Sony Glass Sound speaker combines beautiful lights and music

Add an extra glow to your favourite songs
Sony
Sam Fishwick11 January 2018

Today’s technology is part of the furniture.

At home, all your things do other things: for instance, designer Surface Tension has an interactive surface for playing Space Invaders, Smart makes a toaster that will also boil, poach or fry your eggs, and Samsung’s The Frame television set enters an “art mode” when you turn it off, assuming the guise of a painting or photo of your choosing.

Though it’s all high-spec, this movement has a retro feel. Between the 1930s and the 1960s everything qualified as furniture, from walnut TV sets to transistor radios.

But the rise of the replaceable gadget, with its limited warranty, drove a wedge between the homely and the disposable. Now technology is once again making itself at home.

And into this world of optimised furniture-scale technology comes Sony and its Glass Sound speaker, currently lighting up Sony’s Life Space pop-up in Shoreditch (until January 18). It’s an ambient portable soft light that mimics a lantern or candle, but also functions as a speaker. The lantern links to your music accounts and the sound seems bigger than the speaker — as if it’s being projected from several places.

The quality is also crystal clear. State-of-the-art audio technology delivers authentic sound that you can hear throughout the whole room, as actuators vibrate the organic glass to create music. Sony says the lamp boasts deep bass frequencies and a built-in 50mm woofer. It also pairs easily — it’s Bluetooth enabled, so Spotify, Google Play and Apple Music are no problem.

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One Amazon reviewer who put it through its paces subjecting the device to his playlist, reported success in the face of heavy tunes. “I threw Pink Floyd (Echoes) and Tangerine Dream (Stratosfear) at it and it coped with ease. Ratcheting up the tempo with The Fabulous Thunderbirds’ I’ve Never Found a Girl sounded very natural and the band sounded as though they were set up near the fireplace.” You can also pair two speakers to play in stereo, should you have another to hand.

Sony has put a lot of work into creating a soothing ambience from the LED light. Colour temperature is red, almost pink, appearing redder than a candle flame, and the flicker setting is great to fall asleep to (there’s a 60-minute sleep function so it won’t waste the whole battery after you nod off).

It’s not going to replace a torch but it would be a good companion for a picnic under the stars or a romantic meal outside — admittedly both rare occurrences in London, but that’s why it’s built to travel.

At £800, it’s not cheap. It also takes two hours to charge — but that does get you four hours of battery life and you can also plug it in for longer use. Light up.

Follow Samuel Fishwick on Twitter: @fish_o_wick

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