Item: Definitive Technology W7 Wireless Speaker
Rating: 9.5
Author: admin

Buy Again Rating

Product Rating

 4.75/5

Primary Evaluation Factors

- Sound
- Spotify Playback
- Daughter Dances her heart out

Secondary Evaluation Factors

- Design / Look / Size
- Cost
- Future Expansion Capabilities

Why I Was In Market

I've always loved music but never have a yearned for it as much as I did when I saw how much it made my older daughter dance. At four years old, she's a bundle of energy (or Troll as I call her) that just loves to sing, and hug, and dance. Did you get the Trolls reference there? When she was younger and we lived in another house that was smaller, I was able to get away to with just playing music on my phone or my wife's ancient iHome system that had a 2nd generation iPod that pretty much needed to stay plugged in or else it would die. This meant that adding music that was created in the past 10 years was next to impossible and the iHome was more alarm clock than a legitimate sound speaker. I know technology had advanced and I needed a product to that sounded great and allowed me to easily stream Spotify music on demand. Are you looking for the wi-fi home speaker?

Research

When you think of the top wireless WiFi speakers available in the market, you're instantly drawn to the market leader - Sonos. I know many who have owned Sonos and love it and the reviews online provide superb recommendations. The great thing about shopping for these type of speakers is that you can head down to your local Best Buy or similar electronics store and test them out. You won't get the full end-to-end experience of setup and daily use, but at least you'll be able to sample the audio quality. BUT be aware that your chosen audio equipment in your home is not going to produce the same sound as the same unit in store - the space is way to different. That is of course if you don't live in a warehouse.

The problem with the brick and mortar stores is that they simply won't carry all the possible options to try and some may not even be powered. This led me to do a month long bit of research online. Not dissimilar to this own site, I've read many Top X WiFi Speaker reviews that I had nightmares about making the wrong decision (no joke). I saw the usual suspects and in a rare case, I saw Definitive's W7 Speaker come up boasting about it's sound quality.

Selecting the Right Brand

I've only really heard about Definitive Technology from my father who has their sound bar in his home. He's very happy with it and as an engineer, he's always had a stricter evaluation criteria for electronics than I ever have. He's always paying a bit more to get a better product while I'm more conservative. Sonos was my first choice but I didn't want to settle for their entry line Sonos Play1. On the other had, I didn't want to pay for the Sonos 5 since I thought it would be too much for me. Lastly, it was a shame that they discontinued the Play3. It's main competitor was the Denon HEOS line but when I went to the store, I was pretty unimpressed by their entry line. What really made me pull the trigger was seeing that Amazon was selling the W7 for $100 when this product retails for $399. With such good audio reviews and some minor installation cons, I thought as a computer guy, I'll figure it out. And so, I pulled the low risk trigger!

The Product

After it arrived, I meticulously followed the setup instructions to ensure I wouldn't have to do it again several times over. It's hard to keep focused when I was so excited to hear it. In all honesty, the installation is NOT hard! Though because it's not very intuitive, I can see people who don't ever read manuals or instructions would have challenges with the setup. After it connected to my WiFi, it began to do an automatic update which took 5 minutes but felt like an eternity but once it was done, it was all ready for playback. I placed it in my kitchen where our family spends most of our time together and found it to fit right in with the decor. The look and size evaluation factors checked out.

I opened my Spotify app on my phone and chose a song. On the devices screen, I found my W7 and eagerly pressed it. Boom came the wonderful sound as music should be heard. Within moments, I knew the sound was exactly what I was seeking. The sound and Spotify playback evaluation factors checked out.

And for just $100, I was shocked that it could even produce that quality. To think that I would have had to spend three times as much to get a similarly sounding product, blew my mind. Why was this product not recommended on every list? The cost evaluation factor checks out.

I couldn't wait for my daughter to get home from school to play her favorite song - Umbrella. When she got home, I pointed the Definitive Technology W7 out to her and she it looked so cool - I purchased mine in gray. When she asked me what it did, I turned on her song and she just jumped with joy. The daughter dancing her heart out evaluation factor checks out.

While I haven't committed to expanding it into stereo or other rooms of my home, I found with the Play-Fi app, it looks like a pretty easy process to follow. I simply can't see ourselves needing this in bathrooms like some other people do. And with volumes that reach pretty high, I can hear this speaker from many other rooms.

On the other hand, I was impressed by this product, I decided to order this for my father's second home in Florida so he can entertain in his new lanai.

Room for Improvement?

After using this product for several months now, I'm finding there is pretty much nothing that I'd wish Definitive Technology's W7 would have. It doesn't have a bluetooth connection, but I didn't find that to be a problem since streaming off WiFi is much better. E.g. When streaming via bluetooth, if I wanted to stream and record my daughter dancing on the same device, the streaming would stop, but with WiFi connections, I can do both. I can also take my phone and leave the house and let me wife and kids enjoy the music that was queued in the playlist.

If I were to really ask for something, I'd ask for a bit of faster performance. When we had a party on our deck, I disconnected the unit to plug it in outside. I didn't have to pair it with my network again, but I found that it took about 3-5 minutes to reconnect. While it's nothing major, this means I'm not likely to move the unit on a daily basis.

Bottom Line

A $100 wireless wifi speaker that sounds better than anything triple that cost is a clear winner in my book. This has now become the 2nd most used household electronic (after my TV) and it's due to the fact that it's an outstanding piece of equipment.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on Definitive Technology's W7 Wireless Speaker or a product you find that woks better.

Thanks for reading!

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9.5

Outstanding