AnalogPlanet wrote:

This “imperfect” bluetooth setup looks more like a proof of concept for the B&O team, but it does imply to me at least that something more substantial has to be in development - maybe a new voice controlled audio system... 

I am not sure that, what Lyle showed in his video can be seen as a ‘proof of concept for the B&O team’.

As I understood it, it was just Lyle observing and showing what a system with integrated bluetooth playback (as the BS Moment has it) can do.

(Something that was made possible with a recent GoogleHome update ).

And the observation that the screen of such a system/the Moment also gives feedback/cover and infos of what it ‘thrown’ at it - which is nice, I think.

As for ‘imperfect’ - bluetooth nowadays is perfect for what it is....a convinient possibility for several users to utilize a setup 

with acceptable sound quality without having to deal with home network and passwords.

Sure things like integrated chromecast allows for better sound quality and it can’t be secret,

that B&O works on this - with GoogleHome/Assistant integretion etc.

Petros (Belimpasakis) also showed an example recently.

However, on one hand it will be different for a company like B&O to survive (means to keep on offering their speakers/sound systems 

and integrated sound systems) without playing by ‘the rules’ of the big companies in the content/streaming world

(Lyle also stated alike in another post (about the Moment) this morning).

One the other hand they will have to decide whether to support one or more of these ‘big players’.

And they will have to find out, how far voice control will be accepted as the go-to way and only-way of intergrating with music for their costumers.

(I - for my part - does not see this as progress for my way of listening....just as little as I liked the ‘RandomPlay’ function of the BS9000 

and the PatternPlay/MoodWheel way of consuming music on the BS Moment.)

Besides this like things like GoogleHome isn’t available in every country - not every dane will want to talk english to their BS2!

Interesting times - eagerly waiting for which new functions the current products will have and also how 

the interface of a - possible - new product will be (which includes the interface of the Bang & Olufsen app, I suppose)

Personally I hope that there will be different ways to interact there - not just via voice control.....one size does not fit all.

MM

That is a very interesting reflection MM, especially the “one size does not fit all” part. I can imagine that B&O and all other vendors need to address different preferences and different use patterns when it comes to design of a new product and that can’t be easy (not sure is it possible at all).

Besides, I find it amusing that voice control, Mood Wheel and PatternPlay are exactly three things I want the most from the sound system - that said, I can totally get your listening habits are different, hence the need for a different UI.

Now could above examples be called or not a POC - I leave that to the B&O team. :) Time will tell.

@All :

Before being compatible with bluetooth, Google home was already compatible with Chromecast... Sooo... It was already possible to control any Beoplay/Essence/Core device with "better than bluetooth" audio with your voice. I'm sending deezer/TuneIn to my Essence MKII and my beoplay A9 (and "joining" from the BV8-40) from my Google Home mini without any kind of problem for weeks (since I got the home mini in fact)

This original post was just an observation from Lyle, which he thought could be usefull for some users.

And sure, we can use a built-in Chromecast/GoogleHome combo instead for better sound quality.

But what also is being discussed in the thread, is different - it is about integrating this feature directly in the B&O products.

See this newsletter/announcement from earlier this year

https://www.bang-olufsen.com/~/mediaV3/Files/press-releases/bang-olufsen/google-assistant/bang-olufsen-google-assistant.pdf

We can expect something coming, yes - but what....and how will it work is the interesting part.

MM

Thanks for sharing that press release, MM."The next step is talking directly to your Bang & Olufsen products. This development will be implemented in 2018 through updates in selected product lines and in collaboration with the Google Assistant." Hmm. Which B&O products have a microphone? Are there some products with hidden microphones? Could we be seeing new features for the BeoPlay A1? Perhaps this will be an added feature the the next generation of the Core?

Thanks for sharing that press release, MM."The next step is talking directly to your Bang & Olufsen products. This development will be implemented in 2018 through updates in selected product lines and in collaboration with the Google Assistant." Hmm. Which B&O products have a microphone? Are there some products with hidden microphones? Could we be seeing new features for the BeoPlay A1? Perhaps this will be an added feature the the next generation of the Core?

I'm examining my BeoSound Moment and see three tiny holes on top of the Jukebox when positioned with the wooden side up. Could those 3 tiny holes be a MICROPHONE? Lyle?????

Lyle Clarke wrote:

Google made a nice little update to Google Home, so it can connect to Bluetooth speakers by default. I was quite surprised at how well it works together with the Bluetooth connection on the Moment. I made a quick video and uploaded here so others can see the basic setup and try.

Also note what happens on the display of the Moment. That even surprised me, so a bit of an Easter Egg

https://youtu.be/X7STTbC7n7E

PS. Disclaimer. This is not an official B&O video and doesn’t indicate any promises about future work by the team or company.

laseralex wrote:

beojeff wrote:

It's great to see the potential of what can be achieved with voice control. I wonder how far off (and how feasible it is) when we'll see tighter integration with Alexa and Google Home so that we don't have to relay on poor audio quality streaming or IFTTT using a BLGW. After all, B&O is all about sound quality and we can't compromise that.

Agreed.  Although playing a Google Home to a speaker over Bluetooth is a nifty trick, the same could be done by hooking a Chomecast dongle into the Line-In of a Moment.  Or by hooking an inexpensive Bluetooth receiver into an amplifier to drive the speakers without the Moment.

Ideally, I should be able to stand in the living room and say "Hey Google, play BBC Radio 1" and it will automatically start TuneIn radio on the Moment (or Core, or Essence) in the living room.  Meaning it initiates the stream on the device itself, not playing it over Bluetooth.  Then I could wander into the kitchen and say "Hey Google, join the living room stream" and the Essence (or Core) in the kitchen would join the active stream from the living room.

I know that the Google Actions is a relatively new system, and companies much larger than B&O are working hard to integrate into this new ecosystem.  I can only hope that Bang and Olufsen recognizes the importance of full native integration (rather than the simple Bluetooth connection now offered) and has a development team working on this.