Hewlett-Packard has announced that, in lieu of its previous partnership with Beats Electronics, it will now look to Danish audio company Bang & Olufsen to provide audio for its products.
In a statement, HP says Bang & Olufsen will custom-tune each desktop, notebook, tablet, and accessory "for precise sound" and all its devices that carry a sound system by Bang & Olufsen or its sister brand B&O Play will feature a dedicated audio island that isolates the sensitive audio circuits from the rest of the motherboard. HP also says that Bang & Olufsen will limit the metal parts in the headphone jack to reduce ground noise.
Each product will also include an audio control panel with preset configurations by HP and Bang & Olufsen to allow customers to optimize the device's sound settings to suit their preference.
"Audio plays an important role in the experience customers have on their PCs, tablets, and accessories, whether it's watching a movie, listening to music, or Skyping with friends and family," says HP senior vice president of personal systems Ron Coughlin. "With their passion and expertise, we are thrilled to work with Bang & Olufsen to create exceptional sound experiences for customers."
The first HP devices with a Bang & Olufsen and B&O Play audio system will be released this spring, just in time for the back-to-school shopping season. HP says the Bang & Olufsen brand will appear in its line of Spectre, Omen, and Envy laptops, while the B&O Play brand is set for its Pavilion PCs, tablets, and audio accessories such as headphones and speakers.
The announcement comes as HP is about to end its partnership with Beats Electronics this year after Apple shook up the technology industry with its announcement of a $3 billion acquisition of Beats. Despite Beats' reputation and the increased cool factor thanks to Apple, HP believes it did the right move by dropping Beats and joining with Bang & Olufsen.
"I think each of the companies bring different attributes to the situation," says Mike Nash, vice president of personal-computer and printing at HP. "We've certainly spent a lot of time working on audio with Beats over the years. I think certainly a lot of learnings both ways in that relationship."
Beats and Bang & Olufsen are very different brands but are both considered respected providers of personal audio systems.
Beats was a fairly new company when it was snapped up by Apple, but it gained substantial reputation because of its founders, music producer Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young, also known as rapper Dr. Dre. Bang & Olufsen, on the other hand, has 90 years of experience behind it and is known as the provider of audio systems for prestigious car brands, such as Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz. It also provides the sound systems for Asus products, though it's unclear what direction Bang & Olufsen's partnership with the Chinese electronics maker based in Taiwan will go now that it has decided to work with HP.
