As the 19th-century philosophical saying goes, all truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is opposed. Third, it is accepted. When Amazon abandoned its puck-shaped Echo Dot a few years ago and served up a spherical design in its place, comment threads on various forums erupted in laughter.
Amazon isn’t the first to consider a spherical audio solution, of course. Cabasse’s Pearl and Devialet’s Phantom range embraced the design many moons ago, while others, such as Bowers & Wilkins’ Nautilus or Vivid Audio’s Giya, have also confidently extolled the virtues of gastropod shapes for sonic deliverance. Now, of course, Apple has also gone spherical with its excellent HomePod Mini.
