VARO Portable WiFi + Bluetooth Multi-Room Speaker, Water-Resistant Speaker, Sidekick (iOS Only)

I was a little skeptical about these since the name seemed a little unfamiliar, but am glad that I took a chance. These are surprising good WI-FI speakers and I’ve found a lot of fun ways to utilize them already. My goal was to find a portable speaker that I could take with me to outdoor gatherings, BBQs, on the boat, at the beach, etc., while also being able to use it at home for streaming music. To be honest I never looked too closely at the specs. But after getting it I noticed all of the various inputs and knew that it was going to be fun to mess around with. This was my first Varo but I’ve since added two more to network, another Vibe and the Cube. There are a lot of things I like about them. The instruction manual that came with it was really simple and easy to understand. It walks you through the setup and since I’m not a techy person, that was a huge plus.The app is amazing. Very easy to navigate and when I received my second and third speaker I was able to assign names each speaker, adjust the levels and get everything set just the way I wanted. I use them mostly for Spotify and Youtube and have never had any issues. Songs are super easy to find and I LOVE that I can have one thing playing inside, and a completely different genre in another part of the house. Also, when friends are over and want to take turns picking songs, you don’t need to pass your phone around. They can install the app quickly and then choose songs from their streaming services. It’s really convenient.A totally unexpected perk was being able to use this in my home studio. Sometimes I don’t want to do playback or practice guitar through my interface/DAW, so I can use the aux connection to connect to effects processors and other equipment… like a nice alternative to amps or big studio monitors. It’s also perfect for getting a little better sound from my digital piano by going right into the aux. As for the sound, it’s really good despite not being super high end audio, but I was not expecting that. Very clean tones, great volume control, distinct mids, bass and respectable high ends. If you have an EQ on device you can adjust it even more.Negatives. The only thing I’m not crazy about is the “Starting Up” voice that chimes when powered on, but that’s it and it’s really not that bad. Others in my group thought it was really cool. All in all, I am really happy with these and am already planning on ordering the subwoofer tower for my Cube. A couple friends have ordered too and I’ve only heard good things. Definitely a smart buy for anyone who wants a nice sounding portable WiFi speaker with lots of input options!

Bluetooth worked, but Wifi was hard to hook up to Lynksis router...Ugh! Tried 10 times no success before i tried alternative method which worked.Update...tried to upgrade firmware and got interrupted thx to junk Spectrum wifi now i can complete update and speaker cant connect. Useless. Mgt sent replacement.Update #2. Replacement unit none of lights on front work nor buttons on top.lol. Unreal. 2 weeks of use now 2nd unit is junk.

I've been looking for an affordable (ok, cheap) speaker to use while sitting outside. It needs to be 100% portable and be able to stream music from a computer in the house. This one fit the bill - finally! I'd bought a nice pair of bluetooth speakers over the winter but they would not go through 2 walls to reach the backyard even though it was well under 66'. Finding a wifi speaker was much harder.Setup was easy and all I have to do is start the music on the computer and it picks up the speaker right away.The long startup time doesn't bother me much, as my Soundcore pair also takes awhile to get themselves situated.I cannot yet speak for battery life as I've only used it for a few hours. Sound quality is decent, but I won't play it loudly so I may never notice any distortion.I knocked a star off because (a) I was forced to use an app to connect it to my network (which I've now deleted, thank you for not forcing me to create an account!) and (b) the buttons on top are not at all intuitive. Each one has a double function, and you have to hold buttons down to get the volume to change. I do like the fact that I can skip songs backwards and forwards via the speaker but not at the expense of the volume buttons.

I recently moved into a home with an indoor basketball court. The court did not have any speakers installed and I needed a solution that would be able to fill a large space with sound while also minimizing distortion. About a month ago my girlfriend bought me a Varo Cube and subwoofer tower as a gift. The tower + cube setup worked great as they were loud and the subwoofer has a very satisfying bass. After a couple days of using the speakers however I realized that the lower/bassier sounds in the music would drown out the highs, especially as I walked further away from the speakers. This was the only major problem I had with the speakers and I was afraid the solution would require a complete upgrade. Before I bought a completely new system I decided that I should really test out the WiFi capabilities of the Varo speakers first. I did some research and decided to buy a Varo Vibe speaker and put it in the front of the court, behind the basketball rim, since the tower speaker is all the way in the back. Adding the Vibe speaker to the existing setup was very simple with the Varo app, and after making some minor adjustments to the sound levels through it, the sound in my court was absolutely pristine! The Vibe completely solved all of the problems I was having with the Tower + Cube combination. The Vibe has an internal battery that allows you to position it wherever you want when it is charged, but I keep it plugged in as I have already placed it in the most optimal position. I was very surprised by how loud the Vibe could get on its own, but these Varo speakers don’t really shine until you buy the right number you need and position them correctly! Once the speakers are set-up however they are almost a dream product. It is extremely easy to go into Spotify or YouTube and play whatever I want to listen to. Perhaps my favorite user experience feature is that there is no need to fiddle with Bluetooth or Aux cables to let your friends play music. All they have to do is be on my WiFi network and they can play whatever they want just as I can! If I went with a traditional basketball court speaker solution I would’ve spent hundreds more than what my girlfriend and I spent on a couple Varo speakers. That fact, along with the amazingly simple and seamless user experience earns these speakers 5 stars!!!Update (10/13/17): Speakers are still going strong, added some pictures of the set-up."