Multi-room speakers are the easiest way to spread sound around your home without calling an installer. Everyone from Sonos to Samsung have come up with their own multi-room speaker series, allowing users to control multiple speakers playing multiple sources, all from a single app. But while most of these speakers use proprietary multi-room wireless tech, the latest from Definitive Technology, the premium W7, uses the new Play-Fi protocol, which allows you to mix and match speakers from multiple brands.
The W7 is crafted into a beautiful cube of sound. The speaker sports the same silver metal on black style we’ve seen from Def Tech before, from computer speakers to sound bars. And thanks to its design, the speaker is able to spin sound from both the front and sides, loading up a room with your favorite tunes.
Inside the speaker are a nice collection of drivers, including dual 1-inch aluminum dome tweeters matched by a 4-inch midrange driver at the front, and another 1-inch dome tweeter at each side, along with two passive radiators to beef up the bass.
And there’s plenty of bass on board the W7. The speaker definitely compensates for its small size (about a 6-inch cube) by loading up the low end with some musical heft. And while that does make the midrange a little cloudier than we’d like, there is some vivid brilliance in the treble thanks to those dome tweeters. Pin-point precision in the extended highs makes for a fine listen, especially in lighter recordings, like acoustic tracks and jazz.
And of course, thanks to Play-Fi, you can mix and match the W7 with several brands, including Polk (Def Tech’s sister brand), Wren, and Phorus for starters, with more brands slated to come on board. Perhaps best of all, the app is intuitive, clean, and easy to use, allowing you to source audio from your phone, media servers, Internet radio stations, and services like Pandora and Deezer. However, there’s still no Spotify — yet.
At $400, the W7 is pretty pricey. But if you’re looking for a stylish cube of sound that will grow with your budget in the multi-room speaker style, this new Play-Fi device is a fine choice.
Portions of this post first debuted on our “brother site” The Manual
