At CES this year we got a chance to meet with Bang & Olufsen. They announced the brand new BeoSound Essence, along with their other great products. The BeoSound Essence picks up were the entire brand left off and shows the direction for 2014. Bringing it back to simplicity, designing it with domestication in mind. Most consumers don’t want all of the technology up front and they don’t want to see the tech boxes. The BeoSound Essence is a small circular control, with volume via a swivel side and tactical buttons in the center. It can be hung on a wall or they have a mobile variant, which is on a gun-metal piece of aluminum. It has an awesome design and is even better to use and experience. It work perfectly with any Bang & Olufsen speaker, plus it features WISA, a new wireless technology, that B&O pioneered. The cost is $995 and will be dropping this spring. This includes the wall mounted control and the Transmitter 1. This is the tech box and can be put anywhere in your house. You can add more controls to the system, each extra BeoSound Essence will cost around $200. Overall, the future is very bright for B&O in 2014, with their main focus being to revolution music and be simple, yet still beautiful. Just like they did in 1984, 1976, and 1994, they are brining it back to a simple technology that anyway can use. Stay tuned for our full review of this product and many other from B&O. Stay Tuned To NJTechReviews For More Coverage Of The 2014 Consumer Electronics Show, Powered By Lenovo For Those Who Do!
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Press Release
Listening to music is now as easy as turning on the lights. Bang & Olufsen launches a luxuriouslysimple new sound system.
Bang & Olufsen announces the launch of BeoSound Essence – a new soundsystem offering the simplest way yet to add more music to your life –justby one touch.
2014 International CES - Las Vegas - January 7, 2014
The conflict of opportunities
Most of the digital music that we can access from cloud-based music services or have stored on our phones and tablets stays there. We’re often too busy to find it, turn on the sound system and connect. So we never really listen to anything new or as much as we would like to because it gets too complicated.
A game changer
BeoSound Essence changes the game. Now, one touch, and one touch only,is all it takes to start enjoying more of your favorite music in premium quality – every day.
The latest launch from Bang & Olufsen is a radically simple approach to accessing the ever-expanding panoply of digital music possibilities, whether they’re in the cloud, on your computer, NAS, mobile phone or tablet.
Place a BeoSound Essence Remote wherever it’s convenient, for example on the wall next to the light switch, and start listening to your favorite music when you walk into the room. Or put another one next to your toaster to add wake-up tunes to your morning menu. A simple touch is all it takes. Another touch lets you skip between playlist tracks or internet radio stations. You can also mute the music and adjust the volume - and that’s it.
It’s all about access
Over the last couple of years Bang & Olufsen has made significant investment to map out how people live with digital music and how music consumption has changed since the arrival of digital music and streaming services. In addition to conducting ethnographic and behavioural research projects in Europe, China and the US, Bang & Olufsen’s annual Innovation Camp, dedicated to conceptual design and development of innovative products, has been leveraged to pioneer new innovation within sound and design.
“BeoSound Essence is all about giving people easy access to their favoritemusic in Bang & Olufsen quality,” explains Bang & Olufsen CEO TueMantoni. “By applying our behavioural and ethnographic studies of how people live and live with music we have developed the simplest user interface available in the market for people who do not accept a compromise in terms of quality and performance. BeoSound Essence builds on Bang & Olufsen’s heritage of understanding user behaviour and technology and breaking new ground to make things simple”.
The BeoSound Essence sound system consists of two components: analuminum BeoSound Essence Remote with true Bang & Olufsen touch and movement, and a hide-away box that contains everything you don’t need to worry about to make the magic happen. The box is the center for AirPlaystreaming, DLNA streaming, Spotify Connect, QPlay and thousands of global internet radio stations.
The Bang & Olufsen sound
Combine the BeoSound Essence sound system with any pair of Bang & Olufsen active speakers and achieve an outstanding acoustic experience that is instantly accessible now – and ready for the future
BeoMusic App
In connection with the launch of BeoSound Essence, Bang & Olufsen also introduce the BeoMusic app, which makes it easy controlling the music fromboth iOS and Android devices. The App is the perfect companion for intuitively browsing and playing music from the mobile, PC or NAS device, as well as accessing global internet radio stations.
Availability and pricing
BeoSound Essence will be available at Bang & Olufsen stores worldwide thisspring. Recommended retail price: USD 995 for a sound system consisting of a wall-mounted BeoSound Essence Remote and hide-away box, and USD 200 for additional wall-mounted or table top BeoSound Essence Remotes.
Discover BeoSound Essence at bang-olufsen.com/essence.
Note: AirPlay pending final certification.
