Small boxes tend not to have great projection, so either side of a desk will give you a good stereo image, whereas either side of a room will not. With the power cable and the umbilical cable that connects the master and slave speakers connected, you only need to consider speaker placement. The free Nocs app joined the App store recently and gets you connected in a few moves. Setting up AirPlay devices used to be a bit of a headache, until manufacturers began devising apps to guide you through the process. An optical digital input would have been useful, but at least there's an analogue minijack input for other devices. Rear panel connections include a USB port for firmware updates and charging devices, but what Nocs doesn't tell you is that you can also listen to your iPhone through the USB cable from here. You can also control it from other devices running the app so long as they're all on the same home network.

You simply connect your smartphone to the speakers over wi-fi and press play on your Spotify app and provided you hold a 'premium' account with Spotify, the music keeps playing while you use your phone for other apps and calls. The other new feature is Spotify Connect, which works like a charm. A recent firmware update means you can make a wi-fi direct link between source and speakers if you prefer to spare your home network.Īlternatively, for a quick connection with non-Apple products there's Bluetooth with Apt-X for a fairly decent wireless connection.

So that's more stable wireless streaming from a Mac, or iOS device over a much further range without audio compression and the flexibility to keep adding AirPlay speakers if you want to multi-room your whole home. While the first NS2 monitors were Bluetooth only, the V2 that replaces them comes with all the advantages of AirPlay. Cupertino clearly approves of the aesthetic as you'll find them on display in Apple stores. The rounded off MDF cabinets are coated in finger-print resistant rubber that's available in seven colours including this limited edition green. 16cm x 11cm x 14cm is small enough to stand on a mantelpiece, windowsill or desk and look good doing it. It's difficult to judge scale from these pictures, but the NS2s are as compact as bookshelf speakers can get while still being taken seriously. Nocs NS2 v.2 Air Monitors: Size and build Convenience costs and these little boxes come with a big price tag, but they're more affordable than the Bluetooth-only Dali Kubik Free, while offering a similar stereo solution.

AirPlay speakers have been losing ground to cheaper Bluetooth boxes like the Beats Pill 2.0 and Jawbone Big Jambox that connect readily to non-Apple devices.īut Swedish brand Nocs, looks set to win it back with its stylish Nocs NS2 Air Monitors that in version 2, add Airplay and Spotify Connect to their Bluetooth abilities.

Nocs ns2