A number of customers in the Netherlands can rent Sonos speakers through Flex, a service providing a number of speakers from the company for a monthly fee, with the option to cancel the subscription at any time.

Currently available to just 500 Dutch homes, the Flex subscription model comes in three tiers. At €15 per month customers get two Sonos One smart speakers for use either together or in separate rooms. The addition of €10 (making it €25 per month) begets a Sonos Beam soundbar and two Sonos One speakers for TV audio. The top tier is at €50 per month, and provides a Playbar, Subwoofer and two Sonos One speakers for a home theatre setup.

McIntosh announces a successor to the MC207-- the MC257, a 7-channel home cinema power amplifier featuring a TripleView Power Output Meter, a means to independently indicate the real-time power reading of the three front channels.

The 38cm TripleView meter design is an update on the three individual metres found in the previous model. The chassis is in stainless steel, and customers can switch off the distinctive McIntosh blue lighting to reduce distraction in dark home cinema environments. The amplifier can power a 7-channel home cinema, and installers can pair it with a McIntosh M128 8-channel or MI254 4-channel amplifier for home cinemas with more than 7 channels. It can also drive a 5-channel system and a separate stereo second audio zone.

British hifi specialist iFi Audio launches a means for customers to add offline streaming functionality to any system-- the Zen Blue, a Bluetooth receiver featuring support to the latest, high-resolution codecs.

The Zen Blue is a compact device one can connect to any component via RCA (unbalanced), 4.4mm Pentaconn (balanced), optical or coaxial outputs. Meanwhile wireless codec support includes the Qualcomm aptX HD (24-bit/48kHZ) and aptX Low Latency, the Sony LDAC (24-bit/96kHZ), Huawei HWA (24-bit/96kHZ) and Apple AAC. A front panel LED indicates the Bluetooth codec currently in use, and an on-unit LED shows the sample rate.

Danish loudspeaker maker Dynaudio launches the Sub RCC (Reaction Cancelling Configuration) custom installation subwoofer-- a discrete subwoofer designed to offer additional low-frequency extension to any audio system.

The Sub RCC is designed to facilitate high-performance 2.1 or surround setups without the issues commonly associated with many in-wall subs. It achieves extreme bass performance within a compact form factor, and can be installed in walls, ceilings or even floors, with no back box necessary. The RCC topology uses 2 sets of opposed drivers working together to eliminate unwanted vibration transmission, leaving only the desirable acoustic energy behind.