Raumfeld’s Stereo Cubes sounded fantastic when I reviewed them earlier this year, and while the boxy design was certainly eye-catching, it made it tricky to fit them into every room. The need to connect the two speakers with a physical cable was another stumbling block, but thankfully these are issues Raumfeld has remedied with the One S.
Available individually for £200, or as a pair for £250, each One S has true wireless connectivity for cable-free stereo pairing. The black and white colour options let you match the speaker to your décor, just like the Stereo Cubes, but both use the same black cloth grilles to protect the drivers underneath.
The shallow, rectangular shape means each One S is considerably more compact than the Stereo Cubes, and the use of silicone-coated buttons means the speaker is resistant to humidity, making it a great choice for use in the kitchen. You’ll also need to fit a rubber cover to protect the Ethernet and USB ports on the rear. The latter doubles as a convenient smartphone charging point, or a way to play music stored on a flash drive. Unfortunately, the One S lacks any auxiliary inputs, whereas the Stereo Cubes had RCA jacks. If you have a pair, you can connect your analogue source to it and broadcast the audio to any other Raumfeld speaker in your setup.
It might look quite minimal, but the One S puts its limited number of physical buttons to good use. The four shortcut buttons on the top of the speaker can be configured through the Raumfeld iOS and Android apps to instantly play your favourite albums, playlists or internet radio stations. The pair of white status LEDs on the front glow at an eye-searing level, so I was pleased to see they can be disabled through the app.
You don’t need to connect the One S to your network with a cable – each speaker has integrated 802.11n Wi-Fi. Not only is the faster 802.11ac standard not supported, however, but you’re also limited to the 2.4GHz band. The only saving grace is that you don’t need a separate wireless hub, as you did with older Sonos systems. Raumfeld’s optional Expand box creates a dedicated wireless network, but I never found reason to use it; high resolution tracks played perfectly from a NAS when connected over 2.4GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi.
