- Dual JBL Phoenix transducers with computer-optimized DSP equalization deliver full range frequency response for legendary JBL sound
- AirPlay music streaming allows you to wirelessly stream your entire iTunes 10.1 music library from your computer or iPod, iPhone or iPad
- Dock connector for iPad, iPod and iPhone devices that allows iPod and iPhones to be positioned in portrait or landscape orientation for optimal video display
- Video output connection lets you display video content on TV (cable not included)
- Dynamic JBL Weave design offers a distinctive, one-of a-kind look
First, the good stuff:
1.) Easy setup to your Wifi network. You connect to the On Beat Air from your iDevice or computer over adhoc WiFi, and then set it up to connect to your WiFi network. This took me under 60 seconds. The instruction sheet lays this out perfectly simply.
2.) Once connected to your network, I found the On Beat Air to maintain a very solid connection to my Apple Time Capsule wireless router. Excellent. AirPlay worked flawlessly.
3.) A simple LED lit solid indicates the connection to your network has been made. The connection LED is white, rather than piercing blue, which is much preferred.
4.) The dock for charging your iDevice will fit your iPhone with a case on (I'm sure this depend on which case, but I had no trouble with my Speck Pixelskin HD on my iPhone 4S).
5.) Sound quality is pretty good. While a tad lacking in the bass department, for such a small unit I'm very impressed.
6.) Included remote is a nice touch.
But, as always, the bad stuff...
1.) The included cabling to connect to the wall is hopelessly long. It's in two parts, with the 100-240v worldwide power brick in one part, and the localized USA cable as the other part. Together they're just too long for my liking. This may not bother some people, especially if you use the On Beat Air as your alarm clock on your bedside table. However, for kitchen use on a counter it's just a real nuisance. I don't think JBL could have pleased everyone here, but still... kitchen users be sure you have somewhere to hide the cables if you're plugging in above counter. Also, bear in mind the power cable to the dock stick out quite a bit, too, so you need more depth on your shelf than the unit's actual measurements.
2.) The power button is on the back of the unit. I don't like to leave WiFi devices running needlessly due to power usage and excessive WiFi radiation in my house, so I like to turn the thing off. And I can't do that without moving the unit away from the wall and poking round the back to turn it off. The On Beat Xtreme model apparently solves this with a power button on the front side. This would have been preferable. Bizarrely, the connection button for WiFi is on the side next to the volume controls, easily accessible. Why? Put the power button there instead! You'll use that WiFi button ONLY when you're setting the device up!
3.) The IR remote, while "cute," doesn't have a power on/off button on it, and also needs a pretty direct line of sight to work 100%. The Xtreme model solves this issue, too, with an RF remote.
Overall, I really like the unit. It maintains a great connection to my WiFi network, has quite pleasing sound, a very stable dock for your iPhone or iPad, and was so very simple to set up. It's a shame some of the On Beat Air Xtreme features didn't make it to the On Beat Air model (though the Xtreme doesn't support AirPlay!?), but overall this is one of the best iPhone/iPad docks I've used.
4 out of 5.
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Through Vine, I've been able to review a few portable speaker systems, most of them with WiFi/Airplay capability. The On Beat Air does a number of things well, but falls short in a bunch of categories that may be important to you. Here are the major points:
-The sound is good for a tiny speaker system. Don't complain about how it doesn't really have enough volume or bass because... that's just not going to happen for something of this size. Don't be fooled either by the photos showing people enjoying the On Beat Air in a party-like setting. You could use the speaker for background music at a modest party, but it is best to think of the output as akin to a small to medium size boom box.
-WiFi setup was easy and largely the same as setting up competing Airplay speakers. WiFi reception has been consistently very good. I've had no trouble moving the unit around and outside the house, and it has maintained a connection even through masonry walls.
-I like the dock, however, there are growing complaints about the strength of the dock arm, complaints about the fit of the iPad 2, and strong complaints about the speaker's power-saving features that largely preclude the use this as an iPhone-clock-radio (because when your iPhone alarm goes off, no sound comes out of the speakers). This last problem is very unfortunate because this is a natural nighttime docking station, and many people do use their phones as alarm clocks.
-I don't like the speaker app or the controls, generally. The JBL app tries to do too much, but it isn't as capable as iTunes, so it ends up getting in the way. The physical controls on the speaker are okay, but the power button is way in the back, while the volume buttons are inappropriate up/down buttons (for a product of this size, a volume dial please). JBL could also have dispensed with the remote control since iOS devices can control all of this remotely anyway. By comparison, Logitech's speaker app for the UE is a barebones program that sets the speakers functions and then gets out of the way.
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My girlfriend got me the JBL OnStage dock for my iPhone for Christmas last year and I was amazed at the sound for such a small dock/speaker system. So when I got my iPad I knew JBL was the first place I would look for a speaker dock for it.
Appearance The physical appearance is, well, a bit funky but not bad. It looks a bit feminine with the curves and the crossover trim in the front. Reminds me of looking at the shoulders of a lady wearing a shawl that is crossed in front. Not bad by any means, but I would prefer something a bit more angular and "manly". The glossy silver trim is nice but does attract finger prints. The materials are solid, fit and construction quality is good. Doesn't feel cheap the speaker grilles are metal. Looks like a quality product.
Setup The cords / cables / brackets are all pretty straight-forward. There is one really long power cable (2 pieces, like a laptop cable) and two brackets (one for iPhone/iPod, one for iPad). Some people have complained about the power cable being too long. That seems pretty silly/picky to me wouldn't you rather have a "too long" cable rather than a too short one? It's not that long. If you don't like the long cable use they thought to pack a nice feature to fix it the original twisty-tie that was packed with the cord. Tie that puppy up and be done with it. The brackets are a bit fidgety to install they snap onto the dock arm and lock in place. Although the setup instructions for networking the dock and enabling AirPlay were simple and clear I had issues getting it to work the first and second times. The process went smoothly until you are supposed to select the OnBeat Air as your Wifi connection. Neither of my devices could find it. I turned the dock on and off, then my iPhone could see it but not my iPad. I tried turning on/off again and eventually both could see it. Not sure why just took a few power cycles to get the iPhone/iPad to see it. From there setup was fine other than when I did get the AirPlay set up, the iPad still wouldn't see the dock as an AirPlay speaker. I cycled the power on the dock and iPad again, eventually it found it. I unplugged the dock to move it to another room and it lost connection to my wifi. The iPad again had issues seeing the dock, and wouldn't connect. I cycled the power on the dock and it connected to the wifi and was back to normal. I'm hoping that dropping the connection isn't a regular occurrence.
Functionality The most important part of this dock for me is the sound. The sound quality is excellent! When I first played some music from my iPad it seemed the slightest bit scratchy, which I was really disappointed with because the smaller OnStage dock has amazing sound and I believe they have the same speakers. I connected my iPhone and the sound was noticeably better no scratchiness at all. I did some investigating on my iPad and found that the difference was I had my Volume Limit setting (Settings/Music/Volume Limit) cranked all the way up on my iPad while my iPhone was just a smudge from full blast. I pulled the slider on the Volume Limit down just a bit and viola! Perfect, amazing, full, rich, deep sound from my iPad through the OnBeat. If you try this and your sound is not perfect try adjusting your volume limit down a bit, made a world of difference to me. The buttons are good sized and easy to press, the power button is around back, but I plan on leaving it turned on. All cable ports are in the back too which is fine and expected.
AirPlay works as expected once you can figure out how to get it to connect. As I said, connecting was kind of a pain. If it were my Mom doing it she would have packed it up and sent it back. If it were my Dad he would have cussed at it then thrown it across the room. It was frustrating. Once connected I was able to stream audio from the iPad, iPhone and Mac Mini running iTunes with no problem. You can use the included JBL remote to control iTunes on your computer for some basic functions which is cool if you don't have an Apple remote. I didn't notice any degradation in sound quality using AirPlay compared to using the dock connector.
Charging/Docking/Synching were the next important features it charges both the iPhone 4S and new iPad (iPad3) with no problems. it doesn't charge super fast when the iPad is playing something, but it does charge a bit. The dock was the next feature I was interested in. I was hoping the iPad could be docked in horizontal position, but the leverage isn't right. Plus the bracket for the iPad has a locking pin on the back that keeps the dock arm from rotation to landscape position. You can remove the bracket, rotate the arm and re-install the bracket, but it's so unstable I wouldn't recommend it. Since you have AirPlay, if you want to watch something in landscape mode just undock it and play sound wirelessly. That means you can't charge your iPad and view/listen in landscape mode, but it's a minor gripe considering the reasonable cost of the dock. The iPhone docks and rotates smoothly as long as the iPad bracket is removed. The synching to computer works well if you have the old "type B" usb cable that has the squarish connector on one end. Why in the world didn't they use a standard mini-USB type connector? I've got tons of the mini USB cables lying around but I had to pull the Type B one off my old printer to test it. I was able to fit my phone with a medium sized rubber case in the bracket with no problem. The iPad wouldn't fit in the brackets with the leather case, but I imagine it would with a shell-type case. The iPhone felt very secure in the dock, the iPad was a bit wobbly but not bad.
The 3.5mm audio jack worked fine as well. The volume was quieter but still sounded clear. It's a nice option if you're playing a non-15 pin dock device such as a laptop, iPod Shuffle or anything else with a headphone jack. You will need a patch cord to connect, there's not one included.
I could not get the video to function at all. I tried several times to use the remote and hold the Menu button to turn on the video out feature but the dock did not respond. I tried every combination of button pushing I could think of but nothing would get the video to work. My video is completely non-functional. Why you'd have to use the remote to turn on a function is poor design in my opinion anyway. What happens if you lose the remote? I honestly don't know how much I'd use it at home, but it torques me off that it doesn't work. I travel a lot so it would have been nice to be able to play videos from the iPhone over the hotel TV, but that's not an option with no video. Boo. Just dropped a star for that problem.
Overall a decent system if sound is important to you but video output is not. I rated three out of five stars, deducting one for the difficulty in setting up AirPlay; one for the Video Out not functioning.
Edit: I finally figured out what caused the video issue. When I was trying to activate the feature I had the remote slightly off-center from the front of the dock. When I tried again from a low angle directly in front of the unit the video output worked. Both recorded videos and Netflix output fine. I am still leaving off the star however because it was a pain to figure this out and the activation of the video output by remote is a stupid design.
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This is a great little unit with above average sound. JBL has said that this unit has "360 degree" sound, and it does give the illusion of surround sound somewhat. It's not really true surround, but the sound did fill the room.
Wi-Fi pairing was not quite as easy as the directions made it seem. It seemed a bit odd to have to go to a non-iphone-friendly website to try and set-up the wi-fi. Once wi-fi is set up with the unit, then it's cake. Anyone on the wi-fi connection who has an i-Device has access to this unit, and can play their music from it. I tested it with several different people and several different devices, and it worked great every time. This would be an awesome unit for a college dorm room, where there's free wi-fi, and everyone's iPhone, iPad and MacBook are already connected. Parties are organizing themselves!
The one problem I had with this unit was that it wouldn't connect to the wi-fi at my work, even when I put in the correct password. Not sure why that is, but they're a bit paranoid at my work, and so a lot of things are "banned" there. I'm thinking that the network is set up to not accept connections from devices it doesn't recognize? I can't think of any other reason why it wouldn't connect. So, that was a little disappointing.
At home, though, it connected, and once it was connected, it stayed connected, even after turning it off and on several times. I was able to play songs from my iPhone, iPad and MacBook with no problem at all. The Wi-Fi connectivity really makes the unit.
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Amazon Prime's free 2 day shipping has paid for itself already it came in 2 days with free shipping. I did quite a bit of research on getting new speakers for my household's two ipad(2's) The other we had was okay, borderline "good" but that was until I listened to this speaker system it made the other one sound mediocre in comparison. (Altec) They are also the same size.
We can play this system in the living room and hear it throughout the entire house even outside. It might not be as loud or intense as our home theater system while playing music but it's preffered and seems to be able to permeate the house at a sound level and clarity that is "Just right."
The other sound systems that were under consideration were over 400$ one of which was the next step up in the JBL line I can't imagine "needing" more than what this one provides, I'm sure it's better and gets LOUDER but in our sized house or room that it's playing in, it more than adequate.
We have 3 different music services, zune, Rhapsody, and itunes and it will play whatever sound is on your ipad. The airplay feature is really great because you can have music playing from your computer and not have to have your ipad plugged in (like you do for rhapsody) but I found it to be fineky to set up and play. I've had to go through the entire set up process to stream (airplay) from my computer to the speakers every time. It could just be me or i'm doing something wrong. But once it's working it's a really amazing feature not just because you can stream the music playing on your computer to this speaker but that it will play on your computer's speakers and the JBL system. I could imagine getting two or three additional JBL speakers and having a relatively inexpensive whole house system. Having it play from my room and then to the JBL in the living room makes it so I can waunder around the house and have music everywhere I go.
If it had batteries so it could be used where there isn't a plug in it would be even better. If it had bluetooth then I could stream music through my phone through non-itunes. But I couldn't find another option that had all that and airplay at all, and like I said the next step up would be 300$ more.
As a bonus (and the other speaker system did the same) it seems to charge our ipads faster when attached, than the standard charger. As a warning (and it hasn't been a issue for me but I can think that it would be for some) this system does not allow your ipad to be tilted to the landscape mode. So if you wanted to watch a movie and have great sound effects (which this would if you were that close) you won't be able to watch anything side ways only up and down. That could be a downer, But all together I would give it 4.5 stars. I'm listening to it right now from 10feet away and its almost as good as having head phones in.
Pros: Good radio reception. It seems the CD player is better made than
