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Sept 16, 2015 6:58:20 GMT
Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2015 6:58:20 GMT
Lately I've been looking for good sound quality in the garden. I can use headphones of course but what happens when someone else comes to visit? Right now I'm using my Sansa Clip+ connected to a Pure DAB radio via a 3.5mm cable. Whilst the Pure sounds excellent at what it does best, namely, spoken word programmes like Radio 4, it's just not loud enough or airy enough for music applications. Bluetooth loudspeakers would seem to be the answer and it's certainly a market sector that's taken off lately with loads of products to choose from. Here's what I'm looking for.. 1. Portability. It should go without saying but it needs to be portable. Some of these things are huge and some actually require mains power to sound their best. That's not what I'm looking for.
2. Rugged build. This will be used primarily outside so whatever I choose will have to be able to take a bit of abuse. Some degree of moisture protection would be good too (I live in Scotland, land of the rain enthusiast).
3. Good battery life. I want at least 6 hours from one charge or, failing that, a replaceable battery. you'd think 6 hours wouldn't be much to ask but it's not actually that common, particularly if volume is increased to a party level.
4. 3.5mm analogue input. Despite all these devices being marketed as Bluetooth devices what I'm most interested in is using one combined with my Sansa Clip+. The Sansa sounds good, has an easy - if small - interface & allows me to save the battery in my phone.
5. Good sound. In any other piece of audio equipment I'd have this at the top of the list but not for a product such as this. If I really want to analyze the sound I have far better devices at my disposal.
As ever, YouTube is the best place to look for reviews and I've found one guy in particular who does a wonderful job of testing these devices in real-world scenarios without the pretence of being hip or cool.. clavinetjunkieWhat's unique about his reviews is that he uses binaural microphones to give you a good idea of how these devices sound in the real world. The first device I was interested in, before I came across the guy above, was the UE Megaboom. It's kinda expensive at between £200 - £250 depending on colour choice but it is rugged & relatively compact. All the reviews I'd watched or read praised it. Then I saw this review comparison.. The JBL Xtreme blows it away as far as sound quality is concerned & it's not that much bigger. I think Ive pretty much settled on the JBL Xtreme to be honest. It's relatively portable, rugged, lasts for around 8 hours on one charge, has a 3.5mm input & sounds pretty impressive. There is one other contender though. Aiwa are back on the scene & they're in the process of releasing the Exos-9. This thing harks back to the 80's in that it's huge & loud! I think it's too huge for me though. It's not particularly rugged either. It does sound good though.. How loud is loud? Check out this test.. Is anyone else using one of these devices? I'd appreciate any feedback you can provide.
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solderdude
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Sept 16, 2015 8:03:23 GMT
Post by solderdude on Sept 16, 2015 8:03:23 GMT
Bought this (for the wife when she's on kitchen duty): Did have to modify it as it was too bassy/dark for my taste. In the garden a bit extra bass probably won't hurt. < £ 100.- when you look for a good deal(also available in white) The 'colour' behind the grille can be changed (4 colours) Sounds approx like UE except the Denon is slightly 'darker' sounding and less 'congested/hollowish'. When money were less of an obstacle would have gone for the JBL most likely.
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Sept 16, 2015 8:14:35 GMT
Post by hifidez on Sept 16, 2015 8:14:35 GMT
In the garden I sometimes use just a small portable Pure DAB radio but the signal is variable at best. When I know i'll be outside for a long while (not this year then!) I use two 10m extension leads run from the garage and listen to FM radio on an ageing Philips stereo cassette/radio. Guess the best option for me would be something that does interent radio as my wirelss signal is OK in the garden... so I'll watch this thread for some good advice. Suppose I just need soemthing battery powered as in Gordon's point no. 3 with an a jack input then I could use a smartphone or tablet for input. Hang on... what about something like this for £79.99? (you'd need to buy the Li-ion battery separately): www.screwfix.com/p/hitachi-ur18dsl-radio-mp3-player-mobile-charger-bare/22202Plenty of battery life and volume, input for smart-phone. A phone charger too? Sounds promising.
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Rabbit
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Sept 16, 2015 9:11:43 GMT
Post by Rabbit on Sept 16, 2015 9:11:43 GMT
I used pa speakers in the garden until a neighbour 4 roads away came and told me it was too loud. Funny thing, at the bottom of the garden, it was quite low in level but for some reason, it seemed to 'refocus' where he lives! Probably weird reflections etc. He wasn't Nast about it because he came over when it was on and realised that it wasn't loud. I just had to reposition them, but possibly now, someone else might be getting it.
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Deleted
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Sept 16, 2015 10:02:33 GMT
Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2015 10:02:33 GMT
I've been using a Pasce Minirig for the past few years and love it. Despite being small it goes surprisingly loud and the battery life on the low volume setting (enough when you're sitting close) is ridiculously good. The claimed 50 hours is about right. I have the original wired version but looks like they're now fitting them with an integrated BT module as standard. It has 2 x 3.5mm inputs (low/high gain) if you want to go wired. It's mono but considering its diminutive size it produces very good sound. It does lack sub bass but that's to be expected with a 3" driver. Sticking it on a hard surface near a wall seems to help a bit though in terms of adding some more low end. Very portable (too portable for your needs?), made & built in the UK (David the founder is a good guy) and modular in nature. You can add another for a wired or BT stereo set up, daisy chain a silly number together (I think - at least you can with the wired model) or thrown in the optional sub (wired) if you want to feel dat bass rumble I do think ditching the wired model entirely was a bad move though as BT adds about £40 to the cost. Fine if you need it but not everyone does. www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=minirig
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Deleted
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Sept 16, 2015 22:38:14 GMT
Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2015 22:38:14 GMT
I've been using a Pasce Minirig for the past few years and love it. Despite being small it goes surprisingly loud and the battery life on the low volume setting (enough when you're sitting close) is ridiculously good. The claimed 50 hours is about right. I have the original wired version but looks like they're now fitting them with an integrated BT module as standard. It has 2 x 3.5mm inputs (low/high gain) if you want to go wired. It's mono but considering its diminutive size it produces very good sound. It does lack sub bass but that's to be expected with a 3" driver. Sticking it on a hard surface near a wall seems to help a bit though in terms of adding some more low end. Very portable (too portable for your needs?), made & built in the UK (David the founder is a good guy) and modular in nature. You can add another for a wired or BT stereo set up, daisy chain a silly number together (I think - at least you can with the wired model) or thrown in the optional sub (wired) if you want to feel dat bass rumble minirigs.co.uk/I do think ditching the wired model entirely was a bad move though as BT adds about £40 to the cost. Fine if you need it but not everyone does. Strange, when I click on the link I get to the Minirigs page no problem, but when I try to click on the "Portable Speaker" tab, I get this -
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Deleted
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Sept 16, 2015 22:54:21 GMT
Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2015 22:54:21 GMT
Strange, when I click on the link I get to the Minirigs page no problem, but when I try to click on the "Portable Speaker" tab, I get this - Weird... I run Kaspersky & Malwarebytes Pro and they didn't report anything. Malwarebytes in particular seems good at blocking anything malicious so would have expected it to be all over that page if there was anything suss about it. Possibly a false positive but just to be safe I've removed the link to the Minirigs site. They sell them via Amazon so have add a link there instead.
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Deleted
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Sept 17, 2015 21:06:44 GMT
Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2015 21:06:44 GMT
Bought this (for the wife when she's on kitchen duty): Did have to modify it as it was too bassy/dark for my taste. In the garden a bit extra bass probably won't hurt. < £ 100.- when you look for a good deal(also available in white) The 'colour' behind the grille can be changed (4 colours) Sounds approx like UE except the Denon is slightly 'darker' sounding and less 'congested/hollowish'. When money were less of an obstacle would have gone for the JBL most likely. You know, I looked at this very model, thinking I could maybe save myself some money. However it's just not going to be much of a step up from what I'm using right now.
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Deleted
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Sept 17, 2015 21:08:27 GMT
Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2015 21:08:27 GMT
I've been using a Pasce Minirig for the past few years and love it. Despite being small it goes surprisingly loud and the battery life on the low volume setting (enough when you're sitting close) is ridiculously good. The claimed 50 hours is about right. I have the original wired version but looks like they're now fitting them with an integrated BT module as standard. It has 2 x 3.5mm inputs (low/high gain) if you want to go wired. It's mono but considering its diminutive size it produces very good sound. It does lack sub bass but that's to be expected with a 3" driver. Sticking it on a hard surface near a wall seems to help a bit though in terms of adding some more low end. Very portable (too portable for your needs?), made & built in the UK (David the founder is a good guy) and modular in nature. You can add another for a wired or BT stereo set up, daisy chain a silly number together (I think - at least you can with the wired model) or thrown in the optional sub (wired) if you want to feel dat bass rumble I do think ditching the wired model entirely was a bad move though as BT adds about £40 to the cost. Fine if you need it but not everyone does. www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=minirigSame problem with this too I'm afraid. It won't present anything I don't already have. I like the compactness though but obviously that has downsides too.
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Deleted
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Sept 17, 2015 21:10:01 GMT
Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2015 21:10:01 GMT
I used pa speakers in the garden until a neighbour 4 roads away came and told me it was too loud. Funny thing, at the bottom of the garden, it was quite low in level but for some reason, it seemed to 'refocus' where he lives! Probably weird reflections etc. He wasn't Nast about it because he came over when it was on and realised that it wasn't loud. I just had to reposition them, but possibly now, someone else might be getting it. It's not unknown for me to reverse the car into the garden and give it a blast. Drink is involved in this scenario & it doesn't mix well with diesel fumes. Sounds incredible though.
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Deleted
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Sept 17, 2015 21:12:23 GMT
Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2015 21:12:23 GMT
In the garden I sometimes use just a small portable Pure DAB radio but the signal is variable at best. When I know i'll be outside for a long while (not this year then!) I use two 10m extension leads run from the garage and listen to FM radio on an ageing Philips stereo cassette/radio. Guess the best option for me would be something that does interent radio as my wirelss signal is OK in the garden... so I'll watch this thread for some good advice. Suppose I just need soemthing battery powered as in Gordon's point no. 3 with an a jack input then I could use a smartphone or tablet for input. Hang on... what about something like this for £79.99? (you'd need to buy the Li-ion battery separately): www.screwfix.com/p/hitachi-ur18dsl-radio-mp3-player-mobile-charger-bare/22202Plenty of battery life and volume, input for smart-phone. A phone charger too? Sounds promising. You know Derek, when I read your post I had a light bulb suddenly hovering over my head. My tools are all 18V Ryobi cordless thingies and I know they do rdios that use the same batteries. Wahey! Sadly, none of their big stereos are sold in the UK. No idea why. Pity. Great idea though.
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Deleted
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Sept 17, 2015 21:13:15 GMT
Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2015 21:13:15 GMT
Strange, when I click on the link I get to the Minirigs page no problem, but when I try to click on the "Portable Speaker" tab, I get this - Weird... I run Kaspersky & Malwarebytes Pro and they didn't report anything. Malwarebytes in particular seems good at blocking anything malicious so would have expected it to be all over that page if there was anything suss about it. Possibly a false positive but just to be safe I've removed the link to the Minirigs site. They sell them via Amazon so have add a link there instead. I don't have any problems with that site either but then I run OS X.
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Deleted
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Oct 11, 2015 19:21:08 GMT
Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2015 19:21:08 GMT
I've found a new contender. The Audio Pro T3 is an odd boxy thing but it does seem to get the sound right. It seems that a lot of these devices are tuned for use outdoors and this results in a boosted bass which is fine outside but will cause problems indoors. Here's the product page.. Audio Pro Addon T3And here's a short review by my favourite reviewer.. The lowest price in the UK seems to be Superfi.. SuperfiFood for thought.
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Nov 6, 2015 3:18:46 GMT
Post by elysion on Nov 6, 2015 3:18:46 GMT
Strange, when I click on the link I get to the Minirigs page no problem, but when I try to click on the "Portable Speaker" tab, I get this - Some anti-virus solutions overreact sometimes. Possible reasons for this are "heuristics" (a kind of reading tea leaves digitally) and/or blacklists of the anti-virus solution manufacturer. Blacklists can also have errors. To make it even more complicated, some anti-virus solutions do find a specific malware variant, while others don't. It is very difficult sometimes to decide if an alert is real. Another modern phenomenon is the temporay hijacking of a website. I've seen this once with a download page of a well known image editor for Windows. For a few days, the website was hijacked and it has distributed malware until the hijacking was discovered by the owner of the website. I did notice the change mainly because I had visited the same page a few days before and I got distrustful. I've downloaded the image editor again then (I was only looking if a new version was out already). The new download was actually infected by malware. I've downloaded the archive of the program on a OSX client and checked the file afterwards with a virus-scanner on a Windows system.
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Deleted
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Dec 23, 2015 14:43:18 GMT
via mobile
Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2015 14:43:18 GMT
My wife bought me a JBL Flip 3 yesterday. It's not hi-fi but it's pretty damned good for the money. I expected sound delivered via Bluetooth to be somewhat muddy but it's surprisingly full-bodied & lush.
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