iHome iW1 AirPlay Wireless Stereo Speaker System with Rechargeable Battery

• Wirelessly stream music from iTunes, iPad, iPhone and iPod touch via Wi-Fi
• Play and charge your iPhone or iPod via USB port and included cable
• Easy network configuration with free iHome Connect app; Firmware upgradeable
• Bongiovi Acoustics DPS sound processing custom tuned to 4 speaker drivers; also has sleek backlit touch-sensitive Capacitive Touch control panel
• Internal rechargeable Lithium-ion battery; remote control, charging base and recessed handle for convenient portability

I bought this from Best Buy last week. It was hard to find them in stock, but I stopped in and they just happened to have some so I picked one up after waiting for this to come out all year. I was very excited to get this home and play around with it.

First thing, unboxing it gave a good first impression. You can tell they went out of their way to give it that appearance of being an Apple product. Minimalist packaging, and the user manual even had its own hard 'envelope' type packing which gave it a quality feel. Set up was a breeze, you can even download the ihome connect app and set it up right from your iphone, ipod, or ipad.. very slick, very simple.

The speaker unit itself has a nice, heavy weight to which iHome takes full advantage of by adding a rubber (or something like that) surface to the bottom which really causes the unit to sit nicely on whatever surface you put it on no sliding around, no worrying about my 2 year old being able to push it off its shelf (out of his reach, but he climbs like a monkey), just a great overall quality feel to the product. I'm assuming the weight is because of the battery in the unit but regardless just a nice feel. They are very attractive and I really like the touch control interface on the top. Very simple so other members of the family can use it as well.

Comes with a charging base that you just sit the unit itself onto. Very easy to pick up and set down the speaker to take with you around the house. Very no fuss, very small, again just another piece of the iW1 that was well thought out and engineered.

As for the sounds I found it acceptable. I streamed to it from iTunes on a PC and a Mac, I also use Airfoil to stream to this unit with no problem from either a mac or PC, which works very well so if you're wondering if Airfoil picks up this unit it does, just like every other Airplay device I've used with it. At any rate the bass is a little on the light side, which I expected. I'm not an audiophile, but I have some friends who are into it, and I doubt they would have been impressed overall, but my wife and kids and the few people that came over and listened to it during it's one week stay in my house really enjoyed the sound and the ease of use.

Controlling your music source works very well from the iW1 as well (better than I expected). Adjusting the volume will adjust the volume on the device you're streaming from. The pause, forward, and reverse buttons work very well with iTunes, and worked with Pandora when streaming from an iphone which was a nice touch I thought.

So, why did I return it?

Airplay how you torture me with your potential! I've used Airtunes now Airplay for awhile. I used to just use my airport express hooked up to different stereo systems around the house which works pretty well but here's my problem, and it's a beef with Airplay, not this unit the only problem here is the iW1 was built around Airplay and all of its bugs. I can stream from an iphone, ipad, ipod, or PC with no problems from my iTunes library, but anytime I stream from an app, Pandora, I Heart Radio, MLB at Bat, TuneIn Radio, and SiriusXM, I get audio dropouts. Sometimes things will work for 10-15 minutes and I'll think the problem has gone away, or I've adjusted the right setting in my router, but then the audio will just quit. It seems to me like it's an iOS issue (running iOS5) because I can stream Pandora or pretty much anything on my computer and stream via Airplay with no problems at all it's just from iOS devices. I use an Airport Extreme router so you'd think being made by Apple I'd have better results. I've checked for interfering signals and network issues, I've changed the router's wireless channel, I've turned off/on IPV6, played with QoS setting, nothing I do fixes the problem. When I want to sit down next summer and listen to a baseball game via the MLB app, the last thing I want to do is turn off my iphone or ipad and turn it back on 10 times during the game. To be fair I get the same issues when streaming to an AppleTV from the apps as well. Can't for the life of me, or the lives of the customer service reps I've spent time on the with, pinpoint the problem..

So anyway, for $300 I want something that 'just works'. I don't really fault iHome for the problems, I see it as an Airplay issue.. The concept of this device is great. I love that it charges, I can pick it up and take it anywhere within my Wifi network be able to sit out on the deck next summer and just bring it outside with me, listen to baseball or some tunes, and catch up on some work outside.. but with the audio dropouts and constant reboots, it just isn't going to cut it. I'll rate it at 4 stars, I'd give it 5 if it wasn't for airplay bugs.

Guess I am going to get a Sonos system after all.. you can do a lot more with it, hopefully they'll come out with a rechargeable product like this one as well.

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I have wanted to add speakers to my kitchen but the cost and effort to run additional speaker cable for better speakers made me search for a wireless option. I have been reading about Sonos and Airplay systems and decided to give this one a try.

Impressions:

Appearance/quality: Good looking product with a nice remote. I was impressed with the look and feel as I took it out of the box. It looks and feels like a well made product.

Setup: This was a little trickier than expected. You have to download and run the iHome Connect app first which I didn't understand from the boxed instructions. I thought I could setup the unit up straight from my desktop and wi-fi controls. Maybe there is a way to do that but it proved a little more challenging and my patience wore thin. Once I just downloaded the iHome Connect app to my iPhone it was much easier!

Sound: The sound is alright. My regular home stereo which is important to me is a reasonably good component system with a combination of Mission, Mirage, and Bose speakers powered by decent Yamaha and Onkyo components. Does this speaker system sound as good as those speakers? No. Is that OK? Yes! This iHome iW1 AirPlay system accomplishes what I wanted to bring additional sound to my kitchen without having to do construction. Mission Accomplished!

This is not an audiophile quality system but it sounds alright and provides simple easy to use connectivity and control. It works well with iTunes and the Apple remote app on my iPhone and iPad. It fits my needs and then some. I really like that in the warmer months I can un-dock this from the charging base and take it outside for family dinners and spending time on the back deck with some music. That is a huge bonus for this system.

All in all, I am very happy with it.

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Update: I returned this. no firmware update and I picked up a Philip's Fidelio Sound ring from Amazon and it blows away the iW1 in sound quality... I'd reccomend the Philips over this unit... it's a shame because I really really did want the iHome unit.

On paper the is the ultimate AirPlay system but they failed in delivery. First off its not compatible with the iPhone 4S (confirmed on their support site as known issue) and audio constantly breaks up like ever 2 minutes for about 5-8 seconds. It's not my network as my apple tv which works fine, it's like they don't properly buffer or the processor is underpowered. And I agree with the other low-star reviewer, the power supply is a lame joke from the 80's. I haven't seen this old a power brick in 10 years and the ferrite plug

Is ginormous.

I really hope they can deliver a firmware update to fix 4s and studder issues within the next week or so or it's going back! Will be looking at the Philips units next as Bose also failed to deliver an AirPlay unit.

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This product is great. I used their iphone app and it took 2 minutes to set up on my WPA-2 PSK network. I have a solid wifi network and it works beautifully. It is also beautifully designed (the kind of product apple would make if they made speakers). The touch interface on top is also really nice. I am not audiophile, but it sounds pretty good. For $300 it seems like a good deal. And when I magically (wirelessly) send music from iphone to it, it makes me feel like I live in the future.

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I was very excited to buy this speaker when I first heard about it, but the price and mixed reviews made me hold off. I finally bought one for my new place after the Christmas holiday. I returned it less than two weeks later after exchanging multiple emails with iHome tech support.

Connecting the unit to my network was troublesome. It seemed to need a reset a couple of times before the settings would take. After that it would work fine. The music would play for about an hour and then stop inexplicably. It would simply "forget" the network settings and I'd have to reprogram them. There's no excuse for that. I figured it was a glitch and there'd be a firmware update, but the tech support people said I had the latest firmware installed. iHome recommended I return the speakers for a replacement from the store. I just used the store credit to buy something else. If I had the latest firmware, it stands to reason that I'd have the same problem with the next one. I didn't want to chance that given the frustration I went through.

There are other speakers available that work with AirPlay. From the reviews I've read, there are less expensive ones that sound better. The iW1 is the only unit that is battery powered which gave us the flexibility we needed in our home. We will wait patiently for the next version or a competing product. What a shame it really is a great idea.

A few things you should know:

The iW1 comes with a wireless G radio. If you're using wireless N, you'll have to switch your router to G/N mixed mode which shortens range and network speed

The glossy finish is a haven for fingerprints

The speakers have a good bass and midrange punch, but the tweeters are lacking. It stole the "presence" of most music and made everything dull. If sound quality is important to you, you can find better AirPlay speakers for less.