Harman demonstrated the first car audio system using Neil Young’s Hi-Res Audio Pono player during the CES Show last week.
Harman Kardon showed a prototype car audio WiFi system that acted as a node on a home audio WiFi system streaming hi-res audio (at better than CD quality).
The system was shown as a standard factory installed Harman Kardon speaker set up in a Subaru Legacy with 12 speakers plus an 8 channel amplifier that was modified to support 64kHz FLAC files and a WiFi hub.
The system was developed independently of Harman’s relationship with Pono Music—Neil Young’s Hi-Res audio portable player and music store—but was used as a means of demoing it.
Harman hasn’t announced specifics about its relationship with Pono Music but Young indicated that Harman will help bring Pono to new markets such as the car. He said in a news release . “Our collaboration with Harman, the leader in branded car audio, is an exciting step forward in our journey to bring HD-quality music to people wherever they want to listen to it. As the company that brought us Studer, Soundcraft and Mark Levinson, Harman is the ideal partner for us.”
He added, of hi-res or HD audio, “Music is about the feeling you get when you listen to it. Up to 90 percent of a song’s nuances are lost in the digital compression process. I speak for many songwriters, performers, producers, engineers and fans, including myself, when I say, we all deserve better.”
Harman said its “HD Audio Omni” system has no set production date.
Source: CEoutlook
Yes, we all deserve better!! Well said Neil.