DALI Equi: wireless multi-room streaming platform
The Danish company DALI has unveiled its own wireless platform Equi, which already has several working models. The heart of the Equi is the Sound Hub wireless preamplifier.
Until now, the two screw holes on the back of the Sound Hub, labeled Plugin Module 1 and 2, have remained unused. The DALI Callisto C system, controlled by Sound Hub, worked in stereo, like other active models marked with the suffix “C” – Oberon C or Rubicon C.
Now DALI has introduced two expansion modules for the Sound Hub at once – under the names HDMI and NPM-2i. The first received an HDMI connector with support for ARC and eARC or HDMI CEC. In addition, it decodes Dolby Digital and DTS in configurations up to 7.1 (or 5.1 plus additional surround channels or additional subwoofers).
The question of connecting any active subwoofer to the system is solved by the WSR wireless receiver, which is also compatible with the Sound Hub Compact wireless preamplifier. In addition, the home theater focus of Equi was complemented by the Oberon Vokal C center channel speaker. It is also recommended to use it in conjunction with models of the older series of wireless DALI acoustics.
The second plug-in, NPM-2i, is a BluOS-powered streaming plug-in with Airplay 2 support. The plug-in will handle receiving audio from a variety of sources, including Tidal Connect, Spotify Connect, and Internet radio.
With the NPM-2i, the DALI Sound Hub will have voice control via Apple Siri, Google Assistant or Alexa (as part of BluVoice). In streaming, Hi-Res audio is processed with a resolution of up to 24 bit / 96 kHz, and there is also support for MQA.
In addition, the Danes have presented large speakers of a higher class DALI Rubicon 8C in an active wireless version. Prior to that, only the younger model DALI Rubicon 6C competed in this weight category. The manufacturer positions the novelty as a real wireless High End.
Estimated prices for the updated systems and solutions of the Equi family are already known. In the US, the DALI Vokal C center speaker will cost around $800, the Sound Hub HDMI module for $460, the WSR subwoofer receiver for $175, and the NPM-2i streaming module for around $600.
