All three products from Phorus, Onkyo and Pioneer will support the Amazon Alexa Connected Speaker APIs with a future firmware update. This will enable these products to select and control the playback of music on all DTS Play-Fi-enabled speakers throughout the home.
Each speaker’s built-in far-field microphone system lets customers use the Alexa Voice Service to access information, control playback, control other home automation devices, and shop online using their DTS Play-Fi-enabled wireless multi-room audio system. Advance signal processing techniques reliably capture spoken commands in noisy environments, even when the speaker is playing music, from across the room.
Music selection is easy using either voice, the DTS Play-Fi app for smartphones and tablets, or on-device presets. When compatible DTS Play-Fi products are grouped together, music plays to the group simultaneously regardless of the selected source. Listeners can also control the DTS Play-Fi system using the Apple Watch or Android Wear.
DTS Play-Fi technology enables lossless multi-room wireless audio streaming from the world's most popular music services including Amazon Music, Deezer, iHeartRadio, Juke, KKBox, Napster, Pandora, Qobuz, QQ Music, SiriusXM, Spotify and TIDAL, thousands of Internet radio stations, as well as personal music libraries, on any supported product.
"Amazon Alexa is the most widely recognized and adopted voice service on the market and we are very excited to announce the first of many products with built-in, far-field Alexa capability,” says Dannie Lau, general manager, DTS Play-Fi at Xperi. “By combining DTS Play-Fi with the Alexa Voice Service, these speakers extend Alexa’s capabilities to more than 200 products from 23 different manufacturers, while providing compatibility with the same Alexa skills customers have grown to love.”
The Phorus PS10 wireless speaker features a built-in 30-watt Class D amplifier with DTS Sound processing, two 65mm neodymium full range transducers, and dual passive radiators for powerful bass. The PS10 supports playback of up to 24-bit/192kHz high resolution audio distributed wirelessly via DTS Play-Fi technology. The PS10 also features four hard button music station presets, allowing for easy, one touch access to a user’s favorite streaming music stations.
Alexa Connected Speaker APIs
DTS also confirmed that select Onkyo and Pioneer DTS Play-Fi-enabled products, including AVRs, sound bars and speakers, will soon support the Amazon Alexa Connected Speaker APIs. This will allow voice-enabled selection of music and control via an Alexa-enabled device, including the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Show, Amazon Tap, Amazon Fire TV, or any of the three new DTS Play-Fi wireless speakers featuring far-field Alexa Voice Service – the Phorus PS10 wireless speaker, Onkyo Smart Speaker P3 and Pioneer Elite Smart Speaker F4 – that will begin shipping in late Q3/early Q4.
DTS Play-Fi technology allows one or more devices to be linked together for multi-room music playback of Alexa, streaming content, and seamlessly interacts with other Alexa-enabled products to provide full group control of music playback. Onkyo and Pioneer will roll out Alexa control through the Connected Speaker APIs to hundreds of current and new DTS Play-Fi-enabled products through firmware updates beginning in Q1 2018.
“By integrating the Connected Speaker APIs and DTS Play-Fi, we are bringing Alexa control into hundreds of Onkyo and Pioneer Play-Fi products,” says Nobuaki Okuda, director and CTO, Onkyo Corporation, and president, Onkyo and Pioneer Technology Corporation. “Our customers will enjoy the benefits of the world’s largest voice control ecosystem connecting with the broadest, most comprehensive multi-room streaming technology available to deliver a seamless smart home experience.”
Earlier this month, Onkyo and Pioneer began releasing firmware updates on several products to add support for DTS Play-Fi multi-room audio technology, with additional product updates slated for distribution throughout Q3 and Q4 of 2017. More than 200 current and new Onkyo and Pioneer products will launch with DTS Play-Fi support via a software update.
Support in US, UK, Germany and Japan
Amazon Music support via DTS Play-Fi has recently expanded beyond the US and into the UK, Germany and Japan. DTS Play-Fi users will be able to enjoy their “My Music” libraries via the Amazon Music app across their DTS Play-Fi wireless multi-room music systems, regardless of brand. DTS Play-Fi support for “My Music” will be effective on the same date as the rollout of Amazon Music via DTS Play-Fi in additional countries throughout 2017 and 2018.
“We are pleased to announce new DTS Play-Fi enhancements for Amazon Music and expanded regional coverage. By building beyond our previously available Prime Music and Amazon Music Unlimited support, we seek to provide Amazon Music listeners everywhere with the best multi-room entertainment experience possible,” states Dannie Lau, general manager, DTS Play-Fi at Xperi.
DTS Play-Fi audio system owners can access Amazon Music Unlimited and Prime Music via their DTS Play-Fi wireless multi-room music systems' companion apps. By adding “My Music” browsing capabilities, users will be able to stream their personal playlists and recommendations on the Amazon Music app, in addition to natural language voice controls powered by Alexa in the US, UK, Germany and Austria.
The DTS Play-Fi ecosystem features the largest collection of products in the whole-home wireless audio space, with dozens of interoperable speakers, sound bars, set-top boxes, and receivers from the top names in premium audio such as Onkyo, Pioneer and Elite, as well as Aerix, Anthem, Arcam, Autonomic, Definitive Technology, DISH TV, Integra, Fusion Research, Klipsch, MartinLogan, McIntosh, Paradigm, Phorus, Polk Audio, Rotel, Sonus faber, Soundcast, SVS Sound, THIEL Audio and Wren Sound.
DTS Play-Fi technology supports lossless 24-bit/192kHz streaming, and works everywhere there is Wi-Fi, even if range extenders are used. It also works over Ethernet, Powerline and other IP-based networking technologies. In addition to streaming music services, users can download Play-Fi apps for all operating systems. DTS Play-Fi technology is the only multi-room streaming platform to offer lip-sync accurate synchronization with a video source, including from Windows 10 PCs, and support wireless 5.1 surround sound.
www.dts.com | www.xperi.com
