are available and ask them a bunch of questions to see what they want. We’ll talk to them about file formats like AAC, FLAC and AIFF and what they do. The normal person says, ‘what the hell are file formats?’ We’ll talk about the differences between USB [technologies], DACs, Sonos systems, Olive products, and then I’ll introduce the topic of storage by asking them how they store their music. Storage is a big part of digital audio and networked music and some clients will ask ‘where should the music be stored?’”
Setup Issues
Natural Sound also covers setup options with clients. For example, they will recommend using lossless, uncompressed files whenever a client is saving and creating music files. Gaunt says the add-on of software programs like Amara is a nice upgrade for iTunes to help optimize a computer's performance.
Other computer audio practices he says that are helpful include:
Demos Communicate Digital Audio’s Capabilities
A variety of digital audio components sprinkled throughout Natural Sound's showroom helps the sales staff educate clients about the category's capabilities. Gaunt estimates Natural Sound has 9-12 products on display at a time, giving the staff with the opportunity to get first-hand experience with a range of products.
“We demonstrate our digital audio products by showing the interfaces of products from companies like Sooloos and Sonos,” he says. “We demonstrate certain functions like how multiroom digital audio works by handing them a Sonos controller, and we really like to do comparisons between interfaces and components.”
Gaunt asserts that if the effort is made to properly address a client's system, digital audio can perform at high levels. "The most important thing in my mind is that it can sound really good if it’s done correctly,” he explains. “Early on it was fun, but it didn’t sound really good. Now, it’s something that audiophiles can enjoy, and it’s exciting to be able to make it sound good enough so audiophiles can like it, too.”
Since then, consumer electronics have evolved into VCRs, personal computers, DVDs, the Internet, HD and now streaming media. Natural Sound, like other small consumer electronics stores, has had to add these new technologies into their portfolio.
The company still has audio at its core … but along with home theater sound and even vinyl sales, Lackey and his staff are now adopting computer-based digital audio.
The once mighty CD is experiencing a sales slump that makes people sound off on the death of physical media. According to
During the same time frame, the number of albums downloaded increased from 63.6 million in 2008 to just over 83 million in 2010, the RIAA says. Overall, the RIAA says the U.S. digital music market grew to $3.2 billion in 2010, a 3 percent increase over 2009.
Eric Gaunt, marketing manager and sales consultant for Natural Sound, says the company's digital audio sales have grown in conjunction with the RIAA’s numbers. “There’s been a pretty significant increase in what we sell. A lot of it has to do with Sonos because they are add-on systems. I would say that 75 to 80 percent of the systems we sell have a computer-based component to it,” Gaunt says. “Our sales tie into that stuff now heavily. I would say 50 to 60 percent of our growth is now with Sonos being a part of our sales, and DACs [digital-to-analog converters] are a heavy growth area for us right now, too.”
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Gaunt says that depending on the knowledge level of the client - audiophiles have their own subset of products - most people are interested in getting the best value and performance from their Apple devices.Can 2012 Be a Big Year for Small Speakers?
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“Generally, normal consumers are coming in and asking how to integrate their iPod into their systems,” he says. “From there we go into the different solutions that are available and ask them a bunch of questions to see what they want. We’ll talk to them about file formats like AAC, FLAC and AIFF and what they do. The normal person says, ‘what the hell are file formats?’ We’ll talk about the differences between USB [technologies], DACs, Sonos systems, Olive products, and then I’ll introduce the topic of storage by asking them how they store their music. Storage is a big part of digital audio and networked music and some clients will ask ‘where should the music be stored?’”
Setup Issues
Natural Sound also covers setup options with clients. For example, they will recommend using lossless, uncompressed files whenever a client is saving and creating music files. Gaunt says the add-on of software programs like Amara is a nice upgrade for iTunes to help optimize a computer's performance.
Other computer audio practices he says that are helpful include:
- Using a computer specifically as a music server
- Upgrading hard drives to solid-state units
- An increase in RAM
- The use of balanced (XLR) cables
- Use upgraded power cables and power conditioners
- Employ a dedicated router setup as a VLAN
Demos Communicate Digital Audio’s Capabilities
A variety of digital audio components sprinkled throughout Natural Sound's showroom helps the sales staff educate clients about the category's capabilities. Gaunt estimates Natural Sound has 9-12 products on display at a time, giving the staff with the opportunity to get first-hand experience with a range of products.
“We demonstrate our digital audio products by showing the interfaces of products from companies like Sooloos and Sonos,” he says. “We demonstrate certain functions like how multiroom digital audio works by handing them a Sonos controller, and we really like to do comparisons between interfaces and components.”
Gaunt asserts that if the effort is made to properly address a client's system, digital audio can perform at high levels. "The most important thing in my mind is that it can sound really good if it’s done correctly,” he explains. “Early on it was fun, but it didn’t sound really good. Now, it’s something that audiophiles can enjoy, and it’s exciting to be able to make it sound good enough so audiophiles can like it, too.”
2012 State of the Industry Report
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Article Topics
News · Product News · Audio · Speakers · Ipad · Apple · Iphone · Ipod · Digital Audio ·About the Author
Robert Archer, Senior Editor, CE Pro
Bob is an audio enthusiast who has written about consumer electronics for various publications within Massachusetts before joining the staff of CE Pro in 2000. Bob is THX Level I certified, and he's also taken classes from the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF) and Home Acoustics Alliance (HAA). In addition, he's studied guitar and music theory at Sarrin Music Studios in Wakefield, Mass.
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