New owner of a iPhone 11. And I ain’t got no Jack.
So, it is time to jump on this blue tooth game.
I like music. I am always listening to it. Would like recommendations for blue tooth speakers. A small one and a bigger one. If there is a smaller one that plays like a big one, well, that would be the cat’s meow.
My daughter wants to buy me one. So, price is not an issue. But, I would like to save her some money.
Thanks troops.
For a small speaker, I have an Altec Lansing Lifejacket 2 that I usually keep in the garage. It sounds pretty good and it’s rugged enough for outdoor use. Mine’s a few years old and still works fine, judging by the Amazon link it looks like there may be newer versions available:
Seconding the Altec suggestion. I have a couple of them around - one in the garage and one in the travel bag. Rugged and reliable.
Does your large speaker need to be portable? If not, most new stereo receivers have Bluetooth. Add a decent set of bookshelf speakers and you can have a system that will sound better than almost any portable Bluetooth speaker. You can put such a system together from $300 and up. And if you can get a deal on an old or used receiver without Bluetooth (Craigslist usually has several), you can add Bluetooth for about $25.
I have this JBL one that’s pretty cheap and works extremely well. Its actually pretty surprising. This one I carry around the house or outside.
And this Bose one stays at my computer desk at all times, but honestly I can’t really tell much of a difference between the 2. Both are great and surprisingly clear and crisp.
Flip 4. Been very happy with mine. Lasts up to 10 hours at work every day.
I’ve had the JBL Charge 3 which is a bit bigger than the Flip 4, and I am very happy with it. While they’re on to the JBL Charge 4, you can still buy the Charge 3 for about $90. I don’t think you can go wrong with the JBL options.
I’m not going to give you a specific recommendation, but only suggest the factors you should consider (not in any order and no right or wrong answers here):
Portability, Ruggedness, Waterproof - Weight is one factor, as a general rule the heavier the unit, the bigger the speaker driver and the better the sound. Are you planning to use it outdoors where it might get wet or banged around? (My son brings his into the shower every day). Will you ever take it camping or on vacation or will it only sit on a bookshelf in the living room?
Sound quality - How important is sound quality to you personally? IMO most <$100 BT speakers don’t have “good” quality, they’re OK at best. They play mono sound, but they’re cheap and portable. (The common thing you read in reviews is “good sound” for the price).
I have one in my workshop ($40 at Walmart) that essentially just boosts the volume of my tinny iPhone speakers. Objectively it sounds shitty, but considering I mostly listen to podcasts there, anything more would be waste of money. We also have a Bose SLIII that sound pretty good in our living room. Meanwhile, I’m currently researching options to do as Dag suggests and upgrade my home system to add BT so I can hear my music again in lovely hi-fi stereo again. I really miss great sounding stereo music.
Advanced features - Without giving too long an explanation of this, as one example: most (cheap) devices search only for the last device they were paired with then after X seconds start looking around for a different device. Its a PITA because if you have different users using the device you have to wait to pair your device until it times out and looks for you. An “advanced” feature (on the Bose we have) lets you tap a button at the top and it instantly rotates from the last device to the previous one every time you tap, so zero lag. Great feature but meaningless if you’re the only one user.
Battery life - This is obvious, 4 hour battery life versus 12+ = big difference in price, size and weight but the value is dependant on how you will use the speaker. If you’re camping its a pain to charge versus if it’s on your bookshelf.
Lastly - the other thing to consider is whether you want to jump into the full-on home “assistant” right now. The various assistants are all good to great BT speakers. Depending on what your daughter wants to spend maybe cost share this if you’re ready to take the plunge.
I bought a friend a Minirig as a gift a year ago, because I saw it got a lot of good reviews for audio quality. My friend, who is a bit of an audiophile, has been happy with it.
You asked for “big” speaker suggestions so I’m going to offer this for your consideration. I’m not sure of your needs for size and portability so clarification on these points may help.
DeWalt ToughSystem jobsite radio
I have one and have been mostly satisfied with it. It doesn’t get quite as loud as I would like and can be arm numbingly heavy but it’s put up with everything I could ask of it.
DeWalt has recently released V2.0 of this radio. Reviews seem to be mixed.
If you have an old receiver and just need to add Bluetooth, this is the one I use. If you have followed any of my opinions about Bluetooth you would know that I generally don’t like it, but using aptX really does seem to improve the sound if your phone (or other source) supports it. If you are set on getting a new receiver, consider a network connected receiver that can stream directly from the internet.
Wonderboom v2 Ultimate Ears are the best portable bluetooth speakers I have heard. They are small but they give off huge 360 sound. If you buy two there is an option to play in true stereo sound. They are waterproof and you can throw them in a pool for a perty.
Make sure you get volume 2.
I have had a Charge 3 for a couple years and I like it a lot. I have a nicer system in my house. I just use the JBL when I am outside in my hot tub. I have never tested this but it is supposed to be water proof which is handy for my use case.
@ Dag - thanks for that. A good option to consider. I was at friends recently and he just bought a new Yamaha receiver with wireless internet built in. I was very impressed by the sound. It got me to thinking about pulling my old system out of it’s boxes and doing some sort of retrograde upgrade ( I never unpacked it after our last move:()
At the same time, I was feeling sad for “kids these days” who only know music from tinny phone, BT speakers or earbuds. Nothing like closing your eyes and being immersed in beautiful music from your 500w German system. I never realized how much I missed that until I was listening to his system.
I have a Marshall Kilburn, which I cart around the house all day long to wherever I happen to be. It looks and feels like a little Marshall guitar amp, super high quality build and 20h battery life.
They don’t make the original anymore, but it appears that their Kilburn II is pretty good, with the same 20h battery life, and multi-device Bluetooth to boot. The newer one is quite rugged, and “water resistant” too.
Unfortunately, they aren’t cheap.
[Moderating]
Since this is mostly not about the arts, let’s move it to IMHO.
I have one of these for when I’m travelling, and it seems fine for me, not that I’m a hifi fanatic.
Are these speakers generally mono? Madsircool mentions ones that can be made to play stereo. That would be a nice feature…
My wife bought a couple of Crosley Mockingbird bluetooth radios for around the house. These are mostly a style choice, I’m not generally a fan of Crosley, but these sound OK and connect to bluetooth pretty well. You have to buy a separate rechargeable battery, though.
The JBLs linked to are all stereo. Granted, because of the physical size the stereo separation isn’t go to be huge, but it’s certainly stereo.