Belfast firm signals an end to ‘docking’

BELFAST-based digital sound pioneer APT claimed a major advance yesterday with the announcement of a deal with consumer electronics firm Creative for a “dock-less” wireless speaker system.

The new ZiiSound D5 employs apt-X® coding for highest-quality, lowest-latency audio over Stereo Bluetooth wireless links.

The system removes the need for a conventional docking system used to listen to iPods and other portable digital players as the sound signal is beamed from the unit directly to the speakers.

The system has applications across the field, from gaming PCs to multimedia laptops and mobile smartphones.

In January of this year, Creative and APTX together won a prestigious Bluetooth award during the world’s biggest consumer electronics show, International CES.

“The new ZiiSound D5 wireless speaker system works with nearly every Stereo Bluetooth A2DP compatible device —the iPod and iPad, the iPhone and other smartphones, portable media players, e-books, and laptops,” said Mike Canevaro, VP of Business Development for APTX.

“Aesthetically, the ZiiSound D5 is a true design classic —and it really sounds every bit as good as it looks thanks to apt-X audio coding and Creative electronics design.”

Founded in 1989 as a Queen’s University QUBIS start-up, the business is now based on the Springfield Road and has direct sales offices in the USA, Japan and South Korea.

It provides industry-leading audio compression solutions to the broadcast, professional audio and consumer electronics industries and its apt-X audio codec technology has earned a reputation throughout the audio industry as the ultimate high-quality, low-delay audio data compression algorithm available.