Ladies and gentlemen, the iPhone 6 is upon us and aside from selling your first born to afford one we know that means getting new accessories to go with it. As we move more and more towards all in one functionality, many have ditched the idea of owning a proprietary music player. Headphones are great for on the go listening, but a good desktop solution may be necessary for the office since even the best phones and tablets have a crappy speaker with regard to playing music. I submit for your approval the WaveCast from iLuv, a portable speaker with enough power for you and others to enjoy your favorite music.
The WaveCast is not the prettiest girl on the block, but it makes up for its lack of flash with full range stereo sound. Regardless of your preferred genres of music, the WaveCast will soothe the savage beast in you. Sound reproduction from this speaker is squeaky clean regardless of how loud you play it. Having turned it all the way up there was no sound distortion to be heard from the speakers which provide very nice bass from a form factor smaller than a clock radio. The design has a wide, weighted base to make sure it does not fall over easily but at the top it is only about as thick as a Nintendo 3DS. This means that it will easily fit in a pocket, purse or pretty much whatever you choose to carry it around in. Weighing less than a pound, it is not a device that you will dread carrying around either. I would have liked a pouch or something to toss it in to avoid scratches but the plastic housing is sturdy enough that it will take knocks and drops without breaking apart. The WaveCast makes me proud to say that it was designed here in New York.
As you can see, iLuv designed the WaveCast to work with you. Unless you are a hardcore Apple user, odds are that you have a mini USB charger in case you lose the one supplied with the speaker. In terms of connectivity, the WaveCast is made to work with just about any Bluetooth device from phones to iPods to tablets. When you turn it on, it automatically is in discoverable mode, indicated by the LED flashing from blue to red. If a paired device is available, the LED will be solid blue. You know when you have paired it because “iLuv WaveCast” shows up on your device screen. I have not had to enter any codes for it, but similar to the Rollick, you would just enter “0000” if your device needs one. Setup is that easy before you are ready to play your music. Personally I would wonder why you bought the WaveCast if none of your devices are Bluetooth compatible but connection is still simple even then. As you can see in the above picture, an Aux In jack is available for connection via a 3.5mm adapter. Maybe you have an older phone where your BT connection uses a lot of juice, I don’t know. It is good thing that iLuv makes sure all bases are covered.
The WaveCast is what I would call a wireless solution for mature sound enthusiasts. I mentioned earlier that it is smaller than a clock radio because it reminds me of a clock radio in terms of shape. This is in no way a bad thing because while the WaveCast may be the less attractive sibling of the Rollick, it is definitely the more powerful of the two. This is especially worth mentioning since the WaveCast is ten dollars cheaper than the Rollick (MSRP $39.99). There are solid reasons to get either of these portable speakers, but my personal choice is the WaveCast. You get a bigger bang for your buck, there is no noticeable sound distortion and Bluetooth pairing is even easier than using the Rollick. The WaveCast is definitely recommended for making your workspace a little more comfortable.
