- \n
- Elegant, compact design<\/li>\n
- Multiple ways to connect<\/li>\n
- Clear, room-filling sound<\/li>\n
- Easy to use on iOS or Android<\/li>\n
- Portable option available<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
LOWS<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- Short power cable<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Score 4.5<\/p>\n
When\u00a0Riva Audio\u00a0announced its first foray into multiroom audio, the two-speaker lineup it calls the Wand series, our interest was understandably piqued. The young company\u2019s excellent\u00a0Turbo X\u00a0was our\u00a0favorite portable speaker of 2016, impressing with a beautiful sound signature in a small and versatile package. As such, reviewing the larger Riva Festival and the smaller Arena speakers was a no-brainer.<\/p>\n
At first glance, the Arena looks like a shot aimed straight at\u00a0Sonos\u2019 bow, sporting an eerily similar design to the\u00a0Sonos Play:1, but begging a slightly increased price point and a few extra features as well. After spending time with the Arena, both in the office and at home, we discovered those extra bells and whistles make it much more than a glitzed-up\u00a0Play:1\u00a0clone. Not only does this mini multiroom tower offer room-filling stereophonic audio and shockingly loud volume for its size, it also tacks on Bluetooth, splash-proofing, and an optional 20-hour battery. Those features combine with excellent fidelity to place the Arena among the best pint-sized speakers we\u2019ve tested \u2014 multiroom or otherwise.<\/p>\n
OUT OF THE BOX<\/strong><\/p>\n
Thanks to the Arena sound system\u2019s all-in-one design, there\u2019s not much to the unboxing experience. Inside a small silver package you\u2019ll find three basic ingredients: The device, a power cable, and an instruction manual for setup and operation.<\/p>\n
FEATURES AND DESIGN<\/strong><\/p>\n
The Arena has rounded edges and a stout posture that make it look a bit like a rectangular marshmallow, especially the white-and-silver model (the Arena is also available in a more muted black-and-charcoal exterior). It\u2019s easy to see why the speaker is considered a direct stab at the Sonos Play:1. Each of the speakers are weighty and compact, with rounded grilles that extend around their entire mid-section, and each speaker easily disappears on a bookshelf or corner table. The Riva is a bit larger than the Play:1 overall, but its sleek looks will still appeal to those who take the their living space\u2019s minimalist aesthetic seriously.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.abtec.co.nz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/riva-arena-batton-720x720-300x200.jpg\")
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<\/a><\/p>\nThe top of the Arena features four buttons for volume control and song skip, arranged in a rectangle around a central play\/pause button with an LED ring around it. Large labels make it easy to discern the function of each button. Bluetooth pairing is done by holding the skip-back button for three seconds, while holding skip forward for three seconds changes the input. The LED ring around the central play\/pause button changes colors to indicate source, a clever feature indicating the speaker\u2019s intuitive design.<\/p>\n
Around the back of the Arena you\u2019ll find a \u00bc-inch threaded insert for mounting, a USB port for charging mobile devices, a 3.5 mm audio input, and a switch that puts the Arena in Away Mode \u2014 a special mode that allows you to connect two or more Wand speakers together without a home Wi-Fi network for an multiroom setup.<\/p>\n
Riva\u2019s sleek looks will appeal to those who take the their living space\u2019s minimalist aesthetic seriously.<\/p>\n
One way in which the Arena differentiates itself from competitors is its many wireless playback options, offering an astonishing array of inputs to choose from. For Wi-Fi streaming, the speaker features Google\u2019s\u00a0Chromecast and Apple\u2019s AirPlay built-in<\/u>, as well as support for\u00a0Spotify Connect\u00a0and\u00a0DNLA connectivity. Adding in Bluetooth and 3.5 mm inputs makes the Wand speakers among the most versatile all-in-one multiroom speaker systems we\u2019ve tested. In addition, the speakers play nicely with just about any interface \u2014 from\u00a0Windows 10\u00a0and\u00a0Android\u00a0to\u00a0OSX\u00a0and\u00a0iOS\u00a0\u2013 almost instantly.<\/p>\n
The speaker features three custom-built\u00a0ADX\u00a0drivers and three passive radiators positioned in the front, left, and right positions, combined with Riva\u2019s Trillium Audio digital signal processing (DSP) technology for a wide soundstage.<\/p>\n
For those who plan on taking the Arena on the go \u2013 from camping trips to all-day barbecues \u2014 Riva offers\u00a0an attachable 20-hour battery pack. At $100, the pack does cost a pretty penny, but it\u2019s absolutely worth considering for those on the move; even at that price, the speaker easily competes with the highest-end Bluetooth speakers in terms of audio quality (more on that below). Unlike many multiroom speakers, the Arena is also splash resistant, making poolside listening less nerve-racking.<\/p>\n
SETUP<\/strong><\/p>\n
Setting up the Riva Arena for Bluetooth or Wi-Fi is simple and intuitive. Once the speaker is turned on for the first time, it will automatically go into setup mode. Regardless of whether you\u2019re using iOS or Android, the Riva Wand app will guide you through an easy process to connect to your home network, after which the speaker is ready to stream via AirPlay, Spotify Connect, or\u00a0Google Home.<\/p>\n
Once all your speakers are connected it\u2019s easy to group speakers or stream audio to each individually over Chromecast or Airplay. We particularly liked the way that Spotify Connect integrated with our\u00a0Moto X Pure Edition\u00a0phone, allowing us to choose where to direct audio without ever leaving the\u00a0Spotify app.<\/p>\n
MULTIROOM PERFORMANCE<\/strong><\/p>\n
We tested the Riva Arena both in our A\/V testing room and at home over the course of several weeks. At home, the Arena was placed on a kitchen counter, with a larger Riva Festival placed about 30 feet away in the living room. We listened to both speakers together and separately throughout the testing period, just like you probably will at home.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.abtec.co.nz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/riva-arena-kitchen2-1500x1000-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWe rarely encounter devices as pleasant to use as the Riva Wand series speakers. Anyone connected to our home and office Wi-Fi networks could almost instantly play whatever audio they wanted wherever they wanted, regardless of whether they had an iOS or Android device. In fact, the five roommates in our large Portland household found themselves listening to music a lot more often in general because it was so easy to just reach for their phones and rock out, which definitely elevated the fun factor in common areas during our review period.<\/p>\n
Pairing the speakers in Away Mode was also quick and painless via the included instructions, and makes it easy to take multiple Wand series speakers anywhere for a full multiroom experience with or without Wi-Fi. Sure, Away Mode isn\u2019t a feature that many will use often, but it is nice to have the option for the occasional outdoor party or camping trip, and it\u2019s something most competitors just don\u2019t offer.<\/p>\n
AUDIO PERFORMANCE<\/strong><\/p>\n
As foreshadowed above, the fidelity offered by the Riva Arena is impressive, especially when considering its diminutive size. The speaker\u2019s array of drivers in three positions translates to a very dynamic and open soundstage, pushing audio to all corners of small and even medium-sized rooms.<\/p>\n
The stereo imaging offered by the Arena is downright incredible for a single speaker this size. When listening to classic stereo mixes like Fleetwood Mac\u2019s\u00a0The Chain<\/em>, the dramatically hard-panned acoustic guitars were audible far off to the right, with the bass lines holding things together in the very middle of the sound.<\/p>\n
The stereo imaging offered by the Arena is downright incredible for a single speaker this size.<\/p>\n
Despite its tiny footprint, the Arena\u2019s sound signature actually leans on the heavy side in terms of frequency response, offering deep but not overly boom-y bass on songs like\u00a0Run The Jewels\u2019\u00a0Oh My Darling Don\u2019t Cry<\/em>. The mid and high registers, though somewhat restrained when compared to the surprising low and low-mid response, are well balanced in the mix, providing just the right amount of shimmer in the cymbals on jazz mixes like\u00a0Dafnis Prieto\u2019s\u00a0About The Monks<\/em>.<\/p>\n
In fact, the stellar imaging and well-balanced sound profile really made jazz a go-to genre when we were listening to the Arena, with everything from\u00a0Thad Jones and Mel Lewis\u2019 big bandto\u00a0Miles Davis\u2019 psyched-out fusion\u00a0tracks sounding vibrant, fun, and dynamic.<\/p>\n
When compared to Sonos multiroom speakers like the Play:1 and\u00a0Play:5, the Wand series speakers sound noticeably warmer and offer broader stereo imaging. When playing the Arena side-by-side with the Sonos Play:1, the former offered a significantly wider soundstage (understandable seeing as the Play: 1 is a mono speaker), and a boosted lower-midrange. When sitting directly in front of each speaker we preferred the crisper upper register of the Sonos, but the much wider stereo image of the Riva Arena was vastly preferable when moving around a room \u2014 as we often were when the speaker was placed in a kitchen for at-home testing. Given that both are meant to fill small rooms with sound, rather than provide a true sit-and-listen experience, we preferred the Riva.<\/p>\n
WARRANTY INFORMATION<\/strong><\/p>\n
Every Riva product features the same\u00a0two-year limited warranty\u00a0that guards against manufacturer defects.<\/p>\n
OUR TAKE<\/strong><\/p>\n
The Riva Arena is an excellent-sounding and easy to use multiroom speaker that can tackle just about any kind of audio you throw at it, easily ranking among the best small-footprint speakers we have ever tested.<\/p>\n
Is there a better alternative?<\/strong><\/p>\n
Those after an accessible multiroom speaker for small and medium sized rooms will likely want to consider the Sonos Play:1, which is still a solid competitor by any metric. Though the Sonos doesn\u2019t offer Bluetooth streaming, it is\u00a0compatible with Amazon\u2019s Alexa\u00a0and can be used as part of a surround speaker system including Sonos\u2019\u00a0PlayBar\u00a0or\u00a0PlayBase\u00a0speakers, as well as combined with a\u00a0Sonos Sub\u00a0subwoofer. On the flip side,\u00a0JLab\u2019s \u00a0$150 Block Party\u00a0is a much more affordable alternative for on-the-go multiroom listening, as long as you don\u2019t mind giving up the option of Wi-Fi connection.<\/p>\n
How long will it last?<\/strong><\/p>\n
The overall build quality of the Riva Arena is very high, and the many input options and water resistance mean it should last for many years of use.<\/p>\n
Should you buy it?<\/strong><\/p>\n
Yes. The Riva Arena is the best combination of fidelity and usability we have ever seen in a speaker its size, making it absolutely worth every penny.<\/p>\n
Read more at:<\/strong>\u00a0https:\/\/www.digitaltrends.com\/wireless-speaker-dock-reviews\/riva-multiroom-speaker-review\/<\/a><\/p>\n
- Short power cable<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.abtec.co.nz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/riva-arena-batton-720x720.jpg\")
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<\/a><\/p>\n