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MagyarJBL's new speakers end war of voice assistants with simultaneous Alexa and Google Assistant support
Wi-Fi speakers with built-in voice assistants are nothing new, but so far there have been none that support two assistants simultaneously. That's set to change with JBL’s newly announced Authentics range of smart speakers, which will allow users to register both Alexa and Google Assistant on the same device. Voice commands can then be addressed to either assistant by using their respective ‘wake-words’. One could, for example, ask Alexa to start a playlist from Amazon Music and then ask Google to turn up the volume or list the reminders for the day.
JBL has showcased the three new models – the 500, 300 and 200 – at the IFA tech show in Berlin. Designed with a retro 70’s style aesthetic, their most striking design element is the waffle-iron-like Quadrex foam grill taken from JBL’s iconic L100 speaker. All three models features multi-room playback, automatic self-tuning using the built-in microphones, dedicated knobs for bass and treble, and support for streaming through AirPlay, Alexa Multi-Room Music (MRM), Chromecast built-in, and Spotify Connect.
The Authentics 500 is the largest of the three and supports Dolby Atmos in a 3.1 channel, 270 Watts setup, using three 1” tweeters, three 2.75” midrange woofers and a 6.5” down-firing subwoofer. The mid-sized Authentics 300, on the other hand, is the only one with a built-in battery (offering 8 hours of playback time), and sports a carrying handle, although at 4.9 kg, it’s not the most portable speaker out there.
In terms of performance, styling and pricing, the Authentics range faces competition from the likes of Marshall and Klipsch, but its unique simultaneous voice-assistant feature will surely give it a distinguishing edge in the market – until, of course, the feature inevitably finds its way to other speakers.
The JBL Authentics range will be available from September 17; prices will be US$699.99 for the 500, US$449.99 for the 300 and US$349.99 for the 200.
Meanwhile, you can buy the Sonos Era 300 with Dolby Atmos 3D sound and Alexa built-in on Amazon
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