As per the title, I am looking for recommendations for a new Bluetooth speaker. So, what have you got?
Size? Usage? Budget?
I got an Anker Soundcore Motion B from Amazon a little while back. Great little thing.
Search the site? This question crops up like weekly.
I have an old JBL and upgraded it recently. Can recommend both just shop around for best price
Our old JBL flip is still doing good service. Though of course whatever you get will be a newer model..
Bose.
I've got an Anker Soundcore 1 and it's great. The v2 is supposed to be even better.
What has amazed me though is the battery life. I think I've only charged it once or twice after owning it a year.
I also have an Anker Soundcore Motion B (think it’s a v2).
cost £35-ish off amazon.
seems decent enough for the money to me...
had mine a couple weeks and had to recharge it already! Used it a fair bit though mind.
There are better options than Bose for the same money.
Only seen the Anker stuff recommended on here though I've some of their other products which are solid. Certainly worth trying at those prices.
Having heard quite a few, I went with a Minirig V2. Nothing from JBL, UE or Bose etc was as good. Though there are better single speakers which are bigger.
Budget? Location for use? static or portable?
I love my UE Roll as an outdoor/travel speaker but its not what i'd choose for living room listening
one of these
a couple of speakers and build your own
Heard a Marshall bluetooth portable speaker being demo'd when I was hanging around Heathrow departures early this year - sounded really good but was worried it might just be a bit of fancy 'branding' ...
But bought the missus the Marshall 'Kilburn' portable one for her birthday ... the sound is just immense!! it's quite heavy, but the 'cabinet' is solidly made so no rattle or vibrations etc. One of those rare occasions [these days] when you aren't disappointed with a purchase ... even if it isn't for you! 🙂
Libratone Zipp.
Bluetooth, DNLA, Airplay 2, Spotify Connect, USB, Aux In, makes toast, multi-room, 10hrs battery.
....oh and sound great.
New v2 has Alexa built in, but not sure it's worth the extra over the older models.
I've had a Minirig since last Christmas and it's been brilliant. The sound is fantastic for a small single speaker and the battery lasts days. I use it to charge my phone sometimes.
I also have an Anker Soundcore Motion B (think it’s a v2).
cost £35-ish off amazon.
Mine was an impulse buy. I bought it with a USB-C cable (I actually was shopping for the cable rather than the speaker) and Amazon were doing a 'buy together' type offer which knocked like eight quid off the order.)
Anker Soundcore 2 owner here and have no complaints, my brother was all for spending £100 on some Sony speaker until he heard this, canned that idea and bought one of these instead.
I think for the price they are pretty much the best combo of value/performance going.
Just got the Anker Soundcore mini. £20. Very impressed.
I have the soundcore and a bose mini.
The bose is a lot better but also at least 4 times the cost.
I'd still buy the bose out of the 2.
Mine was an impulse buy.
I’d agonised over choice for months and months. It all ended when I had a trip to a mate over by Gairloch and he muttered something about Bluetooth and playlists so I took my laptop and connected to his JL Bluetooth radio and ‘curated’ the sounds for an evening... great I thought, sure my expensive Sony DAB radio will be Bluetooth... nope.
Decided to remedy with something cheap, checked a thread or two and plumped for the Anker and now I can play playlists anywhere in the house not on shitty laptop speakers. yay. more money to spend on expensive forks... 🤣
I have a Soundcore 2 and it's good, but not loud enough if you're going to use it somewhere with lots of background noise.
I've used the Soundcore Boost and that's much better in that respect.
Just awaiting delivery of an Audio Pro Addon. Reviews are very positive, and looks better than most.
Used a UE Boom over the w/end and thought it was pretty dire.
Tibo sphere 2 here very good, and currently £119 at richer sounds
I have a Bose mini and its OK for booming out music to fill a room. It does fall over though if you are trying to listen to it in a hotel room a bit quieter. It just booms as low volume. Its also not that great listening to spoken word like the radio.
It does throw out an impressive amount of sound though, however this is at the expense of any finesse.
Though I should remember its not hifi only a bluetooth speaker 🙂
I got a Creative Metallix Plus about 6 months ago.
It's very good and the reviews I read at that time were very positive. It was only about £35 too.
Refurbed / Whitebox UE Boom from Ebay... very happy and saved a lot. Has a good app to control with a phone and a couple of speakers can work together for a stereo effect.
Denon Envaya 250bt
Doesn't have all the advance features or Alexa BS but for outright sound stage and quality it's pretty amazing.
Minirigs are great, one of those little things that give me a little frisson of joy when I use it, seems expensive but they're made in uk sound great and the battery life is insane. If you want something bigger then the Marshalls' recommended above are great as are Audio Pro AddOn T3
What’s your reason for wanting Bluetooth, as opposed to cabled, speakers?
Apologies for the mini thread diversion, but while on the subject can any of you audiophiles recommend a bluetooth receiver to connect to an AV amp. Doesn't need a DAC, just an optical/digital out so I can push spotify from my phone. My amp is pretty old and doesn't have it as an option. argh!
The vast majority of my music is now digitally stored with my phone as the player. Not interested in HiFi with unidirectional gold cables, just a simple Bluetooth speaker. Ideally small so that it doesn't dominate the surface it's on but decent volume and sound quality.
Thanks for all the suggestions so far.
Not interested in HiFi
Fair enough.
...decent ... sound quality.
I see. 🤔
Apologies for the mini thread diversion, but while on the subject can any of you audiophiles recommend a bluetooth receiver to connect to an AV amp. Doesn’t need a DAC, just an optical/digital out so I can push spotify from my phone. My amp is pretty old and doesn’t have it as an option. argh!
You don't want to use Bluetooth for this, get a Chromecast Audio or a Gramofon or something like that. Then your phone is just the remote control and the CCA/Gramofon does all the grunt work
Mum has a UE Boom and everytime I visit them I use it in the garden for tunes etc. she also uses it to play along with when practicing her flute so decent and loud. I'm always quite jealous of it but not sure I'd use it enough to justify it although I do love apple play and sometimes a speaker would be better than headphones. Maybe one day!
Sony SRS-XB21.
£70ish and very very good. Much better than my previous JAM Heavy Metal.
Bought my daughter a UE Wonderboom which is pretty good. Enough volume for a portable, battery life is good and it's waterproof for when she drops it in the bath.
You don’t want to use Bluetooth for this, get a Chromecast Audio or a Gramofon or something like that. Then your phone is just the remote control and the CCA/Gramofon does all the grunt work
This!
Or the new Alexa enabled puck from Amazon if you like that sort of thing.
Any ideas on a Bluetooth speaker that will drown out 2 big fans and a turbo trainer?
Using a Samsung pro tab, it seems to be quoted than the smaller iPads we have in the house oddly.
A jawbone jambox and Anker premium can't be heard veey well watching (trying) box sets at threshold....
JBL Flip for a handy-sized workhorse (hotels, kitchen, workshop etc).
Dali Katch for a bit more posh.
Another vote for AudioPro here
You need to be able to EQ the Bose stuff, they insist on completely swamping the bass response.
I have a JBL Extreme and it is much more blanaced than the Bose Mini I had.
Apologies for the mini thread diversion, but while on the subject can any of you audiophiles recommend a bluetooth receiver to connect to an AV amp.
The Neet one seems pretty good :
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00H8ONMGA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I am setting up Roon but still need to use something like this to stream downloaded radio shows from iplayer.
The sony offering is pretty good, Sony SRS-XB31 for £100 (for the Sony SRS-XB21 for £70 ish, tad smaller) at the moment, just picked one up and pretty pleased with it so far.
You don’t want to use Bluetooth for this, get a Chromecast Audio or a Gramofon or something like that. Then your phone is just the remote control and the CCA/Gramofon does all the grunt work
Does a standard Chromecast (which seems to be the same price) support Spotify? It's going to connect to the AV Receiver anyway, so it doesn't matter that it is HDMI connection rather than toslink.
Does a standard Chromecast (which seems to be the same price) support Spotify?
It would appear so:
https://www.spotify.com/uk/chromecast/
We have a small Cambridge Audio Go, very pleased with it. Had it around 18 months.
These from Cambridge are excellent. Proper stereo, not too big, last for ages, sound superb.
Not the best name though https://www.cambridgeaudio.com/gbr/en/products/yoyo/yoyo-m
Sonos all day over here. Not bluetooth but wifi instead. Great sound.
Does a standard Chromecast (which seems to be the same price) support Spotify? It’s going to connect to the AV Receiver anyway, so it doesn’t matter that it is HDMI connection rather than toslink.
I've got the original Chromecast and that's exactly what I do. It supports HDMI-CEC too, so you just cast to it and it'll automatically power up the receiver and switch it over to the correct input.
Standard Chromecast won't be any use on an older amp without an HDMI in though, you'll need the audio one.
I've got an Anker Soundcore of some sort, for it's size, price and portability it's great, but wouldn't want to use it all the time as my main source of music.
I'm fully bought into Sonos for indoors.
I have had a Chromecast audio for a couple of years, linked to a Denon DAB micro system. It has never worked well with BT Infinity Wifi and others have had problems too, having looked into a year or so back. I have just now ordered one of those neet bluetooth thingys linked on the last page.....hoping for seamless connectivity, which will be the exact opposite of my experiences with the Chromecast !
Also have one of the wee Bose water resistant speakers for out and about and holiday houses - great bit of kit, though a bit bashed after junior took it on a piss up party in the forest a few months back 🙁
Audio pro 3 or 5
Ikea Eneby
Great value! The small one can run on a built in battery, and sounds good. The larger one is mains only and sounds very good. If you're ok with the aesthetic, go listen.
I bought a sony xb21 today, it's much better than I thought it would be for its size, though I had to turn the extra bass mode off.
But bought the missus the Marshall ‘Kilburn’ portable one for her birthday … the sound is just immense!!
Is that at 11?
…decent … sound quality.
I see. 🤔
🙄 Stock response from the local hifi guru.
UE Boom. Marvellous, shock proof, waterproof,16 hours battery and good sound. One of my best audio purchases.
My neet one arrived yesterday, however in frustration I factory reset my Chromecast Audio and it’s now working perfectly 😊. Will hang off a week or 2 before returning the neet to Amazon...
Sony SRS-XB21.
£70ish and very very good. Much better than my previous JAM Heavy Metal.
People really don't read threads do they?
XBS 21 was recently acquired passing through Luton airport for £60. It makes an ok noise (for its size) with lots of bass on one setting. Perfect for the shower as it's water resistant and plays for 10 hours on one charge.
An Anker Soundcore 2 dropped through the letterbox this morning on the back of the above recommendations, and I am much impressed - thanks for the info! 🙂
Having spent some time researching various wireless options the technology isn't quite what I expected
Seems be two options.
Blue tooth from phone tablet etc. This is what I use. The down sides are that in theory the old style bluetooth isn't that great for ending quality sound. You get interrupted by calls etc.</span>
So i thought I'd look at wifi with say Chromecast (Or Sonos etc.). This gets round the above problems. Sound quality is higher the phone is just a remote etc. But you loose iplayer radio app compatibility. As that is about half of our use that knocked that on the head
with a speaker the size of a can of beer loss of sound quality from bluetooth shouldn't be too high on your list of worries....
I however use very expensive directional bluetooth
I however use very expensive directional bluetooth
Poverty spec, bi-bluetoothing is where it's at nowadays.
So i thought I’d look at wifi with say Chromecast (Or Sonos etc.). This gets round the above problems. Sound quality is higher the phone is just a remote etc. But you loose iplayer radio app compatibility. As that is about half of our use that knocked that on the head
Chromecast works with iPlayer
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/help/chromecast-ipr
Open up the iplayer app on your phone - look for the Chromecast icon in to right hand corner (small rectangle with 3 diagonal lines)
Jobs a good one
Another Anker SoundCore motion B here. Apparently if you get two they pair as left/right stereo speakers.
Funnily enough looking at this myself at the moment. Yes, I have a hifi but this is for the casual listening anywhere in the house (mostly for Mrs BC) to play from her phone or ipad that's going to sound a lot better than the built in speakers. Looking at that balance between good sound quality and convenience. Not convinced by the UE devices personally as they come across a bit bass heavy / bordering on a bit woolly. Hadn't really seen them before but noticed that the Audio Pro boxes are getting good reviews so might look at them. Always interesting to catch others experiences though
We got a UE Boom 2 in the black friday sale. Perfect for my rocking out whilst cooking in the kitchen