The young company unveils Maestro, a hi-fi speaker, compatible with all streaming services. Its founders rely on a neat design and an affordable price.
With their student heads, you’d think they had come pitch the idea of a future innovation disruptive as an end-of-course dissertation. However, these two music lovers are at the head of Octavio, a Lille startup that wants to make a name for itself in the audio world.
They have therefore given themselves a mission: “to democratize the world of high fidelity”, they hammer home. “We want to deliver the best sound to as many people as possible while using streaming services on audio systems, even vintage.” Their new product presented at the CES in Las Vegas, which is being held this week in Nevada (United States), is the best expression of this.
Retrofitting vintage audio devices
After launching Stream, a box that modernized old audio systems by transforming them into music streaming media, then Amp, a compact and connected amplifier launched in the spring of 2022, here is Octavio Maestro, a mix of the two worlds.
“When we look at the audio universe, we have on the one hand Bowers & Wilkins, Bang & Olufsen, Cabasse, which offer very high quality speakers, but very expensive. On the other, we find Sonos or Bose with easy-to-install connected audio systems”, explains David Minard, one of the two co-founders of Octavio. “We want to make the link between these two worlds with a hi-fi product at an affordable price”.
For Maestro, its designers have set themselves two objectives: to meet the requirements of audiophiles and to develop a consumer product that is easy to handle. The enclosure is even made in France with a minimalist design designed in partnership with Davis Acoustics, Trojan specialists in loudspeaker and sound box design. The set is then assembled at Octavio, with the possibility of choosing the color of the fabric and the wood of the enclosure.
The result of this alliance is a wooden and aluminum cube, equipped with two passive Kevlar loudspeakers on the sides for a powerful and balanced sound reproduction (70 W), and a woofer. Octavio integrates its sound technology, accompanied by an application (iOS and Android) which will systematically seek the best audio quality available in streaming.
Small hi-fi speaker, big ambitions
But listening to David and Victor, who started their business in 2018, the most important thing was the assurance that Octavio was compatible with any audio equipment (Vinyl turntable, CD player, hi-fi system, tuner, etc. ). For this, they brought together in the speaker the years of work that gave birth to the streaming box and the amplifier.
The wireless speaker connects to home Wi-Fi to avoid any sound compression, is AirPlay 2 compatible to stream music from iPhones, iPads and Macs. Maestro also supports sound lossless (lossless) and displays compatibility with HD streaming services from Deezer, Qobuz (with three months offered to test), Apple Music or Tidal. Spotify and Amazon Music are also available.
“We hope that our product will be seen as a competitor to KEF or Devialet, with the same concern for hi-fi quality and design that satisfies audiophiles. But at a more affordable price”, says Victor Guignon, the other man behind Octavio. Pre-orders for the Octavio Maestro start this week with a release scheduled for mid-February 2023. The speaker is announced at 599 euros per unit and can be paired with a second wirelessly.
