Blackfire MXD

January 29, 2017

Uncategorized

Blackfire MXD

Wireless Multiroom Music System Solution with GoogleCast, Spotify Connect and Apple Airplay

Blackfire MXD is a wireless audio solution for smart phones and speakers that delivers lossless or lossy compression with under 150μs synchronization accuracy for multiroom music and multichannel A/V systems. Blackfire MXD has native GoogleCast Audio and Spotify Connect support and is Apple Airplay ready (requires Apple License and authentication chip). Enjoy 5GHz WiFi support, 24 bit, lossless streaming from local music files, or stream local music from the Blackfire app (for PC, Android and iOS). Blackfire MXD is fully compatible with all Blackfire systems. With a cost effective reference design, and a reference app for Android and iOS for rebranding, Blackfire MXD is the smartest wireless audio solution for home entertainment.

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SPECIFICATIONS

• 802.11ac (2.4GHz and 5GHz) Wi-Fi

• Sample rate: 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 96kHz, 192kHz

• Resolution: 16bit/24bit/32bit

• Lossless or Lossy transmission

• 20 - 150μs Synchronization accuracy

• 20 - 100ms Latency

• Supports 32 Devices

Implementation

• Blackfire MXD Audio Module 2.4GHz/5GHz

• Blackfire Indigo app for Windows, Android and iOS

SOLUTION FEATURES

• Play music from the downloaded Blackfire Indigo Smartphone app, using local music or streaming plug-ins to multiroom (Selection, Zones, Volume) and multichannels

• Application Media Sources include: Local Music; Tidal; Deezer; Mix Radio; Migu

• Play Google Cast, Spotify Connect and Apple AirPlay music and rebroadcast to multi room and multi channel

• Play any music/audio from Windows PC to one or multiple speakers

• Full Wi-Fi Range operation • Bluetooth receive and rebroadcast to other devices

• Aux Audio Input rebroadcast to other devices

• Supports multichannel home theater 5.1, 7.1 and Dolby Atmos

• Synchronized playback to multi room devices and multichannel configurations

• Blackfire compatibility - automatic discovery, synchronization, playback & control • Blackfire optimizations including those for range, throughput, sync, discovery

Blackfire MA

Proven

Cost-Effective

WiFi Music Streaming Technology

Learn more...

Blackfire IXD

Wi-Fi Surround Sound Audio

for Smart TV

and Set Top Boxes

Learn more...

Blackfire MXD

Wireless Multiroom Music System Solution

with GoogleCast, Spotify Connect

and Apple Airplay

Learn more...

Technology

October 20, 2016

Uncategorized

Blackfire Research

Introducing Blackfire RED

Realtime Entertainment Distribution framework

Built into products that have the Logo

RPM

Real-Time Packet Management

RPM streams up to 4K video and lossless 24-bit/192kHz Studio Quality HD audio to any device, any room - it’s how we make sure that there are no gaps or drop-outs in your music.

TIS

Traffic Independent Synchronization

No matter how much bandwidth you’re using on your network, TIS makes sure that your speakers stay in sync.

DSB

Dynamic Stream Balancing

When streaming to multiple devices, DSB keeps it all in balance, ensuring your devices have all the data it needs - exactly at the time it’s needed.

Blackfire Audio Solutions

The Blackfire RED framework works with any Wi-Fi chipset. So whatever hardware or OS you

have, Blackfire RED delivers a seamless media experience

Wi-Fi products from the following companies are powered by Blackfire

All products with the following marks have the same Blackfire technology built in

Features

Up to 24-bit/192kHz

Multi-Room, Multi-Channel

Multi-Video Sync

1, 2.1, 5.1, 7.1 Home

Theater (Surround Sound)

Lossy or Lossless operation

BT & Aux Input

Rebroadcast

Multi-Source Play

Auto discovery, Setup

Grouping, Control

Specifications

802.11n 2.4/5GHz

I2S Audio Input/ Output

Supports GPIO and UART Control

<150usec synchronization accuracy

RPM

Real-Time Packet Management

Some wireless audio systems are so susceptible to signal interference that they compensate by buffering the signal data before they start to playback. Without buffering on these systems you’d hear drop-outs due to the lost audio data.

Today’s most popular wireless speakers use a conventional WiFi protocol which has to queue the data. When you select a playlist from your smartphone or tablet, it takes several seconds for the first song to fill the buffer before it begins playing. While that first song is playing, the system is already buffering the next song to minimize gaps between songs. This is fine until you add another song before it can re-buffer. Also, because of this delayed playback, you won’t be able to use these popular wireless speakers as a soundbar with your TV without a wire (i.e. an optical cable connection).

Real-Time Packet Management (RPM) is the Blackfire solution to buffering. RPM uses a special multipoint, real-time feedback signal from each speaker to monitor the effect of noise on the audio data stream. This allows a much shorter queue and requires much less buffering.

TIS

Traffic Independent Synchronization

TIS produces better management and precision operation when it comes to synchronizing any number of wireless speakers and devices - from multi speaker 5.1 audio systems, stereo systems, even your entire home theater.

One problem facing conventional methods of synchronization is that its performance is tied to the performance of the network environment. TIS ensures that the synchronization of any device is not dependent on how well your router works.

Another problem with conventional synchronization is that the more devices you have on a given network the slower it runs, which could produce an extended lag between multiple speakers and between your TV and the speakers - even total drop-outs. Unlike conventional technology, our patented TIS technology always maintains latency between audio and video pairings and among the speakers themselves. With TIS, the sync of the speakers in your wireless home entertainment system will remain undisturbed by heavy network traffic, so you’ll never miss a single moment of your favorite song or movie again.

DSB

Dynamic Stream Balancing

Dynamic Stream Balancing (DSB) is the way Blackfire makes the best use of the available WiFi bandwidth. If you have a wireless, multi-speaker system that uses conventional WiFi protocols, chances are that some speakers will be more affected than others by interference and heavy network traffic, which causes your music to break up and for speakers to go out of sync.

DSB monitors a special multipoint, real-time feedback signal from each speaker to identify the effect of noise on the audio data stream. By precisely identifying which packets are statistically most likely to be affected, DSB can then use the available WiFi bandwidth to selectively and predictively resend data just to the most vulnerable speaker before interference can cause any audible drop out.

This is especially helpful when using a wireless surround sound system to watch video. With DSB, your Blackfire wireless system has minimal lag between the video on your screen and audio through your speakers. HD Audio in up to 24-bit/192kHz Studio Quality and even 4K Video can be streamed to any device from any room, losslessly.

Harman and Blackfire Announce Android Software Development Kit

May 28, 2015

Press Releases

Blackfire Research

Harman Android SDK focuses on supporting developer innovation.

Click here to see Press Release about Blackfire Research by Harman Kardon

HARMAN ANDROID SDK focuses on supporting developer innovation

GOOGLE I/O 2015, SAN FRANCISCO, CA — HARMAN International Industries, Incorporated (NYSE:HAR), the premier audio, visual, infotainment and enterprise automation group, announced today that it has released the Android Software Development Kit (SDK) for the Harman Kardon Omni Wireless HD home audio system. This SDK enables third-party developers to create groundbreaking home audio and IoT (Internet of Things) experiences for Android users with high-fidelity sound.

With HARMAN’s SDK, developers will find it more manageable to explore, innovate and participate in the new network of connected audio and IoT experiences by accessing tools, downloads and community forums. The HARMAN Developer Community will leverage HARMAN’s expertise and technology portfolio to contribute to the next generation of apps.

“Building audio features into connected apps represents the next wave of user experience, and HARMAN is taking a huge leap to encourage developers to participate in this world and turn their ideas into reality,” said IP Park, EVP & Chief Technology Officer of HARMAN. “Our new relationship with the developer community will unleash ingenious ideas simply waiting to be noticed. By being the first to bring out a mobile SDK for our innovative software-defined speakers, this is truly a win-win for HARMAN and the developer community.”

Appealing to audio software product developers, IoT developers, independent developers, and text-to-speech developers, the HARMAN Android SDK makes the process easy to download and test with an application. In addition to detecting, controlling and sending audio to WiFi speakers, the software can identify the status of speakers, determine the strength of the WiFi-signal, and receive events back from the speaker, such as the volume level. This is all made possible through the HARMAN abstraction helper library, documentation and example applications built for the Android operating system.

“With SDKs for iOS and now Android, HARMAN is offering revolutionary wireless products that open even more opportunities for innovation,” said Kevin Hague, VP of Developer Community and Programs with HARMAN. “We are delighted to see how the developer community takes this tool and uses it to create other pioneering products.”

The HARMAN Wireless HD Audio SDK is built on and powered by BLACKFIRE RESEARCH™ wireless media technology under license from BLACKFIRE RESEARCH Corporation.

Furthering its commitment to community-led development, HARMAN recently announced a strategic partnership with Quirky, the company that makes invention accessible, to jointly develop the next generation of audio products. HARMAN will leverage Quirky’s platform and innovation community to generate new ideas for connected products across HARMAN’s family of brands including Harman Kardon, JBL and Infinity.

For further information about the HARMAN Developer Community and the SDKs for iOS and Android, please: visit http://developer.harman.com.

About HARMAN

HARMAN (harman.com) designs and engineers connected products and solutions for consumers, automakers, and enterprises worldwide, including audio, visual and infotainment systems; enterprise automation solutions; and software services. With leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® , Mark Levinson ® and Revel®, HARMAN is admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where they perform around the world. HARMAN also is a technology and integration services leader for the Automotive, Mobile, Telecommunications and Enterprise markets. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. The Company’s software solutions power billions of mobile devices and systems that are connected, integrated, personalized, adaptive and secure across all platforms, from the work and home to car and mobile. HARMAN has a workforce of approximately 25,000 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $5.9 billion during the last 12 months ended March 31, 2015. The Company’s shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NYSE:HAR.

About BLACKFIRE RESEARCH

BLACKFIRE RESEARCH (www.blackfirereseach.com) provides leading technology and solutions for high performance media applications over Wi-Fi and is based in San Francisco, California, USA.

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