Finding a good speaker that works with Apple’s wireless AirPlay standard can be pretty frustrating. To help you out, we’ve put together a list of some of our favorite AirPlay speakers for under $500.
Apple has a habit of setting standards and sometimes neglecting them for several years, and it feels like AirPlay has gotten the cold shoulder lately. It hasn’t gotten a lot of attention in its latest Apple announcements, and many of the best AirPlay speakers are a few years old or discontinued.
Of course, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be looking for a good AirPlay-compatible product for your home: The protocol is still given top-notch support by Apple’s own products, and lossless audio quality can often make a big difference in listening. Compared to existing smaller Bluetooth speakers.
Harmon Kardon Aura
To appreciate the Harmon Kardon Aura, you have to enjoy the kind of futuristic designs that wouldn’t be out of place in a sci-fi show; It’s a nice clean design but definitely not traditional. Like most AirPlay speakers, Aura uses a circular structure with an array of speakers to deliver the kind of sound that fills a room. This means you can place it just about anywhere and don’t have to worry about whether you hear it from one side or the other.
In total, there are seven individual drivers, including a 4.5-inch, down-firing subwoofer; this means you can definitely expect some bass from this unit (bass is often an issue with single speaker setups, especially those designed to work with a wireless connection). ). In addition to AirPlay, you can connect via DLNA and Bluetooth, which means it will work with almost any device in your barn. There’s also a Harmon Kardon app you can throw on your iPhone for even more customizability.
Polk Sound Woodbourne
Polk Audio Woodbourne takes its name from the wood paneling that covers it. Much more traditional than Aura, it retains enough modernity to look good in just about any type of room. A slightly curved front will spread your music at a wide angle – so if you place it in the middle of a wall, you can probably expect good sound almost anywhere in the room.
The rear has optical and analog inputs, as well as a USB port for plugging and charging your mobile device. In addition to AirPlay, Woodbourne also has Bluetooth connectivity and the Bluetooth aptX codec, which means it will also work well with Android devices.
Libratone Zipp
It’s rare to find a portable speaker that supports AirPlay; Most such devices only connect via Bluetooth or 3.5mm cable instead of offering Wi-Fi. Libratone is happily meeting this trend with the promised eight to ten hours of battery life – and it looks great too. Each Zipp comes wrapped in a slippery mesh cover, which can be purchased for more ($29 each) and zipped open and removed if you want to change things up later.
One of the fun things that really sets the Zipp apart is its multiple speaker configurations. Libratone has developed something called SoundSpace Link that allows you to combine multiple Zips in various configurations. You can place up to 16 of these speakers on the same network, arranged in groups of up to eight, with up to six speakers per group.
Zipp also supports DLNA and Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX, so like some other speakers it will fit nicely with just about anything in your home. A USB port on the speaker can be used to play and/or charge wired music on any device you are currently using. Finally, Libratone has added support for both Spotify and Apple Music (the latter can be hard to find on portable speakers) and QPlay if you live in South Africa.
Libratone Zipp Mini
You might be thinking that the Libratone Zipp Mini looks a lot like the regular Zipp, and you’re right. For all intents and purposes, the Zipp Mini is just Zipp wrapped in a slightly smaller, slightly lighter package. One of the few criticisms of the new version of Zipp is its size; Although it is a portable speaker, it is a tail of ten inches high and five inches in diameter and weighs 3.3 pounds. The Zipp Mini shrinks an inch or two from either size and drops the weight by up to 2.4 pounds, making it a more distinctly backpack-friendly one.
The Zipp Mini offers almost the same features as its older brother, although it is smaller and cheaper. You can expect less bass, but the sound still sounds good. Libratone promises up to 10 hours of battery life depending on your playback volume, and like Zipp, you can use Zipp Mini with Apple Music, Spotify, AirPlay, DLNA, Bluetooth; the list goes on. Protects USB and 3.5mm ports even from the larger model.
Moshi Spatia
The Moshi Spatia looks like something from the original Star Trek series: vaguely futuristic, but wouldn’t be out of place in any mid-century modern home. Much like Polk, the Spatia is designed to be placed on a shelf or other piece of furniture and spread across a room with its back facing the wall. Since it is a stationary device, it has a number of drivers without worrying about power consumption.
It supports AirPlay for both Apple devices and apps, but also supports Wi-Fi Direct. The latter is nice because it means you can let your friends and acquaintances send audio to Moshi without giving them access to your Wi-Fi network (DLNA requires two devices to be on the same Wi-Fi network, while Wi-Fi Direct is just that – which doesn’t require a larger network. direct connection between two devices). There’s a 3.5mm jack on the back and a Spatia Speaker App that lets you play with an equalizer for iPhone when you need to connect a device that doesn’t support either standard; it also has an ambient sound package which is a neat addition.
