![]() Actually, there's literally a price to pay, because while we lauded the Contour 100Di as being well-, even aggressively-priced (you can pick one up for under ninety quid today) the i1 Air is almost £200 at launch. There is, then, a lot to love about the Pure Contour i1 Air, but there's a price to pay. Switching from Lightning to 30-pin is easy too there's a little button on the lip of the dock which you press to release a lipstick-sized cartridge that has the connector on it, and then you can drop in the other. Press one corner and it pivots out in a most pleasing manner so you can dock and charge your iOS device – even full-sized iPads sit comfortably on it, partly thanks to the little rubber nipple above the dock that supports them. The lovable swing-out dock buys it a lot of slack, though. (It appears on your network with an ungainly name, but, although it's not documented anywhere, you can enter its IP address – which you can find out from the menu system on its display – into a web browser and change it.)Ī note of caution: it doesn't support 802.11n (or ac), or 5GHz networks, but there was no explanation or indication specifically of this when we unthinkingly tried in vain to connect it to a 5GHz network. Sadly you can't stream to more than one AirPlay device from iOS, but you can do so from iTunes on a Mac or PC on the same network – and then you could use the Remote iOS app to control the volume of each speaker or Apple TV, and playback.Īdding the i1 Air to your network is easy: dock an iOS device, press a button on the back, and the speaker requests the network login details from the iOS device – just tap Allow and you're done. Switching from docked to AirPlay mode is smoothĪirPlay is a great feature to have, because in addition to streaming audio from iTunes or your iOS device directly, you can also create a multi-room audio system very easily. And at least with the devices and apps we tested it with, it gracefully switched from AirPlay to docked at the end of the day. The glowing LCD automatically adjusts its brightness, and it's easy to stretch your arm out and feel for the controls that adjust volume/mute, and activate a sleep timer, plus there's a remote control that, neatly, is held magnetically in a recess on the back of the speaker. The volume increments are nicely fine – vital for a quiet room – and the lowest level reasonably quiet. Otherwise, it's a terrific dock to have on your bedside. Still, it's a shame to lose the convenience of the built-in radio the i1 Air does have an alarm function, but you can't wake up to a radio station (obviously, since there's no radio function) and if you use an app on a docked device it usually has to remain on all night. Pure would like you to use its Pure Connect app – not least because that gives it the chance to tempt you to subscribe to its music streaming service – but iPlayer Radio, TuneIn Radio or any other app on your iOS device should work just fine, whether docked or over AirPlay. Well, we say that, but note that while the i1 Air looks identical to the 100Di, it lacks the latter's built-in DAB and FM radio, so you have to use an app on your smartphone to get radio. Vocals sound terrific, and if you listen to a lot of speech radio, it's ideal. That said, it definitely lacks richness and resonance, it lacks punch and guts at the bottom end, and it loses it a bit if you crank the volume much past half-way.įor some, that's enough of a reason to discount it straight away, but if you listen mostly to gentle acoustic, classical or simple poppy tracks – in broad terms, anything that isn't dance or RnB or metal – it should suit you well. It's very good clear, precise and neutral. Of course, its AirPlay abilities are interesting too, and while it's not the cheapest AirPlay speaker you can buy – look at Philips Fidelio AD7000W (opens in new tab) or DS3880W SoundRing for example – and nor is it the best even ignoring high-end systems such as the Denon Cocoon or audiophile amps such as the Marantz NA7004, it's a good balance of price and performance. We believe Apple isn't allowing certified devices to ship with both connectors, and that these few models currently available snuck in just before this rule was enforced. It's not the only speaker dock to include both 30-pin and Lightning connectors – Philips' Clock Dock and Dual Dock Triple Charging Clock Radio, for example, do too – but it's likely to be a rare feature. ![]() Your iPhone snuggles in the speaker's embrace
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