Final Thoughts
You know if this was just a Bluetooth speaker I would still like it. For one it has a cool design, they definitely have something with the fabric designs on these speakers. They look good, feel good, and are very unique. Besides that this speaker sounds really, really good given its size. It is powerful enough to fill a room with sound. The little light ring at the bottom of the speaker adds a little flare as well.
But the fact that this is a smart speaker really just makes the Riff amazing. First you can use it with your favorite streaming apps to listen to music or stream music from your phone to it over WiFi. This means that you are not limited by the 30 foot range of Bluetooth and you can actually take calls on your phone without interrupting the music that is playing. Also being a smart speaker means that you can link up to 10 of these speakers together for a great multi-room listening experience.
Of course the big selling point of the RIFF is that it is compatible with Amazon Alexa. Once you connect your Alexa account you can press the microphone button and simply ask it a question or give it a command. You can even stream Amazon Music simply by saying, “Play [artist name] radio” and it will instantly start playing. A lot of people might prefer this smart speaker over an Amazon Echo Dot as it is not always listening the dot is. You actively have to press the microphone button for it to start listening. Also the Riff sounds a hell of a lot better than the Echo Dot.
The Fabriq app is really easy to use and makes setting up the Riff a breeze. One thing I couldn’t find in the app anywhere was the battery level of the speaker. While the Fabriq says the battery level is up to 5 hours there is now way to see how much battery power you have left.
At the end of the day this is one awesome little smart speaker and a great alternative to Amazon’s Echo Dot! Right now you can pickup this speaker for $49.99 at our favorite online retailer. Overall ThinkComputers gives the Fabriq Riff Smart Speaker a 9 out of 10 score!
Pros:
– Fabric design is just cool
– Sounds great
– Smart (WiFi) speaker, not just Bluetooth
– Can connection multiple speakers together
– Works with Amazon Alexa
Cons:
– No way to tell battery level in the app