Polk Audio has been around for nearly 50 years now, but the company is far from stagnating. For proof, you need look no further than the company’s MagniFi line of soundbars, which feature Chromecast built in for maximum audio flexibility. Now the company is headed even further in that direction with its new Polk Assist smart speaker, which is powered by Google Assistant.
Voice control is one of the main draws of Google Assistant, letting you control every aspect of music playback without touching the Polk Assist, but it’s not the only advantage. Proof of that comes in how easy the speaker is to set up. Simply plug the Assist into power and download the free Google Home app for your Android or iOS device. The app will take it from there, walking you through the setup process.
The Polk Assist also includes Chromecast built in, meaning it can operate as part of a multiroom wireless audio network or even as the hub of it. Compatible apps include Spotify, Pandora, Google Play Music, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, and NPR, and since audio is streamed directly to the speaker over its built-in Wi-Fi connection, there’s no drop in audio quality as there would be with another technology like Bluetooth.
“Polk Audio is committed to providing premium audio solutions enabled by the Google Assistant and Chromecast. With the addition of the Polk Assist smart speaker, consumers can easily add Google Assistant’s hands-free convenience and Chromecast’s hi-res multiroom audio streaming to their home,” said Michael Greco, Polk Audio’s global brand director. “Polk Assist complements and works with our existing Chromecast-enabled sound bars, including the MagniFi Mini and MagniFi Max.”
At launch, the Polk Assist will be plenty smart, but it will continue to get smarter. The speaker is one of the first to be built using certified Android Things System-on-Modules, which get regular security and feature updates from Google. Unlike older speakers, the Polk Assist will keep itself up to date much as your phone or computer might, meaning you never have to worry about manually installing crucial firmware updates.
The Polk Assist will launch in June and will retail for $200. For more information, see the Polk Audio website. If you’d like a closer look at the competition, check out our guide to the best smart speakers.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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