Judge's comments:

The judges praised the design process which deeply explored the problem and market opportunity, working closely with the technical requirements and development process. Resulting in a sleek aesthetic along with a simple, highly functional user interface complete an exciting technical innovation and compelling product offering.

Description:

Konos is the new industry standard in sound capture. It is a compact 80-element high-fidelity microphone array with world-first adjustable directivity, rear channel, and real-time noise filtering to capture clear sound in challenging sonic conditions. With Konos, capture everything you want, nothing you don’t.

Capturing clear sound in noisy environments is difficult. Sound engineers commonly possess a multitude of microphones catered toward specific requirements. The vision for Konos was to remove the limits of sound capture - on the street, in the wilderness, up in the air and in locations previously considered too noisy to record in.

Konos has two key components, the microphone and the control box which are connected to third-party recording devices. Meticulously crafted and engineered into a sleek, black aluminium housing and protected from soot and debris and with a waterproof membrane.

The control box serves as the central processing unit, featuring upward-facing controls and connectors for effortless configuration in studios or fieldwork.

These components are then supported with a growing list of smaller accessories to enable fixing to industry-standard equipment. The flexibility of this arrangement allows a range of industries to adopt the device in their current workflow seamlessly.

The various microphone modes erase the need for technicians to have several specialist microphones, combining multiple expensive microphones into one. This is particularly beneficial as it is simpler, and reduces setup time while providing great results.

Konos is an example of New Zealand innovation shattering industry standards. It’s a world-first in adjustable directivity and has removed the limits of sound capture for multiple industries. The ability to record quality audio in noisy environments will revolutionise sound recording for many applications such as search and rescue, entertainment, security and much more!