OneAudio Surround Expandable Bookshelf Home Speaker Set of 2 Transparent (classic2-2.0)

These are interesting self-powered wireless speakers.The key selling point is that they use the DECT wireless protocol (developed for wireless phones), rather than Bluetooth or standard WiFi, and that allows MUCH better stereo synchronization between the source and the speakers.I can affirm that it works well in that respect. The center image is ROCK SOLID.The manufacturer also makes significant claims for the thick lucite case and its benefits over tradition wood. I can also affirm that these speakers sound very good. Not only is the imaging rock solid, but they able to play very loud and clear without becoming distorted. They sound very good, indeed.I took to a friend's home to do an A/B shoot out with a pair KEF LS50W Wireless speakers, which retail for about the same price. My friend has raved about his KEFs since he go them. But both of us agreed that on the whole the OneAudio speakers bested them:More solid imaging, better highs, and comparable mids/lows.Now for the downsides:First off, the speakers need to be powered, so each has a fairly substantial power brick that will need to be plugged into an outlet. This is not a surprise, but they tend not to show those power bricks in the photos (they aren't elegant). So be aware.Second, while the speakers basically disappear and play beautifully at low/mid volumes, at very high volumes, the midrange becomes a bit boxy. It's not terrible by any means--not even close--but you become more aware of listening to speakers. This is particularly apparent if you're listening to male baritone voices at those high volumes.Third, these speakers only work with proprietary transmitters made by the OneAudio company. And I'd call the transmitter somewhat less than refined. On the plus side, it has inputs for digital.Toslink, USB flash drive, and USB connection to a PC/Mac/Phone. On the downside, I found some of the performance flaky. Connection to a computer works fine. Connection to a USB flash drive with music file directories on it works great once it's playing. But navigation of directories on that flash drive works poorly, especially for directories with a lot fo files in them. It appears the box doesn't have sufficient memory to really deal with a loaded flash drive very well. As a workaround, I only load a modest number of albums on the flash drive, and that works fine. But at this price point it's annoying it doesn't work better. The Toslink digital connection works fine, although I find the sound of music played through that connection to be inferior to the sound coming from either a USB computer connection or an attached USB flash drive. I compared the same tracks playing off a well reviewed Onkyo C7030 CD player and off a USB flash drive to which they had been ripped in 320kbps format. The files played off the flash drive sounded richer/fuller/better.One more problem with the transmitter box is that--despite claims that the DECT signal should be strong and uninterruptible for long distances, I frequently find the signal cuts out unless I keep the box very close to the speakers.In terms of aesthetics, these speakers are very pretty. The clear acrylic won't be everyone's taste, but if that appeals to you, the construction and presentation are top notch.On the whole, I am quite pleased with these speaker on the basis of sound. The company suggests these are competitive with $100k speakers, and that's obviously just marketing. But I did find that they sound better than similarly priced KEF wireless speakers. Honestly, if your living situation dictates that you limit yourself to bookshelf sized speakers, and you're looking for wireless, I can't imagine you're going to do better than these.The Achilles heel here is the proprietary transmitter box. When it's working, it works fine. But the USB flash drive support is a bti flaky, and I have found that the box needs to be near the speakers to ensure a constant, uninterrupted signal.