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Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk

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Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk

#221

Post by [deleted] »

itfossil wrote: post #216
elif wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What TV do you use? I use a Frame and don't have any of the issues you describe in the slightest. The power button turns the TV on with a 0.5 second animation, and immediately I see the Roku interface with no popups or Samsung branding or anything. Probably the ONLY complaint is that by default my washing machine puts an alert on the TV every time it's finished. I would probably find the setting to turn it off but ho…

ROFL - Are you seriously telling me a device running Roku software is trouble-free? Sell this lie somewhere else please. Devices running Roku software, TVs especially are a straight up dumpster fire. On top of that, its harvesting the hell out of your data. Stop being a sucker. Toss that Roku powered shit out of the window.

[deleted]

Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk

#222

Post by hapticmonkey »

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #153
hapticmonkey wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AppleTV running Apple Music connected to my Marantz AVR. No ads. No privacy concerns. I get lossless stereo where available and Atmos on selected tracks. It's great.

How do you use it without needing a TV or display to navigate the UI?

I have my TV on which doesn’t bother me but I understand why it’s not ideal for all setups. If I select a song on my iPhone and airplay it to my AppleTV, it does a handover.

If you want to stay within the Apple ecosystem without the TV part, you could use an AVR with airplay built-in. Or get an AirPort Express, which can join a wifi network and become an Airplay client, and connect it via optical (mini toslink) to an AVR. And control it all from a phone or Mac.

Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk

#223

Post by cj »

itfossil wrote: post #216
elif wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What TV do you use? I use a Frame and don't have any of the issues you describe in the slightest. The power button turns the TV on with a 0.5 second animation, and immediately I see the Roku interface with no popups or Samsung branding or anything. Probably the ONLY complaint is that by default my washing machine puts an alert on the TV every time it's finished. I would probably find the setting to turn it off but ho…

ROFL - Are you seriously telling me a device running Roku software is trouble-free? Sell this lie somewhere else please. Devices running Roku software, TVs especially are a straight up dumpster fire. On top of that, its harvesting the hell out of your data. Stop being a sucker. Toss that Roku powered shit out of the window.

Apple TV connected via HDMI to a big screen TV not connected to the internet.

2-3 second boot up. No ads. Snappy interface. No complaints. No bloatware. No adware.

Why does this solution not work for you?

Does your TV not work when you turn off WiFi with an attached Apple TV? I’m confused.

Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk

#224

Post by morellt »

Disposal8433 wrote: post #164
neuroelectron wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like this is tied to the overall decline in movie and music quality. Maybe I'm just getting old. There is no more "Titanic" or "Nirvana". Lots of people have noticed the decline in audio mixing in movies as well, which has led to a generation of younger adults who need captions for regular movies. A discrete audio system would probably help with this but for what? How many times are you going to watch latest A…

The whole "4/5 speakers around the room" never made sense to me. It always felt overly complicated for a premium price that no one could afford or cared about. I used to hang out with people who had luxury sound systems but it was way too expensive or complicated for my daily use. For the past 15 years, I have used the same cheap combo of soundbar+subwoofer (Sony but anything goes) and it's perfect for everything I t…

I think this ties in more with the decrease in quality of movie/music sound mixing. There are current movies coming to theaters with mixing so bad that they have to rerelease it with the proper audio (such as Across the Spiderverse). Many, MANY albums that release today have noticeable digital clipping because engineers have now assumed that high gain is always better etc. etc.

There used to be a reason to have a 5.1 surround system, because that's how the movies were supposed to be enjoyed. There used to be a reason to engineer your home "soundstage" because that's how the music was mixed and optimally appreciated.

I don't think the bar of entry being money is truly the reason, rather that people have become much more passive consumers of media, and the producers have recognized that and absolutely enshittified their products.

As for the cheap speakers = cinematic experience, watch Interstellar with 5.1, then with the soundbar and tell me how equal the experience is.

Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk

#225

Post by givinguflac »

BlobberSnobber wrote: post #203
HenryBemis wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't like Apple and its 'stuffs' but if it works anything like Spotify, then I can control 'it/Spotify' from my PC/Firefox while the music is played by my phone to an bluetooth JBL. So even without a dedicated TV/screen, I can listen to Spotify in other devices. I assume the comment would benefit from a setup like that - smartphone to control, AppleTV and the rest for the audio.

Apple for some reason hasn’t implemented that feature, and it boggles the mind. Say I’m playing music on my iPhone and I try playing a track on my mac, it doesn’t ask me on which device to play, hell, it doesn’t even stop playing on my iPhone to start on my mac, it just puts an ugly warning in the middle of the screen saying something like “stop playing on your iPhone to listen to the song on this device”. It’s actua…

I have used AM since launch and don’t understand what you’re complaining about exactly. I have never, not once, seen a message telling me to stop playing on one device to play on another with AM. Spotify otoh is super strict with licensing and does that. Why wouldn’t you want to be able to play 2 different streams in 2 different places?

I have my AM on my Sonos, my phone, my ATV, and my dad’s Sonos and have never seen a message that it’s playing elsewhere. With Spotify my setup absolutely would be impossible using the same account.

I personally don’t want the Spotify style playback features; keep them out of my AM please.

Edit: I forgot you can also now share a queue via Apple Music using airplay, even if others at the party don’t have an account.

Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk

#226

Post by dsr_ »

mrweasel wrote: post #15
neogodless wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious how large this market is. Speaking only anecdotally, when I was in my 20s, I bought a Sony "home theatre in a box" which included receiver, small subwoofer, and small satellite speakers. Over time, I upgraded to an Onkyo reciever and Polk center, surrounds, and subwoofer. But... then I decided I wanted a more minimal look, and switched to a JBL sound bar + subwoofer, which has detachable surrounds -- but…

Probably one issue could also be that a lot of this stuff is actually pretty well made, and repairable. My old NAD amplifier is more than 25 year old and doing great. I don't need a new one. I've switched speakers a few times, to better fit the rooms as we've moved, but the amplifier just sits in a corner with the CD player and turntable. I'd agree with others, speakers aren't that concerning. There are niche speaker…

Samsung has actually done reasonably well with their acquisition of the Harman group in 2017: AKG, AMX, Arcam, Becker, BSS Audio, Crown, dbx, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon, Mark Levinson, Martin, Revel, and Soundcraft.

I just object to the concentration of market power.

Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk

#227

Post by realityking »

ben7799 wrote: post #57
bhouston wrote: post #11

I feel that sound bars + speakers directly attached to TVs has decimated the "home theatre receiver." "Back in the day", home theatre receivers made sense when you wanted Radio + CD inputs in addition to the TV input. But radio and CD players are gone. There is just TV. Even when I do audio, I run it through the TV. Thus why do you need a separate box? It just seems like a waste. Instead everyone these days are just…

I agree with this. I think the overall experience with the modern setup is worse in every way than 20 years ago with the exception of picture quality since we have 4K now. (Of course mostly we watch heavily compressed streaming video). 20 years ago I had a 5.1 system and would watch DVDs. The sound was vastly better than TV speakers/soundbar, compression was lower on the video despite being SD. By 15 years ago this w…

Nearly all TVs have an SPDIF out and can send 5.1 Dolby Digital extracted from whatever input (Streaming, Blu-ray via HDMI, broadcast, etc.) to that output. I’m sure you’re 20 year old receiver already had an SPDIF input and a Dolby Digital decoder.

You could have easily kept that setup with the same level of soundquality the whole time - assuming nothing breaks.

I think large 5.1 just went out of fashion due to the size and cable requirements and the fact that soundbars became good enough.

Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk

#228

Post by [deleted] »

tonyhart7 wrote: post #161
trentnix wrote: post #77

Now there are more avenues for Samsung to shove bloatware down our throats. I have a modestly high-end home theater and it is utterly maddening waiting for devices to “boot” and “handshake”. And after the wait, I’m presented with another “User Agreement” to sign that insists on shoveling ads down my throat and harvesting data. How much do you have to pay for a quick boot, no ads, and a private movie or music experien…

"How much do you have to pay for a quick boot, no ads, and a private movie or music experience? Just like every retailer has embraced usury with their credit card programs, every technology company has decided they are in the data harvesting business." isn't like this our goal here??? I mean we are comment on YC site that produce startup aiming just that

[deleted]

Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk

#229

Post by bayindirh »

trentnix wrote: post #77

Now there are more avenues for Samsung to shove bloatware down our throats. I have a modestly high-end home theater and it is utterly maddening waiting for devices to “boot” and “handshake”. And after the wait, I’m presented with another “User Agreement” to sign that insists on shoveling ads down my throat and harvesting data. How much do you have to pay for a quick boot, no ads, and a private movie or music experien…

Not every company does it, or with their whole lineup.

Get a Yamaha [0], NAD [1], Rotel [2]?

I would have adamantly said AKAI, but they are no more.

[0]: https://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio_visual/hifi_components...

[1]: https://nadelectronics.com/product/c-3050-stereophonic-ampli...

[2]: https://www.rotel.com/en-gb/product/a11mkii

Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk

#230

Post by bayindirh »

tonyhart7 wrote: post #161
trentnix wrote: post #77

Now there are more avenues for Samsung to shove bloatware down our throats. I have a modestly high-end home theater and it is utterly maddening waiting for devices to “boot” and “handshake”. And after the wait, I’m presented with another “User Agreement” to sign that insists on shoveling ads down my throat and harvesting data. How much do you have to pay for a quick boot, no ads, and a private movie or music experien…

"How much do you have to pay for a quick boot, no ads, and a private movie or music experience? Just like every retailer has embraced usury with their credit card programs, every technology company has decided they are in the data harvesting business." isn't like this our goal here??? I mean we are comment on YC site that produce startup aiming just that

> isn't like this our goal here??? I mean we are comment on YC site that produce startup aiming just that

Abusing customers as a business model should not be legal. It's not ethical to begin with, actually, and applauding this practice is interesting.

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