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Honeywell is an all-rounder in the tech space and now it is vying for your attention with its first Hi-Fi speaker.
The new premium speaker in the market comes from a brand that is a veteran in the tech space
Honeywell and audio speakers, that’s not a pairing you might know about and that’s because the company is just entering the premium audio segment with the new Aviator speaker. Desk or table-top speakers are not that popular but they are equally effective, and most are good looking to keep the aesthetics of your living room intact.
But most of you will be keen to know how the speaker sounds and does it live up to the premium price tag of Rs 39,900 in a market where you have the Sony’s, Bose and Marshall around. That’s what we were intent on finding out, for which we tested the Aviator over the last few weeks.
Looks Do Matter
The Aviator is neither a soundbar or a spherical mould sitting on top of a surface. It has an elegant appeal and feel the moment you look at it. The speaker has a design that might split opinion and we’re fine with that.
The leather texture at the top is well complemented by the mesh layers on the speaker and the stand at the bottom adds to the curvature of the device.
There is a chrome ring lining on the front which doubles up as an LED that lights up when you turn on the speaker or change the modes/volume. Honeywell didn’t give us much hope when we saw the Aviator for the first, but first looks clearly didn’t hold its value in this case and the design grows on your gradually.
Some New, Some Old Tech
Honeywell is known to be a tech all-rounder and those benefits have been passed on to the Aviator speaker. You get both wired and wireless music streaming and the company has also added its proprietary lossless audio tech through a dongle which connects to your Android or iOS device.
The dongle is very handy and you just need to plug it in the phone and the connection is automatic and seamless. You have the traditional AUX port for the wired mode and Bluetooth is obviously there for the wireless access but with more steps than what the dongle supports.
Having said that, you have to be extremely careful with the dongle as misplacing it means you will have to buy a new one and that is unlikely to come cheap. Honeywell is giving you the dongle for both iPhones and Android phones so that is good to see.
But we would like the company to work on an app for the speaker which brings another way to control it hands-free. And yes, the speaker needs power source to run and doesn’t get a built-in battery.
How It Sounds
Now we come to the main part or purpose of a speaker. How does the Aviator sound in its profile and is the quality matching its steep price tag? The good news is that Honeywell surprised us with its sound quality on the Aviator and the profile is nicely balanced so that you don’t miss out on the notes, vocals because of overpowering bass. The unit offers 240W power and packs multiple woofers and tweeters to produce the sound.
The lossless audio quality would be hard to measure in normal settings but you tend to see the difference in the output when you connect the phone via the dongle and Bluetooth. For a premium speaker, the support for Hi-fidelity codec is essential and Honeywell offers that on the Aviator in its unique way. We did notice the audio quality went off at higher volume which is not ideal for a premium speaker.
Honeywell’s debut in the audio segment with the Aviator comes with a lot of promise and the overall design, feature set and audio quality shows the brand is serious about its efforts against its established rivals.
However, the brand will need a big push to convince buyers to opt for its product and the best way to do that is by setting up physical experience points, giving them a chance to hear the Aviator in its full form. The price tag is also a challenge for the company but the product shows it has the will and power to match its aspiration.
