Wireless speakers
The world seems to have had wireless speaker fever in recent years — we see dozens of them every month. But you know what? Nearly all of them are awful. The vast majority, big names some of them, can produce sound, but are not musical — they sound boxy, restricted in space, they distort as you turn them up. Wesometimes call them the ‘processed food’ version of hi-fi — it’s all very convenient, but it’s not the real thing, it won’t keep your music fresh and alive.
All the more reason to celebrate, then, when we find good ones. And interestingly we have found great quality among many of the wireless speakers released as part of the wireless multiroom systems that have become prevalent in the last couple of years (see also p89-92). It’s as if companies are (sensibly) putting their best work into these premium systems.
And perhaps not coincidentally, our Wireless Speaker of the Year comes from not only an established hi-fi company, but also a loudspeaker specialist (though Definitive Technology has also been successful in our Headphones awards this year, see p74). The $1299 W9 is the larger of two speaker units that form part of its ‘W’ wireless multiroom system — there is a smaller W7 and also a soundbar and subwoofer solution, plus a streamer and a streamer+amp unit. It’s all under app control of course, here using the DTS Play-Fi system, and ready to receive network streaming of your own music via DLNA, or internet streaming services via the app.
Measure up before considering the W9 — it’s one of the largest wireless speakers we’ve reviewed at 54cm wide, although its black cloth cover and black Perspexlike top prevents it appearing too in-yer-face in the average room, something which some competitors seem to consider a merit. The size allows a decent complement of drivers — bass and treble fire forward from the front using twin 5.25-inch bass drivers and 25mm aluminium-dome tweeters, while an additional pair of 5cm “full-range” drivers fire sideways in what Definitive Technology calls a “tripolar dispersion pattern”.
Down low the W9 proved able to resonate along with the bottom octave of Neil Young’s ‘Walk With Me’, and this solidity and richness held things together underneath a very pleasing and musical top-end. We played with the W9 directly alongside competitors, and while just one of those (the Bluesound Pulse) could deliver a similarly impressive scale, the W9 had a far crisper and more clear vocal presentation; it also achieved impressive width of presentation, a spaciousness and ability to go beyond the boxiness of a wireless speaker (sometimes we thought we were listening to our own stereo hi-fi system — a rarity indeed).
We sometimes wanted more from the DTS Play-Fi app, but never from the W9. It’s a cracker of a wireless speaker. More info: www.advanceaudio.com.au