For further information please contact:


Richard Stevenson Consultant Editor Retra Alert


richard@rspr.co.uk 07974 926157 www.retra.co.uk


‘peaky’ couple of years for smaller brands, but significant price rises across the board are inevitable in 2022. Anything from +5% to +20% on retail is what most audio


brands I spoke to were looking at. With parts supply still a challenge and shipping containers still


costing around $15,000 US from China to Europe (500 percent up on 2019 prices) at the time of writing, prices are only going one way if manufacturers want to retain margin. Given the solid demand and relatively fixed retail margin on


premium audio, that could be good news for audio retailers in the next year or two. There are quite a few other positive drivers too, with the rise


of streaming audio services making high quality and even high- resolution audio more readily accessible to all for a relatively small outlay. Services like Tidal Hi-Fi at £19.99/PCM compare favourably with the cost of an SACD back in the day or a vinyl album today, yet it offers full access to Tidal’s entire hi-res library that now encompasses MQA and Dolby Atmos Music audio formats.


in 2021, with soundbars slipping and traditional loudspeakers gaining ground.


While supply chain issues did skew the market, soundbars slipped close to 9 per cent in value, falling to almost £150m total value for the year. Meanwhile, traditional loudspeakers were up 7 per cent, fuelled by lockdown’s quality home audio renaissance. Bluetooth speakers also took a hit in 2021, slipping to just over 4 per cent in value to around £100m at retail. A number of factors are affecting this market, including the


global shortage of chipsets, the rise and rise of smart speakers and, potentially, market saturation as the sector moves from new product category to replacement. And if you were going to replace your Bluetooth speaker, in


most cases, a smart speaker makes more sense, as they offer far more functionality. For those happy to salsa with the salsa in the kitchen, radios


refuse to retire. Internet radio, streaming services, Bluetooth speakers and


smart speakers have comprehensively failed to kill off the category. DAB and the UK’s love of traditional radio programming have


kept the market alive, albeit shedding another 8 per cent in value through 2021. Unlike analogue to DTV, digital switchover in audio has been far


Is the future bright for audio? Colourful products from Roberts


Spatial audio While diehard audiophiles might baulk at the mention of Dolby, spatial audio is bringing the likes of Atmos and other multichannel/ object-based audio formats into the audio-only genre. Spatial audio has already gained momentum in the gaming space, creating a much more spacious 3D-like audio performance from headphones. Several music publishers are now producing Dolby Atmos or


Reality 360 Audio versions of new music for those users with spatial audio headphones. At the risk of being annexed from the hi-fi club, these


recordings sound even better on surround sound speaker systems in the home, which could put a lot more ‘A’ into consumers’ AV systems going forward… it certainly has at the Stevenson ranch. “The high-end segment has not lost its lustre,” say Mr Simon,


“and that is showing as an increasing importance in receivers and amplifiers too.” Electronics manufacturers are keen to exploit the new spatial


audio revolution, although reviews of Atmos Music have been rather mixed, largely depending on how mad the engineer has gone with the effects. As demonstrated at a recent album launch by London-based


artist, Max Cooper, backed by an immersive audio system supplied by L-Acoustics, showed, there is a growing number of artists who want to record in spatial/surround from the outset and downmix for stereo as required. While spatial audio remains niche at present, there is some danger it could rekindle a little of the public’s lost love for multichannel and surround sound speakers in the future.


Supporting acts Loudspeakers themselves have something of a reversal in fortunes


more convoluted and drawn out, with the Government not looking like allocating a definite date for FM switch-off any time soon. The automotive sector has been the biggest roadblock, as older cars with FM-only radios keep rolling on. Either way, there still seems to be mileage in DAB radios for the home. “DAB has been increasing


its share of the radio market, often over £100, so as long as brands continue to make DAB, its future seems assured for a good while yet,” says Mr Simon.


Encore The audio market has been far from quiet in the past year and while many sectors are seeing a rollercoaster in their fortunes, there is plenty of value in the sector yet. Add headphones,


soundbars, music systems, Bluetooth speakers and turntables together and the market is still worth well over £1bn at retail in the UK. In many of these sectors, volume is likely to be down this


Yamaha YH-700A wireless headphones with 3D Sound


year, as the public goes back to the pub and on holiday, but with average prices on the up, retailers are likely to add more to their bottom line on every sale. After an excellent CE and MDA market presentation at the Retra


Conference, I pinned down GfK’s Mr Simon to give us an overall flavour of the audio market for the year ahead. “It’s hard to be too pessimistic,” he said. “There is any number


of audio products that have still got momentum, with excellent options for retailers at the higher end of the price scale.” The economic winds may be variable in the year ahead, but the UK audio market continues to sound rather good.


What’s Hot: Audio 43


What’s Hot: Audio


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