Meet the Xiaomi Mi AI Speaker
Xiaomi says the speaker will last for around 20 hours on a single charge, which is fairly impressive for a device that relies on a microphone-equipped smart speaker.
Other smart features are available such as voice recognition and the ability to control certain connected home devices. But will it make this Speaker worth buying?
Probably not, if you’re after a smart speaker for its audio capabilities alone. But Xiaomi’s decision to use the Amazon Alexa voice assistant may make it an attractive proposition for a limited number of people.
What Can You Control with Your Voice?
The Xiaomi smart speaker works with both Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant, and on top of voice-activated services, you can use the Mi AI Speaker to control other smart home devices such as lights, thermostats, cameras and air-conditioners.
You can also set alarms, look up recipes, or search for news using the assistant or Alexa.
Sound Quality and Audio Performance
The smart speaker is designed to recognise the voice of the person speaking in order to adjust the volume and deliver the best possible sound quality. But, at the time of testing, our model did have trouble recognising my voice. On the plus side, the speaker did sound good, with wide dynamic range and quite accurate mids and highs. In particular, it made a strong case for bass, delivering strong low-end frequencies.
Stereo pairing is also possible, so you can listen to the smart speaker in either the left or right speakers of your devices. In use, the speaker sounded quite good, though the bass felt a bit flat. That said, it did an impressive job of reproducing music from Spotify or my Bose QC 30 headphones. Overall, I liked the sonic profile of the speaker.
Design and Build
As with most devices from the Chinese manufacturer, the Mi Sound brings a round robin design. That is, the whole top part is covered in a similar material to Gorilla Glass, while the bottom part is black plastic with a glossy top that’s angled away from the speaker grille. The leather-like material covers the three buttons on the top, and the four LEDs show how much battery life remains. The body is 5.85mm in height, 3.67mm in width and 3.35mm in depth. The bottom of the speaker is designed to attach to a power adapter, which isn’t included.
The Xiaomi Mi Sound is splash-proof and dust-proof. According to the company, it has a wide temperature range of -25 to 55 degrees C.
