Review Update: Down to one star for being unusable as a wi-fi set up. Even though I loved the idea of this system, the constant connectivity and control hassles made it unpredictable and unenjoyable. COSTCO price on R1 360 speakers was hard to pass up- and they did ok as a single speaker Bluetooth set up- but the cost of my time was too high for the house system I really bought them for. Returned.
So sad, Samsung. Its the breakup I didnt want, but had to have. Now Im just waiting for the day 8tracks once again is compatible with Sonos to make my life complete.
******original review*******
So Samsung, you develop the excellent 360 speakers, but use this ap? Who did you hire- The Obamacare website designers? This ap is sooooo not seamless. Sometimes I cant get it to respond at all and I am stuck listening to a crappy playlist on Pandora or 8tracks until it sorts itself out.
There is a lot to love: I utterly adore the way my four R1 speakers can be linked however I want. The music sound quality is so good over wifi that I just lilt around from room to room in ecstasy. I also love that the speakers all connect to the modem/router and thats it. As I understand it, Sonos requires a cable hookup and subscription. As long as you have wi-fi you can have this amazing sound. I can answer the phone or listen to a Bluetooth book on a headset while the music plays through the house, and the speakers still even play even when the phone battery is dead and off! Its almost like the ap starts the speakers up and they continue with great performance on their own. I like that songs can be skipped and volume adjusted at the speaker itself as well as through the ap.
Heres the rub: changes in content bring a stumble. For example, Ive found its easiest to do my searches in the 8tracks ap, and then let them feed to "history" in this multi room ap rather than searching through the multi room ap itself. It just throws the MR ap for a loop when you search with it, but that would be so convenient!
Samsung, if you are going to keep a place in this wifi speaker market you must make this ap work faster and more smoothly in searching for and loading songs/playlists. It cant choke when I switch playlists or change streaming providers. Those confusing unresponsive times are just so frustrating. Im not playing off my phones music, and Im guessing most people arent either. Streaming! Make it happen smoothly and get a following for your amazing speakers!!