Harman Kardon Citation 100 Smart Speaker Review

There are plenty of smart speakers to choose from. This statement puts plenty of people in a dilemma on the smart speaker to choose. Harman Kardon Citation 100 smart speaker is among the top speakers you should consider. It is famous for its quality sound projection that makes you enjoy every minute of your playlist.

In addition to this, the manufacturer has an excellent reputation in terms of quality. This offers an assurance your smart speaker will serve you for a long time. You will also be impressed by the overall design of this device.

Specifications

• Harman Kardon Citation 100 smart speaker comes with a power cable that must be plugged in a socket in order to power and operate it. A user manual gives step by step guidelines on how to safely set up and operate this speaker.
• The weight of this reputable speaker is 5.9 lbs. Its dimensions when combined with this weight offer strong stability when placed on its own or on top of a surface. The weight also allows you to carry your device around.
• This smart speaker plays various audio formats. Opus, MP3, AAC, WAV, Ogg, FLAC and Vorbis are some formats you can play with your speaker.
• You can connect your Harman Kardan Citation 100 smart speaker to other devices and speakers through Bluetooth. It is estimated that 30 feet is the capacity of Bluetooth on this device. This allows you to play music from compatible devices.
• This is one of the few smart speakers that can be connected to the wireless internet and enjoy unlimited streaming services.
• The manufacturer of this device gives users a variety of options to choose from. You can either go for black or gray color. This offers some sort of personalization when it comes to preference.
• Harman Kardon Citation 100 smart speaker grants you permission to make calls to contacts saved on the device while still connected via Bluetooth.

Features

• This speaker has in-built woofer and tweeter, which are the secret behind the powerful sound while playing your favorite songs. You will be impressed by the power of this speaker in a room.
• There is a wool wrap around the speaker that protects it against dirt and small particles that may interrupt normal functioning of the speaker.
• Harman Kardon Citation 100 smart speaker allows its users to use Google voice assistant for various reasons. You can use it to play your favorite music, move to the next track and arrange your to-do list, among others.
• This smart speaker has two microphones whose task is to keenly listen to your voice command while on the other end of the room.
• You can manually control what you are listening by using the top buttons. There is a button for disabling the two microphones, two buttons for volume and play or pause button.
• Harman Kardon Citation 100 smart speaker can be controlled by Google home application. Thus, download the application from Google play store or Apple store and control the songs you stream using this device.
• This smart speaker grants you unlimited access to online services such as Google play, Pandora, TuneIn, Deezer and Spotify.

Design

While there are many smart speakers in the market which follows a compact design, one can’t go without appreciating the brand’s so raised ‘premium industrial design.’ Complemented by a minimalist appearance, the speaker has premium and high-quality wool fabric that wraps over and surrounds the speaker’s body, excluding the top and the bottom. The wool fabric keeps the speaker dust free and flame retardant. The material is also soft to touch, so you can comfortably carry it from one room to another. For personalization, the speaker is available in black and gray shades. As per the weight of this upright speaker is concerned, it is 2.7 in kg, slightly towards the heavier side. That being said, it’s not introduced for portability. You can keep your device on the shelf to enjoy the music at home as a bookshelf speaker.

The design has also made the device easy to set up and use. The setup is done via Google Home App. The top plates of the speaker support the touching feature. You can easily change the volume level, mute the mics, turn on the Bluetooth or pause the tracks with the help of simple finger touch and without involving yourself in the hefty button switches. The bottom plate is where you would be connecting the power plug. The base has a cut out from where you can easily pull out the cable while placing the speaker on a flat surface. Four LED lights are present on the front of the speaker, which lits up as an indicator of few functions.

Performance

With an aesthetic wireless design, the solid performance of the speaker is not an exception at all. The speaker works well in terms of accepting the sound and releasing the audio to the room. You can connect the speaker to other devices through WiFi and Bluetooth. The introduction of Bluetooth connectivity (less common in smart speakers) makes this device compatible with apps that support Bluetooth only. Plus, to enhance the ease of use, the two microphones using google voice assistant will hear your voice command to alter the functions. The speaker has two active drivers, i.e., 20 mm tweeter and 102 mm woofer, to play the low frequency and high frequency sounds clear. The speaker delivers powerful and deep sounds, just like what you expect from these sized speakers.  The sound richness is impressive and excellent for spreading into the whole room through furniture and other obstacles. This helps the device to work well balanced for high sound without overpowering. With WiFi connectivity, you can get access to different audio services through Chromecast Built-in. You can also connect the speaker with other speakers with Chromecast built-in for enjoying the multi-room audio. You can easily expand this speaker with other devices for a robust home theater system.

Verdict

Harman Kardon Citation 100 Smart Speaker is certainly a good option for a home speaker’s superior sound performance. The dedicated touch control, alternatively, the voice command features makes the overall use of the device much easier, which is what we liked in special. The HK Citation 100 will not disappoint you with the bass quality for hearing different sound tones and is sure to expand a complete home audio entertainment.