3 rd58 T 3 JANUARY 2022
State of the art1 st2 ndHOW TOCHOOSE THE PERFECTSMART SPEAKERWE’RE IMPRESSED Revealing,
expansive sound; ample
streaming options; useful app.
WE’D IMPROVE Doesn’t have
the stereo separation it thinks it
has; lack of physical inputs;
physically quite imposing.
THE LAST WORD As long as
you’re not banking on the ‘true
stereo’ it claims it delivers, this is
the best in an illustrious line.WE’RE IMPRESSED Warm, clear
and entertaining sound; future-
proofed; wide dispersion; flexible.
WE’D IMPROVE No mic; no
Bluetooth; no hi-res support yet;
rivals available for less.
THE LAST WORD With
room-filling, detailed and warm
sound, perhaps Sonos can afford
to rest on its laurels with this
excellent streaming speaker.BOWERS & WILKINS ZEPPELIN
£699, bowerswilkins.com
SONOS FIVE£ 500 , sonos.comA smart speaker is all about
filling your space with sound, so
that particular space is the first
thing you should think about.
Actually producing enough
volume isn’t generally difficult
- an Echo Dot can fill a room,
after all – but making the most
of your walls and the air
betweenthem is important.
Many more advanced smart
speakersfeature the samekind
of room calibration as you’ll find
in AVreceivers,and the more
competent this is, themore your
speakerwill be able to
compensate for echo, dead
spots,and awkward placement.
As much as room calibration
can help, though, placementis
still important. You’ll likely want
your smartspeaker to live
somewhere relatively central in
order to makethe mostof it.
Maybe you’ll pick something
smaller, maybe youwant your
speakerto be a focal point for
the room – whatever you
decide, thelooks of the speaker
are veryimportant.
Consider, also, exactly what
you’re going to want thespeakerto do. Yes, you want it to make
noise, but from what source?
Bluetooth ispretty ubiquitous,
but compatibilitywith your
favouritestreaming servicemay
not be.If you want to integrate
that speaker into your existing
smart home kit,Alexa or Google
Assistant compatibilityis a
must. Thespeakermight not
directly includean assistant, but
if it can becontrolled bythe one
you have,that’sa real bonus.
If you’re already flush with kit
that you might want tohook up
directly – be it a hi-res player, aturntable, a phone which still
has a 3.5mm jack – then look for
an analogue audio input of some
kind. Outputscan be useful too,
for wiring up a sub orconnecting
to external speakers, though
multi-room wireless magicdoes
make this sort of functionalitya
bit redundant and has mostly
consigned it to the bin by now.
The real key? Spend what you
can afford. The further you
creep towards the premium end,
the better the results – and a
good speaker is onepurchase
you won’t regret.NAIM MU-SO QB 2ND GEN
£749, naimaudio.com
THE OVERALL
WINNER IS...
VERDICT:WE’RE IMPRESSEDThe sound
quality is truly wonderful. Its
dimensions are pretty compact,
and there are different colour
options. Plus it has top-tier
streaming and file support.
WE’D IMPROVEThere’s no
aptX Bluetooth, and it can’t offer
true stereo.
THE LAST WORD The Naim
Mu-so Qb (2nd Gen) not only
knocks it out of the park, but
right out of the state. Music is so
detailed, so finely balanced, so
perfectly timed – and comes out
of something so compact. If you
love music and need a flexible
Wi-Fi speaker that can fit on a
shelf or desk easily, this is the
best choice, no question.