Amazon and Roku have been battling it out over the rights to power your smart TV experience for years, but today the two firms announced plans to fight it out over your TV’s audio too.
Prior to Amazon’s announcement that a Fire TV-powered Anker soundbar is on the way, Roku confirmed its own Smart Soundbar and it’ll also feature a built-in Roku player.
The 2-in-1 Roku Smart Soundbar will be here next month and is described by the company an “incredibly easy way to add premium sound and powerful movie, TV and music streaming to any TV with an HDMI output.”
The device is likely to appeal to people who are looking to smarten-up their main screen viewing experience with access to the masses of apps available via the Roku OS, while also progressing beyond the typically terrible built-in audio of most modern TVs.
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The Smart Soundbar offers 4K HDR viewing and Dolby Audio, while there’s also Bluetooth music from a mobile device, while Roku Connect automatically pairs with other products in the ecosystem.
The soundbar comes with a Roku Voice remote, which enables easy voice commands for finding content, launching channels, replaying content and switching subtitles on and off.
Roku is also offering an optional subwoofer when the Smart Soundbar launches on an unspecified date in October. The Roku Wireless Subwoofer is also priced at $179.99. UK price and availability are yet to be confirmed.
The pair will go head-to-head with the Amazon Anker Nebula Soundbar – Fire TV Edition, which goes on sale in November. It also offers the Fire TV interface and voice controls from Alexa. It costs $229.99/£179.99
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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.
