Sonos' TruePlay app autotunes room for speakers
SANTA BARBARA - The folks at Sonos, the wireless speaker company, are putting the finishing touches on a new app that could change the way we interact with our home sound systems.
What if an app could adjust a sound speaker to perfection?
That’s the goal for TruePlay, the software that will be released in the coming weeks, from Sonos, whose Play Wifi speakers are hugely popular. It uses the microphone from the iPhone or iPad (no Android at launch, expected in the next weeks) to “measure how sound reflects off walls, furnishings and other surfaces in the room,” says Sonos.
The app can be used on both new and older Sonos speakers, with the exception of the soundbar for TV audio.
We visited Sonos headquarters here recently for a demo, which begins, oddly enough, by cranking open the app and waving the mobile device around the room, all while the speaker sends out audible tones. (Watch the accompanying video to see Sonos’ Jon Reilly demonstrate.)
In the before and after portion of the demo, the original sound was muddy, until TruePlay fine-tuned it with a “smart equalizer” that made the audio and crisper and clear.
“You can put the speaker anywhere you want, take a quick measurement of the room, and it will sound amazing,” says Reilly, a Sonos product manager.
This is just the beginning, says Reilly. Like cars, which are figuring out how to drive themselves, using sensors and software, wireless speakers are in for the same sort of tech change.
“Over the next 10 years, the big innovation in sound will be,” from software and sensors, he says.
The app is promised for a fall release, along with the latest new Sonos product, a revamped Play5 speaker with richer, fuller sound and a heftier price tag. The new speaker will cost $499, up from $399.
Follow Paste BN tech columnist and #TalkingTech host Jefferson Graham on Twitter, where he’s @jeffersongraham, and listen to his daily tech reports on iTunes, Stitcher and TuneIn.