An engineer, an audio dream

• "I want everyone to enjoy high quality music with simple setup and at an affordable price. We believe DECT solution is going to revolutionize audio world. Enabling portable speakers to play audiophile quality sound."

• I have loved DIY Hi-Fi from a young age. Being a sound engineer I especially like designing amplifier circuit and speaker assembly. While my interest in Hi-Fi design has increased with age, the innovation of technology in audio products has been lagging behind. All high-end audio products are very expensive and involves complicated setup and the wires! It seems that only people with spare money are entitled to enjoy high-quality music. Even so, when one has spent a lot on all the different parts, they are not guaranteed to produce quality sound as you still have to understand how to put it all together. There was no solution that was truly wireless

• I wanted to make a change. My hope is that everyone can enjoy high quality music with simple setup and at an affordable price and that everyone can enjoy good quality audio the way the artist intended. That thinking has been in my mind for the last 10 years.

• Six years ago, I set my heart on finding the solution. I have gradually turned my engineering job from system design of short-range wireless communication to audio design. At that time, Bluetooth is the hot topic in wireless audio and Wi-Fi is a promising system for high-end audio. Going with the flow, we made prototypes to test the two platforms. However, both systems suffered from timing error in channel sliding and time jitter in channel lock. Time error has completely destroyed the musicality and sound stage. That is the reason why most wireless audio systems cannot attain audiophile grade.

• Disappointed with those two popular platforms, we started to look elsewhere. Our 15-year experience with DECT technology told me that it was the perfect solution because of its unique characteristics: accurate timing in channel synchronization and dedicated channel in data transmission. Other characteristics like low power consumption and radiation as well as transmission range and speed would also help improve overall performance. If this concept proves workable, a whole new world of wireless audio products would be opened. Audiophile audio system will become wireless, no more cables, CD player and amplifiers, and at only quarter of the price. This also means that even portable speaker can play audiophile sound.

• The immediate problem for us was the absence of any DECT platform specific for audio application. We had to do the development work from ground zero. No one knew what level of sound quality DECT technology could attain or if it could be achieved.

• Even so, we decided to give it a try. For six years, we have worked very hard and overcome many hurdles, in particular those concerning sound quality and timing. On the way, even we were amazed by the potential of DECT in our journey towards Hi-Fi-grade sound. Now, I am proud to say that our dream has come true. In 2016, we won the CES Innovation Award and DECT Innovation Award which represents a very solid recognition of our efforts in applying DECT as the break-through for high-end audio products.

• We have since been fine tuning our solution and developing different types of speakers for everyone to use and ensuring that they are all compatible so you can start as small as you want and build to whatever you like be it from personal stereo speaker to multi-room speaker system, indoor and outdoor!

Kenneth
Chief engineer of ONEaudio