Sound quality: Libratone's Zipp had good overall sound quality. Bass has good impact but is somewhat boomy, tubby and the deepest bass is lacking. Midrange is somewhat constricted, congested, and has a metallic "swooshy" quality, grainy and lacking in body. Treble is subdued, thin and dry sounding and upper treble is rolled off. Does a so so job of recovering room ambience and sounds somewhat congested, constricted and lacks detail and treble air. No significant difference between Airplay, Bluetooth and wired sound quality. Can provide enough volume to be heard in a small to medium sized room. The speaker is pseudo-stereo but renders mostly a monophonic experience with it's dual tweeters, and one woofer. When two units are used as a stereo pair sound remains somewhat constricted, congested, with a metallic "swooshy" quality but since two separate speakers are used the sound stage can be made wider depending on placement and room ambience improves to decent, sound quality remains good.
Ease of use: We found the Libratone Zipp ease of use to be good overall. Wifi/Airplay setup: Setup requires an app downloaded to a device or device connection, a Libratone account setup required, easy and intuitive - need instructions (may be included in app), involves inputting Wi-Fi network password. Bluetooth setup: Unit is in pairing mode the first time its turned on, however afterwards it requires the press of an ambiguously labeled, multifunction Bluetooth pairing button. DLNA: Lacks instructions with the unit for setup, but available ambiguously in the online help. for Windows Wifi setup. The volume control is a unlabeled and multifunction touch control, that when actuated in a clockwise touch fashion the graphical position is displayed and is non-persistent. The mute control is a unlabeled multi-function touch control (the Libratone bird symbol) play/pause, well placed, and clear indication when it is engaged (the bird backlight dims). There is also a "Hush" feature where covering the touch control which significantly lowers the volume almost inaudible only while covered. There is no source selector switch but plugging in the line source, immediately switches to line in. However, AirPlay and Bluetooth can take over the line-in source when content is played from those sources. When AirPlay or Bluetooth content is stopped line in if unplugged and plugged back in will engaged again. App Remote: Volume control works for all sources, its a prominent radio dial, unlabeled with a non-persistent numeric level. App: Mute works for Airplay/Wifi content only. Will not mute Line-in. App Source Selection: Lacks a source selector. Provides limited information on what source is playing. Aux in, Airplay but ambiguous for Bluetooth. App transport controls: Works with Airplay/Wifi content limited for streaming content. Play, Pause, Skip, no scan or scrub.
