![]() ![]() In fact, it’s even dwarfed by the new Echo Dot. At just 8.4cm tall and 9.8cm wide, it’s quite a bit smaller than the similarly spherical Amazon Echo. If the HomePod 2 is too big for your living space, then the HomePod Mini is your next best bet. We were particularly impressed by the built-in temperature and humidity sensors, which can be used to create custom automations in your smart home. This made it quick and easy for our testers to set it up as a control center for other Matter-compatible smart home tech and an ideal option for Apple fans and general tinkerers. Siri universally heard and enacted our voice commands, even while music was playing and we were talking to the speaker from across the room. Once setup, the in-built mics and smart features all worked perfectly. But listening to it on the HomePod the track was blissfully free of the sibilance we often encounter. Trials Of The Past is a very taxing track that most of the affordable smart speakers in this list struggle to deal with. We were particularly happy with how well the HomePod 2 dealt with SBTRKT’s Trials Of The Past in Apple Lossless. Picking it from a position in free space and moving it close to a wall our testers could hear it changing its settings in real-time - mainly by reducing bass. During our tests, we were amazed at how well it worked. The main draw is its ability to scan and optimise its audio settings for the room and position it is in on the fly. Having used it in our listening room and a home environment we can safely confirm it is the best sound speaker on this list. The smart speaker’s the larger option in Apple’s current line-up, sitting above the smaller HomePod Mini. If you want a great-sounding smart speaker with room-filling audio and love Apple tech, then the HomePod 2 is the best option we’ve tested. Luckily, every product here comes with our unabridged, comprehensively star-rated review attached – and if it didn't get at least a highly-commended four-star review under test conditions, you won't find it on this list.įrom cheap budget options to premium sonic experiences, read on for our pick of the best smart speakers. Be realistic about your budget and what to expect. Some of the smaller smart speakers are limited purely because of their dimensions. ![]() This can vary quite a lot between models and manufacturers and spending more doesn't always guarantee a better listening experience. (While these do both work with other services, they're tightly integrated with those made by their creators, making them much slicker to use.)įinally: sound quality. ![]() Love shopping at Amazon and have a Prime account? An Amazon Echo might be right up your alley. If you frequently use Google's services – Calendar, Maps, Gmail – maybe a product with Google Home baked in would be best for you. It's also worth thinking about which ecosystem you use most. Most smart speakers are platform agnostic, so they'll work with both Android and iOS devices, but the Apple HomePod Mini isn't much use without an Apple mobile device to set it up. The first thing to consider is compatibility. Why you can trust What Hi-Fi? Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Every smart speaker on this list has been tested by our team of reviewers, both in our listening rooms and home environments to ensure it’s worth your time and money. Here to help you avoid investing in a subpar product we’ve created this guide detailing all the top-scoring products we’ve personally tried and tested. Many also don’t offer best-in-class audio, with their manufacturers focussing more on their smart than sonic capabilities. All too often we’ve got smart speakers in for testing only to find their mic setups can’t deal with even moderate background noise, and wouldn’t register voice commands in anything but perfect silence. You won’t be able to use an Amazon Echo Dot to control your Apple TV 4K, for example.Įven if you get all that sorted and know the platform, we can safely confirm not every smart speaker doing the rounds is worth your time, attention, and money. It’s these digital assistants that let you quiz your speaker about today’s weather, use them to check your calendar or control your music.Įach is then also usually tied to a specific smart home platform, which informs what other equipment it can interact with and control. Any speaker you test will generally run using either Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri or Google Assistant. First, because in their nature smart speakers are rigidly locked into wider ecosystems. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |