Following Apple's Acquisition Of Beats, Hewlett-Packard Announces Partnership With Bang & Olufsen For Audio Technology

In the last few years, HP has announced several computing products with Beats audio technology built-in. But last year, Apple acquired Beats leaving HP to search for a new partner. Today, they announced that they are partnering with Bang & Olufsen to bring great audio experience to HP’s PCs, tablets and accessories.

Read full press release below.

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and Bang & Olufsen announced a collaboration that brings the globally recognized sound of Bang & Olufsen and B&O PLAY to HP’s PCs, tablets and accessories.

“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,” said Ron Coughlin, senior vice president, Personal Systems, HP. “With their passion and expertise, we are thrilled to work with Bang & Olufsen to create exceptional sound experiences for customers.”

“Bang & Olufsen and B&O PLAY have a long heritage in delivering great music and audio experiences for people no matter where they decide to enjoy their media,” said Tue Mantoni, CEO, Bang & Olufsen. “We are excited to collaborate with HP to bring our iconic sound to HP PCs.”

Iconic Sound, Innovative Devices Customers want bold, crisp and accurate audio. They expect their devices to have fantastic sound reproduction whether using headphones or built in speakers. Customers also want to enhance sound to their liking.

Bang & Olufsen is a globally recognized audio and video technology company with 90 years of experience in acoustic excellence and audio performance. Most recently, the company has launched a range of innovative products including its BeoPlay H8 Headphones, BeoPlay A2 music system and BeoSound Moment.

HP and Bang & Olufsen will custom tune each notebook, desktop, tablet and accessory for precise sound. In all HP devices that carry the Bang & Olufsen or B&O PLAY brand, a dedicated audio island isolates the sensitive audio circuits from other signals on the motherboard. The headphone jack limits the amount of metal parts to reduce ground noise to help further perfect the audio experience on HP devices.

Because customers want the ability to customize their audio for movies, music and voice, HP devices include an audio control panel. This allows customers to customize and enhance their audio experience based on preset configurations tuned by HP and Bang & Olufsen. Customers can choose from optimized presets or manually tune the sound to their liking.

The first HP personal computing systems with Bang & Olufsen and B&O PLAY audio will be available this spring. The Bang & Olufsen brand will appear on HP’s Spectre, OMEN, ENVY and select commercial PCs. The B&O Play brand will appear on HP Pavilion PCs, tablets and PC audio accessories.