We’ve seen quite a few speaker makers get in on making a Google Assistant powered device, but there are still some high-end offerings I’ve personally wanted to see show up on the scene.
I’d love to see a Bose smart speaker, but that hasn’t happened quite yet. A similar player in the high-quality speaker game that has yet to make a Google Assistant version of one of their devices is Sonos. I’ve personally never owned a Sonos product, but many reviewers I’ve read feel quite strongly about the quality, sound and ease of use when speaking of Sonos’ products.
What They Are Bringing To The Table
Venture Beat reports that Sonos is bringing a new soundbar/home speaker to market that will come in black or white, measure in at 25 inches long (60% smaller than the Sonos Playbar soundbar), has a fabric exterior and touch-control top.
Sonos is also touting five microphones that should improve voice control and echo cancellation.
Beam will also include an HDMI port to easily connect the speaker with televisions. If your TV doesn’t support HDMI ARC, there is also an optical input available. It is unclear at this point if the device will function as a Chromecast as well, but the fact that they are adding so many assistants, there’s a chance it will get support.
At $399, if this device can take the place of something like a Google Home Max while also handling audio for TV, movies, and games, it becomes a very compelling purchase. Sonos doesn’t make it clear how much bass response we should expect out of the Beam, but they do make a wireless subwoofer you can add on later if you want a bit more rumble.
The Beam speaker is set to go on sale July 17 and will eventually include support for Google Assistant, Alexa and Siri.
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