The Matter smart home standard, designed to connect and control all your smart home devices, is poised to support speakers, thanks to an effort led by Dutch startup Legato. Chris LaPré, CTO of the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), which runs Matter, confirmed that a new streaming speaker device type and related controls are under development.

This development could revolutionize the smart speaker market by enabling seamless music streaming and ambient notifications across ecosystems. With Matter support, speakers could leverage device-to-device communication to send alerts when someone rings your doorbell, notify you when your washing is done, or sound alarms when a smoke detector is triggered. Additionally, Matter support could allow you to play music on any Matter-enabled speaker from any Matter-enabled app, regardless of the ecosystem or brand.

However, it may be a while before we see the benefits of Matter speakers, as there are several hoops to jump through before they become part of the standard. "It's too early to put a timeline to when these will make it into the specification or what the full capabilities will be," said LaPré. Currently, smart speakers like Apple's HomePods, Echo devices, and Google's Nest speakers are Matter controllers, not Matter device types, meaning they connect to and control Matter devices in their ecosystems but can't be controlled by other Matter devices and ecosystems.

Legato, the company behind the effort to bring speakers to Matter, is a startup out of Amsterdam whose founders include Sonos and Apple alumni with a "deep knowledge of wireless speakers, software engineering, and user experience." Legato is working with CSA member companies that are speaker manufacturers, software makers, ecosystems, and content providers to develop the spec. The group is "fully focused on making audio and speakers work through Matter," said Fiede Schillmoeller, CEO of Legato.

The specifics of how speakers will work are still under development, but Schillmoeller confirmed that the team is building something that will handle "all the important stuff," including choosing your audio source, controlling volume, and full transport controls. This would mean you could control any Matter speaker from any Matter-supported ecosystem app, such as Apple Home, Alexa, Google Home, and Home Assistant.

Schillmoeller also hopes the team can integrate speakers with your smart home through scenes, enabling features like setting what type of music plays in the morning when you wake up or what happens to your speaker when you leave the house. While Matter won't enable multiroom music, a feature likely to remain at the ecosystem level, it could open up new possibilities for smart home automation.

Legato has developed LegatoXP, a software platform that can power "smart" speakers, providing a way to connect speakers from different brands to enable multiroom music and support for multiple smart home ecosystems through Matter. Manufacturers can license the LegatoXP software from the company and build it into their existing hardware or opt to build a smart speaker from the ground up using compatible chipsets.

LegatoXP runs on a real-time operating system (RTOS) architecture, which is more lightweight, uses less power, and is much cheaper than traditional Linux-based systems. This could enable manufacturers to produce inexpensive smart speakers that work across ecosystems, potentially democratizing whole home audio.

Schillmoeller is confident that Legato's tech will help manufacturers build a new breed of smart speakers, potentially selling them for prices similar to Bluetooth speakers, possibly as low as $25. "Matter is the catalyst for some of this change," he said. "It's opening an opportunity to launch things to a wide range of people without needing to build some of the critical infrastructure ourselves."

While it's unclear whether Apple, Google, and Amazon will enable their speakers as Matter device types, the potential benefits of Matter speakers are undeniable. As the smart home market continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how Legato's efforts shape the future of smart speakers and whole home audio.