Sony’s new 360 Reality Audio speaker looks like a giant electric razor, here are the details

Japanese tech firm Sony recently announced that it is launching two new speakers compatible with 360 Reality Audio. In case you didn’t know, the 360 Reality Audio is Sony's spatial audio technology that aims to replicate live music by placing different sounds and vocals in a room around you. During the announcement, Sony said that it plans to release these speakers named SRS-RA5000 and SRS-RA3000 sometime in ‘Spring’ this year. But during the announcement, it did not reveal how the speakers will look like. 

Now, Sony's UK website has unveiled the looks of the two new speakers by uploading their product pages and details. The more powerful SRS-RA5000 will have three top-firing speakers along with a woofer. 

Also read: Sony launches new Bravia XR TVs with ‘Cognitive Processor XR’

What’s interesting is that it looks like a giant shaving machine. This is also a design that we are seeing for the first time from Sony, if you compared it with other SRS speaker designs. While the SRS-RA5000 looks like a giant shaving machine, it's less powerful version, the SRS-RA3000 looks more like a regular speaker with a hint of Amazon Echo-like design. 

It is said to have two tweeters, two passive radiators and a full range driver. Sony says that its new speakers are certified for high resolution audio.

Both can calibrate themselves according to the aesthetics of the room using an internal microphone and a ‘unique’ Sony algorithm. In the RA5000 you have to press and hold a button, while in RA3000 the speaker calibration is automatic. 

In addition, you get Sony's auto volume feature in both. It adjusts the volume of every track automatically, so the loudness is balanced for all the tracks. Furthermore, both speakers support Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant.

You can get the SRS-RA5000 at 599 EUR, while the RA3000 comes at 359 EUR. The UK website also states that the speakers will arrive sometime in February this year, which is a bit sooner than the ‘Spring’ date that Sony said during the launch. The company also mentioned that it is working with different music labels and service providers to start streaming video content with the 360 Reality Audio codec.