Pure Contour 200i Air

As AirPlay, Apple's wireless audio streaming feature, finds its way into more speaker systems, one trend is beginning to come into focus: These systems aren't cheap. That's why the AirPlay-enabled Pure Contour 200i Air, at $269 (list), seems like such a bargain?it's one of the least expensive AirPlay systems we've seen. Unfortunately, its audio performance is less than stellar and it suffers from distortion at top volume levels on a variety of music styles. Its handy remote, built-in dock for iOS devices, and easy set-up process are all great strengths for a relatively low price, but for many fans of modern music, the distortion will be a deal-breaker.

Design
Measuring 9 by 14 by 7.5 inches, the 220i Air is a rounded, half-oval-shaped speaker adorned with the now-familiar black speaker grille cloth and metallic accents that Apple seems to demand, or at least encourage, for most AirPlay-enabled speaker systems. Behind the grille, two 18-watt, full-range 3.5-inch drivers, with downward-firing bass ports, deliver the audio.

A metallic panel along the top edge houses a Power button on the left side, with Volume and Mute controls on the right. The majority of the back panel is covered in a black, rubberized material, with connections at the bottom for the included power adapter, a 3.5mm Aux input, Ethernet, and a digital coaxial audio output. Unlike some AirPlay speaker options, the Contour 200i Air also includes an Apple 30-pin docking tray for connected, direct-from-device playback.

The back panel also houses a Wi-Fi Setup button that streamlines the AirPlay activation process tremendously: Simply power up the speakers, dock your iOS device, wait for the LED to flash blue, and press the Wi-Fi Setup button. Your device will then prompt you to allow Wi-Fi settings sharing, completing the setup process. It's a much quicker and simpler process than the setup with most AirPlay docks, which often involves downloading an extra app or even doing some in-browser setup.

Unfortunately, the 200i Air's manual does a poor job at describing this process. Both the manual and the addendum to it, which exists solely to better describe this setup process, leave out some annoying details that slow things down. For instance, if you blink, you might miss the two brief blue LED flashes that indicate you are ready to press the Wi-Fi button. But all is forgiven when the set-up process is complete?you never have to worry about setting it up again unless you switch Wi-Fi networks.

The included remote control is your typical cheap, membrane button solution. It does, however, offer thorough navigation and playback options?there are buttons for Power, Repeat, Source (switching between the Aux input, dock, and AirPlay), Shuffle, Volume, Play/Pause, Track Forward/Backward, and full menu navigation. Aside from the power adapter, nothing else is included with the system?a 3.5mm cable would have been nice.

Performance
From an ease-of-use standpoint, the 200i Air is a winner. The remote has plenty of options and the setup process is a piece of cake. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the most important aspect of any speaker system?the audio performance.

At moderate volumes, the speakers' output is at least clean, but it lacks low-end presence and tends to sound thin. It's least noticeable on a classical track that doesn't have much low-end content to begin with. But on a modern pop or rock mixes, you get quite a bit of treble and a decent serving of low-mids. Electric bass lines and most percussion come through clearly, but with what feels like zero sub-bass presence. The result is poor representation of low-end sounds, especially in tracks with heavy bass content.

Unfortunately, the problems don't end at thin sound?at high volumes, distortion becomes a serious problem. Kick drums on Radiohead's "Staircase" distort fairly intensely. The Knife's "Silent Shout," with its tremendously deep bass, makes a fuzzy, distorted mess of the 200i Air at any volume beyond about 75 percent. While a smidge of distortion on challenging songs at maximum volume is begrudgingly acceptable, the levels we are dealing with here are not.

Less bass-heavy content fares a bit better at higher volumes?classical and some jazz or singer-songwriter tacks are probably the friendliest genres for the 200i Air's fragile drivers.

Simply put: You shouldn't pay $270 for a speaker system and encounter any distortion. Alas, this is the curse of AirPlay?it is expensive to include, so what you're often paying for is a far worse speaker system than $270 would normally get you, with built-in AirPlay inflating the overall price. The 200i Air may be significantly less expensive than other AirPlay competitors, but it's really only suitable for less bass-heavy music at moderate volumes.

Another issue is the 200i Air's tendency to chop off the beginning of a track you just navigated to. It doesn't always happen, but it's most noticeable on tracks that start off immediately with vocals or loud instrumentation. It's less noticeable on gradual fade-ins, and it doesn't occur at all if you're just letting your iOS device play through a playlist or album?it's navigating to a new track that causes the problem.

We've run into so-so AirPlay speaker quality before?the recent Bose SoundLink Air ?is an example. For better quality, you will, sadly, have to spend more. Some of our favorite options include the Klipsch Gallery G-17 Air ?and the Altec Lansing inAir 5000 Wireless AirPlay Speaker. Both are worth their high price tags if you truly want an AirPlay-enabled speaker dock. Our current favorite in the wireless speaker dock department, however, is a Bluetooth option: The JBL OnBeat Xtreme offers more power, great balance, and doesn't suffer from the distortion issues we see in some AirPlay dock systems.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/eZKHiNPxepU/0,2817,2410882,00.asp

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