We like to call ourselves the “simplest multi-room speakers out there”, but what does “simple” actually mean? Through my entrepreneurial journey with Dio, I’ve learned that when designing a product you need to think beyond just the features of the product to the overarching experience and context for the user. For Dio Node, being simple means easily fitting in to you home and lifestyle from the moment the box arrives at your door.

It starts with a simple unboxing experience
When you get your new Dio speakers later this year, you’ll notice the packaging itself is simple from the outside. Being an ecommerce company, we realized that dropping off a consumer electronic product on your doorstep may attract porch pirates, so we’ve left the flashy details off our packaging so that it only shows our small logo in the corners. As you open the box, however, you’ll notice the inside packaging is printed with lots of helpful details and notes to get you started. In addition, the package will contain a very easy to follow Quickstart Guide booklet that doesn’t try to cram in a billion details in tiny print as you may be used to from other companies. Rest assured, it’ll be a very simple and friendly experience!

Then, find a place to put Dio (hint: it can go literally fit in anywhere in your home)
Once you take out your Dio Node from the box, you’ll notice one thing: it is very light and very plain (or as we like to call it, SIMPLE)! While other speaker products may try to sell you an aesthetic appeal, we realized that one of the biggest concerns for customers buying speakers for the home is “how will this look with my furniture and decorations?” We gave Dio a very unassuming look so that it could truly blend in with the rest of your home. We didn’t paint our name in big letters on the front grill like Anker, give the metal parts any metallic sheen like Sonos, make the speakers a distinctive shape like the latest Amazon Echos, or give the housing any bright or flashy colors like UE Boom. Instead, we made the speaker a 4″ x 4″ ‘squircle’ (square with rounded corners) shape with a neutral gray color and matte texture, with our logo, indicator light, and other important info on the back and bottom of the speaker. This allows it to fit in with any blacks, whites, and woods in your home decor without standing out like a sore thumb.

Next up, the simple setup process
As we designed the product, we wanted to make Dio Node something that even the least tech-savvy individual could set up on their own. Now, since this product needs to play audio directly from your iPhone or iPad, you will need one of those devices on hand to set it up. However, to keep it simple, you will not need to download any extra app on your phone to set up or use Dio Node. You simply need to plug the speaker in, go to your phone’s Wi-Fi settings menu, and go through a 2-step process to set it up. This process will take less than 1 minute for each speaker.

The simple playback process
Once your Nodes are set up, it is a 2-step process to pull up the menu directly from your iOS Control Center that will display all your speakers, and then it’s as easy as tapping the speakers you want to play from. That’s it, no extra pairing process or other effort required. Once your speakers are selected, you can go to any app on your phone and play audio content. This includes options like Spotify, Apple Music, and Audible, as well as things like Facebook Live streams, Twitter Spaces, SoundCloud, and other random website audio from your phone browser. And, after thorough testing, you’ll find that, despite the playback process being so simple, it is incredibly reliable. No dropped signals, out-of-sync playback from multiple speakers, or anything else. The top comment we’ve gotten from our beta testers has been “wow, it’s so easy to use and it just works.”

Sharing control simply between people in your household
And finally, the last aspect of the home audio experience is: can other people in my home also use these speakers easily? The answer is yes! I know from personal experience just how annoying it is to unpair your phone from a Bluetooth speaker so somebody else in the home can use it. It’s time consuming and very annoying. For Dio Node, any household member can follow the playback process to connect to any speakers in your home from their iOS devices. And if you want to take over, just tap that speaker on your phone to connect it instead.

We’ve been very intentional about the simplicity of our product and we can’t wait to share this experience with you once Dio Node is ready to ship!