Xiaoai A1, from Guangzhou Ailang Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., is a smart speaker with built-in TV box function. As a smart speaker, we need to assess its resource richness and quality in addition to ordinary listening enjoyment. Xiao'ai A1 AV resource provider has respectively found iQiyi and Migu Music. On the other hand, human-computer interaction design and working state performance of wired and wireless connection are also very important. Whether the wiring process is easy to understand, whether the packaging accessories are complete, and whether the heating and power consumption are serious are also indicators for assessment.
Is the 4-core 64 bit processor, 5-core GPU and 2GB RAM sufficient? Can two 1.5-inch (5W) full frequency units, TI digital power amplifier and ADAU DSP, together with GDS virtual surround technology, bring us better listening enjoyment? According to the manufacturer's introduction, Xiaoai A1 uses two TI5731 four channel digital power amplifiers, one of which provides 2 * 5W left and right channels for stereo BTL mode, and the other uses PBTL mode to provide a high-power 15W bass channel, so Xiaoai A1 is a 2.1 channel sound with 25W total rated power (less than 1% distortion).
Next, let's have a good experience with this Xiao'ai A1 smart speaker from Ailang Technology.
Appearance design
Xiaoai A1 comes with HDMI cable, Bluetooth remote control, power adapter and instructions. The drawback is the lack of an audio cable. The 18V/2.5A power adapter weighs fairly well. It is acceptable to carry it with Xiaoai A1.
The metal body emits a unique luster under the light. It looks attractive from multiple angles, and is easy to integrate with other smart home devices. As a decoration, it is not eye-catching. At the same time, compared with speaker equipment of the same level, the fuselage is relatively small, and the space occupied is not large. There is an indicator light on the front of the fuselage. It will be mentioned below that the indicator light will show different colors according to the different input modes of the sound source. There is an open key in the annular area at the bottom of the fuselage.
The attached Bluetooth remote control is relatively sensitive to Xiaoai A1. As long as it is not too far away or deliberately selects some strange angles to send commands, Xiaoai A1 can basically respond in time. In terms of the user experience of adjusting the volume, the Bluetooth remote control is more convenient and efficient than the mobile phone App and Xiaoai A1 body control panel.
The built-in loudspeaker unit of Xiaoai A1 transmits the sound to the outside world through the mesh. When working, you can feel the air flow from the cavity vibration, especially when playing low-frequency music. The metal edges are not particularly sharp, and some parts have been highlighted and chamfered to make the fuselage look elegant.
The top of Xiaoai A1 is the control panel, which selects the touch control mode, including fast forward/backward track, increase/decrease volume, and play/pause music. Of course, the sensitivity needs to be improved, and the Always Display is not always on, and the keys will not light up when clicked. According to the manufacturer, the white indicator belt in the middle is responsible for the control feedback function. The buttons themselves do not have lights. Press each button, and the corresponding ring light belt will light up to provide operation feedback. This benefit is that touch operation will not be unable to see the light feedback because the fingers block the buttons.
Xiaoai A1 has 1 RJ-45 network cable interface, 2 USB interfaces, 1 HDMI 2.0 interface, 1 AUX audio interface and 1 power interface. Dual band Wi Fi is supported. There is also a layer of perforated area between the bottom interface and the speaker. According to the feedback of the engineer, Little Love A1 has a large power. This part of the hole is a side bypass structure, which uses the bass speaker and cavity airflow to exhaust the heat of the main board through these holes. The bottom of the speaker is equipped with a shockproof and anti-skid foot pad, which is also printed with some parameters. The advantage of introducing the foot pad is that when it is placed on a smooth surface, Little Love A1 does not have to worry about falling to the ground accidentally.
Mobile App Control
Xiaoai A1 adopts AOS based on Android 5.1 deep optimization. In addition to the standard physical remote control, the whole system can also be controlled through the mobile app, which supports the connection between iOS and Android mobile phones.
The QR code on the official description points to a third-party Wukong remote control. Click the corresponding remote control entry at the bottom of the app, and we can select four different virtual remote control modes. The key mode and gesture mode are easy to use, and the overall user experience is the best. I suggest that readers can use these two modes. The overall experience of mouse mode is fairly good. Hard injury is that you cannot drag the page, that is, you cannot realize the role of the middle wheel area on the mouse.
The button mode is more suitable for Xiaobai users who are new to smart TV, and the overall experience is similar to the attached Bluetooth remote control. Gesture mode is more suitable for old drivers, and convenient gesture operation can greatly improve work efficiency. We can also use the mobile app virtual remote control to control the power off of Xiaoai A1, but we cannot reverse control its power on.
Performance and connectivity
Xiaoai A1 adopts 64 bit 4-core processor, 1.5-2GHz, based on Cortex-A53 architecture, with Mali-450 MP5 GPU, 2GB DDR3 RAM, and 8GB eMMC 5.1 flash memory. As a video player only, Little Love A1, which doesn't need to run 3D games, basically has no bottleneck in performance. The smoothness of playing music and watching video mainly depends on the transmission speed of the network environment.
In the system setting interface, we can customize the image definition, sound effect, Bluetooth settings, network settings, and general settings. The Bluetooth remote control does not need to be matched. After entering the system, it can be automatically recognized and connected successfully.
The control panel on the top of the fuselage has five touch keys. The left and right buttons are for backward and forward, the upper and lower buttons are for increasing and decreasing the volume, and the middle button is for pausing and playing. When clicking the touch key, the touch key will not light up, but will only display whether the operation is successful in the ring area. For example, the volume change is reflected in the ring lighting up. We can judge the current volume level according to the lit area. Short press to adjust one by one, long press to adjust quickly.
There are three ways to input sound to Xiaoai A1: AUX channel, Bluetooth channel and network channel.
Bluetooth channel: the speaker indicator is blue. The audio source and video resources are imported into Xiaoai A1 and AOS via Bluetooth transmission for playback.
Network channel: speaker indicator light is light blue/white. The sound is output through the intelligent TV, and the audio and video resources are transmitted to Little Love A1 through the network. At this time, you need to connect to the wired network or wireless network. Xiaoai A1 needs to be connected to the smart TV through the HDMI cable. At the same time, Xiaoai A1 must also be powered independently, that is, plugged into the power adapter provided by the original factory. According to the manufacturer's feedback, the machine itself does not have a lithium battery, which is based on Xiaoai A1 as a product with video in the living room. The use position is relatively fixed next to the TV, and the power is large.
AUX channel: the speaker indicator is green. Connect smart phones, MP3 and other devices to Xiaoai A1 through audio cable to play their internal audio and video resources. When I first got to know Little Love A1, I didn't understand it. I just connected the audio cable and power cable to Little Love A1, and found that the music in the phone could be played, but there was no sound in the speaker. As shown in the figure below:
After communicating with the manufacturer, we learned that the Bluetooth remote control of Xiaoai A1 has an independent CH channel switch key, which can be played without HDMI. As long as the channel is switched to the corresponding state and judged by the indicator light, the insertion of the AUX cable of the mass production model will automatically switch to the CH channel, and there is no need to rely on the blue tooth controller for hard switching.
Connected to the smart TV, when the audio and video resources are input through the network channel, the heat is relatively high, and the bottom of the body is relatively hot (because of the engineering machine, the heat dissipation design will be adjusted for the mass production model), but generally we will not directly contact it, because we will put the speakers on the ground. It is worth mentioning that when the phone is used to output to the speaker, that is, when the AUX channel is used, the heat is not very high.
Since it is based on the Android system development platform and has ROM storage data, we naturally want to export the data in the speakers to the computer, such as the screenshots of the author in this article. When it comes to file management, the number of software in the built-in Dangbei market is fairly good, such as file managers, but there may not be many speakers that can actually export data. The author first used the ES file manager to copy the ROM data to the USB stick inserted in the speaker. The system showed that the author had not authorized the ES file manager to write to the TF card, and could not find the authorization entry according to the prompt. Then I changed to another software called TV File Manager. This time, the situation was even worse. I could not cut and paste photos, but only read them.
Finally, the author chose the 360 file manager. When copying files offline, the ES file manager problem also occurred, and the ROM data could not be copied or cut to the TF card. But the biggest advantage of cloud service is that it can upload local data through the network, and finally use 360 cloud disk function to upload all the screenshots of speakers to the server, and then download them from the server to PC. Of course, if there is no network Therefore, it is recommended that manufacturers optimize the design of local data export in the later stage to make consumers feel convenient and fast.
The richness of film and television resources and voice expression
We first connect Xiaoai A1 and smart TV in HDMI cable mode, and then select HDMI mode output at the smart TV terminal, and AOS of Xiaoai A1 will take over the smart TV platform. The interface of AOS is divided into TV series, movies, variety shows, animation, Migu Music, My Application and system settings based on resource blocks. According to the feedback from the manufacturer, the black block is due to the API debugging of the engineering machine software, and the content is not accessed.
Next, let's take a look at the quality of various resource plates of Little Love A1. TV plays are all 1080P sources, which can be viewed by category and support search. There are not many Hong Kong dramas and Japanese dramas, but there are a little more Korean dramas, among which Hong Kong dramas as a whole are some old fashioned ones. The classic TVB dramas or the latest and most popular movie sources can be basically ignored.
Xiaoai A1 is obviously a home-made customized smart speaker, and mainland film sources have no suspense over other films. Blessed are consumers who like watching mainland films. To be sure, Little Love A1's built-in TV source can be watched for free without becoming a VIP member. Due to the support of iQIYI database, the quality of resources is guaranteed. In terms of films, we have seen more new film sources, whether overseas or domestic, which is better than TV series. But basically, you need to buy or become a VIP member to watch. The search function can help us easily screen out exclusive or free films for VIP members.
Many of the similar film resources in variety shows and animation programs are free to watch. What is better than the film resources is that there are many kinds of resources, and there are many latest versions. Take the collective childhood memories of Digital Tyrannosaurus Rex as an example, there are almost all six of them, so readers who want to review the classics should remember not to miss them. As mentioned above, some movie sources can only be viewed by VIP members who need to purchase iQIYI Gold, and the opening procedures are not too complicated.
Then let's talk about the search function. AOS has three built-in input methods: full keyboard, T9 keyboard and smart keyboard. Among them, the user experience of smart keyboard is relatively good, a bit like the style of KTV jukebox.
The smart keyboard input experience is good. Let's take Tiger Mom and Cat Dad as an example. After entering HMM on the smart keyboard, the searched option can be pushed to the first alternative. When playing the movie, we can click the menu button of the Bluetooth remote control to call up the setting interface of definition and picture proportion. Click the setting key to call up the global sound effect setting interface.
In the music playing interface, the system will automatically change the background on a regular basis. After logging in to the member account, it can also be modified to a custom background. Click the list option in the lower left corner to pop up candidate tracks, which is convenient to precisely lock the user's needs.
On the other hand, Migu Music also provides online audition of lossless music resources, but it seems that there is no download option. Most lossless audio provides standard audio quality, high-definition audio quality and lossless audio quality, which are convenient for dealing with different network transmission environments. After listening to several lossless tracks, I found that the sound quality is OK. With the dynamic bass boost and GDS virtual surround sound, Little Love A1 can perform better.
Xiaoai A1 also has a one button play function. Without turning on the TV, Xiaoai A1 can tap the top play button in standby mode to enter the Migu Music Hot Channel to automatically play music, and can switch from one song to the next, so that consumers can enjoy the humanized enjoyment of listening to music without lighting the TV screen.
Xiaoai A1 has a TV companion mode, which can automatically detect the loss of bass in the TV and act as a subwoofer, thus enhancing the sense of low frequency. For a speaker device, sound is the most important. In terms of audio chip parameters we are most concerned about, we have adopted two 1.5 "5-watt full frequency units, two TI 5731 DAMP digital power amplifiers, one ADAU 1761 DSP module, and introduced GDS virtual surround technology. It supports up to 60 frames of 4K video and H.265 hard decoding. Input sensitivity: 300mV ± 30mV, frequency response range: 50-20kHz, signal noise ratio: ≥ 75 dB.
According to the manufacturer's feedback, since the Xiaoai A1 we got is an engineering machine, the setting of the bass crossover point in the above figure shows that 3Hz is wrong because the software is still being debugged. In fact, in order to adapt to different televisions, Xiaoai A1 has set five levels of 80Hz - 300Hz in the bass crossover point. Users can manually select the crossover point to match with the TV according to their hearing. Of course, Xiaobai users can directly choose to automatically set the crossover point. At this time, Xiaoai A1 will call up the setting page to let the TV play a test audio, and the Bluetooth remote control will record and send back. The system will automatically determine how many low frequencies are missing from the user's TV, and then automatically adjust the bass crossover point of Xiaoai A1 to achieve the best sound connection with the TV.
There are three ways of system audio output: TV, TV companion and audio full frequency. TV means that the sound is only output through the built-in speaker of smart TV, and the high, middle and low frequencies are not output through Little Love A1. TV companion refers to the output of high and medium frequency through smart TV, and low frequency through Little Love A1. Full audio frequency means that all frequencies are output through Xiaoai A1.
In this paper, the subjective auditory perception test link selects audio full frequency mode to output to Xiaoai A1, and the input mode/channel selection selects AUX channel, that is, connect the smart phone and Xiaoai A1 with audio cable, and use the downloaded test track in the phone as the audio source. When audio full frequency output is used, the system will provide two additional sound effect setting options, dynamic bass boost and GDS virtual surround sound. In the following subjective listening test, the author sets the dynamic bass boost level to the default level 2 for most tracks, and adjusts some low-frequency tracks to the highest level 4. Due to the different input modes of AUX channel and network channel, the system will disable GDS virtual surround sound. Therefore, the following conclusions will show that Little Love A1 performs slightly worse in the sound field positioning link, but if the network channel is used with the built-in speaker of the smart TV, and GDS virtual surround sound is turned on at the same time, the sound field will be fuller and the surround sound effect will be more prominent.
Test tools: vivo Xplay5 flagship, 3.5mm audio cable, Xiaoai A1, Xiaomi TV. In the flagship version of vivo Xplay5, the Hi Fi mode is enabled throughout the process, the phone volume is set to 50% of the maximum volume, and the volume of Xiaoai A1 is manually and dynamically adjusted.
Love for a long time sees people's hearts (DFF format) and will pass (DFF format): Jingru's voice is a little muddy, not as comfortable, clean and clear as when listening with headphones.
Stick to it (WAV format): Adu's magnetism sounds similar to that of earphones.
Summer blown by the wind: the voice is relatively durable, but the low frequency is somewhat exaggerated, which sounds different from the original song.
When We Were Young: Similar to the above tracks, the low-frequency part is over rendered. Even if the dynamic bass boost option is set to the second gear, there is still a certain low-frequency enhancement effect.
AllAboutThatBass (WAV format): Low frequency is sufficient. Since it is released from the headset to a larger hearing space, it is also more appealing. When the low-frequency unit is operating, it can clearly feel the vibration of the speaker unit from the speaker cavity.
One I Love and A Thunsand Years: We should not expect too much for this type of music that is specially designed to test the analytical power, especially for the performance of the latter. After all, Little Love A1's positioning and focus are not in this regard. Turn on the volume of the speaker to reach the limit of 90%, and then close your ear to the speaker to listen carefully. Only then can you hear the sound of fire alarm cars, waves, thunder and the like in the prelude.
Hotel California (WAV format): As mentioned above, when the audio is output in full frequency mode, there is only one speaker, so the stereo performance is a bit thin.
Osaka City girl: The voice separation is not very good. Similar to the hotel in California, the sense of positioning is not as strong as listening with headphones. When using earphones, people can hear voices from different directions, which is also the limitation of single speakers of all desktop stereos at present. Otherwise, Hi Fi enthusiasts will not buy a whole set of equipment and multiple speakers.
Drum poem: At low frequencies, the potential is weaker than expected. Some details heard in the earphone are lost in the speaker. You need to further increase the volume and pay close attention to them before you can find them. The drumbeat will not be dull, and it can be matched with the crisp drumbeat sound.
Summary of audio performance:
The low frequency performance is commendable. Although it has enough sense of quantity, the control power needs to be improved, and it is hoped that the over rendering problem of some tracks can be properly solved. The diving force is not enough, for example, the drum poem mentioned above.
The mid-range vocals are commendable, but the analytical power has some room for improvement, but for most pop music, it can still be controlled. When listening to music in this band, remember to adjust the dynamic bass to 1 or 2. If it is level 3 or 4, it will further aggravate the over rendering of low frequencies. According to the manufacturer's suggestion, it is best to turn on the enhanced bass function when in partner mode, and listen to music at level 2.
High frequency does not highlight highlights, but it can achieve no broken sound and distortion. At the same time, it can feel that there is no suppression or weakening of the high-frequency sound performance of zither, piano and other instruments. After all, Xiao'ai A1 is a brand product of Guoguang Electric. It feels that Xiao'ai A1's voice is a balanced design concept and will not pursue a certain part of the expressiveness alone. The reason why the voice part of the previous article is not performing well is because of the engineering machine.
We also try to switch into different front-end devices for horizontal comparison to see how Xiaoai A1 performs. In addition to the flagship version of vivo Xplay5 (enabling Hi Fi mode), there are nubia Z11 black gold version (enabling Dolby sound effect) and Magic Blue metal. The volume of the three front ends is controlled at about 50% of the maximum value. During the test, only the volume of the speakers is manually adjusted. Finally, it is found that the three front ends can easily push this speaker, and the impedance is not too large. We also tested the performance of the two tracks, and basically adjusted the volume of the speaker to less than 50% of the maximum value to hear most details.
High Mountain and Flowing Water (Guzheng): The three front ends are similar to Xiao'ai A1 in terms of performance, extensibility and aftertaste performance. The high-frequency performance is moderate, which can be regarded as the kind of listening.
Ferry (Cai Qin, APE format): The low-frequency performance of the three front ends is good. In terms of drum sound, vivo's diving is slightly better. The performance of voice (mid-range) is similar, but the voice and background match, the flagship version of vivo Xplay5 is still the most natural. Sister Cai Qin's voice sounds very full and comfortable.
summary
As an intelligent speaker, Xiaoai A1 not only completes the basic functions of the speaker well, but also has the function of built-in TV box, which can configure intelligent TV to complete the construction of the ecosystem well. In terms of film and television resources, although there are a few types of TV dramas, and the latest films are basically charged, of course, this is mainly related to iQIYI and content providers, but variety shows and animation film sources are relatively high quality. On the other hand, the variety and quality of online resources of Migu Music are guaranteed. Some songs also provide lossless audio for audition. Of course, it may be better if the download function is added later. When it comes to downloading files, it is recommended to optimize the ability to support USB flash drives in the later stage, so that users can easily exchange data from ROM and USB flash drives. Otherwise, without the network, the emergency function of cloud disk is useless.
In terms of sound quality, as a smart speaker, the performance of high and high frequencies is commendable, and the sense of volume of low frequencies is sufficient, but the diving strength is insufficient. If you want to get a better sense of stereo and positioning, as well as a more shocking sound field effect, it is recommended to work together with smart TV. The appearance, mobile phone App connection, Bluetooth remote control experience and system interaction have all met the basic needs of users, and there is no serious weakness or hard injury.
In short, the idea of functional integration and cross-border audio and video integration of Little Love A1, the solution to the weak sound of smart TV, the communication between the bottom layer of Android system and the audio system, and the user-friendly audio control interface are still worthy of recognition.
