Sony SRS-RA5000 360 Reality Audio Premium Wi-Fi / Bluetooth Wireless Speaker, Works with Alexa and Google Assistant, Black

The design of the RA-5000 was what initially caught my eye. Looking like a contemporary sculpture with its upturned mini speakers encircled in beautiful copper. Giving it the appearance of an art sculpture or piece of furniture.The setup:The RA-5000 requires the use of the Sony Music Center application (android only) to install the speaker for use and audio configuration. The RA-5000 utilizes Bluetooth to make the initial connection. You can use NFC to make a quick connection. The unit supports both 2.4 and 5ghz WiFi networks. Google’s Chromecast is built-in, so think of a name for your speaker. This name is how you will find your new speaker. After the speaker is installed. Click on it and navigate to ‘settings’, ‘sound’. Under “Equalizer” select ‘custom’.You will be presented with a graphical equalizer to tailor the sound to your particular taste. (Extremely important the default settings are horrible!) note. – remember to set the “Immersive Audio Enhancement” and the “Auto Volume” to {ON}. Here you can the “Level” for the up firing speakers on top.Under "Settings", "System" - make sure the "network standby" box is checked. Here you can also check the firmware version. The current version is 1.70 as of 12/23/24. If you are running an older version of the firmware the speaker will not perform correctly!The 5000 can be added to Google Home or Amazon Alexa to enable voice control and add it to your smart home. The 5000 unit does not contain an internal microphone. It can only be accessed by voice via an external smart speaker with a microphone like the Google Home mini or Amazon Alexa speaker.This speaker supports music encoded in Sony’s 360 Reality audio. I tried three music services that supported this audio format. Amazon Music Unlimited is only provider offering full voice integration for the play back of Sony’s 360 Reality Audio format. The audio format when played back through the 5000 unit is superb! It is like having a front row seat to a live performance.The main selling point for me was the Hi Resolution audio playback. Spotify is popular but it does not support high resolution tracks. I signed up for Deezer because it was supported by my Google connected smart 🏠I loved this speaker so much that bought 3 and am thinking of purchasing a fourth.The unit is comprised of 7 individual speakers. Three tweeters on top 3 mid-range and a subwoofer wrapped with a cloth covering. Only pick up the unit with 2 hands from the bottom.

After extensively trying these out for a few weeks, I conclude that this is a poorly designed product. The software, hardware, and platform teams are just doing their own things and made this frankenstein monster that doesn't do anything particularly good.The RA5000 has 1 primary focus: 360 reality audio. Which isn't that great to begin with. The rest of features are all horribly implemented. It's just not worth it.I'll say what I like first:1) Looks kinda sleek, with black mesh and warm, copper grills. HOWEVER it looks like a Phillips razor from top. And it's kind of a running joke of the audio community.2) For genres that works with 360 reality, it's not too bad. You can have this 1 speaker sitting in the middle of a room, or a corner, and play light, background music, and it'll fill the space and sound like it's coming from all around. HOWEVER this is the only thing the speaker is good for.Now what I hate (strong word but accurately describes how piss poor this thing performs):1) Horrible connectivity. On paper it has everything: bluetooth, wifi, 3.5mm. But it's poorly implemented. Everything's tied to the app which is designed to make you set up Tidal and Alexa. And it all has to sync through Chromecast.1.a) You cannot proceed to use app without setting up chromecast. The message will pop up EVERY SINGLE TIME, even if you click "do not show again". Unless you download Google home, Chromecast, and pair it. So if you distrust google and don't want anything Google on your phone, too bad. You have to install the biggest trojan horse and most evil thing mankind has created in 5000 years of civilization history, on your personal phone. Make no sense1.b) Even after you pair, it works very poorly. It works as well as 1% the experience of Airplay2, which the speaker does not support.1.c) It's constantly confused about which connection you have, bluetooth or wifi or w/e. And you have to constantly use the physical touch-sensitive buttons on the side to toggle. There is no remote and the app, like I said, is a horrible advertisement for Google services that they shove down your throat.1.d) since these are passive when connected through 3.5mm, you need something with powerful amp to push it. When you do though, and you have the 360 Audio turned OFF, then the speaker sounds like it has potential, if it could be paired in stereo pairing - which it cannot, because they wanted this to be only for 360 Reality Audio.2) Sound - like I said before, it's only good for the kind of music, and the kind of usage that puts the music in the ambiance, in the background. So like, doing house chores, this speaker is great, because no matter where I move around to, it'll sound like it's coming from all around me. But only for certain music that doesnt' emphasize vocals, rhythm, or bass.You can turn off the virtual surround. You'll get a taste of the true fidelity packed inside these speakers. Sony put quality speakers in here. You can tell by its bass and treble response when properly amped and have the virtual surround turned off. However since it's in 1 unit and you cannot stereo-pair, it s moot, and you are better off just turning on virtual surround and play Enya or Yani on it, in the background.3) For the terrible connectivity implementation, horrible App interface, and terrible mix of service, platform, UI, and design choices - by foregoing industry best practices and go 100% all in on Reality Audio, what you get is an awful product in a Shaver-look-alike package.This thing is a waste of space and I would not keep it even for $200.

Nice sound,easy to transport. Has a breaking period and can adjust to your room.