Small speaker with excellent sound quality

November 30, 2023 11:58 AM

I’m looking for a small Bluetooth speaker with excellent sound quality and some specific features.

I have migraines and need to be able to turn the volume down extremely low; I need to be able to hear every word with no words dropped. I listen to e-books on Libby through my library system and I’m having a problem finding the right speaker. I’m willing to pay more for good quality, and I would prefer that it comes from somewhere online like Amazon, so that I can easily return it if it doesn’t work for me.

posted by manageyourexpectations to Grab Bag (12 answers total)

The wonderboom is a good small bluetooth speaker for $90, but I'm not sure if it will satisfy the requirement. It could be that it's ability to produce a robust base range actually works against your goal. But, as you said you could try it and return.
posted by pjenks at 12:21 PM on November 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

I just got a Divoom Ditoo Pro on literally first thing Monday am (thank u Amazon prime) after a black Friday sale. It is SO stupid, I love it, I have been listening to audiobooks via Libby from my library on it approximately 8 hours a day since the moment it arrived.

Some things to consider: it makes flashing light. This may be actually exactly the opposite of what you want for migraines. I am not an audiophile. To my ear the sound quality is quite good. I can confirm it can do both "extremely quiet" and "loud enough I can hear it in the basement with my head in the laundry" and most of the sounds in between. I have had it as far away from my phone as the length of my whole house (~50 feet) without the Bluetooth dropping. Setup was complete in seconds.

I haven't touched any of the other features (alarm clock, simple games, the pixel art board) because it's new and I've have a busy work week, but even just as a speaker alone it's meeting my needs quite well in a very cute and satisfying way.

Like really it is SO cute, and quite heavy in an expensive feeling way.
posted by phunniemee at 12:28 PM on November 30, 2023

Many years ago I used a Soundcore Boost, very good clarity. Its USB port eventually stopped charging, but since they've moved to USB-C hopefully that problem got fixed.
posted by credulous at 12:38 PM on November 30, 2023

Best answer: I can recommend the LG XBOOM Go PL. It has a sound boost feature that makes the sound much clearer. I'm certain it would do great with audiobooks. I find the sound much superior to the similar-looking JBL speakers, which seem muffled to my ears. They do have a blinking light but that can be turned off.
posted by kindall at 12:53 PM on November 30, 2023

Best answer: Low volume and vocal clarity is going to be a difficult circle to square. TLDR: Sonos or HomePod are my first suggest. Generally bluetooth speakers are tuned for music and I don't think most of them would be ideal for your intended use. I have several of the units that have been suggested by Wirecutter, and they are fine for wandering around the house.

In my kitchen I have both a Sangean radio (from a mefi rec) and a set of decent bookshelf speakers from Pioneer. The Sangean, which is a single speaker enclosed in a charming wood box. It is considerably smaller than the Pioneers but is still much clearer for any spoken content. Part of that is placement - it is right at head level, but part of that is tuning. The Sangean I have supports bluetooth - my partner uses it to listen to podcasts from a phone.

I also have a now discontinued 2.1 system from Yamaha - which is two speakers with a separate sub (the .1). This works well for its room because the smaller speakers are placed on book shelf and the sub can be hidden away. It is able to easily project across the room even at lower volumes, and could be adjusted manually to better serve vocal audio. The Razer Nommo V2 or Audioengine A2+ would be comparable, although the sub is would be separate on the Audioengine.

The price for those isn't far off from a Sonos, which features both an EQ system and their "Trueplay" tuning system that can adjust to the space it's put in. An Apple HomePod also has a similar ability to adjust it's tuning and uses 'beamforming' tweeters. These two would be your best bet to have a device that would work well at low volume and still maintain decent clarity.
posted by zenon at 1:20 PM on November 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I highly recommend Marshall speakers. I've got the Kilburn and am a big fan of it's quality. They also have a generous return window. They're made to go loud, but the quality of sound is also great at low volumes.

Edited to add - they've got a chat feature on their website. I think it might be worth asking which option they'd recommend.
posted by hydra77 at 1:46 PM on November 30, 2023

Best answer: I have a couple of recent JBL speakers, and only one of them (the larger one) can have its startup sound turned off permanently. This took me a while to find: most Bluetooth speakers have some noises you cannot disable.
posted by wenestvedt at 2:02 PM on November 30, 2023

I have a Wonderboom and Sonos. Wonderboom is a good suggestion (you can turn the speaker volume to it's lowest setting and additionally turn your broadcasting device to it's lowest setting, keeping things quiet with very little speaker drop out) *except* the on/off sound it makes is ridiculously loud and cannot be disabled. I genuinely loathe that feature. I turn it on and off either under a blanket or wrapped in a towel. It's such a stupid feature that I've tried writing to the company to see if they'll tell me why they decided to make this insanely loud ass sound standard, but I haven't heard back (LOL).

Sonos products maddeningly will not allow volume to go as low as Wonderboom. Their wireless, portable Bluetooth device is much better on this front than the wired products, and also may suit your needs. But there's an annoyingly wide gap between the lowest volume setting and the mute setting. There's nothing remotely resembling the smooth gradient of volume that you get with analog volume control.

Both of these are great and I'd be interested to hear if you try either of them (and please do let us know if you find the perfect fit, from one low-volume obsessive to another). Good luck!
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 2:14 PM on November 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

This may seem counterintuitive, but it f what you want is an emphasis on the frequency range of the fundamental pitches of spoken words, you may actually prefer a cheaper speaker that has poorer bass response.
posted by spitbull at 2:32 PM on November 30, 2023 [3 favorites]

nthing spitbull here. I'm in a small skit troupe, and we often intersperse videos. Whenever we need to increase the clarity of the spoken words in the video, the sound guy increases the treble and/or decreases the bass.
posted by TimHare at 8:54 PM on November 30, 2023

What about bluetooth headphones like Apple Airpods?
posted by axismundi at 5:31 AM on December 1, 2023

Just wanted to add to my comment that I tried out setting my Marshall Kilburn II speaker super low last night, and it was still quite clear. It isn't one of those speakers that goes from loud to soft-ish, then off. I was playing music, rather than voice, but it was very dynamic. (Maybe importantly, the volume is a dial rather than a button...)
posted by hydra77 at 7:18 AM on December 1, 2023