US speaker manufacturer Bose has announced its latest innovation -- the SoundTouch Wi-Fi streaming music system, promising that it would be "a new way to listen to music". It's not of course, though it does have some nice touches.
The three-strong range features the SoundTouch 30 (£600) with a custom-built 4kg subwoofer boosting the low end. Next is the smaller SoundTouch 20 (£350) with dual passive radiators. Then there's the SoundTouch Portable (also £350), which includes a rechargeable battery so you can take your sounds out and about.
Each is an undemonstrative box that's designed to blend into the background, but give you one-touch access to music stored on your computer, or via the internet.
They're all supported by an app for Apple or Android devices that allows you to control your source, volume and destination for your music if you have more than one SoundTouch.
Using the six presents familiar from previous Bose products like the SoundWave CD/radio player, you can start your music playing with one touch -- if it's on standby and you've preprogrammed a preset to stream a particular playlist from your computer, or a specific internet radio station, then it will start straight away without the need to switch on and search for your preferred choice.
You'll need to have your computer switched on though.
The problem is that the options are still fairly limited. The Pandora music recommendation service is on board in the US, but that's not much use to us here in the UK. Spotify isn't there yet, nor are most streaming services, though Deezer is promised soon. It won't serve from standard NAS drives either and there's no Bluetooth for direct streaming from mobile devices without Wi-Fi.
Apple's Airplay technology is on board though, so you can use iTunes to organise your music and stream to one or more SoundTouch devices from your computer or iPhone/iPad -- either in sync, or playing different music in different rooms.
The sound in the demos we heard is clear and fairly detailed, though the soundstage is necessarily limited and localised. A technician at Bose told us that this was a compromise to help keep the box thin though they're expecting to launch a stereo version next year.
Each of the devices comes with its own slimline remote control but Bose also showed off a new remote that's due to arrive next year. The SoundTouch controller is a circular device that runs on standard AA-style batteries but saves on the juice thanks to a motion sensor that shuts it down until you move your hand near it.
It then powers up to reveal touch sensitive versions of the six preset buttons and rotating the rim acts as a volume control. The idea is that you hand it on the wall for easy access to your music as soon as you walk in the room.
Bose is implementing SoundTouch technology into all of its new products over the next six months so in theory they can all work together as part of a Sonos-style integrated music system. A new version of the SoundWave is coming later this year and and other products such as the VideoWave TV will be able to access the technology initially via an adapter, and later models will have it built in. Older models won't be upgradeable however.
All three SoundTouch speaker systems are available now.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
