7 things I like about the do-it-all Libratone Zipp speaker

The Libratone Zipp is a $299 100-watt speaker with a 10-hour rechargeable battery that can be paired with up to six other Libratone speakers. I’ve been using both a Zipp and Zipp mini on a regular basis for the past few weeks in my home, at the beach, and wherever I wanted to add some music. Here’s the good and bad of it.

Things I like:

• 360-degree audio provides very good, room-filling sound that’s comparable to the UE Boom 2 and Jawbone Big Jambox.
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, line-in, AirPlay, DLNA, Spotify Connect, and USB means it’ll play just about anything from any source.
• Charges my phone when plugged into the USB jack.
• Speaker can be hushed by placing a hand over the control panel. Playback resumes when you lift your hand.
• There’s also a $249 Zipp mini that’s much more compact and sounds nearly as good.
• It looks great and can be personalized with colorful $29 covers that can be swapped with a… zip (get it?).
• Integrated leather loop makes tree branches surprisingly useful.

Things I don’t like:

• Manual controls on top of the speaker can be confusing to use and difficult to see in direct sunlight.
• Pairing multiple speakers can be finicky to create and maintain. The app occasionally loses connectivity to the pairings which then have to be recreated with some difficulty. Fortunately, you don’t need the app or pairings at all if, like most people, you’re only playing music on a single speaker.

Bottom line: The Libratone Zipp is a great looking speaker you’ll happily take anywhere to play anything.