VOIZ, the audio startup co-founded earlier this year by product innovator Hiro Ogura and ex-Onkyo and Harman exec Mark Friedman, announces a "smart radio"-- the AiRadio, an Alexa-enabled radio set for a CES 2019 release.
According to the company, the AiRadio is a first-of-a-kind product, being a voice-controlled radio bringing together premium components and luxury stylings in a high-fidelity streaming audio product. CES 2019 will see the showcase of 3 AiRadio models, the vertically oriented AiRadio Poco (VR-60) and the horizontally-oriented AiRadio Uno and Duo. The Poco and Uno are mono units with an output for an optional second speaker (VR-62 and VR-72 respectively), while the Duo is a stereo device with two speakers and a 2-channel amp.
All AiRadio models feature bamboo cabinet exteriors, removable cloth grilles, high-performance 3-inch speakers with oversized neodymium magnets, omni-directional microphone, custom-tuned DSP, Class-D digital amplifier and built-in Alexa voice control. Users can simply tell the AiRadio to play a favourite radio station, song, genre or mood, as well as ask it for weather reports, recipes, news updates and home control via Alexa.
“Each AiRadio model delivers crystal clear streaming audio from sources including Amazon, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn and more, all through a simple voice-controlled interface,” VOIZ says. “Unlike commodity smart speakers that often focus on being as low-cost as possible, our AiRadio series of Smart Radios is specifically designed with premium components, finishes and technologies to deliver a high-fidelity listening experience with a classic radio aesthetic that recalls the heyday of over-the-air broadcasts.”
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