Bowers & Wilkins and TP Vision announced a multiyear partnership Tuesday to create “outstanding visual and audio products in the TV market,” with first products to debut at IFA this summer. TP Vision is exclusively licensed to sell Philips-brand TVs in most markets outside North America. The companies will share internal engineering resources under the partnership, they said. The TV industry has allowed sound quality “to be the poor relation when considering TV performance,” said Martijn Smelt, TP Vision chief marketing officer, saying OLED technology makes creating high-quality audio solutions even more challenging. Products arising from “Philips High End TV sound” will offer a “uniquely premium experience,” he said. B&W Chief Revenue Officer Richard Campbell called the partnership a chance to “redefine the parameters of sound quality and performance on a TV.” On whether B&W is looking to join other companies in similar partnerships, Campbell emailed us to say the company is "always looking for partnerships that will provide consumers the best quality sound." B&W is excited about the TP Vision pact due to the companies' "shared tradition" for developing their own technologies in house "to ensure absolute quality." The companies intend to continue the exclusive relationship "in a meaningful way," Campbell said. Responding to our question about audio design under the partnership, Campbell said technology and form factor will be revealed at IFA, "where we will reveal how we were able to create an amazing sound stage through integrated on board componentry."

LG Electronics launched its SK sound bars and PK series portable speakers with Meridian audio Tuesday. The top of the sound bar line is the SK10Y ($1,099), a 5.1.2-channel model with Dolby Atmos support and compatibility with major high-resolution audio formats, said LG. The 550-watt sound bar, designed to match a 65-inch TV, has Bluetooth, Chromecast built-in and Meridian’s Bass and Space technology, said the company. LG’s portable Bluetooth speaker line is topped by the PK7 ($249), an Apt-X HD-compatible, splashproof speaker with built-in mood lighting, said the company.

Futuresource expects Apple to continue to hold the “pole position” in the wireless headphone category, said the researcher Wednesday. Wireless had 31 percent of all in-ear product revenue in Q1, said Futuresource. “Apple AirPods maintained their dominance of the true wireless scene, compelling competitors to introduce lower-priced products” below $150 at retail, it said. The overall headphones market totaled 79.1 million units globally in Q1, with retail revenue topping $4 billion, it said. “Brands are “enthusiastically” adding features to their headphone models, and that helped drive in a 17 percent rise in average selling price in Q1 from the same quarter a year earlier, said Futuresource: “Across all categories, the highest price increase is in over-ear products, due to the impact of noise-cancelling and wireless technologies.”

Following release of the Android P beta 3 preview, Fraunhofer announced Friday an updated version of the FDK library for OEMs, service providers and developers. FDK2 includes xHE-AAC for music, down to 12 kbps for stereo sound, and MPEG-D DRC dynamic range control for improved listening in noisy environments, Fraunhofer said. The latest version of the MPEG AAC audio codec will extend the usable stereo bitrate range from as low as 12 kbps up to 300 kbps, enabling subscription VOD and streaming music distributors worldwide to offer an improved, more reliable experience over congested networks, particularly in regions where consumers still rely on 2G or 3G connections, said the company. MPEG-D DRC will provide mandatory loudness control for xHE-AAC to play back content at a consistent volume and offers new dynamic range control profiles for listening in noisy situations, it said. “As SVOD operators enter markets with less capable mobile networks, they will need to offer videos at 50 or 100 kbit/s for successful transmission,” said Marc Gayer, business department and deputy division director-audio and media technologies. Audio can take up only a small part of that, he said, so saving 16 kbps with the xHE-AAC codec will allow for “significant improvements” in video quality, including preventing dropouts, “while keeping the audio quality at the same level,” he said. The new technologies, available in professional and consumer software solutions, have been included in the existing AAC patent licensing program administered by VIA Licensing at no additional cost, Fraunhofer said.

Alibaba integrated DTS sound into its new TmallGenie C1 smart speaker for the China market, said DTS parent Xperi Wednesday. The post-processing audio solution is said to improve the performance of small speakers.

Sonos will begin selling Pro-Ject turntables June 29, said its website, which is pushing “speaker sets” in discounted bundles. The multiroom speaker company pinged customers by email Tuesday with a collection of sets designed to get them to buy more speakers and save some cash when they do. A vinyl set includes the Pro-Ject Essential III turntable, Sonos Play:5 speaker and adaptor cable for $799 vs. $858 if bought separately. Included in the discounted are a two-room system with two Sonos One speakers with Alexa control for $379 vs. $398 when sold separately; a three-room Sonos One bundle is $549 vs. $597; a two-room Play:5 set is $899 vs. $998; and a 5.1-surround set, grouping two Sonos Ones, a subwoofer and the Playbar, is $1,678 vs. $1,796 when sold separately, it said.

Sony reached across divisions to promote its new Xperia Ear Duo, a $279-per-pair Apple AirPod knockoff currently in preorder. Sony Music Nashville artist Kane Brown is featured in a YouTube video wearing the earphones in a clip captured on a Sony camera, said the company. Unlike the AirPods, Sony’s gold Ear Duo has the brand stamped noticeably on its body, designed to be positioned behind the ear. Dual listening technology allows users to hear music while also receiving notifications, sounds around them or conversation, said the company.

Paris-based Audirvana will launch a Windows 10 version of its Audirvana audio player for PCs at Munich High End this week, it said Wednesday. The $74 software is said to remove noise and other electromagnetic interference from the audio signal path through digital signal processing and high-quality algorithms. Demonstrations will be available at the Onkyo and Pioneer booth, said the company.

Mainstream CE brand Anker announced two additions to its Bluetooth speaker lineup. The Soundcore ($59), with eight hours’ battery life and an LED ring that synchronizes light with music, began selling Monday at Walmart in red, black, blue or gray. The $99 step-up Flare+, with boosted power and speakers, 20 hours’ battery life and a port to charge a smartphone, will be available in August, said the company.

Onkyo USA is shipping the TX-NR787 network AV receiver that’s been certified “Select” by THX for theater-reference volume within the sound company’s parameters. The $799 receiver packs DTS:X and Dolby Atmos immersive sound formats, and it includes Dolby Surround and DTS Neural:X upmixing technologies said to enable 3D sound reproduction with legacy Dolby and DTS soundtracks. It has pass-through support for Hybrid Log-Gamma, HDR10, and Dolby Vision high dynamic range formats and for BT.2020 color space, 4:4:4 color sub-sampling, 24-bit video, 4K/60p video, and HDCP 2.2 via six rear HDMI inputs, said the company. A front HDMI port is for temporary device connections and the sub out connector can accommodate a projector, Onkyo said. The receiver has 5 GHz/2.4 GHz Wi-Fi connectivity and support for network audio systems “of almost any brand,” including Chromecast built-in, controllable by Google Assistant, and DTS Play-Fi, it said.