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250$-300$ Compact (powered) Bookshelf speakers that don't look ugly?

ohio

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Feb 9, 2022
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I’d just use an Airplay 2 dongle that way I can cast to multiple devices into their Aux input. It adds cost but if the Three is 240$ it’s not bad all things considered. Airplay 2 is pretty damn nice for Apple Music and it doesn’t cost Sonos money
Quick followup here… I’ve now played around with both the three and the fives side by side on my kitchen shelf and am planning to keep the three. They have completely different voicing - hard to believe they’re from the same company let alone the same product line. Even with the fives updated firmware, and set to “flat” with the “corner/-6dB” bass attenuation I still found them boomy with overwhelming bass and muted vocal/midrange. I tried their “vocals” setting with which +6dB midrange and -3dB bass (on top of the -6dB corner setting) and still had the same impression. The Threes are light at the low end, especially in a side by side comparo, but I found vocals on all of the tracks I listen to in my kitchen so much more enjoyable. With the Fives it felt like the bass was at dance-party levels just to be able to enjoy vocals and then the bass somewhat covered them anyway. I’m just cooking eggs with Alicia Keys here. I don’t need to rattle the pan.

I recognize neither of these products fit audiophile or audio science philosophies, but for what it is - a good looking, easily connected kitchen speaker - I’m very happy with the Three, and can’t think of another product I’d rather have.

Edit: and I didn’t realize there was a new airplay 2 dongle from belkin. That’s amazing. Could be enough to get me to switch back to the apple ecosystem, as I’m finding chromecast horrible compared to my previous AppleTV 4k.
 
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