GoKawiilis the Verge’s weekend editor. He’s covered the tech industry for over 18 years and knows a thing or two about synths.
NTS Radio and Swedish audio company Atonemo have teamed up on a dedicated player that brings NTS’s genre-defying mixes and streaming stations to almost any stereo or speaker setup. And, like Atonemo’s existing Streamplayer, you can also listen to your favorite streaming services with it, using AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, or Tidal Connect.
The $179 NTS Radio Player puts out 24-bit / 192kHz audio over a standard 3.5mm audio jack and comes with an adapter cable for connecting to RCA on your vintage hi-fi system, or whatever other speakers you have lying around. The top of the device has two buttons for tuning in directly to NTS 1 and NTS 2. There’s also a large dial with 16 detents for switching between the station’s various infinite mixtapes. And, when you’re done letting NTS DJs pick your tunes, you can just hop over to Qobuz or Apple Music, or whatever your streaming service of choice is, and listen to the new Vince Staples record. The one thing it’s missing is Bluetooth support.
NTS has been at it since 2011 and is one of the best sources of music discovery on the internet. Rather than just an endless feed of music served up by a cold and uncaring algorithm, everything on NTS is hand-chosen by actual humans who care about music, whether that’s obscure Japanese psychedelia or deep house. In addition to the regular DJs, NTS also has frequent guest hosts including Axel Boman, Arushi Jain (AKA Modular Princess), Wu-Lu.