Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Sonos beware? Libratone’s new ZIPP speakers make multiroom audio portable

By Ryan Waniata Published October 22, 2015

Libratone, maker of some of the funkiest wireless speakers in the galaxy, has entered the multiroom audio game with an upgrade to the company’s ZIPP speaker lineup. Set up for what the company calls “the elastic lifestyle,” the speakers boast both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connection, allowing a variety of ways to use them.

Available from: Amazon

Available in two multi-directional tubes of sound — including the 100-watt ZIPP, and the 60-watt ZIPP Mini — the hot new feature riding with the speakers is Libratone’s SoundSpace Link technology.With SoundSpace, users can link up to six different ZIPP speakers together over Wi-Fi to spread the sound throughout the house.

While Libratone’s new SoundSpace feature sounds similar to Sonos speakers, and a host of other multiroom speaker solutions, Libratone’s hook is portability: ZIPP speakers sport rechargeable batteries with up to 10 hours of playtime per charge, allowing you to move them around the house at will — hence the “elastic” aspect of these sonic marvels. Adding in the convenience of Bluetooth, which allows you to take the speaker far beyond the bounds of your Wi-Fi network, makes the ZIPP series one of the most versatile portables on the market.

Additional features for the new ZIPP speakers includes Spotfiy Connect and Apple Music compatibility, a speakerphone, and a touch interface for easy control of the sound directly from the speaker. Adding to the convenience factor, the ZIPP lineup can also store up to five Internet stations, allowing you to dip between them from the speaker itself when your phone is out of reach.

As one might expect, the company has also redesigned the Libratone app from scratch to allow users to fully take the reigns in directing these versatile new speakers, and it’s available for Android and iOS.

The speakers also come with a mesh cover in four colors, including Cloudy Grey, Deep Lagoon, Graphite Grey, and Victory Red — unique covers is kind of Libratone’s thing. You can pick up the regular ZIPP for $300, and the ZIPP Mini for $250 beginning in early November.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Ryan Waniata is a multi-year veteran of the digital media industry, a lover of all things tech, audio, and TV, and a…

Audio / Video

Ikea and Sonos collaborate on new Symfonisk floor lamp speaker

Ikea Sonos Symfonisk floor lamp speakers beside a couch.

Ikea and Sonos are continuing their collaboration with a new floor lamp speaker available in January 2023. It will be added to their popular, and affordable, Symfonisk lineup of Sonos-powered Wi-Fi speakers.

The Swedish furniture icon and American wireless home speaker maker began their partnership in 2019 with the original Symfonisk table lamp speaker, and have since added to the range with a bookshelf speaker, a picture frame speaker, and even a second generation of the table lamp last year, all aimed towards the budget-conscious audio fan looking to get in on Sonos' ecosystem of network speakers.

Audio / Video

New leak hints at Sonos’ future: Bluetooth, spatial audio, and lots more home theater

Rendering of a reportedly unreleased Sonos speaker created by The Verge.

You have to imagine that Sonos CEO Patrick Spence is getting a little tired of leaks originating from within the company's walls. For the second time in 2022, The Verge's Chris Welch has published details of an unreleased and unconfirmed Sonos product that Welch claims is code-named Optimo 2. According to this information, which he claims was gleaned from work-in-progress images of the Optimo 2, it's a speaker that will likely take over from the current Sonos Five, a product that hasn't been meaningfully updated since it debuted as the Play:5 in 2009.

If the report is accurate -- and it's worth noting that Welch's prior reporting on the Sonos Ray ahead of that product's debut was very close to what was eventually announced -- the Optimo 2 could represent the beginning of a new era for Sonos. It reportedly contains the mics needed for Sonos Voice Control, as well as plenty of RAM for future updates. A wireframe render of the speaker created by The Verge (which is what you do when you need to protect the source material) illustrates an unusual mirror-image shape -- it looks vaguely like a VR headset -- which appears to be designed to direct sound outward in at least two directions -- forward and backward -- though Welch says that some of the Optimo 2's drivers will aim sound upward, too.

Audio / Video

KEF LS60 bring wireless hi-res audio to floor-standing speakers

KEF LS60 Wireless Speakers seen in Titanium Grey.

KEF's LS50 Wireless and LS50 Wireless II speakers set a very high bar for what you can expect from a set of powered, wireless speakers, and now the British audio brand has its sights set on doing the same thing for larger-format floor-standing speakers with the LS60 Wireless. Priced at $7,000 per pair, they come in three distinct colors: Royal Blue, Mineral White, and Titanium Grey. They're available for pre-order starting May 12, with shipping beginning in June 2022.

Many of the same integrated capabilities that made the LS50/LS50 II so popular are also found in the LS60 Wireless, like KEF's signature Uni-Q drivers, as well as support for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, HDMI eARC, and optical, coaxial, and RCA connections. There's also app- and remote-based control that includes easy access to subscription streaming services like Amazon Music, Qobuz, and Deezer.