iHome iW1 AirPlay Wireless Stereo Speaker System with Rechargeable Battery

Great product. Set up is a snap. Came with a decent charge. Just turned it on, quick look at the pictorial instruction fold out and 5 min later I have true wireless sound. Wireless as in no power plug, either. Adjusted the base and treble with the remote and the sound is awesome. Well worth the money.About 3 weeks ago I bought the SONOS $300 speaker from Target. The sound on the iHome is very close to the $300 SONOS. But there are two big advantages to the iHome.a) it's got a rechargeable battery so now I can tote it out to the pool or anywhere in the home with no worries. I can move the SONOS around too, but I have to find a place to plug it in and then wait about a minute for it to log back onto my WLAN.b) the biggest advantage of the iHome is that you can use native iphone/ipad apps! With SONOS, I was disappointed to learn that I need to download the SONOS app - and then use their app to play music over the SONOS speaker. Works well for Pandora but not so hot for my itunes library. I had to 'import' my itunes library which was a little non-intuitive but not too bad. Found my playlists but only the first song would play. Something about a queue - but when I tried to import the playlist into the SONOS app queue it acted like it was doing something but would still only play one song. I'm sure I could have figured it out if I read the manual but why should I have to do that? Why can't I just use my music App that comes on my iphone/ipad? Not to mention there was no obvious way to shuffle!And XM... I really love the XM app that lets me play a show that was recorded earlier. Maybe the 6:00am Morning Joe. And I can skip the commercials with the XM app. Really nice. Not as nice as having full DVR type controls (ie rewind 10 sec, FF 1 min, etc). But damn nice in that anytime during a news segment, you can hit the FF arrow and you skip ahead of the next commercial segment and it starts at the beginning of the next discussion segment. Pretty slick.Of course, I can't use any of that with SONOS. I can only listen to XM live - provided I enter my name/PW, etc... all of which is already entered on the XM app on my iphone.WHICH brings me back to my original point - just let me use my own apps and project to the speaker as a pure sound source. That's what iHome let's you do. Because it uses Apple's Airplay where SONOS ties into your network router with it's own bridge.Of course the XM app doesn't know what airplay is. BUT - I found that if I play a song from itunes, then select the Kiser iW1 speaker (it lets you assign your own name to the device) and then switch over to the XM app... the XM audio will stream to the iHome speaker. Wonderfully simple and intuitive.Wish I had bough the iHome first! Maybe I'll put the SONOS on ebay.My home office is on the other side of the house from my ISP wireless router - so I may need to try my hand at another extender. I tried one of those a few years ago and it was worthless. Hopefully the technology has improved by now.

Disclaimer: I'm a recovering audiophile who has ditched his vinyl & tubes, for convenience and price.Purchasing every audio component and/or system involves compromises, and the IW1 is no exception. Really, this is a lifestyle device. I would not suggest it as a best-in-class iPod dock, as there are better sounding ones to be had, for the money. I would certainly not advocate purchasing this as primary a home system, as it's somewhat sonically challenged. But it does find its own useful niche, and does it fairly well.Buy this unit, if you meet at least two of the following three criteria:1. Have, and use, Apple Airplay (not Sonos or Bluetooth, but Apple AirPlay)2. Desire a truly portable sound system (by portable, I mean battery-powered capabilities)3. Need a reasonable good sound system, that will play at moderate volumes (no dance parties)While I get and appreciate high-end audiophile gear, I also appreciate that I will not be dragging tube mono blocks and turntables, everywhere. And there are times when I'd rather be listening to a mediocre system that is local, than blaring a superior one that is blaring from the other end of the house. Heck, I've even come to appreciate being able to easily take a sound system with me (eg. a moderately loud portable system, for backyard dinner parties). For all of these uses, the IW1 is good enough. I'll run through my criteria:1. Usability - It's very easily toted around. I love the easy charging dock, which enables one to simply lift and go. The controls are intuitive. And it integrates with Airplay, very well (Airplay issues to be brought ups, later). I really love the touch-sensitive top-mounted controls, BTW.2. Mobile/Portability - Battery life is good (50% after 3hrs of my listening). Really, I haven't drained the batteries just yet, but I'm guessing well over 5hrs, for my use. It doesn't come with a case, but would fit easily into lots of bags. It's light, and I find the handle very useful.3. Sound - I know; it's a travesty that a self-proclaimed audiophile doesn't list this first. The sound is reasonable, considering its size and batter-powered nature. I also have two B&W Zeppelin Airplay docks, and I will say that the IW1 is nowhere near the same league as those venerable docks.3a. Highs/Mids - At reasonable volumes, the highs & miss are accurate, but not engaging. They'll make the music sound as it was supposed to, but they won't really grab the listener.3b. Bass - As expected, this thing won't have people dancing in the isles. It pulls off Country or Jazz fairly well, but don't bring out that disco ball, or expect it to do hip-hop. I suspect the system eliminates senseless thuds or rattles, rolling them off without any hint of the bass you're missing.3c. Loudness - The digital amp does a relatively good job of ensuring that the sound won't be distorted at 100% (you won't blow your speakers), but this system is really for more casual listening. As you're dealing with a small low-range driver, and constrained by an amp that was developed to run off of batteries, this is to be expected.4. Wireless/Airplay - Many of the problems that others have pointed out have much to do with Airplay, vs. IW1 issues. I will, however, point out two potential IW1 issues: I've had this unit go offline twice, in the month or so I've had it (took all of 30 seconds to reboot it), and my iTunes seems to be a bit less stable, when connected to this unit. I have not really spent the time to troubleshoot whether it's an iHome or Apple issue, but I seem to get one or two iTunes crashes, for every five or so hours of playing. This is more frequent, than with my other devices (B&W Zeppelin, Apple TV, etc.). The crashes have to do with timeouts, so there may be an issue with IW1 and iTunes communicating. Again, this is anecdotal, and may be resolved with iTunes updates.5. Build Quality - This doesn't really look like a $300 device, in that the grill and some parts feel a bit flimsy. But the dock & mating are solid. The controls at the top are also top-notch. SO, I guess it's a mixed bag.6. Minor gripes - Occasional iTunes drop outs (more minor annoyance than showstopper), battery status button in the rear, with the USB cable could plug into the doc vs the unit (have to unplug USB doc, before lifting unit of charging station). Bluetooth would also be nice, as it would enable it to easily play sound off my iPad, while watching a movie.Overall, it does what it's intended to do. A few things I do with the IW1 are:Take into the garage, while working on a projectTake it to the patio, while having a dinner party (music without blaring the living room system and waking the kids)Kitchen sound system (where its dock lives)Picnic systemCamping systemWorkout system, while using the bow-flex in the garageUSe outside, while doing yard work or gardening (I have a 1acre yard, and wifi does me good)In the household, the mission is to have a system that is closer to the listeners, without cranking one of my main systems to really high levels. When outside the house, it's a system that will give you several hours of camping and/or picnic music. It's good for jazz & moderate music, but does not do hazily bass-biased music well (eg. hard rock or hip-hop). Though it will play those genres, it may not do it at a volume you're accustomed to.Honestly, I considered giving this five stars. I paid less than 50% MSRP for mine, because I bought a refurb. At that price, it's definitely a 5-star performer. But it's more 4-stars, at $300. Having said that, if you're really looking for a battery-powered airplay device, it may be the best in-class, even for $300. If you can live with bluetooth vs. airplay, or if you can shell out more than $300 (beolit 12), there are better options. And if you can live without a battery, you can certainly do better. But for its unique niche, it's probably the best out there.