DIO is a small company that focuses on supplying a single product for the Apple Ecosystem: a low -cost airplay speaker system known as DO Node. Initially launched as a Bhasman Indigogo promotion in 2022, the Dio node later started shipping at the end of that year before opening it to all customers.
The DIO node has been identified as a low-cost alternative for users who are trying to develop the EAIRPlay speaker speaker throughout their entire homes, which is priced at a single speaker $ 89.95 and 3-pack and 5-pack alternatives down to only $ 80 per speaker. This is a bit cheaper to a homepod mini, and how the two small speakers compare and how the DIO node’s value proposes for the deep users of the Apple Ecosystem I spent some time with a 3-pack of DO node.
From the point of view of the design, the DIO node is a light gray plastic made of a light gray or silver speaker grill the entire front of the device. It measures a little tapper from front to back with a little tapper from about 4 inches (102 mm) square to a little tapper from the square and its weight is only half a pound (222 g) below. The rear of the node has some very large DO branding of white, but luckily it should not be visible in most setups. A soft pad at the bottom edge of the node helps protect the surfaces from possible scratches.
There are three subtle rectangular buttons at the top of the node, the left and right buttons serve to reduce and increase the volume, while the moderate speaker acts as a play/break button for the airplay audio with the speaker. Updating multiple buttons in different combinations, the speaker performs functions such as the speaker’s Wi-Fi connection and operating a complete factory reset.
The speaker is powered by a small 5V2A power adapter with a barrel connector that plugs the back of the speaker. In the adapter, the integrated cord measures about 1.5 meters (59 inches) long, so it gives you some flexibility in determining the electrical outlet -related space.
As you plugged in for the first time, the node enters a pair mode and setup is simple. Once the small LED on the back of the node becomes red, go to the Wi-Fi section of the Settings app on your iOS device, where the node will appear in a “set up new ireplay speaker” section.
Tap the node, select the Wi-Fi network you want to add and give it a useful name to help you identify it in the list of your EAIRPLY Destinations. After all, it takes about a minute to get and move on your network and you can use it as any other earplay destination from the Control Center or from the consistent applications, it is used together with additional DIO nodes or other Airplay speakers for multi-room audio.
If you want to take your integration a little further, you can also add your DO node to your Apple Home Setup. This is also a common process, you need to simply tap the “+” button of the home app and select “adding an accessory”, the text “More option” to see pop -up as a device available on your network, tap it and select which room in your home. When the home app leaves your home, the speaker will advise an automation to automatically play the audio, but the automation is closed by default and you may quickly skip that step to finalize the setup.
Once the speaker is set up to the home app, you can use it as a speaker for the Intercom of the Apple Home, in other automation and shortcuts, and you can use Siri to control the playback on the node through the device you are playing from. You can set up the spiker group presets to include nodes.
There is no limit to the number of DIO nodes you can link together, which means you can easily spread them all over the house audio experience and once they set up on your network and stream their audio. The node provides the mono sound rated at 85 DB, so it can get fairly loud for most room size and I will describe its sound quality as sufficient but not outstanding.
Compared to the HomePod Mini , DO node does not have much breeze and overall I do not like the HomePod Mini word. Taking steps up to a full -sized homepod clearly provides better words but it is a separate class of speakers.
The DIO says that the node’s equation is tune in to utter the voice, it makes it ideal to play podcasts or audio books in your whole home when you move from house to house. It must also handle a decent range of music, but it is with some other speaker option that you lack the fullness of the word fullness. The earplay protocol on the Wi-Fi provides advanced noise quality with the supporting wireless speaker on the Bluetooth, but you will not be able to capture that whole quality here because of the smaller size of the speaker.
The nod buttons are simple but work relatively well, the play/break commands are implemented almost immediately throughout all speakers when the middle button is pressed. The buttons are on the click, which makes it clear when they are triggered but used in a quiet environment probably somewhat disrupted. The volume adjusting the volume from the iOS or on your source device is a bit behind before the speaker is changed, in the same setup I am more than a homepod mini.
To keep things easier, with the single focus of the Eairplay, the Dio Node Homepod Mini and several other low -cost speakers do not have many features seen, one of which has the most obvious microphone. Since there is no microphone on the DIO node board, for example, it is not able to directly support the Siri requests, and it cannot support phone calls and other types of bilateral communication.
Applications that classify their sound output as audio calls will not be able to send them to their audio node at all, but you should not have any problems with playback-centric audio sources. Voice-capable devices are probably capable of listening to conversation because of anxiety, DIO marketing the microphone deficiency as a privacy feature surprisingly.
When you can add a DO node to an Apple TV, it is not intended to be used as a stereo or home theater system because it cannot be directly paired on any TV and does not support the stereo pair. Mac and iTunes have limited support for Windows, though you can expand its mac ability using something like the disease amoeba’s airfelle app. But in addition, I didn’t have any problem sending audio from Mac’s multiple DIO node music app and I didn’t feel any problem with the audio sync.
In my 1,800 square foot houses my source devices were related to the speaker, regardless of any audio dropout in a node seemed to be the range in my exam.
Overall, DIO node is a reasonable option if you want to set up a multi-room-airplay audio across your home and do not want to spend one ton money. Homepod mini’s better overall words, greater features sets, and more rigid ecosystem integration with audio handoff, it is hard to recommend a single DO node above the homepod mini to save only $ 10. But if you are looking at these five or even ten or more things around your home, the savings become more considerable and if the DIO node set -the aeroplay is enough for your needs, it is a product to consider.
DIO offers free shipping anywhere in the US and gives 60 days free return, so you have enough opportunity to try to see if they will work for your situation. The node is also certified for use in Canada and Europe and DIO is hoping to expand distribution to those regions in the near future.
The DIO node can be ordered from the DIO website or via Amazon (which is still shipped directly from DIO), 1-pack priced $ 89.95, a 3-pack price is $ 239.00 (per unit $ 79.66), or a 5-pack price is $ 395.00 (unit $ 79.00 per unit.
Note: The DIO provided the macrumors with the DIO node 3-pack for this review. No other compensation was found. An authorized partner with Macrumors Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we can pay a small payment, which helps our site continue.
