With the holiday season closing in as we enter the last month of the year, Sonos is kicking it off with their 12.12 promotion on their audio and speaker systems.
If you’re looking to brighten your living space or home theatre setup, you just might want to grab a couple of Sonos speakers during the sale. During the 12.12 promotion, you’ll be able to grab your favourite products at a special discount. Here are a few of the incredible deals you can expect to see:
Check out the full list of deals and purchase them on TC Acoustic’s official website or head over to the Sonos Concept Store at The Starhill if you prefer to shop in-person.
Sonos is creating new ways to enjoy your sound yet again with an update that makes the Sonos Move even more appealing. The new Sonos Move 2 comes with meaningful updates that put its competition to shame.
Source: Sonos
The new hallmark of the Sonos Move 2 is an update to true stereo audio. The update brings immersive music and sound for every event – be it at the beach, the pool, at the campsite or in your dining room. Yep – that’s right. You’ll be able to use the Move 2 with peace of mind at the pool or beaches with peace of mind thanks to its IP56 rating. Keep in mind that this only means that the speaker is splashproof and not meant to be taken with you when you swim. To make things less of a hassle, the Move 2 comes with wireless charging capabilities, You’ll be able to use the wireless charging pad that comes in the box with every unit and it’ll be fully charged anytime you need to go.
Source: Sonos
In addition to these updates, the Move 2 now has 24 hours of battery; that’s double the battery life of the original Move. You’ll also be able to stream your audio over WiFi or Bluetooth. It also comes with Trueplay tuning which will continually work to optimise your sound to bring the fullest, richest sound for the environment you’re in. It can also now support concurrent connections from both WiFi and Bluetooth as well as stereo pair to another Move 2 unit. You also have the option to use the Sonos Line-in Adapter.
It’s not just about the music with this new offering. It’s also one of the most sustainable speakers from Sonos. The Move 2 has been optimised to reduce idle energy usage by more than 40%. It also incorporates recycled plastics and has a replaceable battery unit. However, with the replaceable battery, you will need to go to a Sonos service centre or a TC Acoustic Service centre in Malaysia and Singapore.
Of course, the Move 2 comes with a design update with the minimalistic design cues we saw in the Sonos Era. This includes the same capacitive volume slider and Sonos Voice Control. You’ll also be able to use Amazon Alexa and Apple Airplay2. More controls are available through the Sonos app available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Pricing & Availability
The Sonos Move 2 will be available in Black, White and Olive colourways. It will be priced at USD$449, SGD$799 and MYR2,799.
It will be available for pre-order starting now (6 September 2023 at 9 p.m.) from TC Acoustics online store and at the Sonos Concept Store at The Starhill from 7 September 2023. In the US and other regions, it will be available from the Sonos Official website.
If you are looking for a home audio solution today, SONOS will be one name you come across. The American based home audio solution has proven to be one of the most popular home audio brands today with innovative and high-quality products in their stables. They also make some of the best and minimalist looking speakers in the market currently.
IKEA should not be a name that is new to anyone too at this point. They made flat-packed furniture a thing. They are also currently the largest furniture retailer and manufacturer in the world. Every home in Malaysia will haven IKEA product no matter how small. I know my house has a few IKEA stuff. Heck, our office is filled with IKEA furniture.
The partnership between IKEA and SONOS is nothing new too though. IKEA and SONOS produced their first collaboration product, the SONOS Symfonisk Bookshelf WiFi speakers back in 2019. The only issue is that we do not get a lot of IKEA x whatever brand collaboration products in Malaysia.
SONOS and IKEA is back in collaboration to update their Symfonisk WiFi Speaker. This time though, it is not just a WiFi wirelss speaker. This time, the Symfonisk for 2021 is a table lamp too combined with an Apple HomePod lookalike speaker unit. The new Symfonisk speakers are not available in Malaysia at this time. If you have family members or friends in Singapore though, they can order it at SG$ 299 per piece and in either white or black colour options.
Apparently though this is not the only thing they have in their collaboration product pipeline. They are also making an art piece together that is supposed to double as an art piece you can hang on your home walls, or office walls for that matter. This is not the first art piece speaker per say, but of course IKEA will make it more affordable and more flat-pack friendly than anything that came before.
Those are also the only details anyone cares to share on their current collaboration products. Of course, if you already have SONOS products at home, you can pair them to the Symfonisk speakers for surround sound purposes or as connected speakers throughout the home. There are also no details yet on whether the Symfonisk speakers will ever make it to Malaysia. With SONOS making a big push in the region, here is hoping that IKEA Malaysia starts bringing in the SONOS x IKEA Symfonisk products.
SONOS is one of the most recognisable audio brands in the world currently. Considering that they launched this first speaker product in 2005, they are not exactly one of the most history-rich brands in the audio world. They do have a specialisation though, that is home audio systems. In other words, they do smart speakers, and they do it well.
Today they launched their smallest speaker set-up available from their line-up. Today they launched the SONOS Roam.
The SONOS Roam is quite a unique product from SONOS. To be fair, it is not the first time that SONOS launched a portable wireless speaker. They launched the Move back in 2019. This is the first time though that the SONOS speaker was truly portable in the sense that it can actually fit in your backpack with no fuss. You can carry other things besides the speaker as well in your backpack.
The SONOS Roam is a unique product though. It is, if I am not wrong, the first SONOS product that could tune itself to any environment via its own mic. They call the feature TruePlay, which is not necessarily a new technology. On the SONOS Roam though, TruePlay is constantly adjusting itself especially when you introduce it to a new environment. You just need to have SONOS S2 app to get it to work. So, it is clever.
Source: SONOS
It is also SONOS’ first speaker to feature wireless charging. It is Qi compatible as well, so you do not technically need to charge it via SONOS’ own wireless charger. You can buy the magnetic Qi wireless charger separately though for MYR 239 (US$ 49*). If not, you can charge it via a USB Type-C cable. A single charge lasts up to 10 hours according to SONOS.
Like any other SONOS speakers, the Roam features both WiFi connectivity and all-important Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity. The clever part about the SONOS Roam is that it switches seamlessly between WiFi and Bluetooth connection with your smartphone depending on WiFi availability. The only issue with that is pairing with other SONOS speakers can only occur over WiFi. Then again, speaker pairing over WiFi is a lot more stable than over Bluetooth.
The SONOS Roam is also a water-resistant speaker, which also means that you can bring it absolutely anywhere, rain or shine. You can take it to a pool party for example and you should be okay with normal splashes or even a dunk in the water with IP67 rating. IP67 dust resistance also means that you can take it to a beach party and not worry about messing up the speaker with sand.
Source: SONOS
Source: SONOS
Source: SONOS
Source: SONOS
Source: SONOS
Source: SONOS
Source: SONOS
Source: SONOS
Source: SONOS
Source: SONOS
Source: SONOS
Source: SONOS
The SONOS Roam portable speaker will be available in Malaysia 21st April onward. You can head to any SONOS authorised retailers in Malaysia to get the SONOS Roam speaker. It will set you back MYR 1,099 (US$ 169) at launch. You can choose between either Lunar White or Shadow Black colour options. For more information on the SONOS Roam, you can head to their website.
In 2019, Sony announced a totally new audio experience called 360 Reality Audio which allowed content creators to map sound sources with positional information. This means that creators could map choruses coming from behind the listener while vocals could be mapped to the front of the listener; which creates an even more immersive audio experience. Sony touts that the experience is akin to being in a music studio or live concert venue. To date, the technology has been implemented in over 4,000 songs from artists such as Alicia Keys, Lil Nas X and Zara Larsson.
At CES this year, Sony is doubling down on 360 Reality Audio by introducing a new piece of software called the 360 Reality Audio Creative Suite. This software makes creating 360 Reality Audio content even easier and comes with plugin software which is compatible with popular digital audio workstations. It will be coming at the end of the month from Audio Futures Inc, a subsidiary of Virtual Sonics, Inc.
Together with new software, Sony is also expanding its device ecosystem with new speakers compatible with 360 Reality Audio technology. Two new speakers, the SRS-RA5000 and SRS-RA3000 have been announced. These speakers are WiFi-enabled and will allow users to experience 360 Reality Audio enabled content by creating an immersive, room-filling experience with Sony’s unique Immersive Audio Enhancement algorithm. They are compatible with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.
We will be seeing more 360 Reality Audio enabled devices such as headphones, speakers and more in the near future as Sony is also working with other audio manufacturers to bring the technology to the masses. More specifically, the company is looking to license the technology for headphone personalization and even for use in Smartphones and vehicle entertainment systems.
If you watched the announcement that was made by Acer last night, you might have thought that you already have all the information you need from Acer about their upcoming products that will lead into 2021. They did launch plenty of products last night that might be very compelling for your work from home set-up as well. In fact, if we count our press releases correctly, they had eight separate launches launching more than 20 individual products (this is quite normal, trust me).
There is one product that missed an appearance in the show though. If you checked back into their YouTube page though, you might have seen it. They also launched a smart speaker.
They call it the Acer Halo Smart Speaker, and it is a looker. Its transparent, glass looking thing at the bottom for its base is also an RGB light right that makes the speakers look as if it is dancing with you as you play music to it. Even if it is just responding to you, it just looks funky and light-hearted.
The overall design is just as industrial and pretty as you can expect a Google Nest to be. Like the Google made speaker, the Acer Halo Smart Speaker has a fabric mesh overall body that is shaped into a boxy tower. Underneath the mesh fabric is an LED display that can tell you the time or weather at a glance. You can even customise messages that is displayed on the LED panel.
Source: Acer
It is not just all show and no go though. The Acer Halo Smart Speaker is made with DTS Sound certification. That also means that the speaker is made with sound quality and enjoyment as well. If you put it in the living room, you could easily play a relaxing music through the speaker and sweet music will fill the air with its 360o projection. Its dual far-field speakers ensure that you could communicate with the speaker or give it commands, if you like, from anywhere in the room.
Why do you need to communicate with the speaker? It is a Smart Speaker, why would you not communicate with it? You can tell it to start your slow cooker, turn the TV on, turn the air-conditioning on, turn the washer on, and more, if all these things are Google Home enabled. The Halo Smart Speaker works with Google Assistant, the same one you have on your Android device. That also means that this works as a Google Home controller as well.
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
There is a curious matter of why Acer has made this product though. While we do find it intriguing and finding ourselves wanting one, Acer has not made any other significant smart home items. They introduced the AcerPure Cool and AcerPure Pro air purifying systems at Next@Acer. The only one that seems to be available globally at this time is the AcerPure Cool air purifier and that is not exactly a smart home product. It still operates with a traditional remote.
There are no mentions on the availability and pricing of the Acer Halo Smart Speaker. We have high hopes for this product though and are praying for it to land in this part of the world. It would make a good alternative to Google Nest, that is not officially available in Malaysia as well. Here is our fingers crossed, our toes as well.
Ruark Audio just launched in Malaysia. Malaysia is also the first market to the Ruark Audio R3. The new Bluetooth enabled speakers is so much more than just a table top speaker though.
It packs a very powerful class A-B amplifier for superior sound quality even if you compare it to the likes of Senheiser or even Bose. It is just as pricey too at MYR 3,999. It is also a piece of furniture though.
The wood finish is actual wood, instead of laminated MDF boards. It is a piece of decoration in your living room, or your study, or even your bedroom. It can even fit your antique furniture if you really like.
It is not an antique museum piece though. It is Bluetooth enabled, WiFi enabled, Internet enabled, and you can even put a CD into it. It is as modern as the National Art Gallery of Singapore.
The Ruark Audio R3 will be available in Malaysia at the end of August at retail partners accross Malaysia. There are no available colour options available, just that every piece of Ruark Audio’s loudspeakers come from actual wood, so you get different grains. As mentioned, it will be priced at MYR 3,999. More information can be found on their website.
Never heard of Ultimate Ears? We can forgive you for that. To be fair, the brand has been a long standing audio brand that has been building products for a very niche market; the audiophiles. If you are one of them, you should know that they make custom earphones that fits in your ear, and only your ear. You would also know that they are priced quite a bit more than just the average earphones you get out there.
Source: Ultimate Ears
If you know the brand, you would also know they make excellent Bluetooth speakers for the party people. The last time we tested the speakers – the BOOM, and the MEGABOOM, we fell in love with the crisp, natural sounds and its powerful bass. We loved the fact that they float in water too, and that its optimal shape means that you can place it in any orientation standing up and everyone around gets its effect.
We thought that the MEGABOOM was as big and as expensive a Bluetooth speaker can get from Ultimate Ears. We are proven wrong though with the new HYPERBOOM they just announced. You can see it in the website already and it is on pre-order form US$ 399, which is approximately MYR 1,688. That is around the same price of Sony’s Extra Bass XB90 party speaker.
Source: Ultimate Ears
The only difference is that the Ultimate Ears HYPERBOOM is smaller, more svelte. It looks more like a regular trash can than anything else. That is not to say that it is bad looking from the photos though. It looks properly sleek and functional. It is supposed to have the low frequency power of three MEGABOOM 3s.
It is still water resistant at IPX4 rating, means cleaning is easy; especially when your friends starts to get a little crazy. It will also go on for 24 hours on a single charge to keep your party going all night long. If one HYPERBOOM is not enough, you can always pair it to another Ultimate Ears speaker to make your party even more powerful.
Source: Ultimate Ears
Source: Ultimate Ears
Source: Ultimate Ears
Source: Ultimate Ears
Source: Ultimate Ears
Source: Ultimate Ears
Source: Ultimate Ears
Source: Ultimate Ears
In all fairness though, we do not actually know when the Ultimate Ears HYPERBOOM will be coming to Malaysia at all. Still, you can pre-order your UE HYPERBOOM and find out more on their international website. It looks like it only comes in one colour, classy black.
