Sound and battery: 20 portable Bluetooth speakers The arrival of Bluetooth 4, with its reduced hunger for power and support for audio codecs like aptX and A2DP means that there has been an explosion in the availability of Bluetooth speakers which connect to computers, tablets and smartphones, and are often small enough to be chucked in a bag and taken to the park or beach. …
the philips bt3500 is stereo, though you dont hear that much stereo seperation, as the speakers are very close together.
I'm a bit surprised at the #80 prive tag, as I got it for e60.
Better osund quality than my laptop speakers, plus it has a built in mic, so can double as a cheapo conference phone means Im happy with it (and since I bought a battery pack for my phone ages ago, that can also charge the speakers, the 5 hour battery life isnt much of a problem for me .
But, to each his own :)
I don't think anybody listens to music any more as very few portable audio products seem to be stereo nowadays. Granted the Ultimate Ears et al can be made stereo but that's over £300 for a set of portable stereo speakers which may not even be used that often. Surely somebody makes a pair which don't cost the earth?
Mind you, what I'd really like is a Bluetooth receiver with phono (or, perhaps SPDIFF) outputs but that's another story.
I got a couple of Nokia ones (Play 360) free with a Lumia 800 a few years ago. Each one is mono but if they sense another is nearby they switch to stereo. They work using replaceable rechargeable batteries from Nokia feature phones so the six hours of battery life is easily extended.
I agree, the Nokia Play 360s have been out for years', have NFC, sense another Play 360 in the vicinity and will switch (in a really cool fashion) to stereo. The sound quality and loudness is excellent for such a small, portable unit. You should really have tested those as well.
http://www.johnlewis.com/bose-soundlink-mini-wireless-mobile-speaker-silver/p515184
I bought one for my wife last Xmas and not only is the sound incredible from such a tiny box, but ***she's able to make it work***! And she would be the first to tell you how she struggles with technology.
Quite expensive, but I'm so pleased with it that I've just bought another for my son.
I have the very same on, and it is awesome - has exceeded my expectations. As loud as my daughters JBL Flip (also missing), buy much better audio quality and stonking bass - esp. when close to a wall, and the rear facing radiator reflects off the wall further amplifying the audio..
Still have to encounter a person who, upon hearing them the first time, doesn't go looking in the room where the real speakers are.
Bloody expensive and a shame you can't get two do play stereo, and use micro-usb to charge. But otherwise it's a investment you won't regret.
Listen to this youtube clip of the Bose side by side with a JBL charge. The recording was done with proper audio recording gear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=369O58SIyFo
Great video - thanks for pointing to it. I know JBL make great speakers, so it's impressive how the Bose blows them out of the water. Incredible bass for such a tiny device. Exactly as you say, I've asked my wife many times whether she's listening to the stereo or the Bose when I walk into the room.
Soundlink Minis are sometimes available for about £130, which helps a bit. And if you want to use two for stereo you can make up a Y-lead (or maybe even buy one) which will send one channel down each leg. Obviously not wireless any more, but much better for using with TV, as the delay through the Bluetooth connection seriously messes up lip-sync.
Hmmm.... I tried some of these and they were excellent but lacked the simple speaker phone facility... why!? Such a useful little item to add and makes talking to people very easy when you want to wander around, "hands free" as it were. Ended up buying the Trek, awesome bit of kit.
A colleague produced a little external speaker for his phone and proceeded to blow me away with the sound quality and volume.
It was a cylinder about 55mm in diameter and the same in height, has a USB in put that will play from a pen drive, my phone or more or less anything else that is on the other end, also has a 3.5 input jack, a micro SD card reader and a charging input/output micro USB slot.
If you place it on a surface that will vibrate and act as a sounding board you even get the base that the speaker can't reproduce, Made of aluminium, it has a 5 hour battery life on full charge. I had to have one so I asked him where he bought it. From a local Chinese emporium for.... wait for it!... €15.00
Got one for me and one for the missus, if it only lasts 6 months it will be longer than most car radios last me. Oh yeah it plays really well in my 22 year old diesel Disco and sounds good and is actually louder than the engine.
Sound quality wise; it plays Ed Alleyn-Johnson with hardly a note or tone missed, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvv0lzjQQ8s here you get the best of rock and classical in one artist.
Interesting that the Geneva Sound System Model XS DAB+ Wireless, FM/DAB+, Alarm Clock, Speakers, Amplifier. All-in-One did not make the review. With up to 10 hours battery in a minute carry case I cannot imagine why such a great piece of kit was overlooked. After testing it against a number of the models listed here it is the one I have ended up buying.
Hitting a nerve here...
Its - belonging to 'it'
it's - "It is"
your - belongs to or is part of you
you're - "you are"
etc etc.
It drives me NUTS when I see poor grammar cropping up everywhere - it's not just on t'interweb. Especially those last two! And especially when the writer is a journo or "pro-blogger". Someone who makes their money by writing. Get a proof-reader!
Well, I can't actually see any misuse of "its" or "it's" in that article.
Just from the first page:-
The arrival of Bluetooth 4, with its reduced hunger for power... - correct!
Nearly 30cm long and just over a kilo in weight, it's not as easily portable as the others here - correct!
I can't be bothered to check all ten pages, but I think the writer has it right.
For some reason, you have missed off the best in class Bose Soundlink Mini, which for a diminutive speaker (about the size of a Soreen Malted Loaf, is unsurpassed in audio - Bose seem to have beaten the laws of physics with this one.
Also, the very cheap £49 JBL Flip, is also missing. For the money, it's not bad. Every bit as loud as a Bose Soundlink Mini, but a bit harsher in audio fidelity.
It's all well and good that these Bluetooth speakers are now including the "higher quality" apt-x codec, but bear in mind Apple do not support apt-X in their iOS devices, so you won't necessarily get the best out of these speakers with iPhones etc. I recently bought the Denon Envaya and although I'm quite impressed with the sound, it is a bit muddy through Bluetooth - it does improve when I connect using an aux cable, but what's the point in that?! I think it's a little bittersweet for us iPhone users...
Old fashioned electronics: What, like the Retina iMac and the iPad Air 2, iPhones and pretty much everything else Apple makes? Really? Can you buy anything non-Apple for less money that's better than the Retina iMac?
And take a look at the B&O Avant. How old fashioned is that?
I bought the Creative Roar and can very much recommend it. Very solid build and pretty decent sound. It needs the 'Roar' function on all the time as this boosts the mid and high end making sound a little brighter. Good tight bass, but not too much. All the extra features are fabulous, save for the silly 'alarm' function which quite frankly, is ridiculous! And it was only £80 in a recent Amazon lightening sale. Bargain.
Simple vsky®Waterproof Shockproof Wireless Bluetooth 3.0 Mini Speaker Shower Pool Car Handsfree with Microphone
Bought one of these as an outdoor speaker for Halloween sound effects. Battery charge claimed to last 6 hours. Small with a slightly bulky shape - with claims to being splash resistant. Has a large foot sucker for sticking it to suitable surfaces. First attempt fell 2 metres off the window ...and merely bounced off the concrete path without damage. The next attempt left it securely fixed to the glass for several hours.
Can be used as a speaker phone. Also has buttons for simple audio track forward/back selections. No external sockets - except the charging point. Surprisingly good sound. The Halloween "heartbeat" sound effect had nice bass. All for £14.99 and free delivery.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Simple-vsky%C2%AEWaterproof-Shockproof-Bluetooth-Microphone/dp/B00NC5SRUK/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1419375471&sr=8-9&keywords=simple+vsky+bluetooth
The subject of audio quality with anything Bluetooth is a moot point, because it will inevitably be compressed audio and that means horrible....well to anyone who values good audio that is. So I await the day when Bluetooth can handle lossless audio codecs smoothly and reliably, and through reasonable sized speakers. For now though I use my small Bluetooth stereo speaker box for BBC Radio 4 speech based programmes and YouTube content; this red Sony clone (sort of) does very nicely and cost a mere £20 from my local Aldi store! It's very similar to the one here but mine is red and branded differently https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BaoSAvbCIAAALUH.jpg:large
I have been bose' fans in the past years. i impressed with its clear, crispy and deep bass, specially the whole design style is not so complicated, and also simple function design, but bose put all first in sound quality. some traditional features involved into bose's audio device. no wonder its sound can perform so amazing.
As you need a small and compact bluetooth speaker to use, also want to use it in beach I will recommend you to go for Aqua Bluetooth speaker.
Its waterproof, rechargeable, and very attractive looking.
If you want to order you get it from their official site.
Here is the link to help you.
http://epycsound.com/product/epyc-aqua-4000/
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