Accessories specialist Belkin has enlisted French firm Devialet to help it make this smart speaker that not only works well, but sounds good too. It even has Qi-compatible wireless charging incorporated in the dock on the top. 

The Soundform Elite will be available next month for £280 so it's not cheap, but undercuts the more expensive end of the market. 

Like many other third-party smart speaker launches we're seeing at the moment, the Soundform Elite opts for Google Assistant over Amazon Alexa. 

Although the Soundform Elite smart speaker has been launched here at CES 2020, we actually heard a prototype of the device a few months back and it offered impressive audio for the size of the device.

However, the smart speaker competition is fierce, and Belkin - now owned by Chinese behemoth Foxconn - will have to work hard to impress potential customers. 

Belkin teams up with Devialet to launch the Soundform Elite smart speaker with wireless charging image 2
Belkin

At our earlier demo we were told that the team working on the device had to work hard to ensure the audio was free of interference from the wireless charging - and that the phone would stay on the charger while the audio was booming. 

Devailet is the company behind the superb-sounding - but expensive - Phantom series of speakers. It also provided the audio smarts for Sky's foray into the TV sound market - Sky Soundbox - a couple of years back. 

Devialet has incorporated its patented SAM (Speaker Active Matching) tech inside the speaker for acurrate sound reproduction. It's woofer configuration is also specifically designed to reduce vibrations. 

The Soundform Elite is available in grey/white or black.