Skip to main content

Hi-Fi Corner: Outfit your home in style with the W7 multi-room speaker

definitive techology w7 multi room wireless speaker technology
Multi-room wireless speakers are the easiest way to spread sound around your home — without calling the installer. Companies from Sonos to Samsung have created multi-room speaker series, allowing you to control a bevy of pieces from numerous sources, all from a single app. But while most of these speakers are proprietary, the latest from Definitive Technology, the premium W7, uses the new open-source Play-Fi protocol that allows you to mix and match speakers from several brands.

And it looks pretty good doing it, too.

Related Videos

Related: Sonos Play:1 goes blue for 75th anniversary of Blue Note Records

The W7 is crafted into a beautiful cube of sound. The speaker sports the same signature molded silver metal against black 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 to load up the 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 twin passive radiators at the sides to beef up the bass.

The speaker definitely compensates for its small size (around 6-inches on all sides) by loading up the low end with some musical heft. And while that makes the midrange a little cloudier than we’d like, there is some vivid brilliance above thanks to those dome tweeters. Pin-point precision in the treble makes for some fine listening, especially for lighter arrangements, like acoustic tracks and jazz.

There’s also a digital Optical port, and a 3.5mm port to plug in. And of course, thanks to Play-Fi, you can mix and match the W7 with other 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. And we should also mention the top of the speaker scratches easily, so you’ll have to be gentle. But if you’re looking for a stylish cube of sound that will grow with more pieces in the multi-room speaker fashion, this new Play-Fi device from Def Tech is a fine choice.

Editors' Recommendations

This Smart Side Table Will Launch Your Bedroom into the Future
sobro smart side table 01

 

With Google Home Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa taking our song requests, cracking jokes on command to entertain us, and finally ridding us humans of the mundane task of turning our own lights on and off, aren’t you getting sick of watching your slack-ass furniture just, like … sit around all the time? Seriously, one good scan of your house and you’ll probably feel like you’re living in the dark ages. Or at least the 90s. Well, here’s some good news: The Renaissance is upon us, and one company is making a play at becoming the Michelangelo of smart furniture.

Read more
Ditch the Cords with Shure’s New Noise-Isolating Wireless Earbuds
wireless earbuds

Wireless headphones are the latest must-have accessory in the world of sound. AirPods, Apple’s wireless earbuds, have polarized users since their introduction last year. However, they have also inspired competition on the wireless headphone market, and Shure is the latest brand to get in on the game.

Shure is well-known for its top-notch audio technology — microphones and mixers, as well as sound, conference, and monitoring systems — but the Illinois-based company recently introduced two pairs of Bluetooth headphones: the Wireless SE112 and the Wireless SE215, cordless versions of Shure's highly regarded series of SE Sound Isolating Earphones.

Read more
Yamaha R-N803 Wireless Receiver is For Digital and Analog Audiophiles Alike
Yamaha R-N803

If you're a hardcore digital audiophile, vinyl collector, or just a general home theater and music enthusiast, Yamaha's newly launched R-N803 wireless stereo receiver will help you achieve the high-res audio setup that your music collection deserves, while simultaneously acting as a centralized hub for an entire multi-room speaker system.

The Yamaha R-N803 is well equipped to handle a wide range of listening options, both digital and analog. The receiver touts a 24-bit/192kHz ESS Sabre Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) chipset with support for multiple high-resolution digital audio formats, including 24-bit/192kHz FLAC, WAV, and AIFF files, and 2.5/5.6MHz DSD files. In addition, the R-N803 features a dedicated phono input for vinyl record players, plus two digital Optical ports and two coax ports for other devices like CD players, Blu-ray players, or TVs. Rounding out the connection ports are Ethernet and USB connections, subwoofer out, headphone out, and control trigger.

Read more