Sony's wireless streamer offers an interesting concept: play our digital music wirelessly on a boombox anywhere in (or on) our home. Did we rock out on the roof or were we bummed in the basement?
Review summary of the Sony VAIO WA1:
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 Ultimately, while we liked the idea of Sony’s wireless audio streamer, we felt like it made us work really hard to earn the right to play music on it, something we imagined ourselves, as a consumer, having already earned by plopping down Sony’s suggested msrp of $350. Way too finicky and way too hard to set up, we wouldn’t recommend this to anyone but the most curious and gadget hound with large amounts of disposable income. Release: October 2007. Price: $300.
Pros: Great sound, portable, rechargeable battery
Cons: Horrific setup process, no Macintosh support, no control from computer
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Full review of the Sony VAIO WA1:
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Sound - Very Good
At its core, the VAIO WA1 is an audio receiver; it receives an audio signal, amplifies it and plays it through speakers. While its main function is to stream files from your PC, it can also stream internet radio broadcasts (albeit only from Live365.com), play tracks off of its stored memory or simply receive an audio signal from any external audio device like a CD player, PMP or television.
As a receiver, the WA1 does its job pretty well. Granted, we expected quality sound to come from a $350 box, and we could envision ourselves having it hooked up to a small room’s television for use as a TV speaker when not being used as a wireless streamer. With digital optical, L/R RCA and headphone mini-jack outputs, the WA1 is pretty versatile, allowing digital and analog line-level outs in addition to private listening with headphones. Its inputs are significantly less varied, with only a single 3.5mm stereo mini-jack receiving external audio signals from non-PC sources. To make matters worse, the unit comes with none of the necessary cables for any auxiliary hookups; the only thing it can do completely out of the box is stream music from your PC.
On a strictly aural basis, the speakers were impressive. The box is relatively small, and while it isn't feather-light, it is certainly portable. So we were pleasantly surprised when we experienced accurate bass response, ringing highs and clear mid-range vocals. We experienced no fading of the audio signal based on how far we were from our computer; when we exceeded the range, the signal simply cut out. We imagine it could double as a quality center-channel speaker, although based on the outputs we're not entirely sure if that would work.
Setup/Connectivity - Poor
Setting up the WA1 was undoubtedly the worst part of the entire experience. The first troubling fact we came across was the lack of Macintosh support. While not entirely surprising, we were disappointed that we could not use the WA1 with our Mac, especially since we were able to detect the wireless signal it was broadcasting with our AirPort.
There are two ways to connect wirelessly with the WA1, and both use 802.11b/g wi-fi to transfer data. The first is by using an existing wireless connection, connecting to an access point shared with your computer. We were unable to connect our PC to the WA1 this way; for whatever reason we couldn’t find the WA1 on our home wireless network, and when using a public network the signal was not strong enough. We suspect that Sony figured this would happen, because they added a second connection option, an included USB wireless adapter specifically for the WA1. Another, more reasonable explanation would be that not everyone has a wireless network in their home.
Once we actually began the setup, however, our headaches began in earnest.
The included instructions were far from clear; we weren't sure if we were supposed to use the included software CD or use the auto-install feature on the USB wireless adapter, so we used both. After about 20 minutes of initial setup, we were able to get music up and running on the WA1. But while the initial setup was completed with only a few hiccups corrected by simple trial-and-error, when we attempted to try it a week later, we were completely unable to get our computer to recognize the receiver. We tried seemingly everything, changing every possible setting on the box, even uninstalling and reinstalling all the software, and trying it on different computers, but to no avail. We kept getting "we could not find your device," and no explanation why. When we tried again several weeks later, re-installing all the software on our original computer, we were once again able to achieve success. But the fact that we were so frustrated with the device that we didn't even want to look at it, let alone try to get it to work, does not bode well for a $350 gadget.
User experience - Good
Once we were finally all set up and playing music on the WA1, we were pretty pleased. The range on the receiver was excellent, as we were able to walk an average of 80-90 feet away from the computer and still get a clean signal. We loved that we could take the box onto our rooftop in Brooklyn and listen to music while we barbecued. The four-hour battery life was decent, and we loved that the battery was rechargeable. What we didn’t like was that we had to control and select music solely from the receiver; we would have loved to have the option to select files within iTunes or Windows Media Player on our computer, and have the songs play on the WA1. The screen on the receiver is tiny and monochrome, and the controls and navigation are quite limited based on these factors. Users with large libraries who don’t diligently keep their ID3 tags and filenames updated and organized will find navigating their digital tracks on the WA1 to be a nightmare.
Aesthetically, we thought the WA1 looked average; not ugly, but certainly not beautiful. We liked that it came in either white or black, but the blue-backlit LCD screen left much to be desired. The shiny reflective surface with the touch-sensitive controls looked pretty at first, but was so glossy that all it did was highlight our fingerprints left behind from using the buttons. We liked that the buttons and illuminated when our fingers hovered close enough to the box, but to be honest, it wasn't completely necessary, since our fingerprints clearly marked the location of all the buttons.
We loved the download feature, but wish we could have had more than 128MB of storage space, or at least be given some external storage option, like a memory card slot or the ability to save on a USB flash drive. Download speeds were also inconsistent; they fluctuated, generally not based on file size, but on file type. This seems like something that could be alleviated by a firmware update, but there seem to be no system in place for something like that to occur.
Like many things about the WA1, we felt the device handcuffed itself when it came to internet radio. Our only options were Live365.com, and the free membership included with the box meant if a certain number of people were already tuned into that station, you needed a VIP membership to listen. Fair enough, but if you’re going to make us listen to Live365, at least give us the VIP membership, or if not, let us listen to other internet radio stations.
Comparison
Compare the Sony VAIO WA1 with similar products
Who is the Sony VAIO WA1 for?
Music aficionados
Price and availability
Available in the U.S. in October 2007, the Sony VAIO WA1 is priced at $300 .
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