I just bought a new one yesterday a Sony BTX-300B blown away by the sound quality it completely shames my old Gear4 one which I thought sounded pretty good at the time of course that didn't cost me anywhere near as much. Was a pretty hard decision with the amount of real quality speakers about some of the ones I was considering were Big Jambox Bose Soundlink 2 Samsung DA-F61 Sony BTX-500 Logitech UE Boombox Ultimately I decided the BTX-300B suited my needs better and after listening to them in store I think the Sonys just somehow sound a touch clearer than the rivals and the answerphone and apt-x support helped swing me but all the above sound amazing and could easily replace a full hifi. I'd say Bluetooth speakers have come a long long way since I last bought one but of course the prices of the ones I've mentioned are hard to stomach I only shelled out to replace my broken hifi.
Guess nobody but me is really that interested in portable speakers I thought there would probably be a lot of people with airplay setups, hifi docks, jambox's etc I really should probably just let this thread die it's slow death but I've been using the speaker last few days and I am just getting more and more impressed with the sound for such a compact thing so I can't resist adding a little more detail (unfortunately I think I'm just a gadget addict). If I had to review it I'd say it's the best sounding portable music I've experienced especially with the superbass and surround sound on although I expect the speakers I mentioned above from Bose etc would be very close and it probably depends on personal sound preferences of course the Bose speaker is twice the price. I do love the NFC ability it has I tested that with my Nexus 7 and it worked pretty flawlessly just touched it to it and it automatically paired first time it will be nice when all bluetooth devices do the same, the magnetic fluid speakers are a nice touch as well I originally thought gimmick but Sony is on to something the sound is completely free of distortions from what I can tell. Another couple of nice points is you can leave the speaker off and it will automatically turn itself on when you try to connect from a device and if it's unused for 20 min it turns itself back off and waits again. Had a chance to try the answerphone as well and it worked perfectly the speaker had it's own ringtone and dropped the volume to a comfortable level it also lets you send the call back to the phone if you don't want everyone hearing the call. All in all it might have been financially smarter buying a whole new hi-fi with bluetooth but I'm very happy with the space I've saved and the sound quality and loudness it's also got an 8 hour battery so I can theoretically take it out and move it around I probably never will but it's nice to have that option.
Soundfreaq is awesome, good compromise on size, sound, and weight. Inexpensive too. Highly recommend it.
Have to admit I was looking at this one the thing that put me off really but would be a plus for most people here is the lightning dock. While I do have an iPod touch it still uses the old 30 pin and I'm not really a big fan of docks in general they look ok with the right device attached but in general I think they take away from the design. Saying that though I was close to buying a Samsung hi-fi with both the lightning and a Micro USB dock that probably would have been most bang for my buck in truth.
I have the Soundfreaq Sound Kick http://soundfreaq.com/store/sound_kick It's only $99, no dock, just bluetooth, and for the price it is great. Great cause it is so small (fits in my backpack easy), light, and has a really cool sound enhancing system. Really cool to use for outdoor parties, or use as a portable arcade with my icade joystick. Highly recommend it for the price.
Recently got a free JamBox from AT&T (wouldn't have bought one otherwise) surprisingly good for a small portable wireless speaker.
Yeah for most people I could see them being very happy with the sound of a speaker that size it's certainly enough for a single room and just about perfect for travelling, even my cheap gear4 streetparty was surprisingly good for it's size and price. Only real reason I went bigger was I wanted to replace my old Aiwa hifi and that had something like 50 watts, the Sony I bought is only 20 watts so it's still not quite in the hifi league but it is a major step up from the majority of 4 watt speakers. I might at some point regret not going for it's bigger brother the btx-500 (40 watts) but I definitely got a good bargain price wise and despite it being quite heavy it did come with a pretty good neoprene sleeve for when you do want to travel so still just about in the realm of travelling.
For something a bit alternative you should check out the JukeCase by Son Valise. A portable bluetooth suitcase speaker with up to 40 hours playtime at 50W (rechargeable battery) and awesome sound quality including deep bass. They look awesome are pretty lightweight (5-10kg) Read about it here: JukeCase suitcase speaker
I have no idea what mine is.... but I can tell you I paid about $50 for it, and it kicks the crap out of the $279 Jambox. I bought it at Target. Funny thing is, Target had demos of ALL the speakers they were selling EXCEPT the Jambox..... Hmmm.... is that because when you compare the price vs. the sound, the Jambox is a pile of dung compared to so many other cheaper options? My wife was given a Jambox by her boss as a thank you for doing a great job. When she needs a speaker at home, she asks to borrow mine.
I've been looking at Bluetooth speakers after getting a mini portable Bose, but I already have an amazing wired 5.1 system. So instead I've settled on finding a good Bluetooth headset and working out a way to use my iPhone with the wired system. Is there anything I can get to connect to via Bluetooth that would then play music over my wired speakers? (Sorry it's only slightly related to the main topic, but I guess it's similar?)
I'm actually surprised to see this thread again, I think the Bose Soundlink Mini is probably the most praised of the bluetooth speakers online anyway. For attaching Bluetooth to a hifi you need something like this http://www.logitech.com/en-gb/product/bluetooth-audio-adapter I think Belkin sells something similar as well.
If you're looking for a portable option, I've got to vouch for Ecoxgear. Waterproof enough it can literally float next to you.
What I did for my speaker was to hook it up to my Airport Express via RCA cables then Airplay to it. It seems to work better than connecting via Bluetooth as music doesn't cut out randomly or when I move about.
