Pocket Hi-Fi: Top 5 premium portable speakers

Marshall relatively recently broke into the portable acoustics market, but quickly gained a reputation as a serious player in it. And it's not just about a competent nostalgia game and using the design of the famous Marshall combos. The company is constantly looking for the right combination between price, functionality and sound quality, so that new models are usually better than their predecessors.

The Stockwell model is no exception. This is a stylish portable stereo speaker with a vintage design, a good power reserve (27 watts), high battery life (up to 25 hours at a volume of 70% of the maximum), a low price by the standards of premium speakers and excellent sound. For its size, Stockwell sounds loud, powerful, bass, with excellent stereo effect and decent detail. However the midrange frequencies are somewhat lost in the bass, which is quite strange for acoustics with such a close connection with rock music, but the sound can be easily adjusted for itself by the treble and bass toggle switches placed on the panel. I liked that even at maximum volume, Action Multi-Room sounds almost without distortion.

If we evaluate the overall sound quality, then Stockwell looks like an excellent addition to a music centre or other set of home acoustics. But it is unlikely that she will be able to become its full-fledged replacement purely because of the dimensions and power of 27 watts. If you have such a goal in front of you, then it's better to pay attention to the older brother in the person of Marshall Acton Multi-Room , which plays louder (after all, 50 watts of power), and boasts useful home chips like a voice assistant, Wi-Fi receiver, AirPlay and Chromecast.

Denon Envaya DSB-200 looks quite unusual by the standards of portable acoustics. It doesn't have any bells and whistles in the style of JBL, shockproof housing and light music. And its battery lasts less than 10 hours. This is one of the weakest results among all portable speakers. Thank you, at least NFC was added. It seems that all this did not interest the Denon engineers at all, who worked with maniacal persistence on sound quality.

Inside the compact case, two broadband 57-mm speakers and one 100-mm subwoofer, so to speak, are hidden, which only voices the low-frequency spectrum. They are powered by a 30W digital amplifier and sound so that even the most demanding audiophile will be satisfied. Seriously, few people will be able to compete with the DSB-200 in terms of sound quality and volume. Only a couple of models from Bose and a chic {come to mind!!! block='price' idgood='587314' !!!}, which you won't find on the market right now.

DSB-200 sounds very large-scale and convincing. The power, accentuation and detail of the bass at some unreal level for such sizes. Although, we are already experienced guys and are used to the fact that portable acoustics of recent years can sound great. But not with a single bass, the upper frequencies sound at the same time soft, lively and colorful, as if listening to music live, and not on record. Moreover, the speaker manages to soften and make the top pleasant even in recordings with poor quality, where cymbals or vocals climb on top of everything and sand the ears. In general, it is extremely difficult to find fault with the sound here, it just seemed to us that sometimes there is too much bass and it sometimes eats away the dynamics at the low middle. Therefore, even complex, delicate music can sound assertive.

The appearance of the Bose SoundLink Revolve Plus is minimalistic, but made with taste. Visually, the case is divided into two parts: a plastic cylinder with a control panel on top, and a mesh cup at the bottom, under which two passive radiators and a "diffuser" are hidden, so that the sound spreads around the device.

The sound is traditionally of the highest quality for Bose, the character is assertive, powerful, and warm. It has a lot of bass and a huge volume reserve. That is why we advise you to look towards the older Plus model, and not the usual Bose SoundLink Revolve Price from 7 250 up to 9 575 ₴, since it really can replace a music centre. Another interesting thing is that small speakers usually give up in front of open spaces, indoors it seems to be fine, but on the street you turn up the volume, and still not enough. Revolve Plus is definitely not one of those, the volume reserve is huge, you can safely voice a party on the beach or a picnic.

I was also pleased that Bose took care of the protection of the speaker. Therefore, the SoundLink Revolve Plus case is protected from moisture (it is not afraid of rain, but it is not worth dipping into the pool) and is not afraid of accidental falls from the table. Plus there is a convenient carrying handle and even a tripod mount.

And if you plan to buy one, then be sure to install a branded mobile application that allows you to configure the equalizer, receive calls from your smartphone and pair several Revolve Plus into one system. In the latter case, there are two modes of collaboration: Party Mode, when a pair of Revolve can play the same music, and an unusual Stereo Mode with automatic adjustment of the sound of one speaker to another. To simplify the connection, the speaker has a built-in NFC. Well, a nice bonus in the form of support for voice assistants Siri and Google Assistant.

Bang&Olufsen have always been obsessed with details in addition to high-quality sound, and BeoPlay A2 is no exception. For example, the speaker is made in such a way that it can be put on its side or put on the end, there are legs. The case is thin, easy to take with one hand, lift from the table. There is a leather carrying strap, the tips of which are fixed with a rivet with the company logo. It seems to us that such trifles are no less important for the perception of the device than the battery capacity or the power of the built-in amplifier.

However, the main reason for pride here is a powerful and voluminous sound of the highest quality. The speakers are located on each side of the speaker, which is exactly what ensures the normal operation of the True360 technology — the sound easily fills even a fairly large room evenly. By nature, the gadget is very close to the older model Bang&Olufsen BeoLit 12 , except that the volume is not so great, the low frequencies are not so "fat", well, and maybe the detail suffers a little more. Naturally, for a speaker of this level, A2 plays smoothly and beautifully at any volume, noises, quality losses and overloads are completely not peculiar to it.

The battery life of BeoPlay A2 deserves special praise. If you listen to it at medium volume, then the charge will actually last for a day. This is one of the highest rates among all portable speakers. However, it will also have to be charged for 4-5 hours. As a result, A2 leaves a very pleasant impression, it's great to give such a thing even to the person who has everything — the magic of B& O does its job very quickly. Excellent design, thoughtful details, a familiar strap, an absolute and instant understanding of how to use this thing — all this makes A2 one of the best offers on the market among premium portable speakers.

Bang&Olufsen products are often very expensive. But it has a separate line of relatively affordable Beoplay devices. In 2018, the range was replenished with a portable speaker system Beoplay P6, which will cost $ 500 with a tail. For this money, the buyer will receive a speaker enclosed in a stylish aluminium case with a power beyond its size (as much as 96 watts), USB-C charging, a comfortable leather carrying strap, full Hi-Fi sound and the ability to work up to 16 hours on a single battery charge.

In fact, BeoPlay P6 was created to fill the void between small Bang&Olufsen BeoPlay A1 Price from 8 999 up to 14 905 ₴, Bang&Olufsen BeoPlay P2 and bulky systems Bang&Olufsen BeoLit 17 Price from 19 539 up to 26 127 ₴. This kilogram speaker is able to easily voice both a spacious room and a small open-air party. In fact, this is a thing on the verge between portable and something more serious. Thanks to the tricky structure of the P6 speakers with a personal amplifier on the brother, the sound spreads evenly around the speaker, and the music sounds the same regardless of whether you are standing next to it, hiding behind it or retreating to the corner of the room. Naturally, the overall sound quality is at a high level, we did not expect anything else from Bang& Olufsen.

There are not so many additional features of the Beoplay P6. The case is protected from water according to the IP54 standard (i.e. it is not afraid of high humidity and rain), there is an additional microphone for hands-free communication or voice assistant control, there is a traditional mobile application for setting up the equalizer and pairing several speakers into one audio system. That's all, actually.

In general, this is clearly not the case when you want to look for cons, everything turned out so great. Yes, the price is too high by the standards of portable speakers, but this is definitely not a product for everyone. We also advise you to take a closer look at its dimensions, since in reality it turns out to be larger than in the photos. You can't put such a thing in your pocket, you also need a place in your bag. It seems to us that, taking into account the size and power, it is rather a replacement for a home audio system, which can be easily moved from room to room and thrown into the boot of a car during a trip to nature.