iHome's Airplay-enabled iW1 packs a balanced blend of features and sound quality -- just don't expect a totally seamless experience.

The iHome iW1 is a great value proposition for people looking to keep their small-space sound needs wire and worry free.

It’s a shame the portable and Apple AirPlay-equipped iHome iW1 speaker distorts at high volumes, but it’s not necessarily a deal-breaker if you don’t listen to music with deep bass.

If you value transportability, and you're OK giving up the audio quality of the better-sounding AirPlay systems out there, the iW1 is unique in being the first battery-powered AirPlay system on the market.

We offer iHome high praise for its industrial design, AirPlay support, recharging station concept, and efforts at control elegance, all of which could have led to a higher rating if iW1 had been sonically stellar.

In the final analysis, we wouldn’t recommend buying a Sonos Play:3 over an iW1 solely for higher audio quality—you must listen very closely to hear the difference—but we do think Sonos has a far superior networking solution.

Needless to say, the iHome iW1 stands apart from most speakers on the market. The Airplay feature alone adds siginificant cache to the unassuming speaker, but that unfortunately doesn’t negate what I’d ultimately deem lack luster sound quality compared to other speakers of a similar price.