Monday, 26 March 2012
AIRZONE SERIES 1 REVIEW
The Airzone Series is a new range of speakers that Gear4 are introducing to the very crowded iDock market. Since speaker docks came to prominence, they stopped being stupidly expensive and are affordable for pretty much any budget. Since then, Apple "re-invented" home audio streaming and AirPlay was born. AirPlay allows you to stream audio from any iPhone, iPad and iPod touch through Wi-Fi to AirPlay enabled speakers. The result is lossless audio streaming meaning the sound quality won't suffer through streaming unlike its more universal Bluetooth streaming variant. Streaming music through Bluetooth follows a similar principle but as various devices support various Bluetooth versions, audio quality is questionable. In practice, AirPlay works amazingly well and sound quality is still crisp and clear. So what happened to the speaker dock market when AirPlay was released? AirPlay enabled speaker docks of course!
Now the only problem with AirPlay enabled speaker docks is the fact that the wireless streaming feature is Apple only, which means that each speaker dock will command a steep price. This is evident when you Google 'Airplay speakers.'
So due to the fact that wired speaker docks can start from £15 upwards, most of the populace is leaning towards them instead of AirPlay enabled speakers. This is why the general view of AirPlay as a feature is being painted as a luxury rather than a useful addition.
So the obvious selling point of the Airzone is the Airplay enabled wireless audio streaming. Outside of that, you get enhanced acoustic sound, FM Radio, iPhone, iPad and iPod dock and charger, 6 EQ settings and a remote control. You also get a aux in jack enabling you to use any audio device with a 3.5mm cable. The top of the speakers house 7 keys: Mode, Power, EQ, Skip back, Play, Skip forward and a rotating volume knob. The front of the speakers have a curved, matte steel streamlined design. At the bottom you'll find the iDevice dock and just above that, sits the greyish bump to help support your iPad should you wish to dock that. Above the speaker there's a black band that runs along the top of the device and sports the dot matrix display. This display will show off the song title and album when using the Airplay mode. Speaking of Airplay, the set up is as easy as it is frustrating. All you have to do is pop in the WEP or WPA code of your router but as the speaker or the remote do not have alphanumerical keys, you will have to use the skip forward/backward buttons on the remote to input your code. So if your Wi-Fi code is a big jumble of letters and numbers, this might take a while. The remote control itself doesn't have great travel when pressing certain buttons and the keys on the speaker itself are only slightly better. This is a minor negative as the experience afterwards is generally great so rest assured that the set up of Airplay wont be as irritating or convoluted as the rest of your experience.
Using Airplay itself is a joy. Just pop to your music app on the iPhone, iPad or iPod and start playing a song. Providing the Airzone speaker is on and synced with your Wi-Fi network, the bottom right hand corner of the iPod screen will show up a little Airplay icon. Just tap this and then tap the Airzone Speaker bar and viola, a few seconds later, your music is playing loud and proud from the Airzone speakers. Now there is a delay transferring the audio from your device to the speakers but to be honest, its not life changing and doesn't greatly detract from the experience. The usefulness of Airplay doesn't have to be limited to music streaming. If you use a iPhone 4/4S or iPad 2/New iPad, you can use the HDMI adaptor to watch a movie from your device on a HD TV and stream the audio to the speakers using Airplay for the cinema experience all coming from one device but outputting from many. Technology really has come along way. The audio transfer doesn't lose any quality and you will hear the same crisp and clear audio file that Apple are known for, but this can vary depending on the quality of the speakers.
The Audio quality of the Airzone speakers are pretty good although not the best we've heard. They are a bit bass heavy but the 6 EQ setting provided are sufficient enough to optimise sound quality to match the genre of music your listening to. Treble is fairly clear and highs are crisp. The lows are boosted with the bass but on odd occasion, can make certain tracks sound muddy.
Playing Beethoven's Fur Elise was an absolute delight in contrast to The Shins which did get a bit muddy on acoustic and bass heavy tracks. Overall the sound quality is by no means below par or disappointing. IN fact, Having listened to a few Gear4 speakers, the Airzone series are a great leap forward.
Its no secret that Airplay hasn't took the UK by storm as of yet due to most speaker sets asking for a high price, even though comparable none Airplay enabled speakers can be purchased for less than half the price. At the same time, Airplay is a fantastic feature that needs to be explored a hell of a lot more. The UK (including myself) have been waiting for a cost friendly alternative to start dipping into the Airplay world and Gear4 seems to have found the answer. The Airzone Series 1 speakers are very competent, loud, clear and stylish speakers that would be great in a living room or bedroom. They retail at £199.99 making them one of the cheapest Airplay enabled speakers you will be able to find on the market although you wont be sacrificing quality for a lower price tag. The overall package is great and anybody who is looking to delve into the Airplay speaker market and not wanting to spend stupid amounts of money, I will confidently recommend the Airzone series 1.
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