Denon Electronics has begun collaborating with Amazon to integrate Amazon Alexa with HEOS. With a planned launch Q1 2017, Denon and Amazon will voice enable the HEOS wireless multi-room sound platform. This move is a follow up to Denon’s move earlier this year, when it formed a focused voice user interface team, led by team leader Robby Kilgore. In a short period of time, the team has made significant headway into moving into this new area of user experiences.
“Denon has a 100-year history of performance, innovation, and design; we have always been driven to provide the best possible audio experience to our customers, and we’re doing that with Amazon Alexa,” said Brendon Stead, SVP product development at Denon. “We see the recent shift towards voice as the preferred interface for searching, retrieving, and controlling music as a tremendously compelling arena where we can focus that heritage of technical excellence and innovation to deliver completely new experiences.”
What this means to HEOS users is that they will be able to control their HEOS products by using the Alexa voice service using natural speech. The new music skill is expected to be available on all HEOS enabled devices by Q1 2017.
“Amazon shares with Denon a passion for innovation and design,” said Steve Rabuchin, vice president, Amazon Alexa. “We are excited to collaborate with them to bring hands-free voice control to premium audio products early next year. Soon HEOS and Amazon Alexa customers will be able to enjoy the convenience of the Alexa voice service plus high-quality home audio—getting us one step closer to our goal of enabling Alexa voice control on every device within customer’s homes.”
HEOS brings Denon audio performance to any—or all—rooms in the home by connecting to an existing Wi-Fi network through the HEOS app, available for iOS, Android, and Amazon Fire devices. It instantly gives users multi-room audio control at their fingertips, commanding music in every room from any HEOS device. Another bonus is the ability to play High Resolution audio through HEOS devices to truly unleash Denon performance. In addition, the inclusion of Bluetooth allows users to play their HEOS speakers outside of a network like at the park or the beach.
In the future, the Denon HEOS Series will continue to expand its product line and improve the user experience with new services, features, and products.
