Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #25348 in Receiver or Amplifier
- Brand: Pioneer
- Model: XW-SMA3-K
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 7.13" h x
12.63" w x
5.75" l,
7.70 pounds
Features
- Sound Tuning and Driver Design by Pioneer?s Chief Speaker Engineer, Andrew Jones
- Speakers: 2 Way (3" Mid-Range x 2, 1" Tweeter x 1)
- Digital Audio from iPod/iPhone/iPad via USB with Battery Charging
- AirPlay Wireless Streaming
- HTC Connect
Pioneer XW-SMA3-K A3 Portable Wi-Fi Speaker featuring AirPlay, HTC Connect and Rechargeable Lithium Ion Battery
Product Description
Portable Wi-Fi Speaker featuring AirPlay, DLNA, Wireless Direct, HTC Connect, and Rechargeable Lithium Ion Battery.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
38 of 40 people found the following review helpful.
By Piec2
I wanted to check the state of some new Airplay speakers, so I decided to compare a few of them, namely the: - Bose SoundLink Air - Pioneer A4 XW-SMA4-K - Pioneer A3 XW-SMA3-K - Logitech Wireless BoomboxRight off the bat, you can notice that the Logitech unit is in a different category. It's much less expensive (1/3 the price) and uses bluetooth rather than Wi-fi. However since it received great reviews online, I decided to compare it as well. I'm glad I did (read on!).First of all, let's talk about what's common here.When using a bluetooth speaker (the Logitech here is the only one), you get instantaneous response when you change track, change the volume, press play or stop: that's the beauty of using bluetooth. Also, apparently bluetooth has less bandwidth than wi-fi, so it compresses the music before sending it to the speaker. However in real usage, I could never tell the difference. If you are a real music expert and have an very good musical ear, maybe you can hear it but I certainly could not. All the music I played sounded great whether I played it on the bluetooth Logitech or on the other Airplay speakers.Using Airplay, you will encounter a delay when you try to control the music. It's around 1 to 2 seconds before any action on your iPod/iPhone will take effect on the speaker (except for Stop and volume changes which are almost instantaneous but not quite). This delay will also occur when you skip songs (something I hate) however it does not occur if your let your playlist continue and your iPod is simply going on from one song to the next. This means if you are throwing a party and try to skip a tune, you will get silence for 2 seconds.All three Airplay units have about the same wi-fi hotspot power level, so you can expect the same range as a typical wi-fi 2.4 Ghz router you may have in your home today. You may also encounter the same interference problems as your regular wifi.All Pioneer and Bose speakers have remotes, which I did not use. I figure everyone will control these units via their iPod/iPhone/iPad or other devices anyway. None of the units have any mute button on the speaker themselves. Only the Bose unit has a mute button on the remove (Pioneer doesn't have any).Pioneer A4Aesthetically, the unit looks nice. It's fairly large and rather heavy: the speaker weighs 8.4 pounds (3.8 Kg). To power the unit requires the use of an external power brick. The cables are fairly long, so you won't have a problem to reach your outlet.Buttons are placed in the correct spot and are easy to use. The touch buttons are capacitive (no tactile feedback when you press the button) and they respond quickly when pressed.On the back of the unit, you find on one side an ethernet port with a USB port and on the other side the power port and a AUX input. The ethernet is a nice touch if you happen to have a hard-wired network at home and don't plan on moving the unit often: you'll never have to worry about wi-fi signal drop-offs.The USB port can be used for both connecting directly to the speaker with your player (iPod, iPhone, etc) and playing music through USB or can act as a charger for your device. Unfortunately it only charges your device if the speaker is turned on (what was Pioneer thinking?).When you charge a device you can still play music wirelessly to the speaker (good thinking here Pioneer). When playing music through the USB (as a dock) you cannot control the volume with your ipod: you must to use the volume buttons on the A4.There also another button on the back labeled 'network setup'. This button can be used to setup your network but can also be used to set the speaker to be a wi-fi hotspot (more on this later).When you power on the speaker, it takes a long time to be ready (34 seconds). However if you check the manual there's a 'quick-start' mode that you can set and once done it starts within less than a second. When in standby, the unit only uses 0.5 watt of power but if you set it to quick-start mode, it uses 3.5 watts in standby.Once set to 'quick start' mode, the unit can also be awaken by your iPod, so you don't need to press any buttons on the unit to send music to it (I like that). This is particularly useful because the unit will power-off itself after a while if it doesn't receive any music. Once it's powered off, if it's not in quick start mode then you'll have to press the power-on button to see it on Airplay. If the unit is in 'quick start' mode then it's always visible on Airplay and as soon as you send music to it the A4 will wake-up and play your music (it takes 2-3 seconds to wake up).Configuring the unit to work with your existing wireless network can be done in so many different ways, it can be confusing. By far the easiest way is to simply plug your iPod/iPhone, wait for the 'On' light to stop blinking, then connect your iPod in the back and then press both the input and Network Setup buttons at the same time for 3 seconds. You iPod will then display a message asking you if you allow it to share the network settings with the Pioneer; tap Ok on the iPod and you're done! All the wireless security settings and password were setup and the A4 is now able to be seen via Airplay. If you prefer, you can also set it up using a web browser, particularly if you want to change the wireless name of the A4.The unit can connect to your existing wi-fi network but if ever you take it elsewhere where's there's no wi-fi, it also can act as its own wi-fi hotspot which is great. Switching the unit that mode (called 'wireless direct') is easy: power it on and press a button in the back for 3 seconds. It then appears as a new network (with a weird name 'Wireless Direct' and a bunch of numbers/letters that's unique to the unit) and you can join that network. Once you join the network, you can use Airplay in the normal way. I think that's a great idea. It gets even better with the A3 which is the portable version (more below).In 'wireless direct' mode, I could operate the unit from 2 walls away (the unit was in a closed room and I was in another closed room (both doors closed) approximately 25 feet away. I didn't try further but checking with a wi-fi sniffer I could see that the signal was just as strong as the one from my wireless router (in 'g' mode only however). The A4 uses Wi-fi 2.4 Ghz channel #11, even if other channels are unoccupied. There's no way to change the channel even through the settings.When connecting to your router, it supports modern encryption methods such as AES and TKIP with WPA2, which is a good thing. I had no problems configuring it to find my wireless router which doesn't broadcast its SSID.I did not try the unit with a Android phone but I assume the experience is similar. I did not try DLNA either.However I think adding these 2 was a great idea since it makes the unit really universal.Now let's talk a bit about the sound. I found it to be well balanced. The unit really has great deep bass; Adele's song 'Rolling in the deep' is a real pleasure to listen to on this speaker. This is no surprise since this unit is the only one that has a dedicated subwoofer. This sub really makes a difference. On top of it, the unit can play really loud (louder than I could bear anyway!).Of course, since this is a fairly compact unit, there's little to no sound separation between the left and the right channels. The speakers within the unit are so close together, you can't really hear separation between the two. That's true of all the speakers in this review anyway.When controlling the volume from your iPod, the volume control isn't really linear. Set your iPod to half-volume and you will barely hear the A4. However it's very sensitive towards the 3/4 of the volume range, so fine adjustments can make a big difference. It requires a bit of fiddling but I got the hang of it pretty quickly. I didn't have that problem when using the volume buttons on the A4 itself. I also did not experience this issue with the Bose unit, so Pioneer has improvements to make here.Overall, I found the A4 to be really good. Out of the 4 speakers listed above, this unit had the best sound; it was head-and-shoulders above the rest because of the subwoofer.Pioneer A3This speaker is similar to the A4 apart from 3 major differences: - it feature a lithium-ion battery, so it's totally portable - its a smaller form factor - it doesn't have the subwoofer that the A4 has and the other speakers it has are slightly different, although similar (see specs on Pioneer site)From the outside, it looks a lot the same as its bigger brother the A4; same buttons, same ports in the back. Unlike the A4 which has opened ports, the ports in the back of the A3 are all covered by a rubber flap, so it makes for great outdoor usage. However the piece of rubber is difficult to remove as there's nothing to grab on: you basically have to use your fingernails to pry it out. Pioneer should improve this.The Quick Start mode only works like the A4, however only when the unit is connected to AC power; quick-start doesn't work while on battery power.The battery is certified for 300 recharges and doesn't seem to be user replaceable. I don't see any replacement battery anywhere on the Pioneer web site or elsewhere. This is unlike Bose SoundLink Air which has a user-replaceable battery (the battery cost $90 but that's another issue).I charged the battery full and was able to have it play for 2.5 hours at average volume before the battery indicated it had reached 50% of it's charge, so I have no difficulty believing that it can achieve 4 hours and more as indicated in the documentation (they say 6 hours at 50% volume).Setting up the network is just like on the A4, so I won't repeat myself here.The sound is not the same as the A4 however, far from it. The bass level is too low for my taste and disappointing for a unit at this price. The Soundlink Air definitely has better bass. I even compared it to the low-price Logitech and I have to say the Logitech beats its: it simply sounds better. The bass on the Logitech is better than on the A3, which cost 3 times more: this is not cool.Another thing I noticed is that at max volume, the speaker doesn't play quite as loud when it's running on battery as when its plugged into the AC. However it's still plenty loud for me and the difference between the 2 is not huge but nevertheless noticeable.On it's own, someone would think the A3 sound is good. However once you start to compare it side by side, it simply doesn't hold up to the competition above. The feature set is great and the portability is fine. I wish Pioneer would give it a better bass.Bose Soundlink AirThis is my first time with a Bose speaker or sound system, however I had the opportunity to listen to their SoundDock in the past while at a friend's house. I was always impressed with the Sounddock ability to have good bass. I had read on the web about the 'Bose sound' but never got to compare it with other speakers head-on, so this proved interesting.Let's start by the exterior. The unit looks good and actually has a cleaner look than the Pioneer (that's a matter of personal taste).The power brick is enormous. When plugged vertically, it won't block your second outlet however if you have to plug it in a power bar where the connector are oriented horizontally then be ready to lose 2 outlets. I really wonder why Bose chose this format since there's absolutely no advantages.The back of the unit has the AUX input, the power input and a micro-usb port used to configure the unit via your computer. On the bottom of the unit you also find a Reset button. The placement of this button is inconvenient since it's also used to set the unit in wireless direct mode (hotspot) but since you won't be doing this very often, it's not too bothersome.There is a cover in the center on the back of the unit that can be removed to attach a battery (sold separately, unfortunately).The side of the unit has volumes up/down capacitive buttons (no tactile feedback). There's no power button on the device: only volume up/down.There's also no network port in the back, so you cannot connect it directly to your wired network at home, unlike the Pioneer one.Configuring the unit must be done using an application you download from the Bose site and you must use your computer. I had no problem configuring it to use my wi-fi network which uses WPA2-Personal and doesn't broadcast its SSID. You can also edit the network name of the device during the setup.You can set the unit use wireless direct (hotspot): simply unplug it, re-plug it and hold the 'Reset' button underneath the unit for 2 seconds until the indicator in the front turns amber. After a few seconds, the unit emits a tone and it can now be see as a new wireless network called (Bose Soundlink Air). Once you join that network, you can AirPlay to it. The wireless direct connection worked fine just as the one with my own wi-fi network (couldn't see any difference).The unit is always on (always visible on your iPod) you simply press play on your iPod and it streams.It only uses Airplay however, so if you have an Android device this speaker won't work (unless there's some Android app to simulate Airplay: I don't know).If you have used a Bose Sounddock or other Bose speakers in the past, you will feel right at home. If you never used Bose speakers, you will notice the same thing I notice: Bose sound processing. Overall, the speaker sound good (better than the Pioneer A3) and there's good bass. It's even surprising to hear that bass from such a small unit. The mid-range however is a different story. Bose seems to use some processing that pushes the mid-range slightly forward and makes them more present. This sounds impressive initially and if you like the 'Bose sound' you will like this speaker as well. I personally found it tiring after a while because the mid-range and highs were too present. After listening to it for an hour I found myself going back to either the Logitech or the A4.Don't get me wrong, this is far from a poor sounding speaker. Adele's song 'Rolling in the deep' sounded good, although it didn't have the power that the A4 had because of its subwoofer. If you plan on buying this unit but never had a Bose before, I suggest you try it over several songs (10-15 mins) to see if you like the color that Bose gives to their speakers.When controlling the volume from your iPod, the volume control was very really linear, no problem here unlike the Pioneer units.I didn't get to try the battery. However I couldn't help but notice that it was expensive ($90!). This means that once you add the battery to this unit, you have a system that's close to $450.Overall, I found the Bose SoundLink Air to be really good but didn't like the mid-range being too present. This was my second favorite speaker of the bunch.Logitech Wireless BoomboxUnlike the other units, this speaker is only bluetooth. It's also much cheaper than the other ones. You can find it around $130 while the other ones are around $350-400; what a difference.In the back, the speaker has a power port and an AUX port. In the front, the little bluetooth button can be used to pair it with your device.Pairing is pretty simple: when you power on the unit, it goes in pairing mode automatically. Once it's paired, things could be any easier: just select the unit in the list of speakers on your iPod/iPhone and play. Everything command is instantaneous, unlike on Airplay units.A nice thing is also that if you power off the Logitech, when you power it back on it will remember the last device you paired it with. Furthermore, once the Logitech was turned back-on my Ipod also remembered it was playing on that speaker so it automatically sent my sound to it (I didn't have to select Logitech again in the list of speakers available). Brilliant.If you want to change the pairing (i.e. pair with another iPod for example), there's a bit more trouble, however once you know how to do it it's easy. Press and hold the bluetooth button on the Logitech for a few seconds until the bluetooth led on the unit starts flashing, then go to your iPod and pair it. However if the iPod you are using had already been paired with the Logitech in the past, you will still see the Logitech listed in your list of bluetooth devices but you won't be able to pair to it: you must first remove it from the list, then redo the pairing.It's annoying but once you figure it out then it works just fine.Since it uses bluetooth, it should work with just about any device (Apple, Android) that can support bluetooth, which is a plus. The range of bluetooth can be less than a wi-fi router, however in practice I never has any problems with the range. I could play the unit through 2 walls and approx 20 feet apart. However again interference could lower the range you will get at your house, so it's best to try it out and see for yourself.The battery is easy to replace and I tried the unit a couple of hours without issue (I didn't try to see how long the battery would last).The sound on this unit was impressive. For a unit this price, it's really exceptional. The sound was well balanced and the bass was good although not quite as present as the Bose unit. However it was better than the A3 which cost much more. I could easily see why people buying this speaker were very satisfied with it. I tried the unit for a full day at work at low volume and I really liked it.If I had to choose between the Bose and the Logitech, I would personally choose the Logitech because the bass sound difference isn't huge, because I find the mid-range boost of the Bose to be tiring on my ears and you just can't beat the price of the Logitech.Using this unit, the volume control from my iPod had full range (no problems like the one I saw on the Pioneer units).There you have it! So many choices... as once said in a movie: choose wisely :-)
12 of 16 people found the following review helpful.
By Piec2
I wanted to check the state of some new Airplay speakers, so I decided to compare a few of them, namely the: - Bose SoundLink Air - Pioneer A4 XW-SMA4-K - Pioneer A3 XW-SMA3-K - Logitech Wireless BoomboxRight off the bat, you can notice that the Logitech unit is in a different category. It's much less expensive (1/3 the price) and uses bluetooth rather than Wi-fi. However since it received great reviews online, I decided to compare it as well. I'm glad I did (read on!).First of all, let's talk about what's common here.When using a bluetooth speaker (the Logitech here is the only one), you get instantaneous response when you change track, change the volume, press play or stop: that's the beauty of using bluetooth. Also, apparently bluetooth has less bandwidth than wi-fi, so it compresses the music before sending it to the speaker. However in real usage, I could never tell the difference. If you are a real music expert and have an very good musical ear, maybe you can hear it but I certainly could not. All the music I played sounded great whether I played it on the bluetooth Logitech or on the other Airplay speakers.Using Airplay, you will encounter a delay when you try to control the music. It's around 1 to 2 seconds before any action on your iPod/iPhone will take effect on the speaker (except for Stop and volume changes which are almost instantaneous but not quite). This delay will also occur when you skip songs (something I hate) however it does not occur if your let your playlist continue and your iPod is simply going on from one song to the next. This means if you are throwing a party and try to skip a tune, you will get silence for 2 seconds.All three Airplay units have about the same wi-fi hotspot power level, so you can expect the same range as a typical wi-fi 2.4 Ghz router you may have in your home today. You may also encounter the same interference problems as your regular wifi.All Pioneer and Bose speakers have remotes, which I did not use. I figure everyone will control these units via their iPod/iPhone/iPad or other devices anyway. None of the units have any mute button on the speaker themselves. Only the Bose unit has a mute button on the remove (Pioneer doesn't have any).Pioneer A4Aesthetically, the unit looks nice. It's fairly large and rather heavy: the speaker weighs 8.4 pounds (3.8 Kg). To power the unit requires the use of an external power brick. The cables are fairly long, so you won't have a problem to reach your outlet.Buttons are placed in the correct spot and are easy to use. The touch buttons are capacitive (no tactile feedback when you press the button) and they respond quickly when pressed.On the back of the unit, you find on one side an ethernet port with a USB port and on the other side the power port and a AUX input. The ethernet is a nice touch if you happen to have a hard-wired network at home and don't plan on moving the unit often: you'll never have to worry about wi-fi signal drop-offs.The USB port can be used for both connecting directly to the speaker with your player (iPod, iPhone, etc) and playing music through USB or can act as a charger for your device. Unfortunately it only charges your device if the speaker is turned on (what was Pioneer thinking?).When you charge a device you can still play music wirelessly to the speaker (good thinking here Pioneer). When playing music through the USB (as a dock) you cannot control the volume with your ipod: you must to use the volume buttons on the A4.There also another button on the back labeled 'network setup'. This button can be used to setup your network but can also be used to set the speaker to be a wi-fi hotspot (more on this later).When you power on the speaker, it takes a long time to be ready (34 seconds). However if you check the manual there's a 'quick-start' mode that you can set and once done it starts within less than a second. When in standby, the unit only uses 0.5 watt of power but if you set it to quick-start mode, it uses 3.5 watts in standby.Once set to 'quick start' mode, the unit can also be awaken by your iPod, so you don't need to press any buttons on the unit to send music to it (I like that). This is particularly useful because the unit will power-off itself after a while if it doesn't receive any music. Once it's powered off, if it's not in quick start mode then you'll have to press the power-on button to see it on Airplay. If the unit is in 'quick start' mode then it's always visible on Airplay and as soon as you send music to it the A4 will wake-up and play your music (it takes 2-3 seconds to wake up).Configuring the unit to work with your existing wireless network can be done in so many different ways, it can be confusing. By far the easiest way is to simply plug your iPod/iPhone, wait for the 'On' light to stop blinking, then connect your iPod in the back and then press both the input and Network Setup buttons at the same time for 3 seconds. You iPod will then display a message asking you if you allow it to share the network settings with the Pioneer; tap Ok on the iPod and you're done! All the wireless security settings and password were setup and the A4 is now able to be seen via Airplay. If you prefer, you can also set it up using a web browser, particularly if you want to change the wireless name of the A4.The unit can connect to your existing wi-fi network but if ever you take it elsewhere where's there's no wi-fi, it also can act as its own wi-fi hotspot which is great. Switching the unit that mode (called 'wireless direct') is easy: power it on and press a button in the back for 3 seconds. It then appears as a new network (with a weird name 'Wireless Direct' and a bunch of numbers/letters that's unique to the unit) and you can join that network. Once you join the network, you can use Airplay in the normal way. I think that's a great idea. It gets even better with the A3 which is the portable version (more below).In 'wireless direct' mode, I could operate the unit from 2 walls away (the unit was in a closed room and I was in another closed room (both doors closed) approximately 25 feet away. I didn't try further but checking with a wi-fi sniffer I could see that the signal was just as strong as the one from my wireless router (in 'g' mode only however). The A4 uses Wi-fi 2.4 Ghz channel #11, even if other channels are unoccupied. There's no way to change the channel even through the settings.When connecting to your router, it supports modern encryption methods such as AES and TKIP with WPA2, which is a good thing. I had no problems configuring it to find my wireless router which doesn't broadcast its SSID.I did not try the unit with a Android phone but I assume the experience is similar. I did not try DLNA either.However I think adding these 2 was a great idea since it makes the unit really universal.Now let's talk a bit about the sound. I found it to be well balanced. The unit really has great deep bass; Adele's song 'Rolling in the deep' is a real pleasure to listen to on this speaker. This is no surprise since this unit is the only one that has a dedicated subwoofer. This sub really makes a difference. On top of it, the unit can play really loud (louder than I could bear anyway!).Of course, since this is a fairly compact unit, there's little to no sound separation between the left and the right channels. The speakers within the unit are so close together, you can't really hear separation between the two. That's true of all the speakers in this review anyway.When controlling the volume from your iPod, the volume control isn't really linear. Set your iPod to half-volume and you will barely hear the A4. However it's very sensitive towards the 3/4 of the volume range, so fine adjustments can make a big difference. It requires a bit of fiddling but I got the hang of it pretty quickly. I didn't have that problem when using the volume buttons on the A4 itself. I also did not experience this issue with the Bose unit, so Pioneer has improvements to make here.Overall, I found the A4 to be really good. Out of the 4 speakers listed above, this unit had the best sound; it was head-and-shoulders above the rest because of the subwoofer.Pioneer A3This speaker is similar to the A4 apart from 3 major differences: - it feature a lithium-ion battery, so it's totally portable - its a smaller form factor - it doesn't have the subwoofer that the A4 has and the other speakers it has are slightly different, although similar (see specs on Pioneer site)From the outside, it looks a lot the same as its bigger brother the A4; same buttons, same ports in the back. Unlike the A4 which has opened ports, the ports in the back of the A3 are all covered by a rubber flap, so it makes for great outdoor usage. However the piece of rubber is difficult to remove as there's nothing to grab on: you basically have to use your fingernails to pry it out. Pioneer should improve this.The Quick Start mode only works like the A4, however only when the unit is connected to AC power; quick-start doesn't work while on battery power.The battery is certified for 300 recharges and doesn't seem to be user replaceable. I don't see any replacement battery anywhere on the Pioneer web site or elsewhere. This is unlike Bose SoundLink Air which has a user-replaceable battery (the battery cost $90 but that's another issue).I charged the battery full and was able to have it play for 2.5 hours at average volume before the battery indicated it had reached 50% of it's charge, so I have no difficulty believing that it can achieve 4 hours and more as indicated in the documentation (they say 6 hours at 50% volume).Setting up the network is just like on the A4, so I won't repeat myself here.The sound is not the same as the A4 however, far from it. The bass level is too low for my taste and disappointing for a unit at this price. The Soundlink Air definitely has better bass. I even compared it to the low-price Logitech and I have to say the Logitech beats its: it simply sounds better. The bass on the Logitech is better than on the A3, which cost 3 times more: this is not cool.Another thing I noticed is that at max volume, the speaker doesn't play quite as loud when it's running on battery as when its plugged into the AC. However it's still plenty loud for me and the difference between the 2 is not huge but nevertheless noticeable.On it's own, someone would think the A3 sound is good. However once you start to compare it side by side, it simply doesn't hold up to the competition above. The feature set is great and the portability is fine. I wish Pioneer would give it a better bass.Bose Soundlink AirThis is my first time with a Bose speaker or sound system, however I had the opportunity to listen to their SoundDock in the past while at a friend's house. I was always impressed with the Sounddock ability to have good bass. I had read on the web about the 'Bose sound' but never got to compare it with other speakers head-on, so this proved interesting.Let's start by the exterior. The unit looks good and actually has a cleaner look than the Pioneer (that's a matter of personal taste).The power brick is enormous. When plugged vertically, it won't block your second outlet however if you have to plug it in a power bar where the connector are oriented horizontally then be ready to lose 2 outlets. I really wonder why Bose chose this format since there's absolutely no advantages.The back of the unit has the AUX input, the power input and a micro-usb port used to configure the unit via your computer. On the bottom of the unit you also find a Reset button. The placement of this button is inconvenient since it's also used to set the unit in wireless direct mode (hotspot) but since you won't be doing this very often, it's not too bothersome.There is a cover in the center on the back of the unit that can be removed to attach a battery (sold separately, unfortunately).The side of the unit has volumes up/down capacitive buttons (no tactile feedback). There's no power button on the device: only volume up/down.There's also no network port in the back, so you cannot connect it directly to your wired network at home, unlike the Pioneer one.Configuring the unit must be done using an application you download from the Bose site and you must use your computer. I had no problem configuring it to use my wi-fi network which uses WPA2-Personal and doesn't broadcast its SSID. You can also edit the network name of the device during the setup.You can set the unit use wireless direct (hotspot): simply unplug it, re-plug it and hold the 'Reset' button underneath the unit for 2 seconds until the indicator in the front turns amber. After a few seconds, the unit emits a tone and it can now be see as a new wireless network called (Bose Soundlink Air). Once you join that network, you can AirPlay to it. The wireless direct connection worked fine just as the one with my own wi-fi network (couldn't see any difference).The unit is always on (always visible on your iPod) you simply press play on your iPod and it streams.It only uses Airplay however, so if you have an Android device this speaker won't work (unless there's some Android app to simulate Airplay: I don't know).If you have used a Bose Sounddock or other Bose speakers in the past, you will feel right at home. If you never used Bose speakers, you will notice the same thing I notice: Bose sound processing. Overall, the speaker sound good (better than the Pioneer A3) and there's good bass. It's even surprising to hear that bass from such a small unit. The mid-range however is a different story. Bose seems to use some processing that pushes the mid-range slightly forward and makes them more present. This sounds impressive initially and if you like the 'Bose sound' you will like this speaker as well. I personally found it tiring after a while because the mid-range and highs were too present. After listening to it for an hour I found myself going back to either the Logitech or the A4.Don't get me wrong, this is far from a poor sounding speaker. Adele's song 'Rolling in the deep' sounded good, although it didn't have the power that the A4 had because of its subwoofer. If you plan on buying this unit but never had a Bose before, I suggest you try it over several songs (10-15 mins) to see if you like the color that Bose gives to their speakers.When controlling the volume from your iPod, the volume control was very really linear, no problem here unlike the Pioneer units.I didn't get to try the battery. However I couldn't help but notice that it was expensive ($90!). This means that once you add the battery to this unit, you have a system that's close to $450.Overall, I found the Bose SoundLink Air to be really good but didn't like the mid-range being too present. This was my second favorite speaker of the bunch.Logitech Wireless BoomboxUnlike the other units, this speaker is only bluetooth. It's also much cheaper than the other ones. You can find it around $130 while the other ones are around $350-400; what a difference.In the back, the speaker has a power port and an AUX port. In the front, the little bluetooth button can be used to pair it with your device.Pairing is pretty simple: when you power on the unit, it goes in pairing mode automatically. Once it's paired, things could be any easier: just select the unit in the list of speakers on your iPod/iPhone and play. Everything command is instantaneous, unlike on Airplay units.A nice thing is also that if you power off the Logitech, when you power it back on it will remember the last device you paired it with. Furthermore, once the Logitech was turned back-on my Ipod also remembered it was playing on that speaker so it automatically sent my sound to it (I didn't have to select Logitech again in the list of speakers available). Brilliant.If you want to change the pairing (i.e. pair with another iPod for example), there's a bit more trouble, however once you know how to do it it's easy. Press and hold the bluetooth button on the Logitech for a few seconds until the bluetooth led on the unit starts flashing, then go to your iPod and pair it. However if the iPod you are using had already been paired with the Logitech in the past, you will still see the Logitech listed in your list of bluetooth devices but you won't be able to pair to it: you must first remove it from the list, then redo the pairing.It's annoying but once you figure it out then it works just fine.Since it uses bluetooth, it should work with just about any device (Apple, Android) that can support bluetooth, which is a plus. The range of bluetooth can be less than a wi-fi router, however in practice I never has any problems with the range. I could play the unit through 2 walls and approx 20 feet apart. However again interference could lower the range you will get at your house, so it's best to try it out and see for yourself.The battery is easy to replace and I tried the unit a couple of hours without issue (I didn't try to see how long the battery would last).The sound on this unit was impressive. For a unit this price, it's really exceptional. The sound was well balanced and the bass was good although not quite as present as the Bose unit. However it was better than the A3 which cost much more. I could easily see why people buying this speaker were very satisfied with it. I tried the unit for a full day at work at low volume and I really liked it.If I had to choose between the Bose and the Logitech, I would personally choose the Logitech because the bass sound difference isn't huge, because I find the mid-range boost of the Bose to be tiring on my ears and you just can't beat the price of the Logitech.Using this unit, the volume control from my iPod had full range (no problems like the one I saw on the Pioneer units).There you have it! So many choices... as once said in a movie: choose wisely :-)
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
By JC
I really like this speaker. I searched high and low for months for a an affordable, high quality wireless speaker and I'm very pleased with the Pioneer XW-SMA1. I have friends that use the Sonos, Soundfreak and Bose systems and in my opinion Pioneer's line beats them all. Unlike Sonos, the SMA speakers don't require a proprietary software program to play music, nor do they need accessories to connect to a wireless router. And the wifi connection is much more responsive and stable than Bluetooth. I've heard good things about the Audyssey audio dock but I didn't want to be stuck with an Airplay only wireless speaker. I've used the wifi, airplay and wireless direct with the SMA-1 and it works great.I originally purchased the SMA-4 but I found the 4" woofer a bit too powerful and "bassy" so I returned it and got the SMA-1, which is just right for my living room.I have 3 minor gripes:1.) The unit powers off automatically after about 5-10min of non-use. I'd prefer if it stayed on either indefinitely until powered off or after a longer waiting period.2.) The remote's workable distance from the speaker is about 20 feet max. It's a no frills remote and the iOS app isn't much better.3.) An equalizer would be nice.Otherwise it's a great wireless speaker that's compatible with all types of devices.
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