IS THE RISE OF SMART SPEAKERS BAD NEWS FOR AUDIO QUALITY?

Just when it was looking like the audio business was finding its high-end groove again, transitioning in a relatively smooth way from 16- to 24-bit audio, an entirely new format war has broken out.

In case you haven’t noticed, voice control and artificial intelligence are redefining the wireless speaker market. Amazon and Google are locked in a struggle for platform dominance, with tomorrow’s smart home market the ultimate prize.

While Bluetooth was once reason enough to buy, now AI is de rigueur. But is this good or bad news for audio quality? Sonically neither Amazon Alexa or Google Home products are anything to shout about. But that hasn’t stopped them selling in the millions.

The rise of smart speaker has been nothing short of remarkable.

Amazon is clearly leading this new gold rush.

The ubiquitous box-shifter keeps sales figures close to its chest, but by the end of last year it confessed to selling “tens of millions” of Alexa products. It’s probably sold tens of millions more since then.

But it’s early days. Google could well close the gap if the weight of big brand support it’s garnering is any indication. ‘Hey Google’ dominated this year’s CES, taking over the Las Vegas monorail, and working its way into soundbars and audio systems alike. The Google AI ecosystem is expanding every which way, straddling mobile devices, TV and media devices, and there’s some fascinating interoperability in development.

It’s easy to see the appeal of smart speakers. Never mind faux sentience, the sheer convenience of voice navigation is seductive. Why would you want to navigate an app, or dig out physical media, when you can simply ask your smart pal to play anything you fancy? The fact that these standalone speakers often sound like dogs squabbling really doesn’t matter.

I confess, it hasn’t deterred me, and I should know better. Run a diddy Amazon Dot into a decent sounding music system via analogue minijack, and you’ll be surprised at just how good it can sound.

Voice control is here to stay. According to research carried out by Panasonic, voice assistance will feature on 93 per cent of wi-fi speakers by 2020. Unsurprisingly, it concludes that their main use will be playing music, rather than offering news updates or telling jokes; three quarters of ‘digital natives’ primarily use their connected devices to play music.

The good news is that decent hi-fi won’t be denied. Panasonic reckons it can make a point of difference in this burgeoning market by setting the performance bar high. Its SC- GA10 is hands down the best smart speaker I’ve heard. Only marginally larger than the Amazon Echo, it offers a full-bodied sonic experience with deep bass and an excellent mid-range. It’s an easy match of the Sonos Play:1 and Denon HEOS 1, neither of which would be much use in a pub quiz.

So what does this fad mean for high-quality audio? Certainly, the first generation of Amazon Alexa speakers were more about function than fidelity, and Google Home sounds downright dreadful. But I’m optimistic things will improve quickly. The Panasonic SC-GA10 is the first smart speaker which genuinely sounds as if it’s been designed to be listened to. I suspect it won’t be the last.