2-for-Tuesday: QFX E-200 Portable WiFi + Bluetooth Multi-Room Speakers
- Two speakers that connect via either your WiFi network or Bluetooth
- If you’re familiar with Sonos, they’re like that
- When using over WiFi, can be placed in separate rooms playing the same music in perfect sync or different music from each speaker
- Or (again over WiFi), put them together in the same room with one Left and one Right channel stereo goodness
- The music’s controlled by the QFX native app or this Muzo third party one (Apple or Android)
- Through those apps, you can use services like Spotify, Pandora, Tidal (that’s still a thing?), Napster (THAT’S still a thing?!)
- And, of course, if you don’t care about the WiFi stuff, think of them as two decent Bluetooth speakers at a good price
- Dimensions: 4.25" x 12" x 4.25" – or “a foot long” in a layman’s terms
- Model: E-200 Chopin (Great use of the unabbreviated, title-capitalized name of the product in the model number, but when you’re competing with NPR in search results something has gone wrong)
On The Shoulders Of Giants
Dear Sonos,
Thank you for pioneering WiFi speaker systems and paving the way for others such as QFX to create knockoffs of your product. Your selfless efforts to develop and promote the idea of smart speakers created an entire ecosystem of other manufacturers drafting off of you.
It was a good idea: Connecting wireless speakers via one’s home Wifi rather than depending on limited Bluetooth range or wiring up your house. You spent many a caffeine-fueled night cloistered at Sonos HQ, hammering out the details of your new system so that others wouldn’t have to.
Like Lewis and Clark, you sought to discover the Northwest Passage but instead popularized a new home entertainment product. For them it was “A Map Of Montana Mostly,” and for you it was a smart speaker system.
It’s rare in this day and age to witness corporate generosity at all, never mind at this scale. Most CEOs would have balked and the idea of pouring R&D dollars into a product that would be replicated by others, but not the head of Sonos. And for that we tip our hats.
Sincerely,
Let’s all thank Sonos for their altruism. Tweet at them to let them know how thankful you are. They will be really, really confused.