There's Growth to Come! Audio Collaborative 2018 Key Takes

Once again, and for the fifth consecutive year, market research firm Futuresource Consulting promoted its highly successful Audio Collaborative conference dedicated to latest audio industry trends. Combining the latest market research intelligence, this is a unique opportunity to share the latest insightful industry trends among key industry influencers and discuss how services, hardware, and content is shaping the future of the audio landscape.

Cabasse, the iconic French hi-fi brand is today part of AwoX, one of the most dynamic companies in the smart home space. In recent years, Cabasse significantly expanded its catalogue with modern and feature-rich products for home-theater and wireless multiroom. The most recent announcement from Cabasse clearly positions the brand in the most contemporary lifestyle segment. After 3 years of R&D and benefiting from the group's experience in wireless and smart home connectivity, Cabasse has launched The Pearl, an active, high-definition, connected – and smart – speaker.

Futuresource Consulting recently updated its research on the worldwide home audio market. On its latest quarterly report on "Worldwide Home Audio - A Landscape of Stark Contrasts and Opportunities: Pricing, Shipments, Regions and Brands," Futuresource reveals that 'home audio' shipments, including wireless speakers, soundbars and hi-fi systems, grew by 25%, accumulating a total of 27 million units during January to March 2018.

Following earlier demonstrations at CES 2018, Qualcomm introduced a series of new platforms, SoC and development kits targeting new advanced audio applications and smart speakers, including the support of key wireless technologies, voice and cloud ecosystems. Solutions include its Smart Audio Platform optimized for smart speakers, a 6-microphone far field voice platform qualified for Amazon AVS, Dolby Audio implementations for wireless speakers and much more.

DTS announced the availability of the Phorus PS10, the first DTS Play-Fi enabled wireless speaker with Amazon Alexa Voice Service. The Phorus PS10’s built-in far-field microphone array allows users to access information, play music, and control other home automation devices via the Amazon Alexa Voice Service. The PS10 features three microphones for superior far-field voice recognition, one-touch music presets, high-res music compatibility, and DTS Play-Fi multi-room streaming.

Promising a Smarter Way to Enjoy Music, Sony's announcements at the IFA 2017 show in Berlin follow the predictable consumer trends, offering access to voice personal assistants and improved wireless smart home features. Sony's new LF-S50G wireless speaker combines high quality sound with the smart features of the Google Assistant built-in. The LF-S50G can be used "smartly" in the kitchen with handy clock functionality and is IPX3 splash-proof design with a water repellant surface.

A new report from Futuresource Consulting shows the home audio market continues to outpace the wider home electronics market, thanks in great part to the success of smart and wireless speakers, and soundbars. Futuresource's new Worldwide Audio Report highlights that Amazon commands 90% of smart speaker’s sales as well as other key trends. However, the story is not so good for many legacy categories such as hi-fi systems and loudspeakers and home-theatre-in-a-box systems.