Hi!
Since we’ve been discussing airPlay quite a bit lately I thought it time
to ask the question again, is there a good portable AirPlay speaker
still available?
I don’t know the exact answer to that question but if you’re talking
about a good quality portable AirPlay speaker then I would suggest that
such a thing is rather thin on the ground.
The irony of all this is that I bought - what I believe to be - one of
the best Portable Airplay speaker systems to have been produced in the
form of the Bose Soundlink Air, that was 3 years ago so this model is no
longer available.
The Bose Soundlink Air even sounded far different than the usual run of
the mill stuff from Bose exhibiting quite nice highs, quite a bit of mid
range and not the overpowering bass you usually hear from Bose stuff.
So why isn’t the Bose Soundlink Air being sold any longer? Well battery
life isn’t very good at around 3 hours on high volume but I can assure
you that no one in their right mind would listen to the Bose Soundlink
Air at anywhere near high volume but - suppose you did - you’d still
hear lovely clear sound, how the Bose Soundlink Air can still pump out
sound with no distortion at such a volume in a portable is truly remarkable.
The other problem with the Soundlink Air was that it didn’t actually
come with a battery, that accessory was sold separately costing a good
quarter of the value of the system itself but still, well worth it it
you wanted a truly portable system with a good sound.
Setup is easy enough and the Bose can connect to your iPhone in three
different ways, “Wi-Fi Direct mode”, the phone communicates directly
with the Soundlink Air, “Standard Wi-Fi”, the Soundlink Air joins your
Home Network via Wi-Fi and the Aux-in jack, your choice.
The soundlink Air comes with a very nice remote control that puts volume
and track selection at your fingertips, though the buttons look like
your rotten typical rubbery cheap remote control buttons they’re far
from cheap, the rubber covers nice clicky type buttons, you feel and
hear them click.
So why am I mentioning the Soundlink Air if its not available any
longer? I did find a couple of new Soundlink Air’s available at very
reasonable prices to my way of thinking, around half of what they were
worth originally so - given that and if you’re looking for a good
AirPlay speaker with plenty of flexibility and functionality - then the
Bose Soundlink Air - if you can still buy it - is a true bargain which
you’ll treasure for quite a long time.
List members may remember that I recorded a sample of the Soundlink Air
which I posted to the list quite some time ago.
And finally, if other list members have suggestions for a good portable
AirPlay speaker then perhaps they could post them, always interested to
hear about other devices.
Another good portable AirPlay speaker one might consider is the Denon
Cocoon, the Cocoon is more functional than the Bose Soundlink Air but is
nowhere near as powerful.
**********
Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of
the halfwits in this world behind.
