Reviews for Libratone Lounge Speaker with AirPlay Technology

Now that I'm used to this speaker, it is lacking in some important areas.

If you listen to vocals or Jazz it's pretty decent, but any other genre even simple stuff makes this speaker seem challenged.

There is too much music that sounds like soup spilt on a hot stove element to make it worth the money, plus it has a very annoying habit of cutting out even if the wifi is at max signal strength.
Maybe there will be some type of update to fix this.

This speaker is pathetic. It has a nice design and nothing more. It looses AirPlay connection virtually every time I stop playing music. And I have a Zeppelin Air much further from my router that never looses connection.

I bought this Libratone Lounge from DWR last December. Its initial setup is extremely easy but that’s it. Virtually ever time I stopped playing music it would loose AirPlay connection. Bringing it back would require not just a couple of clicks on iTunes but literally turning the Libratone OFF and ON and waiting for it to reconnect to my computer or any other AirPlay device. I have an internet connection stable and strong enough to keep my Zeppelin Air perfectly connected for months. Last January I emailed the manufacturer and they promptly emailed me back saying it could be an issue with my internet connection (an argument easily refuted by the amazing Zeppelin Air connection I have) and saying that a Libratone software update coming in mid-February could fix the issue. (Another reviewer got a mid-January timeframe as an answer.)

We are almost in mid-May. If in the next couple of weeks they don’t release an update fixing the issue, I’m just going to return the speaker to the manufacturer and buy another Zeppelin Air for less than half of the price of my Libratone Lounge.

Having now enjoyed the Libratone Lounge for a couple of weeks, I must say it has fully lived up to my expectations.
I have not experienced any connection drop problems, like with some other AirPlay products, and the App that controls the sound style and room optimization is great.
As a companion for my TV the sound is a zillion times better than from TV speakers, and really eliminates the need for surround speakers unless you are very demanding.
I have really only one suggestion for improvement, and that would be an option to control the volume on the box directly, if your iPhone or iPad is not within reach.

The libratone Lounge is the only genuinely high end
AirPlay speaker available and it is absolutely awesome. So much so that I bought 2!

The sound quality is really good. I can only compare the sound directly to my pro audio recording system (genelec 8040a's + fireface audio interface) and although the quality isn't quite as high as that (it would be unreasonable to expect it to be as it is at a significantly lower price) the sound stage is much better. At higher volumes you can fill a large room. For lower volumes, I found that two units sounded much better in my lounge (9m by 5m). The airplay audio is in perfect sync between them.

The sound is balanced but you do not get the big thump at the bottom end, so if your main listening is hip hop you may wish to look elsewhere. I like the bass - it's refined and clear, and let's me listen at higher volumes without annoying the neighbours. The mid range is very good and the high end is fantastic - not exaggerated but just really crystal.

I had some issues with regular dropouts to start with but they have been resolved with the latest software. I rarely get dropouts now. Connection is fast - after you hit play, the music plays within 3 seconds or so. Pausing and volume changes are almost instant.

It's hard to review the Lounge without reviewing AirPlay too. There are limitations on the AirPlay system (that you don't have with Sonos) but that is Apple's fault not Libratone's - for example you can only stream to one speaker from an iDevice yet you can stream to as many as you like from iTunes. But on the plus side when using an iDevice you can use intelligent music apps like groove to get better mixes of your songs. And like everything Apple, it looks great and just works.

I highly, highly recommend this. Yes you can get a more expensive separates hi-fi system that will sound even better, and you can connect some device to get AirPlay working with it, but it will be a mess of wires and ugly. This is beautiful, simple and sounds fantastic to me - and I am generally very picky when it comes to sound quality.