Bluetooth Speaker Shootout- GearFest 2013

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Posted By: Dan Cohen

Screen Shot 2013 07 16 at 9 29 52 AM

At GearFest 2013, Judie, Mike, Carly, and I sat down with a number of Bluetooth speakers to do a blind test listening to two pieces of music Travis had put together. (Thanks for jumping in to help us Coach!) With Mike’s wife Lisa helping us out (and offering up a few dance moves at the beginning of the video), we listened to six different Bluetooth speakers that have previously been reviewed here on the site. The speakers included:

Which speaker came out on top? Which surprised us? We’ll give you a bit of a spoiler.

A. We had trouble getting the JawBone JamBox to play nicely, so it didn’t end up in the mix. From an audio standpoint it has been eclipsed numerous times, and we were sorry we could not get that on video.

B. The Scosche BoomBOTTLE is an impressive speaker, and it stands out thanks to its design and somewhat ruggedized specs. It surprised me when I did the review, and it did a repeat performance here by standing out as one of the better speakers in this lineup.

C. The MiPow Boom didn’t stand out nearly as much as I expected it to. It really is an impressive little speaker, and the battery life both the Boom and the Boom mini offer is spectacular. I suspect the failure of the Boom to stand out had to do with the audio settings on this unit not being a final production version; but fair is fair, and it didn’t end up being picked as the standout speaker. We have a final unit on the way, and we will test the two versions of the Boom out in a comparison post.

D. Was there a standout speaker? Yes! And it was not only consistently picked by the editors as the standout, but it has an MSRP of under $100. Moreover, when it is on sale you can get it for even less!

Which speaker was it? Check out this video demo.

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About the Author

Dan Cohen
Having a father who was heavily involved in early laser and fiber-optical research, Dan grew up surrounded by technology and gadgets. Dan’s father brought home one of the very first video games when he was young and Dan remembers seeing a “pre-release” touchtone phone. (When he asked his father what the “#” and “*” buttons were his dad said, “Some day, far in the future, we’ll have some use for them.”) Technology seemed to be in Dan’s blood but at some point he took a different path and ended up in the clergy. His passion for technology and gadgets never left him. Dan is married to Raina Goldberg who is also an avid user of Apple products. They live in New Jersey with their golden doodle Nava.

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2 Comments on "Bluetooth Speaker Shootout- GearFest 2013"

  1. Edmund Ng | July 18, 2013 at 5:11 pm |

    I know it would have been a pain to setup, but for a bunch of bluetooth speakers, you only tested them with the aux cable. I would have been interested to see if the bluetooth circuitry would have influenced your opinions, since most people who’d buy a bluetooth speaker would be using it wirelessly for the most part, I’d imagine.

    Interestingly, I did test out a JBL Flip for a few weeks, but ended up returning it and getting the JBL Micro Wireless instead. I find that when traveling for work, I ended up listening to podcasts more than music, so I liked the compact size and lower price compared to the Flip. But I did agree with you guys about the sound quality of the Flip.

    I’m looking forward to the release of the Flip Charge, especially if they can keep the sound quality, while providing a decently sized battery for charging my devices.

  2. Butch Velasquez | January 4, 2014 at 9:42 pm |

    Have you been able to do a retest on the MiPow? I’m about to buy a bluetooth speaker, and I am deciding between the MiPow Boom and JBL Flip. I was wondering if you would recommend one over the other. Thanks!

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