During CES 2015, many of you might remember that while Google wasn’t in attendance during the show, their presence was very much felt thanks to Google Cast, an extension of Chromecast for music. Essentially, this was Google’s way of bringing their Cast platform to WiFi-enabled speakers, giving users the option to control the music from their devices, but instead of streaming it from their smartphones the music would come directly from the Internet. The idea being that without having to use Bluetooth, a better quality of sound could be had as a result. LG were one of the first to jump onboard with their Music Flow lineup of speakers, and they’re finally becoming available here in the U.S.
LG is offering some new soundbars that are Google Cast enabled along with some more traditional portable speakers. The H3, H4, H5 and H7 offer power outputs from 20W all the way up to 70W and range from $179 to $379. These are your more traditional speakers like the one pictured above, and will ideally replace an existing Bluetooth speaker of some kind. As for soundbars, LG is offering three different models each with their own sub-woofer. The LAS751M, LAS851M and LAS950M start from $499 and as you’d expect are more designed for a living room to fill the room with sound from a TV, but with Google Cast support they can be used to play music just as well, too.
These speakers can be combined together into a sort of mesh network, and they’re smart enough to know when someone is within one foot of the speaker and the music will start playing there. All of these speakers and soundbars have Bluetooth technology as well, and as they’re Google Cast enabled they will play anything that supports the platform. They also feature Spotify Connect, too. The H4 speaker is to be available starting this May and will be the only true portable option thanks to a battery inside, and as of writing they’re not available at Amazon however they will be available at Amazon, HH Gregg, Best Buy and the Google Play store soon.