My new kinda cool (yet frustrating) Airplay speaker

[Kazaam]

Or maybe it's now my mom's? (It's a Boston Acoustics MC200Air, bytheway.)

I was going to return it. But she liked the idea of having something that maybe sounded similar to a Bose Wave radio. And since I only paid $50.00 I figured why not. Early Christmas present, I guess.

Backstory:

About a week and a half ago I saw this thing at Best Buy. Supposedly originally $199, but marked down "On Sale" to only $49. Nothing on display. Just a box hiding on the bottom shelf, full of dust. Brand new. I was intrigued, but I passed. And then a few days went by and I got bored, so I went back to see if it was still there. I figured that since Amazon and Crutchfield were still selling it at $199 that maybe it would at least be worth giving it a listen.

Anyway... Since I don't have any iOS devices, I have to play music via iTunes on my laptop and stream it to the Boston speaker via Wi-Fi (AirPlay). The sound quality is OK, but not great. (Or maybe it's very good, but not excellent? Depends on your perspective, I guess.) Anyway... There are two 3-1/2" full range drivers, and as such it gets quite loud; but the treble maybe doesn't sound quite as effortless and airy as I'd like. A slight bump to the iTunes EQ helps a little bit, though. And as for the bass frequencies, it's weird. Sometimes it sounds a little exaggerated, like they pumped up the mids to give the impression of bass. (Pretty sure they at least pumped up the upper-bass, maybe not mids?) Other times it sounds like it lacks bass. (Probably on songs that truly have deep deep bass.) And, curiously, with some music it manages to sound just about perfect. Regardless, I'm pretty sure the sound quality isn't a whole lot different from a Bose Wave Radio, which would've cost more than $50 bucks, and I definitely know this Boston speaker sounds much much better than the little Sony boombox my mom currently has.

The frustrating stuff is regarding AirPlay, mostly.

I've used AirPlay for years and, up until about 1 year ago, it streamed flawlessly. Apple Lossless files. Bit accurate. Great quality. Never a dropout. But as my laptop gets older and iTunes keeps getting updated, I've encountered too many dropouts. Sometimes I can play it for hours without nary a hiccup. Other times I might only make it a half hour before getting dropouts. This happens with both my Airport Express as well as with my new Boston Acoustics Airplay Speaker.

What's worse, is that the dropouts seem to be even more frequent with my mom's computer. Which kind of sucks, since she seems quite capable of at least playing iTunes so long as I load her CDs onto it for her. Oh, well... the backup plan I think is to load music files onto her Nook Tablet and just play music via the headphone-style AUX input.

Oh... and one last gripe: The power cable looks like a laptop cable. A big brick. And it's really really long. Not that that is entirely bad depending on where you put it, I guess.

 

[Zing]

So would you recommend this product or caution us to avoid it like the plague?

 

[Kazaam]

If you can find it for $50 at a nearby Best Buy, then I guess I'd recommend giving it a try. Even if it isn't perfect sounding, I doubt there is much else out there that sounds much if any better for that price (as far as compact table radios go). Just be prepared to possibly return the item to the store if unhappy with it for whatever reason.

Now, if we're talking about the full price of $200? Well then I'd probably suggest at least looking at the other options first seeing as how those might could sound better.

fwiw... I thought the Boston MC200Air sounded better than the Pioneer A1 (which sometimes goes on sale for $99). Granted, it's hard to tell when it isn't a direct comparison. And even harder when the Pioneer is being listened to in a noisy store. Though the step up $150.00 (if on sale) Pioneer A3 seemed pleasant enough in the store and possibly might could sound better than the Boston speaker. Hard to say for sure.

 

[Kazaam]

***UPDATE***

So it's been about about a year.... My mom acquired a Bose Wave radio w/CD, so I was able to try a more direct comparison between the Boston Acoustics airplay speaker and the Bose Wave.

To my surprise, I think the Boston speaker sounded better. More detailed highs for sure. Not entirely sure about the bass differences, but they were close. Both sounded nice enough for what they are, but I prefer the Boston speaker overall.

Not sure why any of this should've been a surprise, since we all know that Bose, whilst probably the best at advertising wonderful music appliances, doesn't necessarily make the absolutely best sounding stuff. (To say it kindly.) I guess it's just that I paid only $50 for the Boston speaker (could've bought a 2nd on further clearance for only $25!), and the Bose can cost as much as $500. That said... I know there are plenty of people who would and do prefer a decent radio with a built-in CD player rather than a decent wireless speaker only that lacks FM radio/CD and optimally works in combination with an iPad.