Comparison Sony GTK-PG10 vs Sony GTK-N1BT

— Music center. Music centers are stationary audio systems, including a player, amplifier and acoustics; Their distinctive feature is the speakers, made separately from the main unit. Some models may provide mounts for installing speakers on the main unit, but these mounts are quick-release, and the length of the wires allows you to place the speakers separately.

- Minisystem. Minisystems are relatively small devices made in one-piece housings; Despite their small size, they are usually designed for stationary use, although they may have independent power supplies (see below). The functionality of mini-systems can be different: some models, in fact, are speakers with slightly expanded capabilities, in others these capabilities can be comparable to full-fledged music centers and even have wireless charging.

— Radio tape recorder. The radios have a distinctive design reminiscent of cassette recorders; and some of them are even capable of working with cassettes, see "Media". Like the music centers described above, such devices have everything you need for listening - a player, an amplifier and acoustics; however, the speakers are made non-removable, and the functionality of radio tape recorders is usually more modest. On the other hand, such models are portable and can even be used to play music on the go - almost mandatory f...eatures of radio tape recorders are the presence of a handle for transportation and the ability to be autonomously powered (see below) from replaceable batteries.

— Floor system. The purpose of audio systems of this type is already clear from the name: they are initially designed for installation on the floor. This installation allows you to create fairly large devices with powerful acoustics; in fact, most floor-standing audio systems are actually a set of speakers with a built-in player. However, there are also quite compact models of this type that allow desktop or wall installation with the stand disconnected.

- For parties. Audio systems for organizing incendiary musical parties with friends and family. Such models are capable of sounding a vast space both indoors and on the street dance floor. Often, audio systems for parties are complemented by built-in lighting effects to create a disco atmosphere; microphones can also be connected to them, which karaoke lovers will appreciate. Alternative names for such audio systems are Party speaker or PartyBox.

— For musicians. Advanced speakers with good sound quality are special for musicians who give performances on the street or participate in outdoor events. Such models are not intended for full-fledged concerts, but rather for “live” performances in public places. Audio systems often include the ability to connect musical instruments, and they are often equipped with a suitcase-type handle for ease of carrying the equipment.

— Smart speaker. Audio systems in the form of relatively small single speakers with “smart” control electronics. For such devices, four key features can be distinguished: Internet connection (usually via Wi-Fi), synchronization with a smartphone or tablet (usually the same), support for voice commands and advanced functionality. In fact, smart speakers are not classic audio systems, but universal “assistants” with speakers for playing music; and the voice control capabilities in them go far beyond the “musical” functions. Thus, many models allow you to set a timer or alarm clock on a smartphone, control smart home components, get help on a variety of requests, etc. At the same time, contextual recognition of commands is often supported, with the ability to process complex requests like “put on the band I listened to yesterday In the evening".

Radio bands accepted by the music centre tuner. To date, the most common support for such ranges:

— FM. Part of the ultra-short wave (VHF) band between 87.5 MHz and 108 MHz. It uses frequency modulation, which allows you to broadcast music in stereo with a fairly high sound quality, as well as transmit RDS signals (see RDS). At the moment, most music radio stations in the CIS broadcast in this range, as a result of which FM is supported in the vast majority of audio systems. The disadvantage of this option is the limited reception area — a maximum of several tens of kilometers from the transmitter — so FM broadcasts can usually be listened to within the same city and surrounding areas.

— AM (from the English amplitude modulation — amplitude modulation) — broadcasting using amplitude modulation. Usually this term means broadcasting on medium waves in the range of 520-1610 kHz; most consumer AM receivers are designed for these same frequencies. The reception range of AM stations can be hundreds of kilometers, but the sound quality is lower than on FM, so this format is broadcast mainly by “talk” and news radio stations.

— VHF. In this case, the sub-band 65.9-74 MHz is meant, using the so-called OIRT modulation. In this format, VHF broadcasting was originally conducted in the countries of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, but at the moment it is not very popular due to the development of FM. VHF is technically similar to FM (see above), the...main differences are the occupied frequency band and the inability to transmit RDS signals in VHF (see RDS).

— DAB+. DAB is an abbreviation for Digital Audio Broadcasting, i.e. "digital broadcasting"; and "+" means an improved version of this standard. Formally, DAB + is not only a range, but also a signal transmission format: unlike all the options described above, it, as the name implies, is digital. This gives a number of advantages over traditional transmitters — in particular, a greater range with less power and high quality of the broadcast sound. In addition, this sound is practically not subject to distortion: weak interference does not affect its quality, and when the transmitter power is critically reduced, the signal is not distorted, but disappears entirely. The latter, however, can be written down as disadvantages; but the really significant drawback of this option is perhaps its low prevalence (so far) in the CIS countries. Technically, such broadcasting can be carried out in any band above 30 MHz, but in fact several options are used (depending on the country) related to the VHF band. Note that DAB+ tuners are capable of receiving original DAB radio broadcasts, but not vice versa.

The number of radio stations that can be stored in the tuner's memory.

By itself, the memory greatly simplifies the work with the tuner. Instead of having to manually search for your favorite stations each time, it is enough to “remember” them and in the future simply select the desired wave from the list in the receiver’s memory. The number of memory cells in modern audio systems can reach several tens; this will be especially useful for residents of metropolitan areas, where there are many stations on the air, as well as for those who often have to travel and tune the receiver to local frequencies.

The total sound power provided by the audio system at maximum volume, in other words, the total power of all the speakers provided by the device (including the subwoofer).

The higher the power, the louder the system will sound and the larger the area it can cover. On the other hand, high power significantly affects the price, dimensions, weight and power consumption of the device. In addition, when evaluating and comparing according to this indicator, it is worth considering some nuances. Firstly, some manufacturers go to the trick and give in the characteristics not the average, but the peak sound power; such numbers can be quite impressive, but they have very little to do with real loudness. So if it seems to you that the claimed power is too high, it's ok to clarify what exactly is meant in this case. Secondly, when comparing, it is worth considering the presence of a subwoofer — it plays an auxiliary role, but it can account for more than half of the total system power. Because of this, for equal total power, a device with a subwoofer may be quieter than a model without a subwoofer: for example, a 2.0 40W system will have 20W per main channel, while a 2.1 40W model may have 20W per subwoofer, and only 10 watts for the main speakers.

Nominal sound power (see "System power") on each of the main channels of the audio system. This indicator is most often indicated in models with a subwoofer (see "Number of channels"); knowing it, you can estimate the power distribution between the main speakers and the subwoofer.

The subwoofer power rating is a bass driver used in 2.1 and 3.1 systems (see "Number of Channels"). For rated power in general, see "System Power"; and in the case of a subwoofer, this indicator allows you to evaluate the volume and richness of the bass produced by the audio system, as well as the ratio between the power of the main channels and the “subwoofer”).

The presence of an equalizer function in the audio system.

Equalizer allows you to change the timbre of the sound by adjusting the volume for individual frequency bands. The simplest version of this adjustment provides 2 bands (high and low frequencies), but most often there are more bands. Anyway, the equalizer can be useful both for fine-tuning the sound to your own preferences, and for compensating for the shortcomings of external or standard acoustics, connected headphones, etc. - for example, if the speakers "fail" certain frequency bands. In addition, many audio systems have a set of equalizer presets (presets), usually designed for different styles of music - "Classic", "Rock", "Pop", etc. You may also be able to create and edit your own presets.

Bass boost function for powerful and rich bass. Often implemented as a single button, with which you can actually "turn the bass on and off." This is more convenient than adjusting the low frequencies using the equalizer; in addition, various special technologies can be used to enhance the bass.

— Airplay. AirPlay technology was developed by Apple. It is based on Wi-Fi and is used to wirelessly broadcast content from Apple devices to external audio systems. Thus, this function is useful for those who want to connect an iPhone or iPod touch to the audio system, but do not want to fiddle with wires; however, it is possible to connect via AirPlay and other devices - for example, a PC with iTunes and a Wi-Fi module installed.

— Airplay 2. The second generation of the AirPlay technology described above, introduced in 2018. Among the main innovations of this version is support for the "multi-room" format, that is, the simultaneous transmission of several audio signals to different compatible devices installed in different places. In this way, you can, for example, turn on the radio broadcast of a news programme in the living room, relaxing music in the bedroom, etc. In addition, AirPlay 2 received a number of other improvements - improved buffering, the ability to stream to stereo speakers, as well as support for voice control through Siri.

— Chromecast. The original name is Google Cast. A technology for broadcasting content to external devices developed by Google. Allows you to transmit an audio signal from a PC or mobile device to the audio system, broadcasting is standardly carried out via Wi-Fi, while the receiver and signal source must be in the sa...me Wi-Fi network (Chromecast media players are an exception). Note that in signal sources (smartphones, tablets, PCs, etc.), Chromecast is implemented at the level of individual applications. For example, at the time of its creation, this feature was available, among others, in the YouTube and Netflix apps for Android and iOS, as well as in the web versions of these apps for Chrome. Thanks to this format, this technology is extremely widespread in our time, and the ability to connect a particular gadget to an audio system with a Chromecast is usually limited to the ability to install appropriate applications on this gadget.

— DLNA. DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) is a standard that allows you to combine various types of home electronics and home appliances into a single network for content sharing and management. In the case of audio systems, DLNA can be used, for example, to play music from a computer disk connected to such a network, broadcast sound to a device installed in another room (for example, an amplifier), etc. Connection to DLNA can be carried out both wired and wirelessly (according to the Wi-Fi standard), and the compatibility of devices does not depend on their manufacturers - the only condition is compliance with the DLNA standard.

-LAN. Standard interface for wired communication to local computer networks based on RJ-45 connector. Its presence allows you to use various network features such as Internet radio (see "Advanced") or DLNA (see above). Compared to another network interface - Wi-Fi - LAN is less convenient due to the presence of wires, but it is more reliable and provides a higher actual data transfer rate.

- WiFi. The presence of a Wi-Fi wireless module in the design of the audio system. This technology is used both in computer networks and for direct communication of various devices with each other; its "range" is enough to work within residential premises, even through walls. In this case, Wi-Fi can be used to work with network features such as Internet radio or DLNA(see above). At the same time, this option is more convenient than wired LAN, due to the absence of actual wires. In addition, support for this technology is a prerequisite for using the AirPlay and Chromecast features (see above); and in some devices, Wi-Fi even allows you to connect smartphones, tablets and other gadgets as remote controls.

One of the most modern and fastest standards of this wireless communication technology is Wi-Fi 5. The 802.11ac version uses the 5 GHz band (less crowded and more less noise-resistant than 2.4 GHz), providing speeds of up to 1.69 Gbps per antenna and up to 6.77 Gbps with multiple antennas.

— Bluetooth. Direct wireless communication technology between different devices. One of the most popular ways to use Bluetooth in audio systems is to work with an audio signal, primarily broadcasting sound to wireless headphones or speakers; and some models also provide the ability to connect a smartphone, tablet or other device and use the audio system as an external Bluetooth speaker. True, it should be borne in mind that initially Bluetooth is noticeably inferior to a wired communication in terms of sound quality; however, in our time, this shortcoming is often compensated by the use of one or another version of the aptX codec(see below).
In addition, other options for using Bluetooth may be provided - for example, file sharing between the built-in memory and the same smartphone, or remote control via an application. They are not mandatory for modern audio systems, but with the development of technology they are becoming more common.

In modern audio systems, the Bluetooth v 5 standard is most often used. Its important innovation is the expansion of the capabilities of the BLE (“Bluetooth Low Energy”) mode: if necessary, the device can increase the range by reducing the speed, or speed up transmission at the cost of reducing the range. In addition, a number of improvements have been introduced regarding the simultaneous operation of several connected devices.

- Support for aptX. Support for audio system aptX - a codec designed to improve the quality of sound transmitted via Bluetooth. Accordingly, this function automatically means the presence of a built-in Bluetooth module (see above). The need to use special technologies is due to the fact that in the original Bluetooth format compresses the audio signal very strongly, which significantly affects the final sound quality. aptX technology is designed to remedy the situation: according to the creators, it provides sound purity, "comparable to Audio CD (16-bit / 44.1kHz)" and almost as good as a wired communication. This is often enough even for comfortable listening to lossless formats, not to mention MP3 and other popular compressed formats. Of course, in order to use aptX, the signal source must also support it.

- Support for aptX HD. Support for the aptX HD codec by the audio system, an improved and updated version of the aptX described above. This version claims sound clarity comparable to Hi-Res (24-bit/48kHz) audio material; this allows you to comfortably listen not only to MP3, but also to lossless formats and even uncompressed audio materials. On the other hand, aptX HD support is quite expensive, and its advantages over the original aptX become noticeable only on very high-quality audio materials, for which consumer audio systems are rarely used. Therefore, this function has not received much distribution.

— AAC. A codec used primarily in Apple portable devices to improve sound transmitted via Bluetooth. In this sense, it is similar to aptX (see the corresponding paragraphs), but is noticeably inferior to it in terms of capabilities: if the sound of aptX is compared with Audio CD, then AAC is at the level of an average quality MP3 file. However, for listening to the same MP3s, this is quite enough; the difference becomes noticeable only on more advanced formats.

— LDAC. Sony's proprietary Bluetooth codec. It surpasses even aptX HD in terms of bandwidth and potential sound quality, providing performance at the Hi-Res level of 24-bit/96kHz audio; there is even an opinion that this is the maximum quality that it makes sense to provide in wireless headphones - further improvement will simply be imperceptible to the human ear.

- Network audio streaming. The ability of the audio system to work with network streaming (streaming) audio services like Deezer, Spotify, Tidal, etc. Such services are designed to broadcast content (in this case, mostly music) over the Internet; in this case, the files being played are not stored in the audio system, but are played directly from the corresponding resource on the World Wide Web. Nowadays, there are many streaming services that differ in the range of music and access conditions; a specific list of supported services should be specified separately. However, in any case, the main advantages of online streaming can be called an extensive selection of content and almost instant access to the desired composition; some services can also act as a radio, automatically selecting music according to the manufacturer's preferences.

- Speakerphone. Ability to use the device as a hands-free system for a mobile phone. In this mode, the audio system is connected to the device, most often via Bluetooth (see above), and the voice of the subscriber at the other end of the line is output not to the phone, but to the speakers of the audio system. This is often more comfortable than holding the phone to your ear; in addition, the speakerphone is useful if several people need to participate in a conversation.

- NFC chip. NFC is a short-range wireless technology (about 10 cm). In audio systems, NFC is mainly used to facilitate communication using the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth standard (see above). With this chip, you can simply bring an external NFC-compatible device to the audio system and confirm the communication - it's easier than manually configuring settings.

- Docking station for Android. The presence of a docking station for connecting portable electronics (primarily smartphones) based on the Android operating system. In fact, the dock is a socket-stand, supplemented with a special plug; thanks to this, it not only provides a communication, but also allows you to install an external device directly on the audio system, which is quite convenient. We also note that such a communication often provides additional features - for example, controlling the player on a smartphone from the audio system remote control. However, when choosing a model with this function, it should be borne in mind that Android devices are very numerous and diverse; in practice, this means that before buying it makes sense to make sure that your gadget is compatible with the audio system.