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This story is part of CES 2016. Our editors bring you complete CES 2016 coverage and scour the showroom floor for the hottest new tech gadgets around.
It’s a tough sell to stray from Sonos if you’re considering investing in a wireless multi-room speaker system, but Raumfeld is a competitor with growing potential — at CES in Las Vegas, the company just announced that all of its multi-room home Wi-Fi speaker products will now feature content playback from SoundCloud and Google Cast for audio.
We reviewed the Raumfeld One S entry-level wireless speaker last year and liked its sonic capabilities and moisture-resistant design that gave it an edge on the Sonos Play:1, but we weren’t happy about the lack of compatible music services. At the time, the available services offered were limited to Spotify Connect, Tidal and TuneIn, but the expanded offering means you can access your SoundCloud favorites and personal recordings through the Raumfeld app on your phone.
Google Cast for audio is a service that allows you to control music playback through any device running the company’s Chrome browser. This means the expanded services let you use your PC and Mac computers, in addition to most mobile devices, to music browsers for your Raumfeld sound system. The expansion to Google Cast means you can now access content from radio stations like Pandora and iHeartRadio on those devices as well.
Raumfeld’s entire multi-room WiFi audio range will have the upgraded streaming services before products ship in February 2016. The One S is the most modestly priced speaker in the line, starting at $250 (AU$345, £170).
