Smart Speakers

Top 5 Smart Speakers of 2020

The virtual assistants in the form of smart speakers are taking the world by storm. This is why smart speakers are now being considered the future of home automation. They are ruling your homes not only to control your smart home devices but to run everything from your geyser or living room lights to coffee maker or lamp- often without lifting a finger. We know it may sound a little weird, but these smart devices can be of great help.

Just imagine a picture wherein you don’t need to get up to search for a remote to change the channel or change a thermostat temperature. Well, that’s not the end. Just think about turning off the lights in the garden using Alexa to pull the live feed of the cameras that are installed outside. All of this and more is possible with smart speakers.

List of 5 Best Smart Speakers 

Do you believe that it’s easy to live without such amazing features? If so, then you are probably wrong. But, once you get used to them, you’ll find no way going back. However, the one thing you need to do is choosing the best smart speaker for music that suits your needs, along with the compatible devices for your home.

This moment, we would recommend Google Assistant, Siri, or Amazon Alexa for people living in smart home smart homes, because Alexa is one of the best voice assistants that can work easily with a different array of smart home devices. Take a look at our guide that explains the top 5 smart speakers that will match your budget, current speaker and aesthetics of your home. Each of these smart speakers is great in their own way. These smart speakers have already hit the mainstream in 2020 and are predicted to make a place in every home soon. Take a look at these best smart speakers in 2020.

#1 Amazon Echo Plus (2nd Generation)

Amazon Alexa Echo Plus speaker is equipped with smart hub functions to rule out your home. Let’s first know its key features or improved functionalities than the earlier version- better audio features, the inclusion of temperature sensor and attractive fabric design. You should consider buying this Alexa speaker if you don’t like the display of Echo Show or Echo Spot and need a better sound quality. In comparison to Standard Echo, it has a better base as well as volume. 

The 2nd generation Echo speaker is nice; it looks and is the only device that boasts of an integrated Smart Home Hub that controls ZigBee Smart Home tech (including, smart speaker Alexa compatible devices). Thanks to the 360-degree audio support by Dolby Play. As the Dolby technology allows the speaker to be great at filling the entire room with music. It’s small in size but little wider and features a unique fabric mesh body that brings the Plus line in synchronization with the rest of Echo series.

There are four volume control buttons on the lid of this smart speaker Amazon that helps to activate the Alexa and mute the microphone array. The new Echo Plus has 3” woofer and 0.8” tweeter for the improved audio output. After updated design, this is the next big update. The Echo Plus second-generation comes with a Philips Hue Smart Bulb to which you can connect the Alexa to make voice control easy.

It is simple to set up and includes 7 far-field microphones with effective noise cancellation technique. Amazon Echo Plus is a convenient one-stop solution for both IoT (Internet of Things) and smart assistant functions. This is one of the best smart speakers that you can find in the market.

Want to know more about Amazon Alexa? Here is everything you need to know about Amazon Alexa.

#2 Google Home Max

Google has been making major strides in the Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning department with their Google Assistant that left the world awe-struck as it demonstrated its abilities to perfectly imitate a human in a conversation with the Google Duplex. Now, imagine the very same capabilities within a speaker that has an unmatched audio quality. That is exactly what the Google Home Max is.

Owing to its integration with Google Assistant, the Google Home Max goes beyond than just adoring a household – it adapts to it. With advanced machine learning capabilities, the moment this smart speaker is turned on, it learns about where it is sitting. After learning about its surroundings, the Google Home Max automatically adjusts the audio equalizer respective to the acoustics of the room to provide an indulging listening experience. Added to that, the Google Home Max is capable of controlling other smart devices that are within the household.

Google Home Max

The Google Home Max is primarily built to provide superior and unmatched sound quality. The dual woofers are complemented by custom built tweeters. The compressed framework of the smart speaker allows the Google Home Max to provide clear and composed audio without distortion along with an impressive amount of bass that can rival the best of the bass-specific speakers available in the market.

A component of the Google Home Max that is generally overshadowed by its other array of features is its appearance. The Google Home Max has an intricately designed fabric overlay that serves more than to just give the smart speaker an appearance that enables it to fit within a modern household. The fabric-like overlay on the Google speaker is an acoustically transparent fabric that aids in providing a composed and crystal-clear listening experience.

#3 Apple HomePod

Apple is generally regarded as a perfectionist in the technology industry. With their tendency to improve the common electrical arts to an unparalleled stature, Apple has been consistently providing innovative features in all of their products and the Apple HomePod is no different. The Apple HomePod is designed to deliver composed audio quality with a strong sense of bass in a comparatively portable package.

Apple’s smart speaker comes equipped with a custom built high-excursion woofer that is cleverly placed in an upward fashion that enables to deliver a strong and a surrounding amount of bass. The woofer is accompanied by an array of seven tweeters arranged around the internal chassis of the smart speaker that allows it to deliver composed audio without distortion while covering the entire surrounding area.

Apple Homepod

Along with custom-built equipment for superior listening experience, the Apple HomePod is integrated with Siri – Apple’s take at providing the consumers with a digital assistant. Rivaling the capabilities of the Google Assistant, Siri enables the HomePod to efficiently learn about its surrounding to adapt the equalizer respective of the area it is within. Along with the added machine learning abilities, the Apple HomePod is capable of controlling any smart devices around the household that are capable of its ecosystem.

#4 Sonos One

Sonos One is among the few popular choices when it comes to selecting the right smart speaker, and the popularity for this smart speaker is quite justified. The Sonos One is the ideal choice for anyone who is struggling through a dilemma to choose one among the available digital assistant choices. For those people, the Sonos One is the perfect choice since this smart speaker comes with Amazon Alexa out of the box coupled along with a promise to add Apple Airplay 2 and Google Assistant via upcoming over-the-air updates.

This smart speaker is rather ambitious since it aims to combine the best features of all the three available voice assistants. Although to be fair, that very ambitious nature and the ability to deliver on the same makes it one of the best smart speakers available.

Sonos One

The Sonos One, through what it calls TruePlay, adapts the Sonos Smart speaker to its surroundings. After calibrating the speaker through TruePlay, the Sonos One delivers an impressively balanced listening experience. The sound quality of the smart speaker isn’t too heavy on the bass, neither is it too soft. The audio is perfectly stable in the middle of the two extremes which makes it ideal for the average household. This smart speaker is ideal if anyone wants to invest their hard earned money in something that gives one the best of the best, literally and wants something that is futureproofed.

#5 Bose Home Speaker 500

It is almost traditional to mention Bose when talking about anything related to audio and the accompanying listening experience. Bose’s inevitable arrival in the smart speaker market was marked by the Bose Home Speaker 500. The smart speaker by Bose comes packed with an almost overwhelming array of features. Some of the most notable ones are the premium build of the smart speaker and the added display that is integrated seamlessly with all the additional features of the smart speaker.

Bose Home Speaker

The Bose Home Speaker 500 comes integrated with Alexa that allows to control and automate all the other compatible smart devices around your household. Added to that, the Bose Home Speaker 500 delivers unmatched stereo surround sound through a single unit of this smart speaker. The superior sound quality eliminates the need for inclusion of a second smart speaker for true stereo surround sound. Along with the same, the Bose Home Speaker 500 comes with the ability to stream audio through Bluetooth and also through an AUX capable

Final Words

All in all, as our homes are getting smarter day by day, these virtual assistants have become our trustworthy digital helpers, jumping inside our devices and living at our spoken commands to teach kids, play music, and set timers. Now is the right time to choose one of the lists of the above smart speakers. Most of these smart speakers will last for several years. So, don’t worry about their longevity, just go for them.

Amazon Alexa is at the top of the list of smart speakers, and so their demand. As an Alexa Skill Builder, you may have a number of opportunities to level up your career. Getting AWS Alexa Skill Builder certification will enhance these chances. So, start your preparation now and try AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder Specialty practice tests to get fully prepared for the certification exam.

If you want to know more about the smart speakers, just leave a comment below, we’ll be happy to respond you.

About Pavan Gumaste

Pavan Rao is a programmer / Developer by Profession and Cloud Computing Professional by choice with in-depth knowledge in AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform. He helps the organisation figure out what to build, ensure successful delivery, and incorporate user learning to improve the strategy and product further.

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