May 26, 2016

JBL Charge 3 Portable Wireless Speaker Review

May 26, 2016/ Nir Schneider

The king of affordably priced portable Bluetooth speakers has returned. And it's bigger, better and more powerful than before. JBL has for a long time been the best at making portable speakers that were unbeatable. It's now about to retake that title with its latest generation of its most successful model yet. The new Charge 3 is a fully waterproof portable wireless speaker with larger drivers that produce sound that is even better than what was considered to be the portable speaker to beat. Other improvements include a much longer battery life and an upgraded design that is tougher and more durable than its predecessors – the Charge 2+ and Charge 2. We've had some time to thoroughly test out JBL's newest portable offering, which of course also means putting it up against formidable rivals. To find out if the Charge 3 really has what it takes to be crowned king of portable speakers under $300, read the full in-depth review down below!

April 27, 2016

Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay A1 Review

April 27, 2016/ Nir Schneider

Bang & Olufsen's strong design and audio prowess is a lethal and desirable combination that makes consumers want to throw their money at anything this Danish household name crafts. In a competitive move towards making its wireless speakers more affordable, B&O has set out to create a smaller version of its A2 portable speaker with a more appealing price of admission. Meet the BeoPlay A1. This much smaller, lighter and more portable speaker features everything you'd come to expect from B&O - impressive use of high quality materials and a contemporary design that might be worthy of an award or two. It's arguably one of the better looking portable speakers on the market right now...and it sounds bigger than it looks too. So how does the BeoPlay A1 compare to some of the best portable wireless speakers out there? We've got it all covered in our full review down below!

April 22, 2016

Vifa Oslo Portable Wireless Speaker Review

April 22, 2016/ Nir Schneider

Vifa, one of our favorite Danish audio brands, has come out with another beautifully made portable wireless speaker worthy of consideration. This time Vifa is using less of a super chic design like it has for the Helsinki speaker we've taken a look at some time ago, and instead has taken more of a utilitarian approach by using its modern boombox-inspired Copenhagen model and essentially splitting it in half. The result is what Vifa is calling the Oslo speaker, a slightly larger portable Bluetooth speaker than Vifa's Helsinki featuring larger Force Balanced woofers and passive radiators that should produce an even bigger punch from a smallish-sized speaker. So how does this speaker perform in practise? Let's find out!

March 10, 2016

Sony SRS-XB3 Portable Wireless Speaker Review

March 10, 2016/ Nir Schneider

Sony has released a number of new wireless portable speakers this year with enhanced features like water-resistant properties, greatly improved battery life, and a new Extra Bass mode which Sony claims will produce a deeper, punchier sound using its custom digital signal processing whilst also reducing midrange distortion. With these enhancements also comes more refined designs that while don't drastically veer off from their predecessors, are a welcome change no less. The new SRS-XB3 ($150) and SRS-XB2 ($100) portable speakers both replace SRS-X33 and SRS-X2, and are a part of Sony's affordably priced models. But what we're going to be taking a closer look at is Sony's SRS-XB3, the portable speaker that most likely everyone is going to be interested in as it strikes a perfect balance between price, performance and portability. It even has larger full-range drivers and double the battery life compared to Sony's new and more expensive (also larger) Wi-Fi-enabled H.ear Go SRS-HG1 ($200) portable speaker. But enough rambling, let's get to it and find out how this speaker handles in practice.

January 29, 2016

Vifa Helsinki Portable Wireless Speaker Review

January 29, 2016/ Nir Schneider

Vifa might not be as big or as widely known as Bang & Olufsen, but it's easy to see why they're just as good when it comes to uncompromised audio. Vifa is a Danish company and like all good Danish brands, Vifa's Scandinavian design prowess is unquestionably embedded into every one of its beautifully crafted, one-of-a-kind products. The Helsinki is one of three wireless speakers under Vifa's umbrella, which were all named after Nordic city capitals – the $449 Helsinki, the $799 Copenhagen, and the $1,699 Stockholm wireless soundbar. Vifa's Helsinki is the most portable of them all, features a leather carry handle and a fashionable chic design with a total of six drivers under that petite Nordic body for authentic sound reproduction. So can this finally be the portable speaker to beat the JBL Xtreme, and is it really worth its price in sound? Catch out full review to find out!

June 26, 2015

Ultimate Ears UE Roll Portable Wireless Speaker Review

June 26, 2015/ Nir Schneider

Ultimate Ears has recently introduced a bold new portable wireless speaker to replace its cheeky little $100 UE Mini Boom that is supposedly the company's "most adventure-seeking speaker yet". The UE Roll as it's called is a small, spherically-shaped and ultra-compact portable Bluetooth speaker that blasts beats in a full 360-degrees and is designed to be used in all sorts of tasking environments thanks to its durable, shock/drop-resistant and IPX7-rated waterproof construction – including its ability to attach onto almost anything using a built-in marine-grade bungee cord feature. In other words this is a miniature UE Boom waiting to be tossed around and played with. The UE Roll borrows a lot from its larger and more expensive brother – the UE Boom, but the question is how does it stack up in the real world? More importantly, is the UE Roll an improved UE Mini Boom successor at $100? Let's find out!

January 23, 2015

Ultimate Ears UE Megaboom Review

January 23, 2015/ Nir Schneider

Portable speakers let us enjoy our music wirelessly at home and on the go. And with the smaller, more powerful and longer lasting models offered recently, it's no wonder everyone wants one. Back when Ultimate Ears introduced the UE Boom more than a year ago – the cylindrically-shaped $200 speaker most known for its durable svelte design and immersive 360-degree sound, the company really impressed us with its advanced portable speaker design. So much so that it was worthy of our Editors' Choice Award. The only thing that held us back from giving the UE Boom the highest score possible was that it didn't quite have enough bass under the hood. Despite that, the UE Boom was considered as one of the best portable speakers at $200. But since then many companies like JBL released drastically improved offerings that surpassed the UE Boom's once firm reign over the portable speaker market.

Fast forward to present day, Ultimate Ears used its legendary portable speaker design chops to craft the UE Megaboom, the step-up speaker for people who loved the UE Boom but wished it offered more oomph in the bass department. Its a strikingly familiar looking portable sound producing gadget that promises to deliver ridiculously amazing 360-degree worth of sound with deep bass and magical unicorns thrown into the mix. Okay, maybe the latter isn't true. But everything else is. Or so Ultimate Ears claims. So let's get to it, our full and in-depth review is waiting for you after the break!