Bluetooth based device will enhance music quality

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igbloo is going to make a big difference says MacLaren

hook your bluetooth device into the stereo

Stage One Technology recently launched a bid for funding on Kickstarter (here) for a device known as the igbloo. (See our previous story here). We asked our resident digital music guru, Mac MacLaren of Lemonrock to put this product in context. Mac writes … igbloo is a cross between a docking station and a Bluetooth speaker, but it doesn’t have a dock, and it doesn’t have its own speakers. It’s a valiant attempt to improve the quality of our listening pleasure from our mobile devices.

If you currently use a dedicated Bluetooth receiver/speaker system to play your music wirelessly from your mobile phone, and you want to use your own quality hi-fi system instead, igbloo is going to make a big difference to the quality of the sound you hear.

This is because you will be listening to your music on your hi-fi, rather than on your Bluetooth system,.

Such systems tend to have small, low quality speakers and amplifiers. Your hi-fi is definitely going to sound better than that.

The other improvement, when comparing igbloo to other Bluetooth systems, is that the audio quality of the Bluetooth link has been given serious consideration.

That’s in two important areas: – the audio codec, and the digital-to-analogue converters (DACs), which respectively transport the digital audio over the air, and turn the digital audio into analogue audio that your hi-fi can understand.

If you currently use a dock for connecting your mobile to your hi-fi, igbloo is still useful.

That’s  because you can hear your music from your desk, your armchair, or even when your phone is in your pocket or handbag, which is where you really want it.

Igbloo also allows any Bluetooth-capable device to take a turn on your hi-fi, without wrestling with docking stations or dock adapters.

Of course, igbloo can’t improve the quality of your MP3s, which are irretrievably compressed.

So, for example, if you’re playing the latest uploaded live tracks from bands on Lemonrock Gig Guide (either on the web or via the free Lemonrock iPhone App), you’ll hear the sound of an MP3 that has been very carefully processed all the way from your phone to your hi-fi.

Altogether, igbloo is a much needed improvement in mobile audio technology.

Note: igbloo isn’t actually “streaming” per se – it’s more of a real-time point-to-point connexion between two Bluetooth devices. Pedants please take notice.