Recommend me a bluetooth speaker please!

[djneils98]

needs to be:
£250 max
have a 3.5mm input
great sound obviously
stereo would be nice
preferably one you heard/used first hand

[Digger]

Minirig 3 . . . obviously you will need two for a stereo pair.

https://minirigs.co.uk/speakers/bluetooth-minirig-...

www.amazon.co.uk/MINIRIG-Portable-Rechargeable-Blu...

I have a Mini and a Minirig 2. Very good . . . read the reviews

[Phil.]

Brilliant sound, especially the bass and £100 under budget

https://www.bose.co.uk/en_gb/products/speakers/por...

Bought one for a Xmas and has been used every day.

Edited by Phil. on Saturday 5th February 22:15

[camel_landy]

Bose...

M

[markbigears]

Budget £250, does that have to be brand new?
If not take a look at Ruark MR1 MK2 ….
I have a pair and they are fantastic.

[Snow and Rocks]

Minirig 3 - significant improvement on the bose we had before.

Sounds nicer, goes louder and much better battery life. Incredibly impressive for the size.

[Griffith4ever]

How portable? Waterproof? JBL charge 3 is amazing, has your specs, is waterproof, lasts forever on one charge .

I have two of them and run them in a stereo pair in my garden. They are each stereo units on their own, unlike the charge 4 which is mono. I take a single unit with me when working outside. Dropped umpteen times. Superb sound.

[Beetnik]

JBL Charge 5

Best of the best. I went by this review and got one to replace a Bose. It's really robust and gives a great sound.

[Griffith4ever]

Beetnik said:

JBL Charge 5

Best of the best. I went by this review and got one to replace a Bose. It's really robust and gives a great sound.

Except for the OP, it's not got 3.5mm audio in, and not stereo.

I have no idea why JBL moved away from stereo after the charge 3 (hence I recommended it and bought another when I could have had the 4 for the same money)

[djneils98]

Digger said:

Minirig 3 . . . obviously you will need two for a stereo pair.

https://minirigs.co.uk/speakers/bluetooth-minirig-...

www.amazon.co.uk/MINIRIG-Portable-Rechargeable-Blu...

I have a Mini and a Minirig 2. Very good . . . read the reviews

thanks - look very promising

[djneils98]

Phil. said:

Brilliant sound, especially the bass and £100 under budget

https://www.bose.co.uk/en_gb/products/speakers/por...

Bought one for a Xmas and has been used every day.

Edited by Phil. on Saturday 5th February 22:15

thanks but seems to lack a 3.5mm input

[djneils98]

markbigears said:

Budget £250, does that have to be brand new?
If not take a look at Ruark MR1 MK2 ….
I have a pair and they are fantastic.

yeah needs to be new and preferably one box

[djneils98]

Griffith4ever said:

How portable? Waterproof? JBL charge 3 is amazing, has your specs, is waterproof, lasts forever on one charge .

I have two of them and run them in a stereo pair in my garden. They are each stereo units on their own, unlike the charge 4 which is mono. I take a single unit with me when working outside. Dropped umpteen times. Superb sound.

the charge 3 seems to be hard to get now - they're currently on the 5 which has no 3.5mm input

[djneils98]

Beetnik said:

JBL Charge 5

Best of the best. I went by this review and got one to replace a Bose. It's really robust and gives a great sound.

thanks but seems to lack a 3.5mm input

[bristolracer]

I bought mine in Currys

I went in having read the reviews and was set on one of the JBL models

The assistant encouraged me to give a Sony a try, he fired it up and it blew away the JBL

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/sony-srsxb23-por...

Bigger versions are available
Well worth an audition

[Griffith4ever]

djneils98 said:

the charge 3 seems to be hard to get now - they're currently on the 5 which has no 3.5mm input

Shame really. Their upgrades are downgrades to me.

One left! Do NOT buy any off ebay - they are almost always fakes - and very obvious when you receive it.!

https://www.onbuy.com/gb/jbl-charge-3-stealth-edit...

[Jenny Tailor]

Bose Mini 2 Soundlink.

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rl...

[Tycho]

Jenny Tailor said:

Bose Mini 2 Soundlink.

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rl...

I’ve got one of these and love it.

[Snow and Rocks]

My gf has a Soundlink Mini 2 - the Minirig 3 blows it out of the water for both sound quality and battery life. It's one of the few things I've bought in recent years that has genuinely amazed me.

It's also designed and made in the UK if that matters to you.

[anonymous-user]

https://www.libratone.com/uk/products/speakers/zip...

https://www.ultimateears.com/en-gb/wireless-speake...

Both the above have a 3.5mm jack and you can buy 2 to make a stereo pair.

I got a Bose Soundlink Mini and tried the original Zipp 1 and a UE Boom.

Was regularly forced to listen to a UE Megaboom in the office as my manager thought that on Friday’s the whole office needed to appreciate his taste in soft rock. @Donkeyapple, if you are reading this, do you do this to your underlings as well?

I’d rank them in this order Zipp > UE Megaboom > Soundlink Mini > UE Boom.

Of these, the Zipp was the only one starting to approach audiophile quality output (balanced natural sound, dynamic range etc. total opposite is the Soundlink Mini, which has an ‘impressive’ Bose sound with boosted bass) although obviously there is a limited amount you can achieve for £200.

I’d be very tempted to listen to the Sonos Roam too (no 3.5mm jack but can create a stereo pair). Sonos are supported by stuff like Spotify connect so you don’t have to faff around with bluetooth. The bluetooth is the most annoying part of using these speakers.

If you use Apple devices, getting a speaker with Airplay makes it a lot more convenient too.

Probably best to go and audition them for yourself. Currys PC world often has a whole bunch of them out on display. Take your phone, connect them up, make people in the vicinity suffer your taste in music for a while. Hope to god its better than my managers taste in soft rock.

Also, I got to say, I kept the Bose because it was the smallest and was really good fading into the background. Great for a picnic or BBQ, or some tunes if you have trouble sleeping. I found the UE Boom in particular to sound a bit shrill and grate. I gave the Libratone away to my mum, as it was a bit too big to mindlessly throw into a backpack.

Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 6th February 20:42