I don’t usually write about gadgets unless I can actually get my hands on them and try them out in order to form an opinion. But there was enough compelling information about the Whyd speaker to warrant an exception. I do have a bit of experience when it comes to speakers. I have two Sonos Play:1’s and recently installed an Amazon Echo, as well as a few other portable and standalone speakers. From what I understand about the Whyd product, it is taking the best features of Sonos and Echo and others, and merging them into one pretty package of sound performance and design.
Here’s what I find compelling about this new speaker. Sonos is known for its great sound – crisp highs and solid lows and bass – I can attest to this even with the entry-level Play:1. Amazon’s Echo has a unique voice control which allows you to control many aspects of the service including requesting for songs or artists or streaming radio stations. So what Whyd has done is taken the best of both worlds and merged them together – voice commands coupled with superior sound. And, they have packaged it all into an elegant design. Of course, as I have not heard the Whyd in action, I cannot confirm the statements on the sound quality.
Before I jump into the specs, I should mention that Whyd is available for pre-order and it is currently $200 off the retail price. The retail price is $499 but it can be pre-ordered for $299. AND, since you are reading this article, you can an additional $50 off by using promocode: GETWHYD . That means, the pre-order price (which includes $30 shipping) is $279.
Info about the Whyd Speakers
Here’s what is known about the Whyd speakers (and you can get more information on their site).
- Design – While not truly an orb, it is spherical in the design. There is a glass touch panel on the top which allows people to control music playback on the speaker itself, without needed to use the smartphone app. You can change volume, tap to play, swipe to go to next song and other tactile commands directly on the speaker itself.
- Materials – The Whyd is wrapped in a custom fabric which has multiple colors available: charcoal gray, cloud white, serenity blue, lemon zest and peach echo. The fabric is manufactured in Michigan, USA.
- Display – Through the wrapped fabric, icons are displayed to indicate the state of playback.
- Audio – Each Whyd speaker has a 100mm subwoofer (#1 in image below) and four 40 mm full range drivers (#2 below). For those audiophile geeks out there, the sub has a “long excursion suspension and ferrite magnet” and the drivers have “neodymium magnets and aluminum diaphragms.” There is also a “highpass” enclosure which is essentially a tube for the lowest air-stream noise (#3 below). There are Class-D amplifiers and the frequency response is 35Hz-20Khz. You can pair two Whyd speakers for stereo sound experience. The audio of the individual speaker, supposedly, is immersive with 360 degree coverage.
- Control – You can use Voice (English, French & Chinese), the “magic touchpad” on the top of the speaker, or the Whyd App to control playback. On the app, you can set up the WiFi, mult-room and personalize the speaker. For voice control, there are 5 built-in microphones with enhanced noise cancellation which allows you to control the speaker from up to 5 meters away, even with music playing at high volumes.
The Whyd will support Spotify, SoundCloud, Apple Music, Deezer, Tidal and Google Play Music initially with other services coming.
And here are a few more of the more geeky specs:
- WiFi Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n
- Bluetooth 4.0 music streaming supported
- Google Cast and Apple AirPlay supported
- Weight – 134 ounces/3.8 kg
- Height – 11.5 inches/29.4 cm
- Width – 7.5 inches/18.8 cm
- 3.5 mm jack connector on back
- Power button on back
- Corded design – must be plugged into a wall for power
There you have it – the new Whyd speaker. Again, I haven’t tested it out (although I am promised one for that purpose in the future and I will do a review once I walk through its design and experience) but I’m compelled by the features (voice control) and the mechanics (drivers/sub combo).
If you are in the market for a new, standalone speaker which has voice control and you want to save $200 (plus an additional $50 using promocode GETWHYD), you may want to consider preordering the Whyd speaker now! Just head over to their site.
HTD says: the combination of voice control and a high-fidelity bass and multiple mid range drivers potentially makes the Whyd speakers a contender in the speaker space.
