Bluetooth speakers

[buddymydog]

It seems there has been a rise of bluetooth speaker popularity. i was wondering if headfiers out here have any thoughts of which bluetooth speakers sound the best/ have the best features etc. i am interested possibly in the soundfreaq kick....i like its features and my son has one so ive personally heard it. I also liked the phillips fidelio speaker but although it seemed to have better sound, it had less options. I have also heard the bose soundlink mini. I was impressed with the sound for how small it was, although $200 seemed pricey. The big jambox also had great sound but at a whopping $300. Any thoughts

 

[cel4145]

I thought the Soundfreaq Kick sounded very good of the Bluetooth speakers I demoed, but (a) it's kind of big for my portable needs, (b) uses a proprietary AC adapter, and (c) the maximum volume is reduced when it's running on batteries.

Out of the bluetooth speakers I demoed, I like the Sharkk Boombox and the JBL Charge (sometimes goes on sale for about $120 or less). The TDK A33 was high on my list because of how much volume it can produce (would be great for outdoors), but I ultimately wanted something smaller without a proprietary AC adapter.

Also, my advice is to consider how you are evaluating the speakers you listened to in terms of how you intend to use them. So the Soundfreaq I liked for critical listening sitting in front of them. But I thought that other speakers provided more room filling sound for background music, and I'm not going to be using a portable bluetooth speaker for critical listening. Then for outdoor usage, more volume can be important. Then how will you plan on carrying the speaker for portable use? Do you want something big? Or smaller?

 

[buddymydog]

I may just grab a Bose soundlimk, mini.....I,m just using it for some Pandora and movies off of my ipad (indoor use). I like the Soundlink mini's portability to sound ratio...

 

[tjohnusa]

I recently purchased a Photive Soundscape 8 form Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HNWHW9A?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00 I have stereos at hand most places in the house so I didn't really need this but gadgetitise bit me. I did have a ihome ibn24 and used it mainly for movies and streaming podcasts or sports radio stations and it fit the bill but was by no means a quality music player. It was also a rectangular shape so using it with my laptop for movies I had to prop it up. During the Amazon summer black Friday sale this came up for $40 so I figured why not. It has a great build quality, is heavy and nicely styled. As for the sound it is a big jump from the ihome...it will output some pretty good volume and the quality was expectable but after adding an eq app to my phone the quality was much improved although the app lowered the output a bit it was still fine for my use. We recently had a power outage so I pulled this out and gave it a good listen for 1/2 hour and was delighted with the detail I heard. I have not heard many Bluetooth speakers but would think this would fill most everyone's bill if budget was a concern. I now use it during showers instead of the bedroom stereo much to the wife's delight. The passive radiator is a bit under sized but does get some decent bass out. You must understand you can only get so much bass out of a small driver and cabinet.