When Spotify launched Connect earlier this autumn, Argon declared that they were the world's first HW-device with Spotify Connect on board. The device is called inet2 +.

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Good morning, dear reader - thought we'd start the day with a small history-lesson to get acquainted with the terrain. The German-American architect Mies van der Rohe adopted the phrase Less is More, which actually originates from a poem by Robert Browning in 1855. Less is More was by Mies van der Rohe a kind of icon of modernism / functionalism, and especially the minimalist streamlining that Mies stood for.

If we look forward to the late 70's, this phrase get a new renaissance in the hifi journalism adopts the concept into hifi poetry. There is of course the now legendary classic NAD 3020 that are subject to term Less is More , as the minimalist, low power amplifier without excess units provided an astoundingly good sound. Anticipation estimated precisely because the excess was peeled away.

Ok, now we start to approach. Let's move more than a pair of decades forward, and Henry Kloss enters the arena with his Tivoli Radio Model One. This was - and is - to such a degree less is more. Kloss` little table radio was a stroke of genius. It was a kind of countercultural, and was forced to become a huge success. A small well-designed and minimalist box where everything unnecessary was peeled away. The concept had it all - good design and finish in a compact design, easy operation and good sound. And then block plus the genius choice to tune the sound to older ideals, the old tubing-conveyed table radio. The ideal partner of the kitchen counter and a cosy little tune.

Ok Argon, here's the battlefield. So if you with your staggering list of specifications feel that you have lost before the battle even starts, I understand what you are saying. But I forgot to mention one small detail - a little bit later than Mies van der Rohe came another architect. Robert Venturi posted a postmodernist rebellion against minimalism in the statement " less is a bore! ". So we'll see then who was the best expert on table radios of Mies van der Rohe or Robert Venturi.

INet2 +

The relatively compact table radio iNet2 + from Hi-fi Klubben's house manufacturer Argon differ in appearance very little from their simpler siblings. It's just a somewhat larger OLED display that reveals this is a network radio instead of a pure DAB model. Also the price tag of 1.398, - are confusingly similar - just a hundred NOK higher than bluetooth version of DAB2 +, and 300 more than the pure DAB2 +. But it's a little glib name iNet2 + reveals that our radio is something more.

The design is neat and clean, and is characterized by good finish and materials. But bothersome innovative it is not - design elements with the rounded corners on the thin wood cabinet is recognized from several competitors. And with Ruark there is a nearly identical detailing the transition between the aluminum front and the wood cabinet. In the exercise design iNet2 has to recognise the loss to the more purely designed Tivoli Audio Model One.

On the back you will find a few-but useful connectivity, in addition to an Aux input, you have both headphone and line output for connection to an external amplifier. The latter is quite unusual in this category, and allows for a completely different sound experiences, or to use iNet2 + as the source of a hi-fi setup.

You also find a bass port on the back.

Network

The first thing that happens after the power is turned on, is that you are led into a setup menu, having particulary network connection that is interesting. Galant one is led to the ability to connect to the encrypted wireless network using WPS, by far the easiest method if your router has such an opportunity. After repeated attempts, this failed each time. The same happened with countless attempts to write, or rather rotate the password using the left steering wheel on the front panel. The problem seemed to be that it did not get assigned IP address.

With this author's allergy to network trouble,  iNet2+ got an initial period of FM, DAB and wired signal via AUX. Until junior arrived at the arena. He set up networks with manual IP addresses for breakfast with his left hand, while Nespresso in force 12 is comfotably resting in his right hand. He reportedly fit iNet2 +, and blamed the Kiln wireless network that has multiple wireless repeaters in series.

It is also reason to praise Argon for very thorough and profound setup menus with a logical and clear structure. In addition, they have made an extraordinary and thorough user manual. 95 pages for a table radio I think must approach all time high!

Apps.

Although the good display with 6 single line menu and rotation selector on the front panel makes it surprisingly easy to maneuver iNet2 +, there is no doubt that it will be a totally different world after the available free app is downloaded. It connects easily to the iNet2 +, and allows both to select the function, channel and music during music playback, plus you can enter the setup menu from this.

Spotify Connect.

The big jewel in the crown is the built-in function Spotify Connect. The difference between Spotify Connect and a regular Spotify solution where music is streamed from your mobile via eg. Airplay is that it is constantly mobile hosting, and must be kept within reach. You will easily drain your cell phone battery, and should you require a phone call,  Zappa goes down the drain. With Spotify Connect's all is different. The mobile phone acts as a remote control where you order the music. After this is done, the device takes the streaming job directly from internet, and you and your iPhone may get absence to leave the scene without Zappa being miffed because of that. He keeps on with his neverending guitar solos until you pause after hours, and resume the next day.

But this does not prevent that you can continue to control your music with your phone, turn up the volume on the spotifyapp, acknowledges iNet + to show in its display that strength is increased. This confirms that there is mobile it happens physically. It is tempting to compare the Spotifyapp in the iPhone with a ControlPoint in a UPnP setup, while iNet2 + is the UPnP-renderer.

UPnP

And it is also the way it actually works when adopting the other major music pouring function. UPnP is a standard for music streaming that has been around for very many years. Myself I have taken advantage of UPnP on Linn DS Akurate for six years.

Are you using UPnP, you can stream music from a PC or network drive (NAS) directly without involving the mobile. It's pretty smooth navigating from iNet2 + directly, thanks to the steering wheel and a good display. Yet it is much more comfortable to navigate through the mobile app. Via UPnP you can play most of the relevant file types - AAC +, MP3, WMA, WAW and FLAC.

I hit a wall in trying to stream 24/192 and 24/96 flac, but expect that it is the weak wireless network at the lodge. INet2 + is not the obvious choice for a supercharged high-res rig ...

There is also another possibility sreaming from PC, if you have at least Windows 7 ,in media player 12 you have the opportunity to select a feature called "Play to", just doing a little preliminary work of setting up iNet2 + as a device in Windows. Equal opportunity you have also outside mediaplayer, simply right-click on a file or files. The streaming version is a bit more picky on file type - I did not have access to play flac files and have the impression that this is a limitation in Windows.

The sound of Argon iNet2 +

We just have to recognize at once that a description of the sound from a table radio at this price point will not contain the customary review of Hi-fi parameters perspective, transparency, etc. In this price range all the tuning primarily is about damage limitation, to the extent possible minimize the limitations inherent in a very limited amplifier, a three-inch "full-range" element, and a cabinet with very modest volume and bracing. Having said that, Argon has done an exceptionally good job with these limitations.

If we start in the reference Tivoli Audio Model One, we find a hint of the same sound philosophy in iNet2 +. The sound is careful in the top, and lends rather mild against the darkness. But it is to my ears a far more successful balancing in iNet2 + than in Model One, where the latter acts directly closed, and has a bost in upper bass aera to compensate for that everything stops just below. These properties of Model One makes the first joy of a pleasant sound compared with screaming plastic portable radios, eventually superseded by a slightly tireing mumbling bass boom, where it is challenging to obtain music enjoyment.

INet2 + has a more balanced sound, and if you wish you can go in and choose from a handful of preset sounds, or set up your own. I changed from default value "normal" to "flat," in what I then got muted bass a clue to a subjectively more correct balance.

The initial promising beats made me try "Sangen om ka ho Anna drømte om», on Kari Bremnes` Svarta Bjørn - the album that was like a plague in Hi-fi demos in the late 90s. This track has a pretty hefty bass by Bjørn Kjellemyr. You will be quite moderate on the accelerator to avoid significant distortion in the bass on this particular song, of course, but it is otherwise quite astonishing how well iNet2 + comes from this exercise. It's all easy to get good music experiences (not to be confused with sound experiences) with Net2+. The major limitation is on complex music. Bruchner is not the right choice here, or symphonies of Beethoven. But switch to Chopin, and iNet2 + sing along.

INet2 + also manages to set a far more stable FM reproduction than Tivoli Model One under demanding environments.

Conclusion.

This time it was Robert Venturi who was right - Less is a bore! . Despite Net2 + has an insane greater expertise than the list Tivoli's base model and at a lower rate, it beats the Model One on what should be its home ground, the sound. Only feather in the hat left for Tivoli to keep is that it still has the better design. It seems that Argon has said "yes" to everything you could possibly want from a table radio. And this draws the mind to a third architect - the successful Danish Bjarke Ingels, who has derived his third variant of those of Mies van der Rohe and Robert Venturi: " Yes is more! "

INet2 + has so unexpected good sound on top of a well of features, it's hard to believe that you get a better- or even equally good buy at this price. And you should have significantly better sound you may need to double the efforts! Yes is More!

Price 1.398, -

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