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Add to SafariWhen comparing Elgato Alvea vs Ion Audio Sound Shine, the Slant community recommends Ion Audio Sound Shine for most people. In the question“What are the best smart bulbs?” Ion Audio Sound Shine is ranked 3rd while Elgato Alvea is ranked 10th. The most important reason people chose Ion Audio Sound Shine is:
Ion is traditionally an audio company, so it isn't really surprising that they managed to create a product that offers good audio quality. These won't provide the same boom as dedicated speakers, but they'll do the job for most tasks. It should also be noted that these don't need a wall plug - all the power they require can be taken from any regular light socket.
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Easy-to-use app
The app isn't confusing at all. It gives you 9 dynamic lighting options to choose from, such as magic hour (simulates a sunset), northern glow (simulates the northern lights), and cozy flames (simulates fire). Each of these has an option to adjust the intensity, although instead of just adjusting the time it takes to move from one color to the next it also changes the colors. For example, the Cozy Flames turn green-ish instead of the regular red with yellow and orange bursts.
Pro No hub needed
These bulbs hook up directly to your iPod/iPhone/iPad, with no need for a physical hub device.
Pro Rich, stereo audio
Ion is traditionally an audio company, so it isn't really surprising that they managed to create a product that offers good audio quality. These won't provide the same boom as dedicated speakers, but they'll do the job for most tasks.
It should also be noted that these don't need a wall plug - all the power they require can be taken from any regular light socket.
Pro Easy to use app
The app is very basic - you can control the brightness for the bulbs or turn them on and off.
Pro Simple setup
There's no hub required, and the bulbs pair easily directly to your phone. The process isn't any harder than pairing a bluetooth speaker.
Cons
Con Very dim light
The 430 lumens brightness of the Elgato Alvea is almost as bright as a 40-watt bulb, but not quite. These lights will be very expensive to use as primary light sources, as you'll need many of them to sufficiently light up a room. They are really only cost-effective as accent lighting.
Con Limited coloring options
While most smart bulbs let you pick from a color picker, for solid colors the Elgato Alvea has 7 to choose from (blue, green, orange, purple, red, white, yellow). Each shade is then adjustable in both brightness and shade, however it would have been much easier to just use a color palette like most other smart bulbs.
Also, while the nine dynamic lighting options are easy, they are the only dynamic lighting you can achieve. You can't set up your own dynamic color palette.
Con No Android support
Unfortunately, Elgato Alvea doesn't support any Android devices. It only works with iPhone (4S or later), iPod (5th gen) iPad (3rd gen or newer), or Apple Watch.
Con Limited to 2 speakers
While you can have virtually endless numbers of Ion Shines hooked up at once, only 2 can play audio at once. It would be really handy if you could connect more up, as their sound would compound making it seem louder and richer.
Con No automation
Con White light only
While the lights are dimmable from your smartphone, most smart bulbs offer a RGB LED which lets you illuminate your room/house with different colors and shades of white. These lights only have 1 shade of white, and can be dimmed.
