Sonos is rolling out a big app update that includes new Presets and early access to its AI voice assistant. You can create a preset to play music at a specific volume in a certain room, which will appear directly on the homescreen so you can quickly start playback.

If you're in the US, you can also sign up for a spot on the waitlist for the new Sonos 27voice assistant on November 6th, with access starting on November 12th.

As teased by Sonos previously, you'll be able to use the assistant to do things like start music, move playback to another room, group and ungroup speakers, and set timers. But Sonos says it can also complete more compl …

Read the full story at The Verge.

I’ve rounded up the best smart speakers that let you talk to Alexa, from the popular Echo Dot to the newest Echo Studio.

Over the years, I've talked about using AI technology to help us understand the audiophile world (just a tiny piece among many, many other things to understand of course 😏). In early 2023 I discussed using LLMs like ChatGPT to generate content including the ease of making "subjective" text such as for product reviews. By 2024, we discussed the multi-modality of AI technologies; the ability

When I first heard about the new $149 HomePod Mini 2 at Apple's Welcome Home event last month, I was disappointed. It's been six years since Apple launched its entry-level smart speaker, and all it got in the second gen was a chip bump, some color glowy stuff, and better AirPlay? For $50 more than the original, which launched at $99, Apple didn't even upgrade the sound system. It felt like the company phoned this one in.

Now that I've got my hands on a couple and set them up in my home office, I'm more enthused. The Mini 2 is so much faster than the first-gen Mini, playing music in a few seconds and responding to smart home commands just as …

Read the full story at The Verge.

WIRED attempts what even the Swedish brand hasn’t: making a sonic monolith using scores of the cheapest Bluetooth speakers on the market. Can you have too much of a small thing?

This screen-free soundstage starter kit opens a world of audio fun for kids aged 3 years and up.

CES 2026 loved these innovative headphones that transform into a Bluetooth speaker. After living with them, I’m impressed by the engineering, but less impressed by the sound.

Hey guys and gals, as shown above, I have pairs of both the Sony SS-CS5 (Mark 1) and the updated Sony SS-CS5M2 (Mark 2) bookshelf speakers here at home purchased through the usual retail outlets. As you might know from discussions online and videos on YouTube, opinions can be quite polarizing regarding these speakers. I think it's a combination of the low price (with associated biases as

As you can see through my posts, I'm obviously not averse to trying out "cheap audio guy/gal" products. 😏 I trust that this is completely consistent with my perspective on audio hardware for the most part being mature technologies, refined over decades already. For the high-fidelity audio reproduction pursuit, we can achieve excellent quality at very reasonable prices. Many (not all of course)