By Bharat Nagpal
Most of us have smartphones and most of us love music. We usually tend not to pay attention to what we are using to listen to our music, as long as we get the right tunes at the right time. If you love your music as much as we do, we'd like to stress on how your phone or laptop speakers just aren't doing your favourite tunes any justice. Here is a list of portable speakers that will help you pump up that sound, and bring a whole new dynamic to those tunes.
JBL Charge |
This portable cylindrical speaker is one of many available from JBL. The charge, however, has the best signal to noise ratio and will deliver a decent set of highs, mids and lows. The great thing is that it will run for upto 12 hours and will also let you charge your smartphone via a usb port on the speaker. For those with an inner geek, it uses Bluetooth streaming, has a frequency response of 150 - 20,000 Hz, and a signal to noise ratio of 80 db. It's powered by a 6,000 mAh rechargeable battery and also has an AUX input for wired audio.
Price: INR 8,500
Creative Airwave |
The cheaper of the lot, the Creative Airwave has most of the features of the JBL above, but it does have a slightly deprecated sound quality when compared. The build quality isn't the greatest, so if you are a clumsy person, this might not be the speaker for you. Again, it is powered by a 6,000 mAh battery, Bluetooth and AUX streaming, and 20 W of RMS power in the single channel speaker.
Price: INR 5,500
Beats Pill II |
While the Pill original received rave reviews for its fantastic design, it lacked the sound that one would need from a portable speaker. Enter the Pill II - not only is it longer lasting, the sound is incredible. It is also available in a gold variant to match those Golden iPhone 5s you have. Bass is superb, and Dr. Dre claims every Beats product is made to deliver the music as the artist intended. Whether or not that's true, these guys are surely ear and eye candy.
Price: They are not officially available, and prices range from 11k to 15k. Ensure that you are buying the version II and don’t get duped by replicas.
JBL Flip 2 |
Yes JBL gets a second mention! The Flip 2 is a revision of the popular Flip. This speaker is about a 1k cheaper and has a better signal to noise ratio of 86 db versus the JBL charge. This however has a smaller battery, 2,000 mAh, giving you only one third the playback i.e. 4-5 hours. Like all the speakers mentioned above, this will support telephony, and has an inbuilt microphone along with a noise cancelling microphone to deliver a good speaker experience.
Price: INR 6,500
B&O Play Beolit 12|
They're officially here! They bring the best possible sound you could envision from a portable set of speakers, if you are willing to pay the price. The B&O Play Beolit 12 are not only gorgeous to look at, they sound like a harmonious quartet with a battery backup. Yes, the anodized Aluminum chassis comes complete with a genuine leather carry handle. Geeks will love the inbuilt Apple Airplay capability, Bluetooth 4.0 streaming, 120 W of massive RMS audio and a single channel sound that is designed to sound multi channel. They also have a battery backup of 8 hours, and a charge out port for portable handsets.
Price of premium sound: INR 69,900; Two year warranty included.