T3

STATE OF THE ART

Transform your listening environmen­t with the best in house-wide wireless audio

- Words: Alex Cox Photograph­y: Neil Godwin

Get breathtaki­ng audio in every room in your home with the hottest premium multi-room speakers around, from Bang & Olufsen, Devialet and Naim

Multiroom audio used to be a pipe dream. Then Sonos, Pure and friends came along and made it a reality. Now things have moved even further. We’re in a new era of Wi-Fi connected versatile devices, and everyone’s getting in on the act – including some of the finest names in audio technology. And if you want the best sound and the classiest hardware, Bang & Olufsen, Naim and Devialet have to be on your list.

There’s no one room for listening, though, and a stock speaker isn’t going to work for every situation. So we’ve not just tested one candidate: we’ve brought together a massive selection from each manufactur­er. B&O’s interconne­cted BeoPlay and BeoSound ranges, which span the spectrum from bookshelf to self-contained furniture, work together in harmony; Naim’s Mu-so and Mu-so Qb are inextricab­ly linked both in style and sound; Devialet’s Phantom line, while packaged the same, goes all the way up to 4,500W and all the way down to 14Hz. Going multiroom doesn’t mean doing it all at once, but you’ll need to pick a brand and stick to it – so the ability to expand is crucial.

We’ve also paid special attention to the apps and connectivi­ty of each of these lines, a crucial factor in making the purchase of a multiroom setup worth considerin­g. All three ecosystems are pleasingly capable, and firing a single speaker is usually a trivial affair that doesn’t need any special software, but you’re heavily reliant on that app if you want to do multiroom right.

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