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Omnidirectional sound. As the name implies, audio systems with this feature radiate sound evenly in all directions, covering a space of 360°. Thus, the device can be installed in the centre of the room and evenly “fill” it with sound, which will be clearly perceived at any point. On the other hand, an omnidirectional system usually sounds 1.0 (mono); the design may include various tricks to ensure surround sound, but these still in most cases do not reach full stereo.
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Voice assistant. Audio support for voice assistant. The most popular nowadays are such assistants:
However, other solutions are also possible. Anyway, it is worth noting that this is not about the function of the audio system itself, but about compatibility with smartphones, tablets and other gadgets that have their own voice assistants. Thus, to use the voice assistant, you will have to connect the audio system to an external device. On the other hand, the capabilities of such assistants are usually more extensive than those of built-in
voice control systems(see below); advanced features are often supported, such as natural speech recognition with complex queries (“Play the last album of the band … that I listened to”), weather fore
...cast, sports scores, etc. Of course, the specific set of supported commands and languages \u200b\u200bcan be different — depending on the voice assistant and its version.
— Voice control. A feature that is virtually mandatory for smart speakers (see "Intended Use") and hardly found in other types of audio systems. As the name implies, this control allows you to control the device using voice commands. It differs from the voice assistant (see the relevant paragraph) in that in this case we are talking about the simplest commands related to the main functionality of the audio system — for example, "Stop", "Continue", "Next track", etc. It is worth having in mind that voice control is almost guaranteed to support English, but the ability to recognize other languages should be specified separately.
— Smartphone control. The ability to control the audio system from a smartphone, tablet or other gadget with a special application installed on it. Usually, the connection is made via Wi-Fi (see "Interfaces"). The convenience of this function lies not only in the fact that you can control the system from a distance — the application is often more convenient and provides more options than the controls on the radio itself.
— Multiroom support. Device support for Multiroom technology. This technology allows you to create a single wireless network in the house from several speakers located in different rooms, and simultaneously play music in all these rooms. The specific features of such networks in different models may be different, they should be specified separately. So, some devices use a Bluetooth connection, others use Wi-Fi (directly or via a local network). In some cases, the control speaker broadcasts sound to all the others, and the same music plays throughout the house, in others, the speakers are “equal”, and different tracks can be turned on simultaneously in different rooms. Some audio systems require an external sound source (smartphone, tablet, etc.), others are capable of playing the role of a player themselves, including for streaming Internet services.
— Synchronization of speakers. The model supports the ability to synchronize the operation of several speakers connected to one signal source. This solution allows you to realize truly stereo sound, improve the quality and power of sound reproduction, as well as expand the stereo panorama. The only thing is that both speakers must support the appropriate connection type. Different brands may have their own speaker interconnection technologies (JBL Connect, JBL PartyBoost, Sony Party Chain), or maybe a universal TWS.
— Karaoke. A popular entertainment that allows users to sing their favorite songs to the backing track (musical accompaniment with the original vocals cut out) — in such a way that the vocals superimposed on the backing track are played through the acoustics of the audio system. This feature requires at least one microphone input.
— Karaoke Mix. An extended version of karaoke (see above), which provides various additional features — for example, performance evaluation in points, singing competitions, etc. Usually, it allows you to connect two microphones already.
— Internet radio. Ability to listen to Internet radio stations on the audio system. In general, such broadcasting is similar to conventional broadcasting, however, it is carried out not through the radio, but through the World Wide Web, which provides some additional features. So, Internet broadcasting has no restrictions on the range and ranges, allows you to listen to programs from any country and in any language; and the list of broadcasters is extremely extensive, among them there are both traditional radio stations duplicating their programs on the Internet, and specific, purely network projects. The presence of this function assumes support for at least one network interface — Wi-Fi or LAN (see "Interfaces").
— Recording to a USB drive. The ability of the audio system to record to an external USB device — for example, a USB flash drive. In this way, you can record your favorite radio programs from a conventional tuner or Internet station (see above), copy music from optical discs, etc.; Specific USB recording capabilities vary by audio system model.
— Clock. Ordinary clock — a device for displaying time, most often in the form of numbers on the display. Sometimes these hours are the most convenient. In addition, this function is necessary for some other features — primarily the alarm clock (see below).
— Alarm. A classic alarm clock that sounds at a set time. It can be useful not only for wake-up calls, but also in other cases when you need to warn the user about the arrival of a certain time. A feature of this function in audio systems is that the inclusion of a specific radio station or musical composition can be used as a signal.
— Shutdown timer. A feature that allows the audio system to turn off automatically after a user-defined time. Thanks to the timer, you can, for example, turn on relaxing music to fall asleep and fall asleep peacefully — the audio system will turn off on its own.
— Nightlight. The presence in the audio system of its own built-in lamp of low power, which allows it to be used as a night lamp. A night light can be useful for both young children and adults who are uncomfortable falling asleep in complete darkness; in addition, it can come in handy in situations where you have to get up in the middle of the night or early in the morning, before sunrise — at least with the light from the nightlight, it's easier to get to the main switch.A
remote control is included with the audio system. The convenience of this function is obvious: instead of having to approach the device every time to change the operating parameters, you can give a command from the remote control without getting up.
