[tubemonkey]

The new UE Blast may be the first great portable Alexa speaker

But voice control doesn’t come cheap

It's starting to feel like the biggest threat to Google Assistant establishing a presence around the home is simply being crowded out by a swarm of Alexa gadgets. Today, Ultimate Ears — maker of the very popular Boom line of Bluetooth speakers — announced a new series, the UE Blast, with far-field microphones for Amazon’s Alexa built right in. Both the Blast and its larger, louder sibling the Megablast will begin shipping in late October for $229.99 and $299.99 respectively. Those prices are significantly higher than the mainstream Boom products, which will remain available for consumers who simply want a take-anywhere Bluetooth speaker.

Unfortunately, Spotify support won’t be available through Alexa at launch (just like Sonos), and it sounds like UE will need a few months to make that happen. I wouldn’t bet on it happening before the holidays, but we’ll see. You’ve always got the option of simply using Bluetooth for Spotify, though — and any other service that doesn’t work with Alexa voice commands.

The services that will support Alexa out of the box are Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, and TuneIn. That’s a pretty small list if you’re not subscribing to Amazon’s premium, on-demand music option. Pandora and Deezer will be added “in the future.”

But those prices, though. These are some expensive speakers. They cost more than the Sonos One, and I’d hesitate to predict even the Megablast sounding better than a Sonos. For $150, the Blast would be a must-have holiday gift and maybe the ideal portable speaker. Going over $200 takes something away from that appeal.

Let’s see how long it takes for a price cut.