Pioneer Launches World's First Lightning-Powered Plug-and-Play Speaker

[MacRumors]

Pioneer today introduced Rayz Rally, which it claims is the world's first Lightning-powered plug-and-play speaker that has no battery.

The portable speaker can be used to listen to music, but Pioneer is heavily marketing it as a speakerphone for conference calling.

For conference calling, Pioneer says users simply plug the Rally into the Lightning connector, initiate calls from the iPhone, and the call is automatically transferred to the speaker. Despite being small enough to fit in a pocket, the speaker is supposedly loud enough to be used in a boardroom.

The speaker has a single button on the front that can mute/unmute calls or play/pause music depending on what it's being used for. It also has a female Lightning connector that allows the speaker to be used with a Mac or PC, or for pass-through charging to an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, with a Lightning to USB cable.

The speaker works in tandem with Pioneer's free Rayz Appcessory Companion App on the App Store [Direct Link] for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Pioneer said the Rayz Rally is available today for $99.95 on Apple.com and at Apple Stores worldwide in the colors Ice, Onyx, and Space Gray. It's also available on Amazon in the United States. Prices vary by country.

Article Link: Pioneer Launches World's First Lightning-Powered Plug-and-Play Speaker

 

[Tucom]

Well they sure pioneered this product category. Oh oh OH!

K.

 

[Dilster3k]

I really don't want to be ill-hearted here; but I really don't understand why this product exists... Especially at that price point.

 

[Aston441]

Pioneer, unlike Logipuke, has always had fantastic fidelity, along with the best support I've ever received from an audio company.

I will give this a try. I just wish the Echo had speaker phone capability. For some reason I can't fathom Amazon won't flip the switch to allow iPhone access to the microphone.

Does anyone know if the HomePod will have speaker phone capability? Because if it does, that's what will probably push me over the edge to try it out and possibly eventually ditch Amazon.
[doublepost=1497968265][/doublepost]

I really don't want to be ill-hearted here; but I really don't understand why this product exists... Especially at that price point.

Some of us have different needs. I need this.

 

[hortod1]

What's that thing between the phone and the speaker...? Oh, it's a cable? Weird, feels so... last year. I'll stick to Bluetooth.

 

[ikir]

Pretty nice, the price maybe it is too high but I like the idea.

 

[_Refurbished_]

Man, I wish there was a wireless technology that did the same thing...oh wait...there is....and it's been around since before the original iPhone. It's called Bluetooth.

At $100, that's a very tough sell. I could see the appeal at $20.

 

[ouimetnick]

Pioneer is just another brand that lives on in name only. They were big in the 1970s, flagship receiver was the massive SX-1980, I had a SX-450, great sounding little thing. Beautiful aluminum face place, heavy tubing knob, solid construction, real glass used, etc

 

[SoN1NjA]

@Aston441 Google Home now does calling

 

[jmh600cbr]

@Aston441 Google Home now does calling

Does the homepod? I immediately assumed it would.

 

[Aston441]

@Aston441 Google Home now does calling

I couldn't find that info anywhere a few weeks ago. Do you have a link? Is it through Google Voice or can it just be used as a regular Bluetooth Speakerphone - and most importantly, how is the microphone/call quality at the other end of the conversation?

I spent $200 on a Bose Mini Soundlink II in hopes of having a decent speakerphone and the mic turned out to be garbage, making it useless as a speakerphone.

I know the Echo has great microphones, which is why it makes me crazy that Amazon won't let me use them for phone and conference calls.

 

[benroberts3]

Pioneer, unlike Logipuke, has always had fantastic fidelity, along with the best support I've ever received from an audio company.

I will give this a try. I just wish the Echo had speaker phone capability. For some reason I can't fathom Amazon won't flip the switch to allow iPhone access to the microphone.

Does anyone know if the HomePod will have speaker phone capability? Because if it does, that's what will probably push me over the edge to try it out and possibly eventually ditch Amazon.
[doublepost=1497968265][/doublepost]

Some of us have different needs. I need this.

The Google home will soon have the capability to make and receive calls. Later this year they will integrate your number into the device so the caller id shows up as you.

 

[morcutt11]

Pioneeer is still a company? Why not just plug it into the audio jack... oh wait... that's right.
Doe it at least extend the lightning port by adding a lightning port on the "Ray Rally". And who named this thing anyway?
[doublepost=1497972777][/doublepost]

Pioneer is just another brand that lives on in name only. They were big in the 1970s, flagship receiver was the massive SX-1980, I had a SX-450, great sounding little thing. Beautiful aluminum face place, heavy tubing knob, solid construction, real glass used, etc

Amen to that. I had a bunch of their gear in the late 70s, early 80's. Great stuff. Unfortunately the new stuff isn't the same. I purchased two of the "Elite" serious receivers over the last few years. Both ended up having problems. I just ended up going back to Yamaha, which never seems to disappoint me. Many manufacturers make cheap units, but when I'm spending well over $1000, I'd like to not have critical failures just after a year or so.

 

[Aston441]

Pioneeer is still a company? Why not just plug it into the audio jack... oh wait... that's right.
Doe it at least extend the lightning port by adding a lightning port on the "Ray Rally". And who named this thing anyway?
[doublepost=1497972777][/doublepost]
Amen to that. I had a bunch of their gear in the late 70s, early 80's. Great stuff. Unfortunately the new stuff isn't the same. I purchased two of the "Elite" serious receivers over the last few years. Both ended up having problems. I just ended up going back to Yamaha, which never seems to disappoint me. Many manufacturers make cheap units, but when I'm spending well over $1000, I'd like to not have critical failures just after a year or so.

Oh Yamaha. I totally forgot about Yamaha and I even have one of their pianos! I'm going to have to go check some of their stuff out.

 

[jimmysalg]

Well they sure pioneered this product category. Oh oh OH!

K.

In my opinion this is a cool product...I have a bunch of bluetooth speakers which I love. But being able to have this on my business travel bag is great and I don't have to worry about keeping it charged. There are many instances where a portable little speaker would be great for on demand conference calls. I don't disagree that maybe 99 is a bit much

 

[weckart]

At $100, that's a very tough sell. I could see the appeal at $20.

Give it a couple of months and you will see similar at that price point or even lower from the usual suspects.

 

[Zxxv]

I'd have called it the iTampon

 

[ouimetnick]

Pioneeer is still a company? Why not just plug it into the audio jack... oh wait... that's right.
Doe it at least extend the lightning port by adding a lightning port on the "Ray Rally". And who named this thing anyway?
[doublepost=1497972777][/doublepost]
Amen to that. I had a bunch of their gear in the late 70s, early 80's. Great stuff. Unfortunately the new stuff isn't the same. I purchased two of the "Elite" serious receivers over the last few years. Both ended up having problems. I just ended up going back to Yamaha, which never seems to disappoint me. Many manufacturers make cheap units, but when I'm spending well over $1000, I'd like to not have critical failures just after a year or so.

Even Yamaha's quality has gone down. They had nice build quality up until early 2000 when they switched to plastic for everything. Used to be nice blacked brushed aluminum and also beautiful silver faced gear in the 70s.

I guess all the vintage audio manufactures if they are still around make junk/low quality things. Look at Altec Lansing, JBL, Klipsch, Sony

 

[sza]

Another dongle?

 

[lantz0027]

Pioneer is just another brand that lives on in name only. They were big in the 1970s, flagship receiver was the massive SX-1980, I had a SX-450, great sounding little thing. Beautiful aluminum face place, heavy tubing knob, solid construction, real glass used, etc

I agree in the consumer space, but Pioneer is the industry standard for DJ equipment.

 

[Mac 128]

The speaker has a single button on the front that can mute/unmute calls or play/pause music depending on what it's being used for. A standard Lightning to USB cable can be plugged into the Rayz Rally to use the speaker with a Mac or PC, or to enable pass-through charging to an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

​

Too bad it can't be used with a Mac or PC, or any other audio source for that matter, as there's no adapter in existence to use it with anything but a Lightning equipped iOS device.​

 

[Vanilla35]

In my opinion this is a cool product...I have a bunch of bluetooth speakers which I love. But being able to have this on my business travel bag is great and I don't have to worry about keeping it charged. There are many instances where a portable little speaker would be great for on demand conference calls. I don't disagree that maybe 99 is a bit much

If this delivers crystal clear audio, I could see it being a huge advantage over terrible bluetooth quality. Other than that, this is a terrible product compared to alternatives that exist in the market already lol.

 

[macaddiict]

... being able to have this on my business travel bag is great and I don't have to worry about keeping it charged ...

THIS!

People comparing this to a bluetooth speaker seem to be missing the point. It is a speakerphone you don't have to worry about keeping charged first and foremost and a speaker secondary (probably because people would complain if it didn't play music).

I work remotely and often have to struggle on the other end of a call with my boss who never thinks to be sure the audio setup is good for me as the lone remote person. If this gets good reviews, she will get one as a gift from me to save me from metaphorically squinting my ears every time work calls and throws me on a crappy speakerphone.

Anyone who says "yeah, but a lot of bluetooth speakers already have a speakerphone function LoL0lL111" probably haven't been on the other end of a call using a bluetooth speaker. Most of them have absolutely horrid quality.

 

[Tucom]

In my opinion this is a cool product...I have a bunch of bluetooth speakers which I love. But being able to have this on my business travel bag is great and I don't have to worry about keeping it charged. There are many instances where a portable little speaker would be great for on demand conference calls. I don't disagree that maybe 99 is a bit much

Lol I never said it wasn't a cool product; I wasn't dissing it - I could care less about it; was just being silly for the sake of it. Lol no need to defend it. It's kind of cool, but hardly worth anything more than something novel vs. an actual dedicated speaker for actual performance, IMO.

But I agree, I can see the possible use cases.

 

[Urban Joe]

100.00 What a steal of a deal I'll take 25 and give them out for party favors.