When you listen to songs, do you pay more attention to tunes or words?
Friends who are familiar with music theory may feel “Qu” and know the meaning of Qu for the whole song. How to perturb the emotions and make the audience feel what the lyrics should be, these questions can actually find the answer from the processing of the song.
But listeners like me who do n’t understand music will focus on the lyrics when listening to songs. Although the lyrics are not opened every time you listen to a song, if there is a way to display the lyrics that is not limited to the mobile phone screen, it is a good experience bonus for listeners who love lyrics.
For this “plus point”, the design team has already given a plan.
COTODAMA from Japan has launched a product called “Lyric Speaker Canvas”, which is a speaker embedded in a transparent glass box. There are speakers inside the glass box, and an electronic ink screen is also embedded. After the speaker is connected to the phone, through a compatible playback application, this screen can display dynamic lyrics.
Although the idea is good, Lyric Speaker Canvas does not support Chinese lyrics display, so it seems to lose its original meaning.
Later, Xiaomi Youpin launched a speaker product called MORROR ART in early 2020.
Similar to the aforementioned, MORROR ART is also a speaker product that displays dynamic lyrics through an electronic ink screen. Users only need to connect the speaker to the network, and then connect a playback device that supports car mode via Bluetooth. In this way, MORROR ART can display dynamic lyrics during playback.
In appearance, MORROR ART uses a standard rectangular transparent box design, and the front and back sides are covered by a standard large glass.
Two speakers are placed directly on the diagonal of the front of the chassis. The screen is directly behind the speakers. The wiring does not destroy the integrity of the entire transparent box, and the covering is still very good.
When the speaker is not turned on, the user can only see a dark back panel on the front, and the same is true when viewed from the back.
The backlight panel covers the entire basic interior. It is basically impossible for users to see the circuit or wiring structure inside. The overall look and feel is similar to an aquarium light box, which is very clean.
Probably to ensure the integrity of this appearance, MORROR ART does not have too many holes and buttons. The body switch and AC port connected to the power supply, other operations are operated by the knob buttons on the side of the body.
The knob has two operation modes: rotation and tap. The knob is mainly responsible for selecting, and tapping is used to confirm. When MORROR ART leaves the factory, it comes with a basic description under the turntable, which includes the basic operation mode of the knob.
Although the knob is relatively intuitive when adjusting the volume and brightness, the menu setting of MORRO ART is still a little complicated. If you use the knob to control it, it will take some time to adjust. In addition, the texture of the knob is a bit poor. As a speaker priced at 3799, I still hope MORROR ART can pay attention to this.
Turn on the switch after the fuselage, and the user can set the MORRO ART speakers through the control knob.
When connecting for the first time, users also need to connect MORRO ART via Wi-Fi.ART can also load time automatically. In the absence of playback, MORRO ART can also be used as a light box clock.
Apart from Wi-Fi, MORRO ART uses Bluetooth to connect.
MORRO ART supports Bluetooth 4.2. Although it is not the latest Bluetooth 5.0, Bluetooth 4.2 is still sufficient for connection requirements for general song playback. Although watching videos is not a big problem, most users who return from purchasing MORRO ART should not use this speaker to watch videos on their mobile phones or computers.
Actually, the goal for users to purchase MORRO ART is to display lyrics.
Morro ART ’s localization experience is actually okay. As long as the condition “can turn on the car mode” is met, most domestic streaming music platforms can support lyrics display. We have tried common services such as NetEase Cloud Music and QQ Music. MORRO ART can achieve dynamic lyrics with the player in the car mode, and there are quite a lot of support.
In addition, MORRO ART also supports multi-language lyrics display. Conventional Chinese, English, and Japanese can basically meet the needs of the three languages. At present, there have been no errors such as garbled characters, and compatibility is acceptable.
However, although MORRO ART is sold domestically, it would be better if it could be supported by Spotify and Apple Music. After all, there are actually many users of Apple Music in China.
In terms of sound, MORROR ART is equipped with a pair of 100mm speakers, and it is equipped with a chip that supports 32bit audio processing. It also supports three different tuning modes, SoundHifi, SweetVocal and SuperRhythm, in order to respond to different styles. music.
Now, more and more wireless devices are equipped with chips that support 32-bit lossless audio processing. For those devices that support LDAC, the chip’s ability to support 32bit lossless undoubtedly raises the upper limit of the audio source and helps improve the sense of hearing.
But for this MORROR that does not support aptX HD and LDACFor ART speakers, it is not significant to talk about 32bit lossless here, after all, Bluetooth transmission is not supported.
In terms of sound performance, MORROR ART’s performance is actually okay.
As a home speaker, MORROR ART can also output sufficient volume. In the default mode, the tri-band of the speaker is fairly balanced, and there will not be too prominent points. The vocal performance is acceptable, although there will not be too obvious distance from the background, but there will be no dry sound, and listening to it in front is quite comfortable.
In terms of sound style, the sound of MORROR ART in the default mode will be a little bit colder. The sound is mainly clear, and the low-frequency dive is relatively small, which is not enough for the entire environment. The amount of hitting the low frequency is also just right. If you meet some users who like “moving times” and have more outstanding low frequency performance, you may be able to switch from MORROR ART to SuperRhythm mode.
However, for people like me who only listen to fashion, MORROR ART’s performance is actually enough.
After the lyrics are opened, everyone ’s attention will actually focus on the moving lyrics.
In general, MORROR ART is an “unconventional” speaker product, and it is also a fresh product after localization.
Although seen on the timeline, it is more like a product born on the shoulders of COTODAMA. But COTODAMA does not support the music commonly used in our country, dynamic lyrics does not support Chinese, coupled with purchasing difficulties and other issues, COTODAMA does not seem to have the ability and intention to promote here.
In contrast, MORROR ART has a better localization performance, supports local music services and supports Chinese, coupled with the promotion of domestic sales channels, its advantages here are indeed a little more obvious than COTODAMA.
If domestic users really want to choose a speaker that can display dynamic lyrics and place it at home, MORROR ART has become one of their choices.
If you only look at the dynamic lyrics display and modeling, MORROR ART is actually worth recommending.
However, MORROR ART is not a pure speaker product. Distracted by dynamic lyrics, the sound performance may not be as good as traditional speakers or wireless speakers at the same price. If you have high audio requirements, you should pay attention to this when buying MORROR ART.
After all, products are also the result of trade-offs between various ideas, inputs, and costs. At this stage and now, it seems not realistic to meet both requirements at this price point. So if you want to sound good or look cool, then you still have to choose.