I received the Omni S2 on Tuesday so I’ve had 3 days to explore what’s on offer here. The Polk Audio Omni S2 is part of Polk Audio’s “Omni” series of speakers, amps and Soundbars all of which are DTS Play-Fi compatible. Play-Fi is an IOS/Android/PC/Mac App that controls and synchronises Play-Fi compatible devices on a home network. Play-Fi is a standard in competition with Sonos but the difference here is that the Play-Fi standard can be used by any manufacturer should they decide to use it, Polk Audio and Rotel are two manufacturers who are using Play-Fi thus far, for a complete list look at the DTS Play-Fi web pages found with Google, you’ll see a lot of audiophile names that use the Play-Fi standard, why? Well perhaps its because Play-Fi allows the playback - where possible - of high quality audio at various bit and sampling rates but enough of that sort of talk for now as this review is concerned with the Polk Audio Omni S2 Those who have heard the name Polk Audio will know the company for their excellent range of Hi-Fi speakers. Polk Audio recently entered into a partnership with an electronics manufacturer thus it made perfect sense for Polk Audio to put its name on Powered speakers, Soundbars, Sub-Woofers and so on, the Omni series with Play-Fi is an extension of this. The Omni S2 is a complete portable speaker unit which is powered by an internal rechargeable battery. There’s not much in the box apart from the speaker unit itself there’s a mains AC Power adapter with various AC plug fittings and another speaker grill should you decide that the colour isn’t right, you can remove the grill and replace it. Controls on the Omni S2 are sparse but make a lot of sense, on the front of the unit - in the centre - are 3 buttons, the centre button is a pause/-on/off button and the buttons either side of this are volume down and up. Around the back of the speaker is a Wi-Fi antenna which can be orientated for best reception, an Aux-in socket, a USB port, the Power in socket and a WPS button. The Omni S2 connects to a Wi-Fi network by default though a fixed connection to a LAN can be made if necessary, more on this later. The first action the user must take is to connect the Omni S2 to a Wi-Fi network which is done using WPS - Wi-Fi Protected Setup - which most modern Wi-Fi routers handle and here’s where things are incredibly easy for those without sight. To ensure the Omni S2 is in WPS connect mode hold down the WPS button for around 4 seconds until the Omni S2 sounds a beep, at that time release the button and press the WPS button etc on your Wi-fi router, leave both alone for 3 minutes or so to establish a connection and job is done. The next thing to be done is to download the Polk Audio Omni App or the DTS Play-Fi App, both Apps are identical apart from the graphics. Run the Play-Fi DTS App and the Polk Audio Omni S2 appears in the speaker list, tapping the iCon then brought me to a Firmware update screen, the updating of the Omni S2 firmware was automatic and took around 10 minutes where upon I was able to connect to the Oni S2 again using the App. At this point I was given the opportunity to name the Speaker, you can select from a list of preset names such as “Bathroom, Bedroom” etc or you can enter a Custom name which I chose to do. Now I cam to the exciting bit, where I was able to select the source of audio I wished to hear and a wide variety of sources is on hand including iHeart Radio, Spotify, Pandora, Tidal, Internet radio and your own Media Server if you have one, the list of sources can be customised to your needs by adding and deleting sources to match your requirements. I tried Internet Radio first and was very pleased to see the content presented in much the same way it appears on most other Internet Radio Apps and players I’ve tried, the ability to browse by location, local radio stations, search for stations and so on. Tapping a radio station would start playback after around 5 seconds, the DTS Play-Fi App actually receives the station and then transmits that received stream to the selected Play-Fi device or devices, this approach has some practical benefits though it can be draining on the battery of your phone. Next I tried the Media Server option and my Media Server came up in the list so I selected a playlist, sat back and enjoyed though it was a little strange having my music come out of a mono speaker. spotify sounded glorious but the real enjoyment was to be had when I played some of my FLAC Music collection, pure gold but again in mono so time to think about a second Polk Audio Omni S2. The Omni S2 can lay either horizontally on a table - good if you only have one speaker - or stand vertically on a table - have two or more tower type speakers for stereo etc -. DTS Play-Fi can “Pair” speakers together thus if you have two Omni S2 speakers you can make a stereo pair thus enjoy your music even more, the idea I have is to have two Omni S2 speakers to enjoy when I’m outdoors and of course the stereo effect should be quite good depending on my placement of the speakers. I mentioned some practical benefits of the DTS Play-Fi App actually receiving the stream and then transmitting that stream over your Wi-Fi network to the connected speakers, one of those practical benefits is that you can use a VPN or VPN App on your phone to listen to Geo Blocked radio stations such as BBC 5 Live Extra without a problem, tis the phone that’s doing all the work so no settings need to be changed to accommodate the connected speakers given they’re receiving the information from the Play-Fi App, Iv’e found this to be incredibly handy. I’ve been using the Play-Fi App before the arrival of the Omni S2 for around 6 months, I started using it when I received my Rotel T14 FM/DAB/Play-Fi compatible streamer in February solo I’m very familiar with how DTS Play-fi works. Play-Fi is very robust and reliable so obviously some work has been done to bring the App up to scratch, the performance wasn’t too good if earlier posts and reviews regarding the App are anything to go by. Dropouts are rare and connection is good unlike Apple’s AirPlay which these days is pretty much hit and miss, either it works or it doesn’t. I used the Android version of the DTS Play-Fi App as I found it to be the most accessible and the most convenient to use. At the time of writing the IOS App is a dogs breakfast, I’ve written to DTS pointing out the problems with accessibility I experienced so I hope these problems with the App will be fixed in a later version. Note that with the Omni series form Polk Audio, in order for them to work you must either use the DTS Play-Fi App or connect a source to the Aux-In, there’s no other alternatives available such as Apple’s AirPlay or DLNA, a bit of a shock when I first noticed it but - given the wide variety of sources the Play-fi App covers - it didn’t take me long to get over the slight disappointment. given Play-Fi is used by various manufacturers however the feature set may change, take my Rotel T14 streamer for example, not only does it offer Play-Fi, it also offers Apple Airplay, DLNA and Google Cast. If you’d rather use your Omni S2 speaker on a Lan then you can use a USB to LAN adapter which plugs into the USB port on the rear of the Omni S2 though Iv’e not been able to locate one of these adapters as yet. If you wish the addition of Bluetooth capability for your Omni S2 then a Bluetooth adapter can be used connected to the USB port, the audio output of which connects to the Aux-In jack right next to the USB port, but I don’t think I’ll bother with this option myself given the device works perfectly well on my Wi-fi network. So how does the Omni S2 sound? no doubt about the Omni S2 sounding a little bass heavy but not boxy as some other speakers sound. Mid range is good and treble is obvious but not over done or too bright.
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