Musaic & Wireless Sound
As a new Rapallo customer I want to write a note of thanks to Deano who advised me over the phone to pick these Musaic MP5 / MP10 Wireless Speakers. It may also act as a bit of explanation to others considering these in terms of adding a wireless speaker or two to their listening environments.
To explain, I run a reasonably large dedicated hifi system… total invested around $200K. I mention this not to brag, but to add some context to the comment that accurately presented music is really important to me. The main listening system runs Roon as a source with a combination of our own source material on a NAS, and Tidal as a backup for anything else. Aside from the main system we have a couple of other zones based on computers running JRiver (my wife prefers the JRemote app control for her own listening).
What I was looking for was to be able to easily add two additional zones to our networked system, one for a bathroom, and another for a large office area where I was about to be working from during lockdown.
We were considering the usual products like Sonos and the other mainstream wireless players, and it was while talking to Deano about this that he mentioned a special they were running on the ‘end of line’ Musaic speakers which they were clearing. I have to say the price made me immediately sceptical, as these are priced at a similar level to many entry level Bluetooth speakers.
On Deano’s assurance though we ordered one each of the MP5 and larger MP10 speakers on the basis that if we didn’t like them, he’d let us return them. Hard to argue that level of confidence.
Watch a time lapse breakdown of the MP10
On receipt of the speakers my first instinct was to look for an app, which I couldn’t find. Phone call to Deano, and the explanation that as UPnP speakers these don’t need a proprietary app to control them, instead just utilise either of the apps from the Roon or JRiver systems we were already using. So no new learning curve in terms of operation. Nice!
For initial setup we just connected to the speaker as though it was a new wifi network from my phone, then enter musaic.com into the browser (which when networked together connects directly to the speaker’s settings page through the browser) and tell the speaker which wifi network to connect to next, and provide the password for it. At this step you can also give the speaker a customised name, in my case Master Bathroom (MP5) and Office (MP10). After applying the change in the browser, the speaker disconnects from the phone, and both reconnect to the chosen wifi network.
That wasn’t too hard I guess.
The cool thing is that after doing this part, to get music we now choose the app from whatever system we prefer to use (Roon for me, JRemote for my wife) and select the end point Master Bathroom or Office. Select your source material hit play and you are away.
Functionally, after setting up these work great. Sonically, they are really impressive. I genuinely can’t believe how good these sound for their physical size and their highly affordable price.
They have a very refined sound that we were not expecting, not in your face and shouty, but just a really nice full-bodied presentation that seems happy no matter the genre or source you send to it. Tidal, high res material, jazz, classical, beats, everything works and sounds surprisingly natural. Our teenage daughter uses Spotify and she can connect direct to them also from the Spotify app also. This doesn’t sound quite as good but we put that down to the source material being compressed.
I really want to express my thanks to Deano on these as one of the better audio bargains I have ever purchased. When I shop with a specialist their knowledge and experience is of great value to me, certainly without Deano’s recommendation I never would have considered these speakers.
I’ve put two friends onto them since who both love them also. If you are running a networked audio system and are looking for an easy solution for an ‘active endpoint’ or just want a wireless speaker for some background listening that sounds great grab some of these while they have stock at these prices.
Musaic smart speakers work with your Wi-Fi so you can stream music around your home in true HiFi quality.
$199inc GST
The compact Musaic smart speaker with acoustics optimised for smaller spaces.