Over the weekend, Best Buy had the Pioneer A1 Airplay speakers on sale for $50. These originally retailed for $300 then dropped to $150 recently. $50 was a steal so I figured I get two. One for the Guest Room and another for the Garage or future tree-house/deck I plan to build in the back yard.
The A1 is an Airplay speakers that also supports DLNA and HTC Connect audio streaming. It is fairly compact with two 3" Mid-range speakers and a single 1" tweeter. This turned out to be an odd arrangement because fidelity wise, your high notes will sound mono or like a center speaker. However, for this size, you're not gonna be looking for stereo imaging or soundstage. At $150, I'd be concerned but for $50, these sound great. For that price point, you get a rather full body warm sound which is enough to fill a small room.
The thing that I really like about the A1 is the direct USB. Sure, it has a 3.5mm AUX in but the USB also makes this a cheap iPod dock. The USB, along with the remote, will control and operate an iPhone 5 running iOS 7. Even if you don't use Airplay, these make great bedroom speakers for the kids or guests.
It also has wired Ethernet which is also a big plus.
The only things I don't like about this is the big brick of a power supply. It would have been cool if this also sported a battery for portable use.
Overall, I like it. Especially for the $50 deal-of-the-day price. This price usually pops up every so often so if you're interested, keep an eye out.
Set-up was straightforward. I had no issues with wireless Airplay streaming. Again, I really like the clean minimal look. This fits anywhere without drawing attention to itself. It looks extremely minimalist with no fancy LED read-outs or clock feature. It is a rather handsome unit that really fits into any decor.
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