A different kind of smart: New Bowers & Wilkins connected speaker set

With Bowers & Wilkins's latest series of speakers, called Formation, the company is introducing a new version of connected technology that doesn't rely on any kind of digital assistant. — Bowers & Wilkins/dpa

Most high-tech speaker brands are trying to follow the latest trend of smart speakers like Amazon's Alexa. But British company Bowers & Wilkins is trying to do something different.

British company Bowers & Wilkins is one of the biggest and best-rated music systems providers. With their latest series of speakers, called Formation, the company is introducing a new version of connected technology.

The new series is designed to bring B&W back into a stronger position in a world full of competition. But while everyone is trying to follow the latest trend of smart speakers like Amazon's Alexa, B&W is going down a different path.

The Formation series doesn't have any speech recognition abilities. Unlike the Google Mini or Amazon Echo, there are no microphones in any of the speakers.

The cheapest speaker in the series is anything but – costing US$899 (RM3,720), at least 10 times the price of the cheapest smart speaker from Google or Amazon.

The Wedge is a 120° elliptical shape, which allows for the full range of stereo to create a room-filling sound.

The sound provided by the Wedge follows the company's philosophy that music should be represented as authentically as possible. That means sounds created in the speaker are extremely clear, which is unusual for this appliance category.

The bass is fairly subtle when the volume is down, as is to be expected with such a small speaker. But it really comes out if you turn up the Wedge just a bit higher than usual.

If you prefer a deeper bass sound, then you can add the Formation Bass subwoofer, which costs US$999 (RM4,134).

Then there's the Formation Duo, a couple of speakers that cost US$3,999 (RM16,550) together. For US$1,199 (RM4,962) you can add the Formation Bar. All three can also be combined with the Formation Bass.

To hook all the speakers up to some music source like a turntable, you can add the Audio box for US$699 (RM2,893) which comes with multiple audio ports to turn everything into one streaming system.

Bowers & Wilkins decided not to go for its own app, like Sonos, and instead went for Apple's AirPlay 2 to stream the music.

If you're not an Apple user, but have Spotify, the speakers also use Service Connect, which streams music online and uses the Spotify App as a remote control. So it is possible to use the Formation Series as an Android user – however, it's less straightforward.

The speakers also have a multi-room function, which they use via their own WiFi network in order to avoid interference. If you want to take the music into another room with you, simply press the Formation logo on the device displays.

B&W, bought by Californian Start-up EVA Automation in 2016, previously had a successful run with connected audio technology with its Zeppelin series. – dpa