The one thing that’s been missing from my home office setup is a good set of stereo speakers. For the past year I’ve been relying on a HomePod Mini to provide the tunes from my laptop. It does an adequate job, though not without its quirks. The main one being the HomePod does not broadcast stereo sound - it’s just one round speaker, after all. Indeed I could buy a second Mini to make it a traditional stereo pair, but at that point I much rather get a proper set of speakers.
Because the others quirks of the HomePod makes it not so easy to use. The only way to connect to it is via AirPlay, Apple’s proprietary software to beam audio and visual between devices. It’s great when it works, but the consistency is surprisingly poor for an Apple product. Often times I have to reset my MacBook Pro’s sound to send the signal to the HomePod, even though I’ve changed nothing since last use. Sometimes it flat-out refuses to reconnect with the laptop after using the HomePod with my iPhone. Last but not the least annoying: there’s a considerable lag between pressing play and the sound coming out of the HomePod.
I’ve always wanted a pair of large bookshelf speakers for my setup. They look awesome in a retro way, and they can output great volume throughout the spectrum without the need for a secondary subwoofer. I rent my place so I wouldn’t want house-shaking bass anyways. My eyes were set on the well-reviewed Audioengine A5+ for the longest time. However, a chance encounter with the Kanto YU6 page on Amazon - a direct competitor to the A5+ - saw an open-box item for a lot less than MSRP.
So here I am sat on my desk with a pair of the YU6 speakers flanking my Pro Display XDR. They look particularly snazzy too, in the matte white finish. They sound great to my ears, though I’m admittedly not an audiophile of any sort. I’m just happy to have stereo sound again on my desktop.
They’re huge.