Chinese brand PeaceMinusOne is entering the U.S. market with a line of earphones billed as having superior materials, advanced technology and notable attention to detail. Prices range from $145 to $700, said the company. The brand is being promoted by G-Dragon, a musician and fashion personality.

Onkyo bowed the A-9150 stereo integrated amplifier Tuesday with a high-current transformer, two custom filter capacitors, discrete output-stage transistors and a moving-magnet/moving-coil phono input. The $599 amp uses an AKM 768 kHz/32-bit digital-to-analog converter and has four gold-plated RCA line inputs, two gold-plated coaxial digital inputs, two optical digital inputs and gold-plated speaker posts with an A/B selector, said the company.

Pioneer & Onkyo U.S.A. signed a multiyear licensing agreement with Ironman to produce Ironman-branded sport and fitness headphones in the U.S. and Canada. Under the agreement, Pioneer will participate in Ironman Village events and other possible cross-promotional activities, said the company. The first products coming out of the agreement are the SE-E3 Ironman sports earphones ($20), available in five colors.

The U.K.’s Roberts Radio, which supplies radios to British royal households, is launching a turntable in early September to mark 85 years in the audio business, said the company. Roberts, owned by Glen Dimplex Group, recently delivered digital radios with retro designs and Bluetooth connections, and its $325 turntable will have a wood finish, belt-drive 33 and 45 rpm platter and an Audio Technica cartridge, it said. The turntable has a built-in pre-amp switchable for connection to phono or auxiliary jacks, and its USB port enables recording from LPs to PC, it said.

A Sony Corp. of America spokeswoman confirmed in a Tuesday email Sony Music Entertainment Japan is getting back into vinyl production to capitalize on renewed consumer interest in LPs and turntables. Sony Music Entertainment Japan, a separate company from Sony Music Entertainment in the U.S., works with Japanese music artists and promotes them to a larger global audience, she said. The vinyl manufacturing plant will be in the Shizuoka prefecture in Japan, with initial production slated for March, the spokeswoman said. No artists have been announced. Sony last manufactured vinyl records in 1989, she said. An interview with Sony sound engineer Kazuo Nada on the Sony Electronics website in 2016 referenced turntables’ “second wind.” Nada said the resurgence of vinyl wasn’t just about nostalgia but “listeners are pining for higher-quality sound” that CDs and MP3s don’t deliver. Sony Electronics is meeting that need with a turntable it launched last year -- the $499 PS-HX500 -- which adds a new spin to the retro format: the ability to record vinyl discs to create hi-res audio tracks that can be transferred to PC via USB.

Theta Digital announced shipping of its latest Casablanca preamp and processor. The Casablanca IVa has been updated with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X decoders, 7.1.4-channel capability and revised circuit topology that removes the sample rate converter used at the input to the digital signal processing circuit board for improved sound, said the company. A new digital direct mode passes on signals arriving in the digital domain in their native format, it said. Price of the Casablanca IVa is $17,999. Owners of the Casablanca III HD and Casablanca IV can upgrade to the IVa for $6,495 and $2,995 respectively, said the company.

Riva Audio, which began selling its Wand (Wireless Audio Network Design) lifestyle audio products Tuesday, is “actively exploring” voice control for its next generation of products, Chief Engineer Don North told us on an embargoed news-media tour in New York last week. “We recognize the importance of what Amazon’s doing,” said North. “They’ve made such a wave in the market that you’d have to have your head in the sand to not see the opportunity," he said. Riva sees voice at work in music selection but also its role in home automation controlling lights, thermostats, alarms, locks -- and its role in e-commerce and intelligent search, said North. "It’s nice that we’ve developed a platform that can leverage all of those,” he said. Riva has Sonos in its crosshairs, selling a $249 Arena speaker shaped similarly to the Sonos Play:1 and the $499 Festival, with a larger form factor reminiscent of Sonos’ Play:5. Riva said differentiators are sound quality, Chromecast built-in for streaming services and multiroom capability up to 30 speakers, Google Home app setup and the ability to play music from apps directly. The Arena is portable, splashproof, operates over 2.4- or 5 GHz bands and has a charging output for smartphones, it said. A separate $99 add-on battery extends battery life by 20 hours, said North. The higher end Festival plays Hi-Res audio files up to 24-bit/192kHz.

Dish Network launched Dish Music, a mobile app that allows music from TV audio systems and DTS Play-Fi speakers to be in sync when playing throughout a home, said a Thursday company announcement. Via the app, TV audio systems connected to Dish Hopper 2 or Hopper 3 DVRs and Play-Fi speakers can play music from streaming music services and personal libraries stored on mobile devices, turning connected Hoppers into music-streaming zones controllable from Android or iOS smartphones and tablets, Dish said. Customers can sync the same music across rooms or play different content in each zone, it said. TVs display the metadata for the music, including artists, song name and music service. Music services available with Dish Music include Amazon Music, Deezer, iHeartRadio, Napster, Pandora, SiriusXM and Tidal.

AV distributor Vanco International bought the Beale Street Audio line of Sonic Vortex speakers, said Vanco Wednesday. Beale Street ran into supply challenges “just as the product was gaining traction,” said Vanco Vice President-Distribution Markets Mark Corbin, calling Beale Street Audio a “vibrant brand that brought a lot of energy” to the architectural speaker market. Terms weren't disclosed.

Power tools company Ryobi bowed an outdoor wireless speaker system that will be sold exclusively through Home Depot, it announced Tuesday. Users connect a Bluetooth source to a primary speaker and then connect four additional Ryobi Score speakers up to 150 feet away using SKAA technology, said the company. Score speakers have one driver and a passive radiator and are compatible with a Ryobi One+ 18-volt battery. The primary speaker has an FM tuner built in, it said. Price is $199 each.