If you want to get your customers to take your product and utilize all of its features, there are a lot of good ways that you can do it. Amazon has been pushing Alexa pretty hard, and with today's newest additions to the family, they found one way to encourage owners to use their Echo for ordering products from them. And not everyone likes the idea.
In an unexpected surprise this Thursday morning, Amazon has just announced two new devices in its Echo connected speaker lineup. Dubbed the Amazon Tap and Echo Dot, both units feature the Echo's digital assistant Alexa, or connect to it in some way. Both are available for pre-order starting today, although the Echo Dot has a pretty interesting buying process, which we'll get to in a moment.
Music fans and audiophiles who want to be able to hear all the nuances of their favorite tracks will want to check out the new iLoud Micro Monitor speakers from IK Multimedia. They claim to be the smallest active studio reference monitoring system in the world. The monitors have a pair of bi-amplified speakers designed to deliver an expansive stereo image.
There's a device out there called Prizm, one made to turn your music playing experience into something wholly unique. This device detects how many people are in the room, seeks out familiar signals, and plays music based on the room's occupants. This device knows what music you like, and it knows what music your significant other likes. It knows what music your best friends like, and it knows how to play that music, automatically, whenever you enter the room.
808 Audio has introduced several new portable speakers as part of its’ CES 2016 lineup, including the new and quite large Canz XL, a larger-than-typical portable speaker based on the Canz. The company also has some more svelte options in the pipeline, though, such as the Hex Light and the Hex LXS. 808 Audio plans to release the new speakers this upcoming spring season.
Sony has announced an expansion to its Extra Bass audio lineup, adding news headphones, speakers, and an audio system. The lineup, as its’ name suggests, is targeted at those with heavy bass audio tastes; those who find themselves often disappointed by the bass from most consumer audio devices. Sony plans to launch all of the products in Spring, though prices haven’t been stated yet.
Three devices make Harman's newest in-car audio system unique. The first is Voyager Drive, the second is Voyager Drive+, and the third is the Voyager Soundwear. The last device on that list is a U-shaped speaker you wear over your neck for personalized surround sound. The Voyager Drive+ is an upgraded version of the Voyager Drive, providing a removable subwoofer for your vehicle. The standard Voyager Drive system, including a heavy-duty speaker system in your car with a removable, wireless speaker you can take with you when you need to exit and head towards the beach.
Samsung has baked Dolby Atmos into its latest soundbar, kicking off CES 2016 with a fresh batch of music and movie focused audio tech. The HW-K950 Soundbar is Samsung's first model to include the Dolby "overhead surround" system, not to mention the first soundbar on the market to include a set of Atmos-compatible wireless rear speakers.
Hult Design has introduced its beautiful pillar-style Bluetooth speaker Pavilion. Unlike most other speakers, Pavilion in no way resembles a speaker; rather, it looks like a piece of art one might have sitting atop a bookcase or fireplace. When in use, though, Pavilion pumps out audio with what the maker says is “boomy bass” and “bright treble.”
Inside the Razer Leviathan Mini you're going to get some deep, booming sound. That's for certain. If you connect this speaker to your Android device, you'll be able to say "OK Google" to it just fine - it uses what Razer calls "Clear Voice Capture" technology - you can use it as a speakerphone for your phone, too. But what is the Razer Leviathan Mini best at? Audio for your TV? Not so much. Wireless music. Wireless music in twos.
When you need your music on the go, you need it in a small form factor -- one that can easily fit in any bag and won't wear you down, but that doesn't sacrifice audio quality or battery life. Most portable batteries come in cylindrical form, but there are smaller single-speaker units out there that are about the size of a baseball. One such unit is iClever's IC-BTS02, a little wireless speaker we've taken for a spin.
This week Sonos is releasing the iOS (for now) based auto-tune system known as Trueplay. This system will tune your Sonos speakers in a way that'll allow your system to sound good, no matter the position your units are in. This update will be coming to the Sonos app for iOS devices as of this morning - you'll receive your update likely by the end of the week, at the latest. Be on the lookout!
