by Libratone’s Zipp is another entry in the continually expanding market of colorful and unusually shaped wireless, portable speakers. However, while most of those speakers use Bluetooth, the Zipp uses Apple’s AirPlay technology; and instead of being a short, wide speaker system, the Zipp is a tall cylinder.
That cylinder is 10.2 inches tall, 4.8 inches across, weighs four pounds, and is covered in…wool. In fact, the Zipp surely gets its name from the colorful, zippered, wool covers you can dress it in. The $400 version of the Zipp includes one wool cover (either gray or red), while a $450 version includes three covers: either red, blue, and dark gray; or yellow, pink, and dark gray. (Other colors are available separately from Libratone.) These covers work fine, and they’re easy to put on and take off. In theory, they’re fun and offer easy-to-replace protection and personalization, though I’d likely just pick my color when I purchase the speaker and never swap it out.
The white round top of the Zipp remains exposed even when the speaker system is zipped up in its cover. On that white surface sits a button with Libratone’s singing-bird logo. You press the main button once to wake up the speaker or, if it’s already awake, to mute the AirPlay volume level on the source device. Press and hold the button to turn the Zipp off.
Surrounding that button is a circle hosting volume controls and a LED status indicator. The light pulses when the Zipp is asleep, shines solid when the Zipp is playing music, pulses yellow when the Zipp is booting, and pulses red when the Zipp is in trouble—either due to Wi-Fi issues or because the battery level is very low.
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