Prick up your ears to Mark Oakley ’s guide to going wireless
The first single I ever purchased was Bon Jovi’s ‘Lay Your Hands On Me’. On the cover, Jon Bon Jovi showed off his long, flowing locks like a peacock displays its feathers. This was one proud rocker, and I was a very proud young boy for having bought it – with my own money, no less.
Spin on some 26 years later, and you can picture my delight at having dug this bad boy out of my garage during one of my annual attempts at creating some sort of order in my life. As John Francis Bongiovi Junior stared back at me with his sweaty visage, I reflected on how my music habits have changed over the past few decades. Whereas ‘Lay Your Hands On Me’ was a 7” slice of vinyl joy, now the vast majority of my music purchases are carried out over the internet (the last physical music outlet in town is HMV and all the independents have gone to seed), and nine out of ten of those purchases are in a digital format.
I do occasionally still buy CDs from time to time, but that tends to be if it’s a particular artist I’m fond of or if it’s a special edition release. But on the whole, I’ve pretty much become a slave to digital audio formats, and I’m not alone. Digital music revenues overtook physical sales for the first time last year as Apple, Google, Spotify, Deezer and a number of alternative services took control.
Buying digital music has become so easy that the success of these services has left record players and CD systems gathering dust. Now, thanks to better wireless networks, the stand-alone wireless speaker has become the popular plaything for audiophiles.
Why choose an old, wired speaker setup when you can look to the future with new, wireless speakers that take advantage of the latest technology, giving you total control over your digital collection and allowing you to unleash it around the home?
The thing with the wireless speaker market is that since it’s taken off so well, the options are plentiful and somewhat confusing. Bluetooth, AirPlay or wi-fi? Multi-room system? Spotify support or not? Can you really get a good sound from a speaker that small? Is £100 going to get you anything that truly fills a room with sound? Let’s find out.
Which Streams Best?
The single biggest question when it comes to buying wireless speakers is which streaming technology you should choose. As always, the answer isn’t as straightforward as it might seem.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth speakers are the most popular wireless speakers on the block. This is chiefly because Bluetooth technology can be found on any mobile device you care to think of, so Bluetooth speakers will work with pretty much any smartphone or tablet on the market, alongside desktop and laptop systems.
For a little history lesson, Bluetooth has been around since 1994, when Ericsson came up with the concept as an alternative to cables. Transmitting data over short distances using radio transmissions, Bluetooth operates in the 2.4GHz band and has the widest spectrum of uses of any wireless technology. Cars, smartphones, medical devices and everyday household objects all use Bluetooth to connect to each other, and due to its popularity among manufacturers, Bluetooth speakers are plentiful. There are also several good reasons why Bluetooth has become so popular.
Bluetooth – The Good
Portability: The biggest draw behind buying Bluetooth speakers is that the technology is completely portable. If you want to take your speaker with you on holiday or on a business trip, you can do that with a battery-powered Bluetooth speaker and you don’t need any wi-fi signal to listen to your music either – assuming you have some music stored locally on a Bluetooth device.
One size fits all: Bluetooth works with all mobile devices across all platforms. So whether you’re iOS or Android, HTC, Apple or Samsung, you’ll be able to connect to Bluetooth speakers. This eradicates any worries about which brand you should buy.
Low power: Bluetooth speakers typically consume surprisingly little power, so you often don’t need external power adapters to run them. Another feather in the cap for the portability argument, this also means that Bluetooth speakers tend to come in all shapes and sizes, right down to teeny devices of just a few inches.
Brand-tastic: As the technology itself is so far-reaching, the number of companies and brands (big and small) developing Bluetooth speakers has grown. With a breadth of choice that’s wider than rival options, if you want to follow your favourite brand, Bluetooth is likely the way to do it.
Cost: Because of the wide range of speakers on offer, Bluetooth tends to offer the lowest prices, although that often comes with caveats regarding audio quality or battery life. Still, if you’re on a budget, it may be the best way to go.
Bluetooth – The Bad
Audio quality: While portability is arguably Bluetooth’s biggest strength, it also comes with a significant downside. The audio quality of some of the smaller, less capable Bluetooth models can leave a lot to be desired. A speaker with a subwoofer or bass/treble controls is typically something you’d want to look for if you’re going to use your speaker for serious, long-term listening.
Also, Bluetooth uses lossy compression to transmit audio over airwaves and while that has certainly improved markedly over the years since Bluetooth was first introduced, audiophiles would still argue that it isn’t up to par. In this respect, the aptX codec is worth looking out for, and more companies ranging from Sony, Denon and Creative are using this in their speakers, because it promises a higher quality of audio.
Power: This is a particular problem for portable speakers without their own power supply. I’ve purchased and tested a few portable, budget Bluetooth devices over the years, and I’ve been left seriously disappointed with the power output and, therefore, the range of the audio.
Bluetooth – The Ugly
In-home interference: The biggest problem with Bluetooth (and this was a deal-breaker for me personally) is the spectrum on which Bluetooth operates. This might not be a problem for you if you have a dual-band router at home, but I’m stuck with my 2.4GHz router for my home broadband, and when I recently trialled one of Sony’s latest Bluetooth speakers, I was endlessly frustrated with audio dropouts, as my Mac and other devices were interfering with the speaker’s output. I’ve had problems with other Bluetooth speakers I’ve used in the past in this respect too and the placing of your Bluetooth speaker in a home environment is all-important on this score. In the kitchen, with fewer devices to interfere with, Bluetooth speakers work very well. In my home working environment, Bluetooth speakers have proven a frustrating experience.
My advice? If you have a dual-band router at home, switch to the 5GHz band if you can to avoid Bluetooth interference. Other than that, it’s a case of trial and error; change your wireless channel on your router and experiment with different room placings for the speaker itself.
AirPlay
If you’re not an Apple user, this next section is obviously not aimed at you. It would be impossible to ignore the Apple device market, though, and AirPlay has become the go-to screensharing technology for Apple tablet and smartphone users.
Once it was adopted on wireless speaker systems, Apple knew it was on to a winner with its proprietary technology. AirPlay was first introduced in 2010, and over the last few years manufacturers have harnessed the full functionality of the wireless streaming feature. Working over wi-fi networks, AirPlay has two active components for it to work: a source and a receiver. The source is an Apple device running AirPlayenabled software to stream media; the receiver is an AirPlay device that plays that media, along with metadata such as track information. One source can output a stream to multiple AirPlay-compatible devices.
AirPlay – The Good
Network based: Being on a home network has the major advantage of being able to handle a much improved range over Bluetooth. There are no point-to-point worries here, and you’ll be able to walk around a room and position your speakers in a far wider variety of spots without any impact on audio quality, provided your AirPlay devices (source and receiver) are on the network.
Simultaneous streaming: AirPlay speakers provide a handy option for a multi-room audio solution – something Bluetooth cannot provide, because it’s an in-room solution only due to its limited range.
Not just music: If you have an Apple TV, you can set up your AirPlay speakers to output audio, so if your TV happens to have pretty bad audio quality, no matter, because AirPlay has you sorted.
Lossless compression: AirPlay provides lossless streaming, and generally AirPlay speakers’ audio quality is very good.
AirPlay – The Bad
Network based: You need a good quality wi-fi network setup in order for AirPlay to be a success. That’s not a big problem for the vast majority of us these days, but if you’re unfortunate enough to have a substandard wi-fi home network with dropouts and low bandwidth, don’t expect AirPlay to solve your problems.
Home based: AirPlay speakers are reliant on wi-fi, so they’re not portable. You won’t be taking these down to the local park with you to accompany your football match. Ultimately, this one comes down to what you want out of your wireless system and how you’re going to use it, but AirPlay’s functionality is more limited than Bluetooth’s.
AirPlay – The Ugly
Cost: Proprietary technology comes with its own set of licensing and development costs, and that works out as more expensive than its rivals. Apple users will be used to paying for the company’s products by now, but AirPlay speaker systems really are not cheap, starting in the low hundreds and rising to the cost of a dedicated and frankly superior wired home system. You’re paying for the convenience of them ‘just working’, which isn’t even always the case, because there are also occasions when this streaming technology throws a wobbly, just like audio dropouts occur on Bluetooth.
Apple only: You cannot use AirPlay products with any other brand. If you’re a total Apple convert, then this isn’t necessarily a problem at all, but if the idea of having all your eggs in one basket doesn’t sit well with you, then AirPlay isn’t going to help you.
Dedicated Multi-Room Wireless Setups
Sonos has become the wireless streaming market’s big player. Founded in 2002, the brand has gone on to develop speakers that cater for any home setup you can think of, and the big draw here is multi-room. Having the ability to play audio across speakers dotted around your house simultaneously, or to play different audio to each speaker and being able to fully control each one independently has appeal.
Other brands in this market include Bluesound, which has garnered fantastic reviews for its audio quality, and Pure’s Jongo system, which can use wi-fi or Bluetooth.
These systems come with their own dedicated apps as well, meaning you can control your audio remotely via your smartphone or tablet.
The Good
Music services: Dedicated systems from Sonos and Bluesound don’t only stream audio from your sources. They also come with built-in music services from the likes of Spotify, Qobuz and Deezer, the latter two providing lossless audio streams on the Sonos system. You’ll have to be signed up to these services, of course, but the chances are that you could very well be signed on for the premium services in any case. Being able to access them directly through these systems is certainly a huge plus.
Audio quality: Marketed as providing hi-fi-quality audio around the home, these systems theoretically provide the best audio quality compared with rival speaker systems. They also provide a big sound, easily filling a room even with the entrylevel speakers they provide.
Connectivity: The multi-room setup is no longer a scary weekend project. Buy a few speakers from these manufacturers, set up the software on your desktop, laptop or mobile device and within a few button presses, you have yourself a multi-room system you’ll be proud to show off to your friends and family. These setups were designed to speak to each other, so the potential for upgrading down the line and adding bits to your system is also easy.
Worth boasting about: They do look, sound and feel truly wonderful. You’ll be the one hosting all the parties with these systems.
The bad
A very specific set of skills: These are dedicated systems for a dedicated purpose. If a multi-room setup isn’t what you’re after, you’d be better serviced with a single, highquality speaker.
Self-contained ecosystem: Taking Sonos as an example, the entire system – hardware and software – is a bespoke, dedicated one for that setup. As with Apple’s iTunes, if that isn’t to your liking, then this could put you off. Ultimately, once you buy into this kind of system, you’re locked in. It’s not like using a Bluetooth speaker, which is for more flexible in its usability. I have to say that personally I think the Sonos software is excellent, but that doesn’t mean to say it’s for everyone.
The Ugly
Cost: There’s no getting around it: once you begin to add up the cost of putting a multi-room system together, it’s probably going to cost you more than a superior sounding, wired setup around your home. You’re paying for the convenience of being able to control your music remotely, but the cost can approach well over £1,000 quite easily when you start putting a few speakers together. Whether you think it’s worth that spend depends on how highly you rate music streaming and whether you’re prepared to compromise (slightly) on the audio.
Summing Up
Whichever streaming solution you decide to opt for, there are clearly benefits and negatives to all of them. Much of your decision will likely come down to how you want to use wireless speakers, and once you’ve determined this you’ll be in a much better position to discard many of the numerous options on the table.
If it’s a portable system you’re after, one that you can take with you to parties, weekend breaks etc., then Bluetooth is really the best route. Likewise, if you’re on a budget, then Bluetooth certainly has the greatest variety of prices. If you’re an Apple user through and through, then AirPlay may very well be your choice, because it’s built to work around iOS. If it’s a multi-room solution you want, then you’re options are increasing all the time and the hardware that’s available is generally fantastic for the job.
Have a look at some of the suggestions dotted around these pages for inspiration, and when you buy a product, make sure you fully test it. If it isn’t performing as you’d expect, keep the original packaging and your receipt and take it back to the store for advice, an exchange or even a refund. The important thing here is to make sure you’re returning it for the right reasons, and that’s why it’s important to know what you want out of a wireless speaker before you go any buy one.
Go forth and research, people! Unleash that inner Bon Jovi.
Bluetooth On A Budget
As it’s the most popular, widely adopted wireless speaker standard around, Bluetooth also comes with the most options for all budgets.
Among the big brands, Sony has a solid reputation in this area, and it’s recently revamped its range of Bluetooth speakers that aim provide a solution for any user. From the SRS-X11 (£69) to the SRS-X99 (£599), the range of fully portable speakers is backed up in the upper-end of the range by wi-fi and AirPlay support alongside Bluetooth. Sony’s styling is spot on with this range too, and the addition of nice touches such as touch-sensitive controls and NFC connectivity with supported smartphones make for a potent, powerful mix. Audio-wise, I’ve tested the SRS-X55 (£159), and the rich bass and 2.1-channel audio output easily fill a small or medium room. I did experience connectivity problems when using it my home office, as it didn’t seem to like competing with my Bluetooth devices already connected to my Mac. However, when I tested it in the kitchen and bedrooms away from my desktop, the audio results were fantastic, with powerful bass and clear, standout vocals.
The speakers at the higher end of the range also support multi-room setups thanks to the SongPal app, but the starting price of the speakers for that is £259 for the 40W SRS-X77.
Bose also offers a strong line-up with its SoundLink range. The SoundLink Mini Bluetooth Speaker II costs around £170, and the rechargeable battery offers around ten hours between charges. For what’s a relatively small unit for the power output (it’s only around 18cm long), the reviews surrounding this are pretty much universally positive. You can’t pair two of them together, but you might not need it, because this provides a surprisingly powerful and capable sound for the money.
At the lower end of the spectrum, you’ll find Bluetooth speakers in supermarkets and high streets everywhere, but if you want a speaker that’s going to make your music sing rather than warble, avoid the cheaper end of the market. That said, for less than £100, you could pick up Denon’s Envaya Mini, which might not have the greatest battery life in the world (consumers seem to report around five hours), but the audio quality of anything backed by Denon should be pretty solid. Alternatively, for less than £50 (and you can actually pick up a pair for a tenner if you look around), you could have X-Mini’s Max Duo pair of speakers for a stereo upgrade for your smartphone. The audio on these won’t blow anyone away, but for background music at a picnic or a park, they’re surely worth a look.
AirPlay’s Big Hitters
Apple’s AirPlay speaker partners include B&W, Harmon Karden and Libratone. The bottom line, then, is that you’re going to have to pay for the audio quality that you’d expect products from these types of partners to provide. One thing to say from the off is that every single AirPlay speaker I’ve seen on the market looks outstanding, with high build quality the norm. The problem is that you really are having to pay big for that branding and quality, though.
The Libratone Zipp is unique (if rather gimmicky), in that it comes in a range of zipped-up covers to hide the tweeters, woofers and drivers inside. Fortunately for the Scandinavian manufacturer, this isn’t just about the looks, as reviews suggest strong audio to go with a speaker that would enhance the look of any home. Alongside AirPlay, the Libratone now also provides wi-fi and Bluetooth support.
For £700, you could go all out on B&W’s A7 speaker, a powerful 150W single speaker that’s by all accounts a cracker to listen to, but is ultimately for Apple devices only. Also from B&W, the newly released £499 Zeppelin Wireless provides AirPlay and now Bluetooth support, as well as Spotify Connect built in (you need to be signed up for Spotify Premium for this to play tunes from Spotify through the speakers). For far less money, you could always try the SmartSpeaker (thesmartspeaker.com) for around £150 if you shop around. Some reviews have suggested you’ll need two of them for a proper stereo setup, however.
Sonos Still On Top
For dedicated, multi-room setups, Sonos remains the brand to beat, more so when it launched its Play 1 speaker for less then £170. Providing an entry point for consumers at a price that’s not ridiculous, Sonos made itself available to a much broader consumer base. I have a Play 1 speaker myself and it’s an absolute joy to listen to. Setup is a breeze, it supports a wide range of online streaming options, with hundreds of radio stations available for free, alongside support for the paid-for versions of Spotify, Deezer, Qobuz and many more. If you want to buy more powerful speakers, the company has just relaunched its flagship Play: 5 speaker, now with TruePlay technology for superior sound calibration around a specific room setup.
I haven’t been lucky enough to test Sonos’s alternatives – chiefly the well-received Bluesound range – but I can say that I’m delighted with the system. The Sonos Controller app is well thought out, and the ability to add more speakers to the system for a multi-room system is hugely appealing further down the line (although the Play:1 fills a small- to medium-sized room wonderfully). At one point, Sonos was pretty much the only game in town in multi-room setups, and although that has changed in recent years, the firm still knows what it’s doing.
Chromecast Audio: Cheap Upgrade For Old Hi-Fi
Recently, Google announced the Chromecast Audio device, a dongle that plugs into a standard hi-fi speaker (via standard 3.5mm, RCA or optical cable), and then connects to your wi-fi network so you can stream audio to it. Costing just £30, this could be the perfect entry point into music streaming for people who don’t want to spend too much money from the outset. It’s not going to compete with the usability and audio quality of dedicated systems, but it’s not trying to. What it certainly could do, though, is find real success in much of the lower end of the market.