THE SEVEN
DRIVERS CREATE
A FOUNTAIN OF
ROOM-FILLING
SOUND
£500 / sony.co.uk
Can’t help but want to whack
those pads.
We understand the impulse, but
sadly you’re buying a high-end
speaker here, not a drum kit.
It’s fair to say Sony’s 360 Reality
Audio has hardly conquered
the world; but now the company
is making hardware to pair with
the tech, maybe that’s about
to change. Both the pictured
SRS-RA5000 and the smaller
SRS-RA3000 can deliver 360°
audio, but unsurprisingly it’s the
more expensive model we’re
itching to get our ears around.How does it work, then?
If you wanted to thoroughly cover
your lounge in yoghurt, you could
do worse than sticking a Muller
Light fountain in the middle of the
room and turning it up to 11. This
wireless speaker takes the same
approach to sound, but makes a
lot less mess. The RA5000 has
seven drivers in total: three of
them fire audio upwards and
three face outwards, with a 2.75in
woofer to handle the rumbles.
Combined with Sony’s new
Immersive Audio Enhancement
algorithm, it creates a fountain
of room-filling sound even for
stereo tracks that aren’t in the
360 Reality Audio format.Will my audio yoghurt sound good
wherever I put this thing?
It should do. The SRS-RA
is Hi-Res-certified and can be
calibrated to your room for the
best spatial audio. Sony’s 360
Reality Audio now supports video
streaming too, the idea being
that you can recreate the feeling
of being at a live gig – handy
when attending a real one is
off the cards. Connectivity is
a win too: you’ve got both Wi-Fi
and Bluetooth on board and it
supports Spotify Connect and
Chromecast, with Alexa and
Google Assistant arguing over
the voice control.SONY
SRS-RA
ICON