Where will Smart Audio go? Function or sound quality? The manufacturers are constantly exploring and gradually returning to rationality. From the initial positioning of smart home products to the present, they are returning to the original music, doing a good job in sound quality, and better matching the functions of sound. The size of smart sound is also growing. Several typical products, such as O2 Cloud Sound, Dingdong Smart Sound Box, and Shell GP2 Smart Sound, have recently been launched, In terms of functions, they have their own characteristics and pertinence, and have good market prospects.

This time Bug was lucky to participate in the trial evaluation of the shell GP2 smart audio with 72 changes. From expectation to surprise, he gradually liked this simple and real guy in the process of playing. Let's watch Bug's evaluation together.

Unpacking impression: this is a large desktop smart audio

The shell GP2 is the second audio product of shell smart manufacturing. This product is much larger than the first generation of GEAK Audio, and with the experience of the first generation of products, it will go further in both the experience of APP and product design. At the first sight, the package of the shell GP2 smart audio is very large and heavy to carry. It is totally different from the size of the first generation product, and the expectation of this speaker has also increased.

The overall design of the package is relatively simple, with red decorative strips on a white background, GP2 speakers in three different colors printed on the front, the official model name of the product is marked on the upper left corner, GP2 wireless hi fi intelligent active speakers, and the label of 72 varieties of trial products is pasted on the right blank. With the increasing number of product lines under the shell, this brand is also familiar to more and more people

The product features are displayed in text and graphics, from which we can learn some basic information about GP2 in terms of sound effect, connection, content and adaptation, as well as the general structure of this audio

I can't wait to open the package that has been damaged by express delivery. The environment-friendly paper pulp box fixed on both sides is very thin and soft, and the protection is slightly inadequate. Although the inner box is very environment-friendly, it is easy to deform due to its large size. Here I suggest using foam board as the internal support and fixation, but the sound is safe and the parts are not defective

In addition to the huge GP2 audio, the accessories include the power adapter, power cord and instructions. The power adapter is large, and the output of 18V 3A is enough to ensure that the audio has enough power supply. After all, this audio has 40W power

PS： The first time I received an adoption letter of 72, a very delicate card, marked with the adoption instructions, as well as the QQ of the seven younger sisters. After showing the adoption letter, I began to study the instructions. It seems that the audio connection is not complicated to use. Don't be frightened by the huge appearance, but it is easy to use

Details: unique appearance design, acceptable manufacturing process

Good sound needs good equipment, good sound source and good scene to show. In fact, the sound of the shell GP2 has the taste of a traditional speaker in hardware.

The front of the speaker is trapezoidal, covered with black mesh, which looks like a subwoofer. The white GEAK Audio in the middle of the bottom shell is not made by special technology, so it is low-key

The two sides of the top are narrow, and the middle is slightly bulging. The operation area on the right is from right to left, followed by the power key LED status light and volume+ - button. Of course, the corresponding functions can be turned on by clicking, double clicking and combining. It is not complicated. Please refer to the manual for details. However, in all operations, only double clicking the power button can play the next song, but not the last one. This is a typical radio thinking, but I hope this function can still be available. After all, this audio also has the local broadcast function

The side adopts plastic shell, which looks like a slender trapezoidal design, slightly thin. From this perspective, the line at the bottom is not a complete arc, but there is a tightening near the two ends, which is a bit destructive to the overall feeling

The design of the back is corresponding to that of the front, except that an interface area is designed in the middle of the lower shell. From left to right, there are TF card slot, WPS/RESET key, AUX IN input, USB port and power interface. Compared with the recently launched smart audio, GP2 has more interfaces, which will bring better local playing experience and more playing methods

The whole bottom body is also made of plastic. The corners are made into rounded corners, and large foot pads are pasted on both sides, which is not only anti-skid, but also can reduce resonance. Product labels are pasted in the middle. From the bottom, you can clearly see the inner retraction of the bottom plastic shell from the middle to both sides

Use experience: the playback function is well designed and the sound quality is excellent

Under the impact of intelligence, although more new technologies have been integrated into the sound system, and some changes have taken place in its functional positioning, nothing is more important than the sound quality effect as a sound system that mainly plays lossless music. The shell GP2 has been repositioned and designed in terms of sound quality, bringing a better music experience in combination with the already good GEAK Audio APP.

Connect the power adapter of the audio, the audio will automatically enter the configuration mode. Follow the steps in the manual, first connect the Wifi signal of GP2, then search for the audio, and enter the setting GEAK. In fact, it is to send the audio a password of Wifi that can be connected to the network for GP2 to connect to the network. The operation is very simple, and the configuration will be completed soon. Remember that after the configuration is completed, Switch to the connected Wifi and keep the same network with GP2 to connect. Many people will think that this is not smart enough. Since they have already connected to the Internet, it is not good to establish an account system for remote operation. This also refers to the function of smart audio, whether to listen purely or not, not only to listen, but also to do, first to improve the sound quality, Looking at the market demand, it is also a good way

The main interface of the application is defined as a music library, which is a very vivid concept. There are enough resources in the list of radio stations in the main interface to hear about world peace. I believe you are familiar with these radio stations. I will not mention them here. At the top of the task bar, the left is for setting, the right is for searching, the bottom is for six preset radio channel buttons, and the bottom is for radio stations and playlists, At the bottom is the player entrance. The whole interface looks fresh and artistic. In particular, the top six bubbles preset radio channels are very interesting. Long press the entry in the radio program list to add the selected channel to one of the six bubbles. After the setting is completed, press the volume+/- on the GP2 audio at the same time to cycle through the six channels, Double click the power key to play the next song directly. Even without a mobile phone, you can also play GP2. However, there are six preset channels and collections listed in the playlist, and you cannot edit the song list yourself, which is a little inconvenient

The whole application is designed around music playing. In terms of song search, the application design is in place. You can search the content in the radio station, or scan the music files connected to the mobile phone. Also, don't forget the SD card slot and USB interface behind the GP2. After connecting to the memory, the contents of these two disks will be displayed in the shared directory of the playlist, Music files will be displayed in the list

In addition to playing, as a smart audio, it can do something else. When you enter the settings, you can find a lot of content, and the meaning is very clear. As a high fidelity audio, the code stream can be up to 192kbps, and the audio input can also be local playing and line in input. For those who like to play with point devices, this configuration is very practical, After all, there is still a gap between online resources and lossless music sources. In addition, alarm clock, date and time settings, timed shutdown and other functions are also more practical

Finally, let's talk about the sound quality effect. This GP2 wireless high fidelity intelligent active speaker adopts stereo dual channel design, is equipped with four generating units, and independent bass diaphragm. It has good performance in low, medium, and high frequencies. The independent low-power MIPS architecture master chip can almost support full format audio decoding, while reserving space for upgrading, Through listening to the classic audition tracks and some popular songs, the sound performance of this set is still good. In terms of bass, I downloaded a series of lossless songs by Zhao Peng. During the audition, I can feel that GP2's dive on the bass is still very powerful, and there is no confusion. In terms of midrange, I auditioned with several popular songs, The voice is natural, authentic and flexible. This 40W desktop audio has a shocking effect when the volume is high. However, due to the plastic design of the audio itself and the light weight, the vibration of the audio is obvious when the volume is particularly high. Finally, I listened to several pure music works, I feel that the sound of the instrument is not exquisite enough. Of course, the sound performance of the shell GP2 has greatly exceeded expectations

epilogue

Smart audio has entered the era of individuality. If you want to gain a foothold in this market, you must have excellent quality and own characteristics. No one will hate good audio quality. Too many and too many functions will make you feel at a loss. Especially when the functions are not perfect, they can only make you more worried, The shell GP2 wireless high fidelity intelligent active speaker has a relatively large shape, 40W power, good hardware configuration, a large number of high-quality network audio sources, strong local playback function, and the supporting APP application is simple and convenient to use. It is a sound with ideal cost performance and comprehensive quality among similar intelligent audio products.