In the world of Alexa enabled smart speakers, one name has really stood out and that is Cavalier Audio. Although they had only one speaker available, The Maverick, it was one of the best premium Alexa speakers out there thanks in part to premium materials used and design. Well, Cavalier Audio is back again with their brand new Alexa speaker, The Air and I dare say this one is even better and takes premium to a whole new level for Alexa speakers. This beats any Amazon made speaker out there and probably any Alexa enabled 3rd party speakers as well.
Unlike The Maverick, The Air is not really meant to be a portable speaker. This is speaker you leave in your leaving room or next to your bed and I’ll explain why. The Air needs constant power so it needs to be plugged in to use. Plus the fact that this is a fairly large speaker that isn’t what I’d call portable. Despite the name, it’s also not very light.
Design
What makes The Air premium is its craftsmanship and materials used. It has an aluminum chassis, premium genuine leather, high quality acoustic fabric, and exotic walnut wood. The Air is a 20W stereo speaker system with 2 active drivers and 2 passive radiators. Looking at The Air, you can definitely see the quality craftsmanship involved with its build. This is a solid, well made speaker and one that you don’t mind displaying out in the open.
Setting up Cavalier Audio’s The Air is also a breeze. Mainly you need to just plug it into an outlet and download the Cavalier Audio App that will help finalize the installation process. You can download the Cavalier app here (iOS, Android) and the Amazon Alexa app (iOS, Android). You need the Cavalier app in order to set up the Wi-Fi connection on The Air as well as setting up the custom controls, multi-room configuration, and basic setup of Alexa. You’ll need the Alexa app to setup the more advanced features of Alexa.
After that, you’re pretty much good to go.
Cavalier Audio made using The Air really simple. It features real buttons for controlling the volume, audio controls, turning on and off he mic, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi buttons, and the display button. With real buttons mean easier recognition of what they are by feel. If you don’t want to use the buttons, you can always use Alexa.
Usage
Using Alexa is as simple as saying “Alexa…” and what you want it to do. For the most part, it does pretty much everything the normal Amazon Echo does with Alexa functions. If you would rather not have The Air listening all the time, you can press the Mic off button on the top and it will no longer take voice commands from you. You’ll have to tap the button again to re-enable Alexa.
The Air also features a Smart Button. If you tab it once while music plays, it pauses, Tap it again and it resumes. If you tap it twice, it’ll skip to the next song. If you tap it three times, it goes back to the previous song. One other thing The Air features is an actual digital clock along with alarm functionality. That makes The Air perfect for the bedside.
Lastly, The Air can be used as a charging solution, both wireless and wired. The top of The Air is a Qi certified wireless charging pad that will work with any Qi enabled smartphone. If you want to charge something that doesn’t charge wirelessly, there’s a USB charging port on the back in which you can plug in a charge cable.
To play music, you can connect to The Air by either Bluetooth or by Wi-Fi. If you don’t want to use any of the smart features, I suggest using Bluetooth. You’ll need Wi-Fi if you want to use Alexa or play Pandora, Spotiy, etc without having to use you’re phone.
In terms of sound quality, Cavalier Audio’s The Air is very good. Just like their previous speaker, The Air is a room filling speaker that sounds great no matter where you are in it. No matter what genre you listen to, the audio sounds full and rich through the entire range. The mids and highs are super crisp and clean while the bass has a decent thump to it. There wasn’t anything I played on this thing that didn’t sound good. This speaker can get really loud when you want it to be.
Final Thoughts
Cavalier Audio has another winner here with The Air. This is by far one of the best Alexa enabled speakers out there, even beating out Amazon’s own speakers. The Air is a beautifully crafted speaker made from premium materials masterfully blended together. What’s also amazing is that somehow, Cavalier Audio has also made the alarm clock look good. That’s something I never thought could happen.
Like their previous speaker, I love the fact that The Air is both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi enabled. Lastly, the fact that The Air can be used as a charging solution is a huge plus for having it by your bedside.
With that said, if you’re looking for a seriously multi-functional and beautifully designed Alexa smart speaker that can also charge your devices, look no further than Cavalier Audio’s new The Air.
