Sound quality: Definitive Technology's W7 had good overall sound quality. Bass has good impact but is tubby and although it is pronounced to the extent that it overwhelms the midrange and treble, deepest bass is lacking. Midrange is dark, soft and bit grainy, and treble is extended. This model doesn't do a good job recovering room ambience--a sense of the acoustic space where the recording was made--and it lacks fine detail and treble air. We found no significant difference in sound quality whether a WiFi, wire, or optical audio connection was used. As a single speaker, the soundfield has a monophonic character when heard from a distance, and only a slight stereo image up close. When two units are combined as a stereo pair they provide a very solid stereo image that seems to recover a bit more ambience--a sense of the acoustic space where the recording was made. However, the treble becomes recessed and the already prominent bass sounds even heavier, dropping the overall sound quality to the lower range of good. This model can provide a decent volume level in a medium sized room.
Ease of use: We found the system's ease of use to be good overall. Connecting the Definitive Technology W7 to a WiFi network was very easy if you have a router with WPS capability. The connection occurs fairly quickly, but there's no tonal or clear visual feedback. Otherwise, manually setting up WiFi can be tedious. The smart phone app volume controls are well marked, and are displayed as a slider next to a speaker symbol. But there are no numeric or hash mark references, so fine volume adjustments require a steady hand. We noticed an inconsistent response lag when using the scrub bar to go to a specific time on an audio program. The Smartphone app mute control is somewhat ambiguous, but once located and engaged it clearly indicates when playback is muted. Switching between WiFi sources was good, but there weren't provisions for switching between WiFi, optical, and line inputs.
