Airplay speaker suitable for bathroom

[iMark]

We're planning to do some work in the bathroom and I have looked into several ideas to have some sound system there.

Obviously it would be ideal to have speakers in the ceiling, powered by a small amp and linked to our network through an Aiport Express.

But another thing I have looked at is a portable recharchable speaker that could be used around the house and in the garden. Does anyone have any experience with the iHome iW1, 2 or 3? And could they be used for a shortish period in a bathroom? We'd prefer Airplay over bluetooth because all our devices support it. A docking possibilty for an iPod and iPad would be a nice extra but is not essential.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[Anonymous]

I would opt for Sonos if your thinking along those lines. You can get bathroom speakers wired to a sonos amp and its more reliable than airplay which uses your existing wifi and is unreliable at best.

Depending upon the bathroom and location you may be able to get away with a wall mounted all in one Sonos Play 3 which has speakers amp and receiver all in one.

 

[Alex Price]

I have a bose airplay set up, can get one with the battery for around 340 on Amazon, sound great and contrary to the previous poster i have never had any issues with airplay. I also have a sonos play 5 which i ended up keeping as was a gift but didnt really fit in as everything else is ios and airplay. The sonos os great but wont link in sync with everything else. Go for the bose, i think it sounds a bit beefier than the play 5 too. Its your only option really for the money if you want it to be portable.

 

[Anonymous]

Problem you have with Bose and other soundocks is steam. The Bose speakers are made of paper, and the steam dismantles the cones.

I would challenge the comment about Sonos, it is awarded for its compliance with all infrastructures and formats. iOS devices just need an app you download. It even works with Spotify and Napster which airplay doesn't.

The issues with Airplay are dependant upon your home hub and what is being used for at the time. If you are streaming a movie over your wifi, then you want to stream to apple TV at same time, many hubs will struggle, so depends upon the usage on your wifi network. Sonos creates its own seperate and exclusive one that guarantees no bandwidth issues.

The other issue you have is sound quality. Airplay is heavily compressed. You can do lossless with Sonos.

I like Airplay - it can be convenient and cheap, but has scale and reliability issues.

 

[Anonymous]

The most glaring problem with Airplay I forgot to mention is that the device that is "airplaying" from is tied to that function. If you airplay a song, the iOS device is tied up doing that and draining battery.

The iOS device is only a remote, so you can control your Sonos and then switch your iOS device off completely.

I like Airplay, but reached its limits very quickly. I've also struggled with Logitech SB and ended up with Sonos for problem free music.

 

[Anonymous]

And apologies if I'm coming across an airplay hater. not intentional. Its essential for my movies from ipad to apple TV.

I just got so frustrated with wireless music until Sonos and for my sins I've been won over big time.

 

[bigboss]

What's your budget? Sonos is an excellent option, especially after the recent update, which makes it work just like AirPlay:

http://www.whathifi.com/news/sonos-adds-wireless-playback-of-music-stored-on-ipad-iphone-and-ipod-touch

 

[Anonymous]

What's your budget? Sonos is an excellent option, especially after the recent update, which makes it work just like AirPlay:

http://www.whathifi.com/news/sonos-adds-wireless-playback-of-music-stored-on-ipad-iphone-and-ipod-touch

forgot about that.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

consider also these ones:

http://www.aqaudio.com/uk/products/aq-smartspeaker-with-apple-airplay?gclid=CPO9nIudzLQCFcq-zAodvzIAfA

 

[Anonymous]

Actually AirPlay is very powerful, maybe your not using it correctly,

i have a hp microserver with 2x 3tb hdds running windows server + iTunes, any iOS device can be a remote and send music to any of my 4 airport express or 3 apple tv's independently or together.....

Yes you can push audio from a iOS or iTunes device to any Apple TV or airport express, which ties us that device somewhat (you can background music) or you can use airfoil / mac osx mountain lion to send computer audio to one or more devices, and use iOS as a remote.... Or even plug in a USB ir receiver into the USB port of a AEX to control iTunes.

for the price and convenience you cannot beat it.,, don't blame apple for the fact you have shoddy wifi routers, airport's run netbsd and are probably some of the stablest out there, Cisco / linksys are just Cisco rejects.

 

[bigboss]

don't blame apple for the fact you have shoddy wifi routers

I have heard allegations that Apple purposefully makes its products slightly incompatible with other manufacturers' products, forcing you to buy more Apple stuff.

 

[dunkyboy]

Haven't tried Sono, but I love AirPlay. Keep my music collection in an iTunes library in an always-on Mac Mini up stairs. Use the Remote app on my iPhone to control iTunes, and pipe choonz to the various AirPort Expresses around the house, including the one wired via optical connection te my Audio Note DAC in my main hifi rig. Works great, flawlessly. And it's not compressed, at least not lossily. Most of my music is Apple Lossless fromat, and AirPlay doesn't apply any losseless compression.

Dunc