With so many people using their smartphones as their personal entertainment device, it’s not unusual to have a mobile speaker to pair up and share music with friends at a party.
The demand for good sound is definitely there with Bluetooth-enabled speakers that blast tracks from the playlist on your phone. If money is no object and sound quality is what you are looking for, then Loewe’s Speaker2Go and Bose’s SoundLink Mini are high-end offerings that promise big sound from small devices.
Loewe Speaker2Go
Clad in a shiny silver metal body, Loewe’s offering is exquisite to touch and has the build quality and weight (1.3kg) to match. Its buttons and the white LED lights combine to present a image of an expensive speaker that suggests the ability to deliver high quality audio sound as well.
The Speaker2Go uses the Near Field Communication (NFC) to quickly connect itself to a smartphone. The speaker even has a button to take calls during music playback.
Besides using Bluetooth to stream in music, the speaker has a 3.5mm stereo auxiliary input that can be paired with a small CD player at home. Loewe has provided a USB port so that phones or other devices can make use of its battery to charge up – that’s a nice touch for a portable speaker.
Measuring 23 x 10.5 x 5.1 cm, it does resembles a brick. But it’s surely portable enough to be placed in a shoulder bag
Bose SoundLink Mini
In comparison, the Bose SoundLink Mini at 18 x 5.8 x 5 cm is much smaller and weighs at just 670g. Setting it up took longer than usual without the NFC but it is not that much tougher and I still got up to speed pretty quickly.
Like the Speaker2Go, it allows auxiliary input via the 3.5mm stereo jack. What’s different is that SoundLink is really built more for mobile purposes as it comes with a charging cradle for easy detachment from the power source. It also has a mute button to quickly quieten down the speaker when needed, though it has no handsfree calling feature.
Sound Test
Using Jeff Buckley’s rendition of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah digital recording off a vinyl track, both speakers sound off with smooth mid tones and rich highs. When it comes to heavy bass and sound staging, Loewe’s size does help in providing the better audio experience.
The smaller Bose, in contrast, sounded more focused with lesser separation between the musical instruments and the vocals. On the whole both speakers performed really well. While outside, both are loud enough to be heard and will be perfect for the picnic or barbeque party.
The Bose SoundLink Mini Speaker is now retailing at S$299 and the Speaker2Go is retailing at S$599.
