Marshall has announced a new smart speaker in the Uxbridge, a compact speaker with support for Amazon Alexa and AirPlay 2
Marshall has gained a reputation for naming its speakers after locations in the UK. Its latest – Uxbridge – was home to the base of the famous RAF No.11 Fighter Command that played a crucial role in WW2.
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Perhaps Marshall are looking to the Uxbridge (£169) to supply some musical artillery with its compact size, but large sound.
Alexa support means you can ask the voice assistant questions hands-free to complete tasks such as turning up the volume. Or, if you have Alexa integrated in your home, you can ask her to turn off the lights. Alexa also offers easy access to music streaming services for those who want to jump into their playlists quickly.
The Uxbridge also has far-field microphones with noise cancellation that better pick up your voice. Marshall claims that even with music turned up, or you’re far away from the speaker, the Uxbridge magically hear your voice and respond.
Similar in size to the Sonos One, Marshall claims the Uxbridge is capable of delivering “a thunderous sound” from its small dimensions, producing high lows and hard-hitting lows for a “brilliantly balanced sound”. We’ll be hoping they can deliver on that when we put the Uxbridge through its paces.
Connectivity also includes Bluetooth, AirPlay 2 and Spotify Connect. If you have Marshall smart speakers with built-in Alexa, an Echo speaker or AirPlay 2 enabled speakers, the Uxbridge can slot into a multi-room set-up so you can play music from room-to-room.
As is the norm with Marshall, the Uxbridge showcases the brand’s unique feel for design with its guitar amp look and guitar fret-inspired rock buttons on the speaker’s top panel.
The Marshall Uxbridge Voice with Alexa is available to buy from April 8th, 2020 from Amazon and online retailers for £169.
A version is in the works that supports Chinese-based voice assistant Tencent Xiaowei in May, as well as a Google Assistant version in June.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
