Upper Saddle River, N.J. — Onkyo plans October shipments of its $199-suggested DS-A5 iPod/iPhone/iPad docking station that adds wireless AirPlay capability to Onkyo A/V receivers (AVRs) and to other audio products.
The DS-A5’s 30-pin connector captures audio stored on docked Apple devices excluding the new iPhone 5 and new Nano and iPod Touch, all with the new nine-pin Lightning connector. The docking station captures stored audio from the docked devices in digital PCM form.
The docking station also adds Apple AirPlay and Wi-Fi to AVRs and other audio products.
The station can be connected via Onkyo-proprietary RI port to Onkyo AVRs and stereo receivers going back many years, enabling users to power up the AVRs by selecting content on their iOS device and tapping the AirPlay icon. RI also lets users control playback of docked Apple devices from the AVR’s remote.
The DS-A5 can be connected to non-Onkyo audio products but won’t be able to take advantage of RI features.
Other features include Ethernet port and composite-video output for viewing photos and videos on a connected TV.
