Harman Kardon has introduced its latest smart home speaker, the Harman Kardon Citation 500.
The brand has teamed up with design textile manufacturer Kvadrat to produce an elegant and minimalistic speaker which aims to fit in with the decor of your home as well as providing a dynamic listening experience. And, as with all smart speakers, it’s got voice control (courtesy of the Google Assistant) built in too.
What does it look like?
The Citation 500 is an oblong cylinder that’s small enough to place on a side-table, with a gray or black wool fabric exterior and plastic top panel – Harman Kardon calls it a ‘Nordic’ design – and a touch-sensitive color menu screen.
Features
The Citation 500 features built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Chromecast and voice control via Google Assistant. Google Assistant is a virtual assistant capable of answering questions, managing tasks, planning your day, and controlling connected media or home devices. Sound-wise it provides 360 degrees of audio playback and 24 Bits/96Khz of HD audio streaming, with an output of 200W.
How much is it?
The Harman Kardon Citation 500 is priced at £549 ($599, around AU$960) with pre-orders available at the end of September from the Harman Kardon website. The home speaker will also be showcased at IFA 2018.
Google Assistant speakers
The Citation 500 is going up against stiff competition, especially considering its price. The Google Home range offers smart speakers with Google Assistant, and comes in a Mini or Max version. The JBL Link 10 also offers Google Assistant and takes up considerably less space. Both Google Home speakers and the JBL Link 10 cost considerably less than the Citation 500, with the Google Home priced at $129 (£129/AU$199), and the JBL Link 10 costing just $99 (£150, AU$230).
- Here's our review of the Harman Kardon Invoke
