About a year ago, the WREN V5AP wireless speaker hit the market. WREN Sound, a new audio company founded by Mike Giffin, a 35-year veteran of the audio industry, promised to make an excellently designed speaker for the modern age. After reading about the company, I wanted to give the speaker a try, and I have some opinions I’d like to share.
First off, I should clarify that the WREN V5 is available in three different models: the V5AP, V5PF, and V5BT. The V5AP is the AirPlay model of the speaker, and is the one I’ve been testing. The V5PF is designed for Android devices, while the V5BT is a Bluetooth model.
Wireless setup with the V5AP was surprisingly simple. After I took the speaker out of its box and powered it up, all I had to do was plug my iPhone into the built-in USB port and press a button to have the speaker pull Wi-Fi information from my iPhone. Boom. It’s that simple.
As far as the V5AP’s design goes, this thing is absolutely stunning. The speaker itself has wooden sides and rear, making it fit into any modern bookshelf. The front of the speaker is a silver cloth grille that matches both available wood finishes, bamboo and rosewood, perfectly.
Audio quality-wise, the V5AP is, overall, pretty good. When testing the speaker, mostly with dance-punk, synth, and garage rock tunes, I found that the speaker gave off very clear highs at almost all volumes. Mids were clear, though they could be a little bit more pronounced. Finally, on the low-end, the WREN speaker performed very well, and I didn’t notice much bass drop-off or distortion at high volumes.
Overall, I can definitely recommend the WREN V5AP to any iOS user who wants a simple, no-frills audio setup for their apartment or other small space. It’s worth noting that the speaker does run a hefty $400 price-tag, but that shows between the excellent design and audio quality.
