Harman Kardon Allure Review | Gadgets 360

The good speaker section has solely not too long ago begun gaining traction in India, ever since Amazon formally launched its Echo line of audio system last October, adopted by Google with its House sequence of smart speakers earlier this month. Each corporations have their very own AI assistants, which let you do issues like set reminders, stream music from the Web, and even management the lights in your home.

Google and Amazon develop and promote their very own audio system to deliver their assistants into your property, however have additionally licensed their respective AI assistants to different speaker producers. Harman Kardon launched its Alexa-powered Attract speaker in India back in December, and we lastly have one in our lab for evaluation. Priced at Rs. 22,490, it is fairly a bit costlier than Amazon’s top-end Echo Plus mannequin, so let’s examine if the premium is value it or not.

Harman Kardon Attract design

The Attract has a reasonably funky, eye-catching design which is bound to show heads. In truth, it reminds us numerous the woofer of Harman Kardon’s SoundSticks speaker set, which has been pretty in style over time. The Attract is heavy at 2.5kg, however that is not likely a difficulty because it is not supposed to be moveable.

The underside half of the speaker is a steel grille for sound to come back via. The higher half is a clear plastic case so you possibly can see the pulsating LEDs, which glow when music is taking part in. Nevertheless, the lights do not sync to the beat of your music. You’ve the choice to show this off via the HK Alexa Setup app.

The highest of the speaker has contact delicate zones and an LED-lit ring, which prompts once you use the recent phrase ‘Alexa’. You may manually summon Alexa by touching the ‘circle’ within the centre too. There is a touch-sensitive quantity management strip right here, and a button to mute the microphones. You get an influence indicator going through forwards on the backside, and the facility inlet is on the again. The Attract may also be used as a Bluetooth speaker, for which there is a devoted touch-sensitive backlit pairing button.

The Attract is extraordinarily properly constructed and appears actually elegant. The distinguished rubber toes assist it keep planted on a desk or the ground. Within the field, you get the quick-start information, guarantee pamphlet, and a comparatively fats energy brick.

Harman Kardon Attract efficiency

Audio is dealt with by three full-range, 1.5-inch drivers firing outwards, together with a 3.5-inch subwoofer that fires downwards. In contrast to the speaker association on the Amazon Echo Plus, the subwoofer within the Attract fires straight on the floor under, which pushes it outwards, and is why the bass sounds so significantly better. On the similar time, you additionally have to be cautious the place the speaker is positioned as at excessive volumes, the bass from the subwoofer could cause undesirable vibrations. Your greatest guess is to put it on the ground, or a sturdy desk.

The Attract has a rated frequency response of 40Hz to twenty,000Hz and makes use of Bluetooth 4.2. It additionally has dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac for connecting to the Web. The speaker would not appear to help any high-resolution audio codecs for Bluetooth streaming, and once we linked it a Google Pixel 2 XL (Review), it defaulted to the SBC codec. We examined the Attract working firmware v5009.145, however it did get an replace to v5507.150 throughout our evaluation interval.

Organising the Attract is not very simple. You will want the HK Alexa Setup app to attach the speaker to your property Wi-Fi community, after which you can use it via the Amazon Alexa app for Android or iOS. The HK app did not play good with our Xiaomi Mi Router 3C (Review) however labored tremendous all over the place else. The app is required to determine the preliminary connection, replace firmware, set the language for Alexa, and sign up to your Amazon account. Actions similar to enabling abilities and organising dwelling automation may be finished via the Amazon Alexa app.

One challenge we confronted immediately was the unresponsiveness of the contact buttons. It took a few presses earlier than the ‘Alexa’ button activated. It was the identical with the Bluetooth button and we needed to wrestle a bit to get the speaker into pairing mode, which requires a long-press. The button to mute the microphone labored higher. It is also laborious to get the precise quantity degree you are in search of on the primary strive, for the reason that contact panel is not as correct as a bodily dial could be.

We discovered that Alexa labored decently once we requested it to carry out easy duties similar to creating reminders or a to-do checklist, and taking part in music. It is nonetheless a bit behind Google Assistant in sure circumstances like dealing with contextual searches properly. Issues just like the potential to play a sport, for instance, require you to allow that exact talent from inside the app.

By default, there’s Saavn and Amazon Music for taking part in music, NDTV for information briefings, and Amazon’s personal app for the climate, however you possibly can add much more. Some abilities similar to Uber require extra login particulars in order that Alexa is aware of your ‘House’ and ‘Work’ addresses. There are many different localised apps together with Ola, Syska Good House, Zomato, and so forth.

You may’t make voice calls or ship messages utilizing voice instructions via the speaker but, however you possibly can via the Alexa app. The contact you are calling additionally must have an Alexa-enabled gadget for a name to undergo. When streaming music over a Bluetooth connection, the Attract would not allow you to use Alexa to alter the observe, which is one thing you are able to do with an Echo speaker. We did tinker a bit with dwelling automation utilizing a Syska SmartLight, which labored properly and is one thing we might completely get used to.

We have been ready to make use of the Attract to play music on one other gadget such because the Echo Plus on the identical community. Nevertheless, once we tried to do the identical via the Echo Plus, it wasn’t capable of detect the Attract. In response to Harman’s FAQ webpage, The Attract is not geared up for multi-room audio but, which might be why Echo units cannot detect it.

The Attract has 4 microphones for far-field voice recognition, however sadly, we did not discover them to be delicate sufficient with regards to waking up Alexa. In a quiet room, it labored alright, however usually the place there may be ambient sound round the home, we often needed to say the phrase a number of instances earlier than it was detected. In case you have music taking part in at a excessive quantity, it is almost inconceivable for the speaker to listen to you. As compared, we discovered the Echo Plus with its seven-mic array much better at receiving instructions. The firmware replace we acquired throughout our evaluation interval (v5507.150) appeared to enhance the efficiency on this division a bit.

Alternatively, one factor the Attract did properly is produce room-filling sound. Audio has a heat tone to it and there is ample bass that may be felt even at decrease volumes. The sonic signature is not very balanced although, and the bass tends to overpower vocals and mids at greater quantity ranges. The Attract manages to remain distortion-free even at full quantity, however the bass feels too boomy. The mid-range has element however instrument separation can be laborious to make out at instances. The highs are dealt with properly with out sounding shrill. Additionally, for the reason that drivers hearth in all instructions, there is no particular candy spot for you are listening to music.

Verdict
Harman Kardon has definitely chosen an apt title for its speaker. The general design with the clear high and mushy pulsating lights makes it very alluring certainly. Construct high quality is excellent, and it will look simply nearly as good on a desk as in your bed room. We like the quantity of bass it may well put out, which is loads higher that what the Echo Plus delivers. The nice and cozy sonic signature can also be a plus.

Nevertheless, Alexa integration is without doubt one of the fundamental promoting factors of the Attract, and easily put, it would not work fairly in addition to Amazon’s personal Echo units. The sensitivity of the contact buttons is an issue, and getting the speaker to recognise its personal hot-phrase from a distance is troublesome. Plus, the Attract would not fairly have all of the performance of the Echo simply but.

Then, there’s the worth. At Rs. 22,499 in India, it is about Rs. 7,500 costlier than the Echo Plus. For those who completely want the upper quantity ranges and thumping bass, then the Attract beats the Echo Plus palms down. Nevertheless, for every thing else, you are higher off with Amazon’s gadget, and the cash you save can be utilized so as to add extra IoT units to your property.

Value: Rs. 22,499

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