For some time now, iHome has had the iW1 speaker on its website. In early September, tech blogs across the nation highly anticipated the launch of this speaker system. Unfortunately, the iHome iW1 speaker was not actually ready for consumer purchase until last week. Now that reviewers everywhere have had a chance to review the iW1 speaker, it’s finally possible to let you know whether or not this speaker has been worth the long wait.
As you might have guessed, the iHome iW1 speaker is an AirPlay speaker. This means that you can connect your iPhone, iPod, or iPad to the speaker and you can play all of your iTunes songs using these speakers. Sure, there’s no shortage of AirPlay speakers on the market, but this one is a bit different from all the rest. What makes the iHome iW1 AirPlay speaker different? For starters, this speaker system is completely wireless.
Wireless Abilities
With a wireless speaker system, listening to any song anywhere in your home becomes a lot easier. Not to mention the fact that getting rid of any large and bulky sound system will reduce clutter inside of your home drastically. The main problem with most wireless speakers is that the sound coming from these systems is often terrible. If you place a wireless speaker away from the main source, you’ll usually wind up with crackling sound. This is not the case with the iHome iW1.
When placed, and tested, in various rooms, this iHome system performed very well. In fact, it is even possible to purchase more than one speaker, so that you can play music throughout your home. Aside from sound quality, there’s another reason why wireless speakers are often overlooked, and that reason has to do with battery life, battery power, and whether or not you can replace a battery.
Battery Woes
The iHome iW1 speaker has an integrated battery. This means that you will not be able to change the battery once the battery dies for good. However, this speaker is packed with a Lithium Ion battery that should last for a long time. This battery is also rechargeable, which means that you can power up your speaker after approximately 4 hours of use.
iHome is not the only company integrating batteries directly into speakers these days. If you visit your local Bose store, you’ll see plenty of i-compatible speakers that come with integrated batteries. These companies state that integrating a battery into a speaker makes that speaker easier to transport.
This might be true, but I’d caution against buying any speaker that will be deemed useless once the battery dies. Then again, if you’re just planning on keeping your iHome speaker for a few years, none of this matters.
Other Wireless Options
If you really want a way to listen to your iTunes lineup throughout your home, I suggest you head to the nearest Apple store and take a look at this iHome offering. There are other wireless speakers on the market (Sonos makes one that allows you to listen to different music on different speakers at the same time), but the iHome iW1 speaker is the first of its kind. Price-wise, this speaker will set you back more than $200+.