- Three JBL transducers provide a rich soundstage with HALO (Horizontal Acoustic Level Optimization) technology.
- AirPlay wireless streaming of your entire iTunes music collection.
- Internet radio with playback control (play/pause, skip forward/backward), track metadata display (if available) and full-color album artwork display
- Easy access to your favorite music, news and talk programming with FM radio with RDS and 10 station presets
- With the included clock and dual alarms, two people can wake at different times to music on an iPod or iPhone, the FM radio or a buzzer tone.
I'm a gadget guy and I actually review tech products on a regular basis. I've also used other JBL products as well as other AirPlay products and I must say that today was one of the most disappointing out of the box experiences I've had with a tech product. I had high hopes for the JBL On Air system for my photography studio. I already own a more expensive B&W Zeppelin Air, but didn't want to spend that kind of money again for the room I had in mind for this speaker. The setup was pretty straight forward. It saw my WiFi network, I keyed in the password and it was then available to iTunes and my iDevices to stream music to. However, it was the streaming that was the problem. Almost immediately I experienced drop outs and random reboots of the speaker. I checked to make sure I was on the latest firmware and it said that I was. I tried moving it to a different spot and still no go. I rebooted it manually and again it couldn't get through a single song without several moments of silence. One time I started a song at full volume and the speaker played one second of it before rebooting. The room I put it in was very close to my WiFi hotspot and yet the best I could get was 2 bars consistently (mostly 1-2). The Zeppelin Air played the whole day without skipping a beat as well as my Bose Sounddock connected to an Airport Express. I really wanted this to work because it would mean having an true AirPlay speaker that doesn't need to be connected to an AirPort Express, but I'll be returning it as soon as they send me my RMA.
I had high hopes, but it failed miserably.
I'll either go with another Sounddock for this room or wait for the iHome IW1.
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I've been having bad luck finding a good sound system for my iPhone. And this clearly isn't it. Yes, it's better than the last system I reviewed (click my name), which was nearly half the price that one was terrible but this one, for a lot more money with a great brand name is just so-so. Maybe it's the nature of the beast, but I swear my music sounds better at times coming out of my laptop than it does these devices.
First off, the device is quirky. I read the instructions and still have a hard time turning it off. You push the button, a lot of times nothing happens. Secondly, every time I put my iPhone in the jack I fear something is going to break it's a rather uncomfortable fit, you have to force it a little, and we're talking two devices that the combined price of which could get you (on a good day) a plane ticket to europe, you really don't want to be forcing things on to other things. Getting it to work once your phone is attached to the device is also not terribly clear. The last device I reviewed, at least, was easy to use (though the sound stunk), this one confuses me at every step of the process. It's just not easy, or intuitive, to use. Yes, once you figure it out you can play your iPhone, or stream your music from your computer, through it. I did not, unlike some other reviews, have any problem with streaming (well, once I got it to stream, again it's awfully confusing), but once it was working, it did work.
The thing is, for me, and I'm no luddite, this thing is just hard to use so that I'm now not using it at all. Finally, the sound. It's loud enough. But otherwise, it's only okay. There's no equalizer (which is really dumb), and the sound is, well, okay. But considering the price, it should be better. For the same price you can get one of those Bose radios why can't this sound just as good? And again, it's not just that I'm using MP3s. My MP3 sounds good on my iPhone, coming out of my iPhone, on my laptop, and especially going through my surround sound stereo. For the price, it should with this device as well. And it just doesn't. Sorry.
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This advanced sound system with the ability to connect Apple gadgets and any other audio devices will look great in the office, at home and in a spacecraft. But its primary function audio playback is just average, and thus makes this system unreasonably expensive.
Design. The sound system looks alien and futuristic something Luke Skywalker from "Star Wars" would use. The half-sphere shaped speaker covered by silver mesh arches over the dock-station with a display and two areas, one to either side of the display, with silver buttons arranged to look like a gamepad.
Controls and Connections. There are too many buttons and navigation through the menu is not very intuitive. The left side has a power button, home button to return to main menu, and volume controls. On the right side, there are 4 buttons to navigate through the menu, and OK button to select a highlighted menu item. Plus there are 3 shortcut buttons in the middle, one of which performs exactly the same function as pressing the OK button. And, there is a big snooze button on top of the speaker. Slamming that small pancake sized button, shuts the alarm off for nine minutes. Pressing it down for 3 seconds, turns off the alarm completely. That's a total of 12 buttons. There are four connections: power supply, FM Antenna, USB port, and a 3.5 mm audio input (cable not included). USB can only be used to perform firmware upgrades.
Display. Color screen with good resolution and contrast range in standby mode (white text on dark background). While using OnAir, the screen displays album art associated with the song on iTunes. In standby mode the current time is displayed, Alarms, and WiFi signal strength.
Remote Control. A small rectangular piece of plastic with rounded edges doesn't look impressive. All the buttons from the main unit are duplicated, including the three shortcut buttons and two additional buttons performing Snooze and Alarm Off functions. However, in order to see anything on the small display you need to be within the arm's reach from it, which defeats the need for so many buttons on the remote control.
Alarm. There are two individual alarms, each with its own volume setting and audio source (standard alarm buzzer, FM radio, or iPod/iPhone).
WiFI. Very simple to set up. The signal strength is displayed in the status bar in the bottom right corner. You can update the firmware via Internet and set the clock to automatically update according to Internet-based time service. You can't play any Internet based radio stations. You can only transmit audio wirelessly using AirPlay.
Sound. If JBL On Air represents the future of sound, I would not want to live in that future. The sound is average. You can listen and enjoy rock, pop and electronic music at medium volume settings. Don't expect this system to rock the house, just a medium sized room. If you love classical music, it will sound grand at any volume setting.
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One of the best sounds I've ever heard, not to mention its very elegant, beautiful piano black finish, very nice LCD. The sound is fantastic with a lot of details, very strong and very neat Airplay feature.
Setup with very easy with touch buttons, even easier by the small remote, you don't need a manual for the setup, just follow the on-screen instructions and it will connect to your WiFi network in seconds, after setting up the network, it will reboot? Don't know if that is my issue, but it just rebooted and reconnected to the network automatically. It will also sync the clock and calendar if you connect you iPhone or iPod and play any song, it will sync the time, no need to set it up.
Very smooth playing, tried it for 2 hrs and no issues, some times if your netwok is congested by TimeMachine it might break or pause, but otherwise it can go for hours with no issues. Another slick feature that it will display your album art with every song played from your iPod or iPhone.
I didn't get it from Amazon, I bought it from e-bay refurbished by Harman @ a bargin $99 + Free Shipping!
Great for parties and if you have kids, they will beam there music from there iPods without missing up with your equipment ...
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The JBL On Air Wireless is a decent product but it has plenty of flaws. There's no way I would pay over $200 for this product. I was lucky enough to find it at Best Buy on clearance after looking at it for a few months. For an AirPlay speaker, if you can find it for under $175, its not a bad deal but be warned, that its not perfect.
I really wanted an AirPlay speaker that also had a dock. The JBL On Air is one of the few to offer this feature and that was the primary reason I wanted it. In the end, its a good thing this product does include a dock, as it was a good second option to have when the AirPlay failed on me.
Setup was very simple. Plug it in, pick your Wi-Fi network and its pretty much ready to go. The menu and the buttons aren't very intuitive. They are confusing and can be cumbersome. The FM antenna was surprisingly strong. Most people will probably never use it, but it reached some distant stations that my other FM radios couldn't. The unit is pretty light, I'm not sure I would call it portable, but its pretty easy to move around even with the AC cord. I'm no audiophile but the speakers sounded pretty good to these average ears. The dock is sorta flimsy and the iPhone doesn't always stay secure. It takes some practice to figure out how to get it in just right.
The biggest problem is that the AirPlay technology isn't quite ready for prime time. When it works, its great, but it doesn't always work. In my hours of using it, there's only once where it went non-stop without ever dropping. Then when it drops, the iPhone or iMac doesn't always find it again right away. The best way to eliminate that is to unplug the JBL and let it start over again. Obviously, this is quite frustrating as the AirPlay is the number one reason why most people will ever buy this product. Several times, I just docked my iPhone to keep the music going, instead of rebooting.
Because of this flaw, the JBL On Air isn't a must have. Its flaws outweigh the benefits. Unless you get a good deal on it, get a Bluetooth speaker or pay more for a better AirPlay option.
