Samsung goes retro with vacuum tube speaker dock

In case you haven’t noticed, Samsung is on a tear.

The consumer electronics giant has gained massive market share in a number of categories, including televisions and Blu-ray players, smartphones and tablets, cameras and camcorders, and even home appliances like fridges, dishwashers, washing machines and dryers.

And the now the Korean company is looking to wow music lovers with its new line of speaker docks for the home – and they’re looking to the past as they set their sights on the future.

Specifically, the top-of-the-line Samsung Audio Dock (model # DA-E750; $699.99) houses vacuum tubes, which many audio enthusiasts believe offer a warmer, fuller and more natural sound than today’s digital technology; many say the same thing about the “warmth” of vinyl records compared to CDs and digital tracks.

From what we heard at the launch party for the product – including jazz and rock tracks — it certainly sounds clean, full and well-balanced.

Vacuum tubes use a heated cathode inside glass bulbs to amplify sound, plus this desktop unit also has a digital amplifier for 100 watts of loud and distortion-free sound.

In fact, this product – which is meant to compete with higher-end speaker docks like the Bose SoundDock and perhaps Bowers & Wilkins’ Zeppelin family – is an interesting fusion between what’s old and what’s new. On one hand, the heavy speaker dock is made from wood (with either a piano black or cherry wood finish) and has a small window on top to see the retro vacuum tubes. But on the flipside, this 2.1-channel speaker dock offers support for wireless connectivity via Bluetooth 3.0 (or older), AirPlay or AllShare, as well as a docking tray that ejects out of the back for both iOS and Galaxy devices.

Playing music from your smartphone or tablet is convenient as you can still use the device while listening to music, but you can then dock it when you need it charged up.

The DA-E750 also includes analog (composite) input for older devices, as well as ports for a USB thumbdrive, hard drive or MP3 player. A small, matching remote is included, if needed, as is an Ethernet jack for those who prefer a wired connection.

Samsung also showed other products with its patented vacuum tube technology, including a home theatre in a box (HTIB) solution called the HT-E6730W ($999.99). This 3D Blu-ray Home Entertainment System is a 1,330-watt 7.1-channel system with twin tower speakers and four additional speakers (including a centre channel, subwoofer and wireless rear speakers).

Both audio systems are available for purchase in April.