Samsung has kicked off a major marketing campaign for their new Samsung sound offering at a gala event in Sydney last night.
Australian indie electro DJs ‘Flight Facilities’ performed at the Samsung sound event which was held to herald a new era of Samsung wireless sound systems which are set to take on market leader Sonos.
While the sound output from the new speakers is excellent Samsung still has a long way to go when it comes to delivering management software for their audio devices.
Users who access Spotify have to enter the Samsung app first then go to a Spotify app then return to the Samsung software to play the music.
With Sonos the management software which has just been updated users are able to manage multiple sources from the one screen, search multiple content providers and then play the music without leaving the master screen.
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| The new Samsung wireless speaker, app and wireless bridge |
Among the new Samsung sound offering is the M5 and M7 Wi-Fi speakers which look and sound brilliant. The big advantage that they have over several other players is the design with a neat stand included in the kit that allows the device to be easily stacked vertical either in a corner or next to a TV screen. At Harvey Norman the Samsung speakers are selling for $398 for the M5 and $498 for the M7. The Sonos Play 3 speaker is $448.
The M5 is the baby of the two speakers that is 343 x 168 x 114mm and weighs in at 2.3kg. At the top end is the slick looking M7, 402 x 194 x 137mm and 3.8kg in weight
The big difference between the two is the internal audio drivers, with the M7 incorporating a couple of dedicated tweeters for better high-frequency sound.
Like the Sonos system users need to fork out $77 for a Samsung wireless bridge. The Sonos Bridge is selling for $74.
To use the new Samsung Sound speakers you either have to plug the speaker directly into your broadband network via an Ethernet port or use the $77 wireless bridge that connects the multi-room speaker’s to your wireless network.
This is an early pair of wireless speakers for Samsung that do not justify the higher price than the Sonos system. The Sonos speakers perform well over a wireless network and their management software is significantly superior.
Like the Sonos speakers users can play music through one or more speakers simultaneously, Samsung use Bluetooth and NFC to take over any individual speaker and stream music to it directly a portable device such as a tablet or smartphone.
They can also be hooked up to 2014 Samsung Smart TV over Wi-F and selected models over Bluetooth. This allows the devices to be used as front or rear speakers, coupled with a Samsung soundbar users have a full wireless home theatre kit.
