MacLife - USA (2019-09)

THE WINNER

Libratone Zipp 2

Multi–faceted sound in a surprisingly compact form

T

HESE ARE FIVE very good speakers. The

Sonos One is not only a bargain it’s also a

musical powerhouse, and it very nearly won

this test based on those attributes. But the Zipp

2’s sheer range of capabilities edges it to the

top in this company. For such an impactful

speaker to be so easily portable is a real win,

and its highly tweakable sound and creditably

strong app score it extra points.

The Zipp 2 is also the closest of these to the

HomePod, which is the obvious competition

— both have some form of 360° sound, both

include integration with a smart assistant

(Libratone’s speaker carries Alexa, Apple’s

has Siri), and both have a neat touch panel for

interaction. You could argue that the HomePod’s

sound is more refined, and given that the Zipp 2

has a similar retail price, it’s a question of

whether its portability and flexibility is more

valuable than on–board Siri and HomeKit

automations. We’d pick a HomePod first, but

then we’d definitely expand with this.

Note: The final verdict scores reflect the overall opinion of a product and are not necessarily an average of the criteria listed in the table.

How do

they

compare?

THE SPECS LIBRATONE

ZIPP 2

BLUESOUND PULSE

FLEX 2I

SONOS

ONE

BEOPLAY

M3

YAMAHA

MUSICCAST 20

WEBSITE libratone.com bluesound.com sonos.com beoplay.com yamaha.com

PRICE $259 $299 $199 $300 $229.95

AUXILIARY INPUTS 3.5mm, USB 3.5mm, USB, optical None 3.5mm, Micro-USB None

CONNECTIVITY AirPlay 2, Spotify

Connect, DLNA,

Bluetooth

Airplay 2, Spotify

Connect, Bluetooth

Airplay 2,

Spotify Connect

Airplay 2, Bluetooth,

Chromecast

Airplay 2, Spotify

Connect, Bluetooth

VOICE ASSISTANT Alexa None Alexa, Google

Assistant

None None

ON–BOARD

CONTROLS

Touch panel 10 buttons Touch panel 3 buttons Touch panel

NETWORKING 802.11ac 802.11ac,

Gigabit Ethernet

802.11b/g,

100Mbps Ethernet

802.11ac 802.11ac,

100Mbps Ethernet

POWER OUTPUT Not stated 25W Not stated 80W 40W

SETUP AND

CONNECTIVITY

SOUND QUALITY

SHELF APPEAL

VERSATILITY

OVERALL

The Zipp 2 is tall, dark and

handsome — or red, or aqua,

if you change the cover.

maclife.com SEP 2019 57

Tough testing, trusted ratings