Hi-Fi Corner: This Bluetooth amp makes nearly any speakers wireless

By Caleb Denison February 1, 2015

hi fi corner griffin 20 amp takes speaker set wireless white

Now that the world is firmly entrenched in the age of wireless audio, it seems like everyone is looking for a way to cut the wires. There’s no shortage of portable Bluetooth speakers on the market, but few of them offer quality sound performance in an affordable package, and even fewer still offer the luxury of stereo separation. But now, thanks to Griffin, there’s a compact and attractive way to turn nearly any pair of passive speakers wireless. Say hello to the Griffin 20.

Named after this sexy little unit’s 20 watts of power per channel, the Griffin 20 won’t allow you to rock a block party. But it should be more than sufficient for casual indoor or outdoor listening. Let’s say you want to set up a garage audio system with some oldie-but-goodie towers you’ve got sitting around — the Griffin 20 would be perfect. If you’ve got a subwoofer to throw into he equation, the 20 can handle that as well, thanks to a dedicated subwoofer output.

Related Videos

This is no el-cheapo wireless sound solution, either. Just taking a look at the amp’s binding posts and gold-plated jacks instantly denotes a quality piece of gear. The large silver volume knob feels weighty, and the digital optical input for connection to another component, such as a gaming console or cable/satellite box, is a fantastic addition. Streaming is accomplished via Bluetooth with aptX, allowing for up to CD-quality sound with compatible devices.

At just $150, the Griffin 20 is a slam-dunk of a value. This unit makes for a classy addition to any traditional setup, and also serves as a great gift idea for your music loving friends or relatives. You can even bundle in a pair of excellent NHT Super Zero speakers for $300 total, or add in a great compact NHT sub at $600 for the total package at Griffin’s online store.

For those looking to transition painlessly into the world of wireless audio, or bring back some much-loved speakers from the dead, the Griffin 20 is a great solution.

This article was taken from a piece on our brother site, Digital Trends.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

The Manual | The Essential Guide for Men

Culture

Holyfield vs. Belfort Live Stream: Watch the Fight Live

Evander Holyfield and VItor Belfort in a poster for their boxing match.

Boxing and MMA fans around the world, it's finally time for the face-off between Evander Holyfield and Vitor Belfort, so you should be ready with your link to the Holyfield vs. Belfort live stream. The match-up is expected to be an exciting one up close, but if you don't have tickets to the fight, you'll still enjoy it if you watch Holyfield vs. Belfort online. There will be a lot of fake links that will be appearing in the run-up to the main event, so you need to make sure that Holyfield vs. Belfort live stream link is a legitimate one.

How to Watch Holyfield vs. Belfort Live Stream
If you want to watch Holyfield vs. Belfort but you're nowhere near Florida, you're going to have to purchase the streaming package from Fite TV. The price is $50, but it also includes unlimited replays of the event until Dec. 11. This means that after the dust has settled, you have three months to rewatch the fights, which is a great deal as intense action is expected from the Holyfield vs. Belfort live stream.

Culture

Everything You Need to Know About High-Resolution Music

listening music isolation headphones

A few years back, to little fanfare, Neil Young started talking up high resolution music. The folk-rock legend was tired of people listening to low-quality sounds on their laptops, phones, and streaming devices. In his mind and the minds of a lot of other sound buffs, the status quote wasn’t doing the music justice.
Young went so far as to introduce a product, Pono Music, to encapsulate the need for richer sound. The strange contraption, touting a shape not unlike a Toblerone bar, certainly didn’t jump off of the shelves and music fans mostly moved on to other things. The underlying concept, however, remains important and is being revisited by music nerds and product designers alike. And Young is back with a new line of gear, via the folks at Bluesound.

The idea is pretty straightforward. Just as the heavy, 180-gram vinyl record is known to produce richer acoustics, the high-res sound file is believed to offer thicker, more resonant sound. Proponents say it’s exponentially better than what we’ve been accustomed to — the tinny and petite sound waves that pop out of our built-in laptop or mobile phone speakers.
Even when we’re playing larger digital files through iTunes, Spotify, and any number of services, we might not be fully doing the music justice. We may have a fantastic amp and pair of expensive speakers but if the file itself is shrunk down or condensed for quick streaming, you might be listening to what’s essentially a dumbed-down version of your favorite track, sonically speaking.
Enter high-res music. Think of it as having the same effect on The Beatles as a high-def widescreen television does on the movie Avatar. It’s meant to make music feel like it’s being played live in your living room, more robust and enveloping. Now that concerts seem like a thing of the past, at least for the near future, this brand of sound quality is all the more attractive.
A major and relatively new file type high-res music is built around is called the MQA, or Master Quality Authenticated. The most popular streaming service to use such files is likely Tidal, although Amazon and others offer something similar. The technology is still being experimented on but we’ll likely hear more about it in the coming years.
A good way to imagine it is visually, in terms of pixels. High-res music operates at a higher sampling frequency, meaning more signal samples are taken of the music per second than, say, a standard compact disc recording. For comparison, a CD file usually clocks in at 16-bit or 44.1kHz (kilohertz). High-res audio files hover around 24-bit or 192kHz, if not greater.
One of the hangups with high-res music is precisely that — heavy files. We’re talking megabytes here, which can gobble up space on your computer or storage device rather quickly. We are used to having tons of digital clutter as it’s convenient and comforting. But one of the nice things about high-res audio files is they require us to be a bit more selective.
Instead of toting around thousands of compressed albums, we might have to choose a few dozen, depending on file capacity. Audiophiles should liken it to a DJ mentality, digging through record crates for a few of the best to set up that day or week’s mix.
Major streaming services like Apple and Spotify have yet to take the high-res plunge. They may be engaging in research and development or waiting for what they think is a trend to subside. But with more equipment and websites devoted to high-res music, it’s likely that it will only grow in popularity.
Test it out at home by comparing recordings. Go with a sonically rich band like Pink Floyd or a bumping track like Orange Wedge by the Chemical Brothers and see if it’s time to upgrade your home system to high-fidelity standards.

Culture

A Quick Guide to Livestreaming for Beginners

live stream smartphone cooking show

Broadcasting live to thousands of people used to be the stuff of television, requiring millions of dollars and oodles of fancy equipment. Now we have supercomputers in our pockets. With a smartphone or a GoPro, we can broadcast anything to friends over Facebook and YouTube in seconds.
Why Livestream?
It's fast, it's fun, and it's immediate. Livestreaming goes straight to the internet. There's no editing, no fiddling around with cuts, no overlays or sound effects, and no special filter to make you like Tom Cruise. Just you and the audience. You can show off the best of your skills. Did you learn a new guitar song? Just finished a painting? Want to let the world know about the best graphic novels? Livestream it.

At a time when social contact is lacking around the world, you can connect with people in a different way. Viewers can ask questions and you can answer them live. Chat with friends or anyone listening and feel a bit of that human connection that is so hard to get on recorded video.