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Sorry, it's another speaker thread but I'm looking for a portable speaker for weekends away (or more than likely for working away and something to kill the boredom in the Travelodge) with the following specs:
- Bluetooth
- Aux line-in
- lightweight say <600g
- decent battery life
- not too bass heavy, content varies from indie to folk to classical to audio books
- under £100, preferably under £75
- decent customer support in case of an issue
I know there is probably a thread per week but I can't find a recent one with a line-in requirement (for my FiiO X3ii player). Plus line-in makes the battery on both devices last longer
Thanks
I use a Roberts Travelpad, which is great for all the reasons you specify. However it's been discontinued and replaced by their Blupad speaker, which gets reasonable reviews.
I went for sound quality over volume.
Have a look at reviews for Anker Soundcore 2 (long battery life) or the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom? Was in the market for one for birthday but went with a smaller one from Anker.
Thanks. I'd forgotten about Roberts.
Anker Soundcore 2 works for me and I also have a FiiO X3ii player
Also happy with the Anker Soundcore 2. Plenty loud enough but it does sometimes clip at certain frequencies.
Cambridge Audio G2, listening to one now, runs for hours, decent sound quality, may be a little above your weight limit. Has a 3.5mm jack input.
There's a MiniRig Mini now that's in your budget (just).
If it sounds as good as the normal one it could be a good option. The battery life isn't anywhere as good though..
https://minirigs.co.uk/speakers/bluetooth-minirig-mini
Sharkk 02 waterproof has Bluetooth, Aux and SD card. Battery life is about 6 hours and is (so far) rain and shower proof
I had a mini rig (no BT) and thought it was good till I got a UE Boom (ticks all your boxes) and the sound and ease of use is so much better!
Hard to look past the products from Anker to be honest, and no need to spend anywhere approaching £100.
Anker Soundcore Boost here.
85% of the time sound quality is brilliant, but then it can struggle on occasions.
I would say sound quality is there abouts Sonos 1
Buy at the right time and it’s £35
I thought the JBL Flip was the STW standard?
Nah, we've moved on, we're all now Ankers
Anker Soundcore 2, Think it has the best performance per £ going and battery life in very good at around 20hrs.
Very pleased with mine and the wife who is hard to impress full stop even thinks its good.
Sony xb30 can be found under £90. Has got lighting effects they can be turned off. Really good sound quality, bass can be strong but not overpowering. Battery life is really good upto 24 hours, lasts about 6 on full volume
@simonalex99 - thanks, I saw one for £80 but they are 1kg
So far the Anker looks good. Has anyone got an Aukey? They also get good reviews
Evening bump
The Soundcore Mini arrived yesterday and I've run a few trials.
First impressions were good. It's solid (matt black aluminium case with rubber base) reassuring weight for size (listed 0.55lb) and appears well-built. Very smart. About as big as an average DSLR kit-lens.
This is replacing a Jamster (Tesco special) that cost £15 and lasted two years before the charge-port borked. It was never anything special but sounded slightly better than the ipad onboard speaker.
the Soundcore Mini is a completely different beast (yet cost only £3 more!), same size, yet is much louder with a surprisingly full sound for the form-factor. Love the massive rubber volume controls.
I plan to use it for audiobooks/podcasts/movies and background music. Packs a punch for a little thing. Very impressed. Also has a Micro SD slot so can play MP3 directly. And an fm radio (not tried these features yet). Bluetooth signal/range appears solid with no interruption room to room.
Just played 'Lazy' by X-press/David Byrne, and IMO it sounds far better than it should from such a small speaker. V happy. Recommended. Bass can be a bit muddy (expected at this size) but the whole sound improves when you change the direction of the speaker. The depth of sound at volume is really quite amazing for such a little thing. Has me thinking what two would sound like. Now looking at fashioning a wooden cradle for it so I can direct it any way I like.
Perfect for Netflix on tablet while on travels or in bed. Now to find a little case for it 👍🏼🎼
If it lives up to the 15hr battery claim then I'm made. 
Ue roll or ue boom if you can find one discounted. Rugged as ****, waterproof, and just brilliant.
As in true fashion of stw that's what we've got!
I forgot to say that messing about with the EQ on my iPad produced a great range of results from the speaker to suit taste/genre from a punchy bass, to flat, to crisp speech and much in between. I would imagine that the larger Soundcore 2 would give even more range, but am more than happy with the size and quality of the Mini. Now to figure how to fix it to a bike for summer bimbles 😎
Malvern Rider - I agree about the Soundcore Mini.
I got my Wife one a few months back - our daughter is often asking for music on during the day and she wanted something simple to carry around the house.
It's amazing what sound comes out of such a little speaker - and battery life so far has been very good.
My 'original' Anker speaker is still going strong after several years - the one that's now listed as 'classic' on Amazon.
After some procrastinating, I eventually ordered a Creative Metallix Plus (clicky).
I'll report back on how good it is. If it's rubbish there's a 30-day satisfaction guarantee.
I love it!! Did anyone actually suggest the Creative??!!
I'm sure it'll be great!
I'm rocking an Anker soundcore at work, and a soundcore 2 in the bathroom at home - the bass improvement on the soundcore 2 is significant.
I've had JBL flips, and the soundcore IS better.
I'd have gone for one of them, but hey ho...
DrP
@Dr P - the recommendations for the Anker led me to a review site with an equally good review of the Metallix. So I thought I'd take a punt on it. I could have done with your input last week ;o)
Review here
🙂
They're all much of a muchness at that price point I reckon!
Happy blasting of the ghetto!!
DrP
anker is decent, it's loud enough for a regular sized room
I've got some cracking little Inootech cubes which are basic but reasonably good sounding - though not great clarity at room filling levels of noise.
What I'd like to get is something a bit more substantial, under £100, which will play with my Echo Dot via Bluetooth; is the Anker Soundcore my best option?
Is the Anker Soundcore my best option?
I'd be having a look at the UE Boom 2
Anker Soundcore here - it may be a 1 not a 2 though. Very happy with it. My tip is to put it near a wall. Sounds better still.
Additionally, I need it to remain on and paired to the Dot for Alexa.
I may as well post it again but yes the ue boom 2 is quality!
Maker here too
Update: it's very good for its small size and the bass is good (it doesn't have a ridiculous amount of bass like some do) it seems well balanced and very pleasing to the ear for a variety of music.
Connecting is very easy, Bluetooth connection is stable and the wired connection is very good too. Overall I'm very happy with it
Anker Soundcore Boost here.
85% of the time sound quality is brilliant, but then it can struggle on occasions.
I would say sound quality is there abouts Sonos 1
A broken Sonos 1 maybe 🤓
Thanks everyone.
Lurked this thread a treat and purchased a Soundcore Mini.
As an aside to this, I bought a set of Creative Outlier Ones recently.
For the money they are outstanding, that is all.
Just stayed in a hotel and there was a bose sound link in the room.
It was OK when it was loud but when played quiet it sounded really muffled. Had to download an equaliser onto my phone to try and get some sound out of it.
Do any portable speakers have bass and treble buttons?
@zippy, unlikely, it’s not common on any portable speaker or radio these days, and tbh you’ll get a much better result using an EQ app, you can fine-tune it better, and save the setting for the future. I use the Onkyo music player, the EQ is an eleven-stage, so you can get pretty sophisticated curves for a whole range of devices/headphones. I used to use one called EQu, but that’s a nine-band EQ. I like the cross-fade on the Onkyo as well, it does excellent fades from one track to the next, first time I’ve found one that works.
PSA: Creative Metallix Plus mentioned above currently on promo - £36 posted:
https://uk.creative.com/p/speakers/creative-metallix-plus