Compared to the mostly plastic constructions of the Google Home and Amazon Echo, House of Marley’s new battery-powered Google Assistant speaker is pretty eye-catching. The Get Together Mini is made of a combination of bamboo and aluminum, and is wrapped in fabric made from cotton, hemp, and recycled plastics. Combined, this creates what the company claims are some of the highest percentages of sustainable materials used to build any Google Assistant smart speaker.
The inclusion of Google’s voice assistant means you get voice control of all your music, as well as anything else you care to ask Google for. The speaker can be set to always listen out for a wake word, but you’ll also have the option of pressing the Google Assistant button on its top before saying your command. Meanwhile, a button on the rear of the speaker can stop the mic from listening. You can use Google Cast to stream music to the speaker from your phone and pair it up with other compatible speakers for multi-room audio, and it’s also equipped with Bluetooth.
You get six hours of playback over Wi-Fi, but this can drop to as little as four hours if you have the mic constantly listening for a wake work, or rise as high as 12 hours if you’re using Bluetooth. Charging is handled via a USB-C port on its rear, and there’s also a USB-A port if you want to charge your device directly from the speaker. We haven’t had a chance to listen to this model for ourselves yet, but the existing non-smart version of the speaker has been pretty well received so far.
The Get Together Mini will retail for $199.99 when it launches later this year in August. That’s a little more than the $130 asking price of the Google Home, but for the money you’re getting the portability, the ability to charge your devices, and a fancy slice of bamboo.
Along with its debut smart speaker, the company is also announcing the Liberate Air, a pair of true wireless earbuds that will give you seven hours of playback on a single charge, with a charging case that’ll give you 40 hours of total playback. Not bad, considering the five hours you’ll get from a pair of Apple AirPods or the 24 hours total you’ll get after using their charging case.
House of Marley’s earbuds also have an IPX4 water resistance rating, and feature tap controls on the outside of each earbud. The Liberate Air will be available for $149.99 in July.
Meanwhile, the Exodus ANC are a pair of over-ear noise-canceling headphones with a 24-hour battery life (or 40 if you turn off noise cancellation), which is about average for the category. They’ll cost $249.99 when they go on sale in September 2019, or if you’re not fussed about ANC, you can grab the standard Exodus for $199.99 earlier in March.
House of Marley’s Redemption are a cheaper pair of headphones than the Exodus line. You get the same memory foam ear cushions, over-ear construction, and 24-hour battery life, but there’s no option for noise cancellation. The Redemption headphones will be available for $99.99 in July.
The Stir it Up Wireless adds Bluetooth 5.0 support to the brand’s existing turntable that was released in 2016. It’s got the same built-in pre-amp and belt drive system as its predecessor and of course features the same bamboo and aluminum construction. The new turntable will cost $249.99 when it’s released in September this year.