Phorus Lends Support to Play-Fi's Low End With $229 Speaker Due December

DTS’s Phorus division is doing its part to grow its Play-Fi multiroom audio ecosystem at the entry level with a new PS5 speaker ($229) announced Thursday (http://bit.ly/1qCM1uF). The wireless Phorus PS5 speaker will stream lossless audio from iOS, Android and Windows PCs to multiple rooms and from multiple users simultaneously over Wi-Fi, the company said. The Phorus App is available for Android, Kindle Fire and iOS devices and can stream music from DLNA servers, Internet radio stations and music services including Deezer, KKBox, Pandora, QQMusic, SiriusXM and Songza, the company said. The DTS Play-Fi HD Driver for Windows enables users to stream music from apps on a PC, including Google Music, Spotify and Xbox Live, to all Play-Fi speakers in a home, it said. The PS5 supports direct streaming via Bluetooth (including AptX and AAC codecs) for Bluetooth-enabled smartphones, and it accepts AirPlay streams from OSX, iTunes and iOS devices, although it is not AirPlay-certified, a company spokeswoman said. The speaker has an 802.11a/b/g/n radio that supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands to avoid interference with other Wi-Fi devices in the home, Phorus said. DTS post-processing technology is said to restore detail, enhance bass and ensure maximum volume from the music. The PS5 will be available in December from the Phorus website and Amazon, the company said. Phorus is marketing the PS5 through a relationship with recording artist Run River North, whose recently released music video “Monster’s Calling Home” features the speaker.