RIVA Concert
£199/$199
Key features Full voice control • Unlimited streaming options • Airplay enabled Learn more rivaaudio.com Available from amazon.co.uk All-listening attentive smart speakers are all the rage these days – you can hardly swear under your breath anymore without Siri or Alexa curating and delivering related content that you may or may not desire. RIVA’S latest addition to this everexpanding family is the Concert, a nice-looking speaker that wafts out a big sound that belies its compact dimensions.
Trillium technology
The crisp sonics are made possible thanks to RIVA’S patented Trillium audio technology, which works the proprietary ADX drivers and radiators to retain all of the detail at every volume. The Concert comes with Alexa built in, and you can utilise this service by downloading the free RIVA Voice app (available from the App Store), logging into your Amazon account and then uttering that mystical name, “Alexa…”, after which the Concert will ping, process your request and act on it accordingly. Alexa was very pro-amazon Music and struggled with audible Airplay requests, but this is likely something that can be tweaked later.
Like we mentioned, the Concert can be effortlessly connected and streamed to via Airplay from your IOS device (just go to Settings>wifi>set Up New Airplay Speaker and select the Concert), but you can also connect via Bluetooth, Wi-fi, DLNA, AUX and more.
For the more security conscious, the Concert boasts a ‘total privacy’ button to stop it listening in to your every utterance, and it can even be used to charge your devices. If you want more portability then you can also purchase an optional battery pack that allows you to take the Concert on the road with you. Very highly recommended.