Everybody, their brother, and their brother’s next-door neighbor makes a Bluetooth speaker these days, or so it seems. Some are merely OK and some are just downright awful. Very few are actually worth your hard-earned money. Where does the Nekteck NK-S1 fit on this scale? Read on to find out…

I have been looking for a good and affordable Bluetooth speaker to replace an aging Logitech model. We love to stream music (think Sunday night kitchen dance parties while cooking for the next week) or news or comedy as an antidote for the news. Our qualifications for a speaker are pretty basic: it has to sound good, it has to be portable and battery powered (so we can use it while grilling in the backyard), and it has to be so simple to operate that we can start it up and promptly forget about managing it. Oh, and it has to be reasonably priced.

Let’s get the least subjective qualifications out of the way: at about 7.5 inches long, 3 inches high and 3 inches deep, it is a small speaker on par size-wise with speakers like the Jabra Solemate Mini or the Cambridge SoundWorks Angle. And at 1.5 pounds, it is a little on the heavy side compared to most but certainly, will not break your back carrying it around. It has a bigger battery than most portables which probably accounts for the weight difference, and the practical upshot of that is that you get longer play time before you have to charge. In my book, that is a win for the Nekteck speaker.

Next, it has to be reasonably simple to operate. I want to plant the speaker near where I am doing something and then use my streaming device to control audio, etc. I am an Android guy, so the main drivers for the speaker are my Galaxy S8 Plus and my Galaxy Tab S2 tablet. Both support Bluetooth 4.x as does the Nekteck, so the speaker responds almost instantly to changes I make on the phone (like sound profile via PowerAmp’s built-in equalizer, track or volume changes, and even input switching when I want to head over to the news on the Sirius app). The connection range is on the high side – my previous Logitech speaker had to have a pretty clear line of sight to the streamer, but the Nekteck has maintained a clear connection with the speaker in the kitchen and my phone in the living room – and this in a 100-year-old house with lots of interesting electrical wiring (think interference) and lathe and plaster walls. I think that qualifies as easy to operate and goes a step further by giving me more freedom to move around.

In the end, though, you buy the speaker because it sounds good with your devices. And this is where the Nekteck excels above and beyond the rest of the pack. It just sounds great, period. Our Sunday night kitchen dance parties stream Reggaeton and Latino music courtesy of Daddy Yanqui, Enrique Iglesias, and Gente de Zona. Think bass with complex vocal lines. Most speakers will either muddy the bass or muffle the high notes, but on the Nekteck they come through clear and strong. Even at louder volumes that inevitably happen towards the end, there is no distortion or degradation of the music.

Personally, I prefer songs from the 60’s and 70’s, which no doubt showcases my age. Less about the drum, more about the guitar and bass together. Again, the Nekteck delivers great, clear sound worthy of a much more expensive speaker.

And given the events of the last few weeks, staying on top of what is happening in the world is a must. I have partial hearing loss, and while music comes through clearly for me, I often have trouble with normal conversation. Many speakers and Bluetooth headsets have a tendency to muffle or distort vocals. I don’t know if that is some sort of noise dampening algorithm in effect or just bad frequency response in the speaker. But honestly, listening to (and comprehending) the news through the Nekteck is much easier for me than through my much more expensive Bose Bluetooth headphones.

The speaker also comes with a cable to allow you to connect via old technology (aka the headphone jack), and that greatly increases the battery life. For me, the wireless connection gave me about 6.5 hours of playtime on a single charge, and the wired connection took me to almost 10 hours. As a result, I bought a phone dock for the kitchen with a wired audio out connection to keep the dance party going.

If you connect to a phone, the Nekteck can also connect via the handset profile and become a speaker phone. The microphone is OK, though – the few times I used this feature I felt like I had to yell when I was a few feet from the speaker in order to be heard. But, this is more above and beyond the mission I would buy the speaker for, so I am completely fine with the feature as-is.

There are some quirks, though. You knew there had to be, right? The first seems to be a trend in consumer electronics these days. The speaker comes with an 18 inch USB mini cable to charge but no wall plug. I generally don’t charge my speaker on my laptop since I use it more with mobile devices. This means I have to go looking for a wall plug whenever I want to charge it. Yes, I know there are other solutions out there (like the AluPlug I recently reviewed) – but, to me, the point is that I shouldn’t HAVE to go looking for one. Minor fail, and one I can’t lay entirely at the feet of Nekteck – but they could buck the trend.

Also, when you move out of connection range, the speaker gently tells you in a female voice with an English accent that “connection lost”. She will continue to do this even when you move back into range. In fact, the only thing that will get her to stop telling you this is to either power cycle the speaker or go into the Bluetooth settings on your device and reconnect from there. It just doesn’t want to reconnect consistently.

Finally, there is an equalizer button on the top of the speaker. I believe the settings are Off, Classical and Party. To me and everyone I show this to, Off sounds like the volume lowers a little while the other two settings raise the volume a touch. The actual sound profile doesn’t change.

If you are on the market for a great all-around Bluetooth speaker that will play a variety of entertainment well, the Nekteck NK-S1 needs to be on your short list. It is a great all-around streaming speaker and the price to feature ratio can’t be beat.

The speaker reviewed was provided by Nekteck.  For more info visit their site or visit Amazon to purchase.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Bluetooth speaker

Nekteck NK-S1 Bluetooth speaker review originally appeared on on June 13, 2017 at 4:19 pm.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

As good as the speakers are on some smartphones and tablets may be, there are times you want more depth to the sound. Bluetooth speakers bring this sound to you, but sometimes there are tradeoffs – the speakers are too large, too twiddly, or run out of power too quickly. In an effort to try and correct these shortcomings as well as add their own handcrafted, natural wood beauty to your listening experience, the folks at Carved have introduced the Acoustic Acorn. It is a single speaker with a single button, a single LED, and a single port for charging. I was sent this singular speaker in Walnut to review.

Note: Photos may be tapped or clicked for a larger image.

Overall, the Acorn looks very much like it’s autumnal namesake, turned out of bamboo or walnut. There is a rubberized oval to keep it from rolling around on your work surface, and a black lacquered metal grille over the opening. The opening is 3″ in diameter, and the Acorn is 2.5″ deep. When it’s set on a level surface, the oval holds the face of the speaker ~40º from the surface, which directs it toward your face, if it’s near your keyboard. Inside the oval, there is a single button for on/off/pairing. From the off setting, hold it until the LED blinks blue and red, and the Acorn is in pairing mode. Press it once again and it turns off. Nearby is a reset pinhole. There is a “Carved” logo cut into the edge, just under the center by the rubber oval, so that it doesn’t show.

Opposite, on the back, there is a hole for the LED to show through, and a hole for the charging cable. That’s about it. You can listen while it’s charging if you’d like, but I found the battery life to be quite long. I never had a problem listening to several podcasts while cooking dinner, watching a movie streamed to my iPad, or letting Spotify or iTunes run rampant through the eternal shuffle of my music collection.
The sound is really mellow for such a small speaker. It’s not a heavy thumping bass, but the full vocal range of speaking and most acoustic music is covered adequately. I never noticed any lessening of the highs, but then, I’m not hearing them as well as I did 20 years ago.

Carved, the company, is no stranger to this site. They are one of my favorite companies. It’s all US-based, they celebrate every step of the job as something that should be done to perfection, from design to packaging, and they use high-quality woods. Each piece has a card signed by the artisan that made it, and they take customer service to an obsessive level.

I do have a few quibbles. There is no speakerphone mic. Not really an issue, if you just want to pick up the phone and talk through the mic on it. (Please don’t hold it like you’re talking to a pizza slice!) But depending on how far away you are from your speaker or phone, it may be difficult to pick up in time. Also, since it’s not going to happen frequently, there is a certain confusion that happens when you get a call while the speaker is active.

The biggest issue I have with the Acorn is the charging cable. It is a USB to propriety center-pin charging tip. I have other speakers that use this type tip, (I actually reviewed one here a few years ago) and none of them are compatible with each other. So, should I mix up or lose those cables, I’m not going to be able to use the device. Why not just use a miniUSB or microUSB plug, so it will be compatible with the most common cables you can find? Having a “special” cable mars the experience of having the device, worrying that you’re going to push the cable in at the wrong angle, bend the little pin in the jack, leave the cable behind at a hotel, or forget to take it along on a long trip.

In spite of the charging cable thing, I’d still recommend the Acorn. Carved is gonna be around a while, and they are good folks, so I’m sure there is a way to get a replacement cable, should you need one.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Carved. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Bluetooth speaker

Carved Acoustic Acorn Bluetooth speaker review originally appeared on on June 10, 2017 at 9:15 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

The first phone earpiece I got was from a company called Jabra. I thought it a funny name, but due to the build quality and excellent functionality, I came to trust that name. I was recently sent my third product from the company, the Jabra Speak 710. It’s in a crowded category, but, to me, at least, it brings some important innovations. This model is an upgrade from their 410 and 510 models that were only for phones. This unit, as we shall see, works with computers and tablets as well.

Note: Photos may be tapped or clicked for a larger image.

The first thing you think seeing the Jabra Speak 710 is “Space Ship.” It looks, for all the world, like the proverbial flying saucer. The full diameter is just over 5″ (13 cm) and the smaller, inner speaker grille is 3.75″ (9.5 cm). The whole unit is less than 1.5″ (3.4 cm) thick.

The main face has the gray metal speaker grille, with holes drilled in a swirling pattern around a chromed Jabra logo. Outside of that, the larger disc is set off less than half an inch (1 cm) lower and made from a smooth, shiny plastic. At the 6 o’clock position (Kids, ask your parents what “o-clock” means!), there is a single visible white on-off button. Holding that lights up all 12 clock points with various symbols and a dot on the perimeter of each. The dots are indicative of volume level: starting at 6 and going around clockwise, you have a 12-point visual division of muted to full volume. In other words, this one goes to 12!

Inside the volume pips, there are various symbols on most of the clock points. To the left and right of power (7 and 5 o’clock) are the off-hook/on-hook phone functions. At 4 o’clock, there is a sideways V that brings up Siri, or whatever vocal assistant your paired device uses. At 3 and 9, the “+” and “-” control volume. At 11 o’clock, there is a BlueTooth indicator that glows blue when paired, flashes when searching or discoverable, and white when not connected. At one o’clock, there is a battery-life symbol, which turns red when the battery needs attention.

On the back is a fold-out stand, which sets the unit on a level surface to 56º. There is also something that most Mac users will not recognize: a Bluetooth dongle. This is for folks using devices that don’t have Bluetooth built-in but have a full-sized USB port. Plugging this puppy in (and downloading your OS’s drivers for it) will give your hardware the same capabilities that most modern computers have from the factory. If you’re using an older computer without BT 4, you’ll probably want to turn off your built-in Bluetooth radio and enable this one instead.

Under the outer rim, slightly to the rear, is the full-duplex mic. (You can see it in the photo below.) Full Duplex means that you can both talk and hear at the same time. (Phone-arguing mode, FTW!) The mic is omnidirectional, so that as many as 6 people can be around it easily. (I did not test this feature, but I did wander around the room while on several calls, and the caller never said my sound was garbled or hard to understand.)

The last physical feature of the Jabra Speak 710 is the captive USB connect/charging cable wrapped around the outer edge, just behind the control ring. It has a generous 3 foot-plus (1 meter) cable and is permanently attached. Using this, you can connect it to any computer that supports USB audio. Connecting it in this way will also charge the battery as you’re using it, if the port supports charging through USB. Having the cable be captive also prevents two irritatingly common happenings – forgetting your charge cable, or inserting it incorrectly and breaking off the charging port inside the device. While it’s certainly irritating to have the cable wrapped around the speaker, it is fairly well out of sight, unless you’re needing a charge. You can even charge while using the speaker, which may prove to be of benefit. (Note that there is no AUX-type connection.)

Included with the package is a black neoprene case that holds the unit easily, and zips closed to protect it. In a nice design touch, the pull for the zipper echoes the Eiffel Tower-esque profile of the rear stand. Style points, Jabra.

So, with the ease of set-up, clear indications of power, volume, and connectivity, how does the Jabra Speak 710 actually sound? In a word, marvelous. I get quite a few devices like this to review, and I was in the kitchen with the Lovely Bride while unpackaging this one. She rolled her eyes at the saucer shape, but I powered it up and paired it with my phone in about 15 seconds. We had to call someone right then, so I asked Siri to dial the number and we talked over the speaker. Once the call was over, I asked her opinion. “That’s the first one you’ve had that I’d actually consider using.” High praise, indeed!

Speakers that work with your smartphone have been around for several years now. The first one I remember that made any mass-market difference was the JamBox, during the 2010 holiday season. Since then, they have exploded, covering every size, shape, and level of sound. They are a major category on the store shelves of Best Buy, Fry’s, Target, Walmart, and even the difficult-to-enter Apple, as well as review websites like The Gadgeteer. This offering from Jabra, to me, is one of the most pleasant-sounding and -looking one in quite a while. With the captive USB cable and clear function indicators, I can’t say enough about the thought and attention to detail that went into this unit. Bravo, Jabra.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Jabra. Please their site for more info and Amazon to order.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Bluetooth speaker

Jabra Speak 710 Bluetooth speakerphone review originally appeared on on May 18, 2017 at 7:32 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

In 2014 I had a chance to review the cylindrical Ultimate Ears Bluetooth speaker.  At the time, it was a uniquely shaped speaker paired with a 360-degree sound.  There have been other versions of this speaker such as the Boom 2 and the Megaboom, but the squat, softball-sized Wonderboom caught my eye.  Let’s take a look.

The UE Wonderboom is another cylindrical-shaped speaker, but one that goes everywhere.  It just begs to be picked up.  As usual, the packaging is as interesting as the speaker itself.

• Height (102 mm)
• Diameter (93.5 mm)
• weight (425 g)
• IP67 rated
• 10hr playback
• 2.8hr charge time

Impatient?  The basic instructions are printed on the inside of the box.  (1) to turn it on, and (2) for 2 seconds to enter pairing mode.

You get the wonderful, flat, bright yellow micro USB cable.  I noticed this one is much shorter than the one they packaged with the original UE speaker I tested in 2014.  Cost cutting?  Maybe.

On the scale, the Wonderboom checks in at just under a pound.

There’s only one port on the Wonderboom: microUSB for charging.  It’s behind a rubbery flap.  There is no aux audio port in the back.

This UE speaker has a little color-matched loop.  Hang it off your pinky, or maybe attach it to your backpack.  It would have been nice if they threw in a basic D-clip accessory.
The controls on top light up.  The Bluetooth control is the dot, and the power button is the elongated one on the bottom.  The UE logo, which acts as Play/Pause/Skip and Volume Up, does not light up.

Like the original speaker, the Wonderboom is waterproof and can be linked to a second speaker (Double Up).  It’s listed at 10 hour playback time.

But how does it sound?  In casual testing, I found the sound to be “all around” like the original, and pleasantly full its tiny size.  To get more hard numbers, I went to my recording boom.

For this test, I performed sweeps of the Wonderboom (2017), the original Ultimate Ears Boom (2014) and the Bose Soundlink Mini II (2016).

Here’s theWonderboom (blue) vs, the original (green).  The Wonderboom had a bit of a high-frequency bump above 10khz. vs. the original.  Click for full size.

Next up was the Wonderboom (blue) vs the Bose Soundlink Mini II (red).  As I expected, the Bose has a little more low-end boom, as they tend to exhibit.  Again, you can click for full size.

I know what you may be thinking:  “No bass?  No deal!”  Yes, if you’re a bass-head, you’d probably go for the Bose.  But don’t forget, the Wonderboom is waterproof (IP67) and the Bose is certainly not.  If I need to pick a compact go-anywhere speaker, the Wonderboom is a great choice.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by UltimateEars. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Bluetooth speaker

Ultimate Ears Wonderboom shockproof and waterproof Bluetooth speaker review originally appeared on on May 14, 2017 at 5:10 pm.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.