Sony has announced two new wireless speaker systems, the SRS-RA5000 and the SRS-RA3000. Both speakers are designed with providing a room-filling sound in an indoor setting and feature Sony's proprietary 360 Reality Audio feature.
The more expensive of the two, the RA5000
has seven speaker system with three up-firing drivers, three front-facing
drivers and an internal woofer. The up and side-firing design creates a uniform
sphere of sound around the speaker regardless of its position around the room.
The RA5000 also has a manual sound calibration feature, which lets it tune its
audio to its current position.
The cheaper and smaller RA3000 has a
triple-driver layout consisting of two tweeters that project sound in an arc
through a long strip and a single woofer. There are also two passive radiators
for additional low-end response. The RA3000 also has a humidity-resistant
design, which allows it to be placed in environments such as bathrooms and
kitchens, which is something the RA5000 cannot do. The RA3000 can also auto
calibrate itself to its surroundings, which is also oddly missing from the
RA5000. oth speakers feature Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. Wi-Fi allows you
to stream content from Spotify using the Spotify Connect feature or you can use
the Chromecast integration to cast audio.
Both speakers also have Amazon Alexa and
Google Assistant. However, this doesn't make them smart speakers themselves but
they can integrate with other smart devices within your home and you can also
make them play audio along with your other smart speakers. If you want to play
something on these speakers using your voice, you would need an Amazon or
Google smart device and then tell it to play audio on these speakers.
The speakers only seem to be available in
UK and Europe for now, retailing at £ 500/€ 599 for the RA5000 and £ 280/€ 359 for
the RA3000. Both will be available in February 2021. Availability for North
America would be announced later.
