I’m looking for a speaker for the kitchen and pantry. I’m not sure if I care about AirPlay. BT seems to be just fine considering my AirPods experience. Basically I want something I can stream to from two iPhones, an iPad, and two MBPs depending on situation. Would be nice if its internal battery could be charged just plugging it in, without an extra USB charger. Sound quality doesn’t have to be stunning, the kitchen isn’t that big and there’s usually a lot of ambient noise when I’m at work in there. I don’t care for Siri or any kind of IoT/HomeKit integration making HomePod just too expensive for this purpose.
Any really good experience with a specific speaker? Recommendations? Thoughts?
Thanks, that looks quite good. Can’t complain for $40. Is it a pain to sync up to a different iDevice? Or is it as simple as just choosing the speakers in Bluetooth settings of the new device?
To avoid pairing pain, you can dedicate one of the macbooks as the paired device and use Airfoil ($30). It can be configured in a plethora of ways, including to multiple outputs.
I second the notion, having now bought two of these, which I prefer to my Soundmatters FoxL (pretty much equal audio quality) and the OontZ Angle. Syncing just works the way it should. It does require a USB charging cord, but battery life is excellent, and I go weeks without recharging.
(I didn’t see this show up from my email, so I’m posting it here. I feel as though I don’t have as much to contribute as others - but this time I did! )
I’ve had 2 Anker speakers: a cube that lasted over 2 years and now I have a pair of Soundcore Flares for my office (still looking for an inexpensive wireless battery operated surround sound……)
You have to disconnect one device in order to connect another. I have an iMac in my office that I’ve put my music on which takes care of that issue.
My issue is the BT won’t reach outside even though it’s less than 66’. To solve that I bought a Varo wifi speaker (also battery operated and I think it was under $30. I also think it does BT but I’ve never used it for that).
The Soundcore Flares sound the best out of the three I’ve used. The Varo is probably the worst but I play it quietly outside so it’s not an issue.
I think Anker’s warranty is 18 months and I’ve found their customer service to be top-notch.
The Varo is Airplay but it’s really the only inexpensive rechargeable one I found. I looked at Sonos and they were just too much, and Anker doesn’t have one yet.
If you ONLY want BT, I would go with Anker.
I do not use any of the apps on my phone but I think you have to install them to setup the devices. I always knock off a star when rating them for that!
I should note, both speakers (Anker and Varo) can be fully controlled via the phone app, but they do have controls on them as well. I wrote Anker because I liked the idea of controlling the volume via “remote” (iPhone), but since it was playing music through my computer, I couldn’t. There wasn’t a way for the speaker to connect to both devices at the same time. Since I deleted the app after that, I don’t know if they’ve fixed that. They do have volume controls right on the speakers and I have a remote for the computer for when I’m in the room.
The Varo has 4 buttons on it, but they are dual-purpose. To change volume you need to hold buttons down. It’s hard to fine-tune. However, there is a Forward-Back button to change songs, and it really works.
I don’t care for Siri or any kind of IoT/HomeKit integration making HomePod just too expensive for this purpose.
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