Setup and use

Setup of the PW 300 is made easy by Paradigm’s detailed owner’s manual and the onscreen instructions in the Play-Fi app. After powering on the speaker, you select it in your device’s Wi-Fi control panel, then enter your network password. As with other Play-Fi speakers I’ve tested, your best chance of making the process go smoothly is to plug in the speaker near the wireless router for setup, and afterward move it to where you want it. If your router supports dual-band connections, Paradigm further recommends that you use the 5GHz option.

The next step is to enter your user name and password for the various streaming services in the app’s Select Your Music panel. Other Play-Fi setup options let you configure speaker groups for synchronized playback, and to create stereo pairs for left/right channel playback from two PW 300s in the same room. For this review, I set up a pair of PW 300s on speaker stands in my 14’L x 12’W x 9’H bedroom. I also moved one PW 300 briefly to a low bookcase in the same room, to get a sense of how it would perform as a single speaker.

Sound

With two Paradigm PW 300s configured for stereo, I began my listening with Björk’s new album, Utopia (16-bit/44.1kHz FLAC, One Little Indian/Tidal). I’m no Björk fan -- her songs always seem to lack such essential things as structure and hooks -- but I’m drawn to her unique voice. With the PW 300s playing “Blissing Me,” I felt I was experiencing maximum, uncut Björkness: her voice emerged from a spot precisely centered between the speakers, sounding clear and unstrained. As the sounds of harp and electronic beats entered, and even as the mix became increasingly complex and chaotic, Björk’s voice retained its clarity and focus.

Moving on to more traditional music, I played “Goodbye England (Covered in Snow),” from British folkster Laura Marling’s I Speak Because I Can (16/44.1 FLAC, Astralwerks/Tidal). Her voice, too, was rendered with striking clarity, sounding detailed but with good measures of body and warmth. The acoustic guitar, piano, and strings also sounded natural and reasonably full through the PW 300s, making them very easy to listen to.