Gadgetwise Blog: A Speaker Made to Take a Dunking

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Gadgetwise Blog: A Wireless Speaker That Offers More Listening Choices

The Minx Air 200 wireless speaker from Cambridge Audio.

The market for wireless speakers is quickly becoming saturated with products in every shape, size and color, but few device makers give consideration to the individual needs of listeners.

The high-end Minx Air 200 wireless speaker from Cambridge Audio, a London-based maker of home theater components, delivers big sound while allowing users to personalize their listening experience with features like bass control and presets for Internet radio.

The Minx Air 200, which Cambridge sells in-house for $600, streams music from a phone, tablet or computer through either AirPlay or Bluetooth; wireless speakers typically feature only one or the other. It has simple, modern design, but behind that are digital signal processing, a subwoofer and a 200-watt amplifier that can fill a large room with rich, clear sound.

The speaker can be controlled by buttons on the top, a remote control or an app, available for iOS and Android devices. The app allows you to fine-tune your preferences, like bass and EQ control and search settings. You can also use the app to select presets for Internet radio stations and set a timer to shut down the power.

Connecting to my home network via Wi-Fi was tricky, involving a lot of steps and some troubleshooting. Syncing via Bluetooth was far easier.

Once I had a connection, I streamed a selection of music from my personal collection and Pandora. The sound was intense and vibrant, so much so that I worried about disturbing my neighbor below me. I could not detect distortions at low or high volumes.

The Minx Air 200 is an impressive speaker, but it’s expensive and enormous, weighing more than 11 pounds. Its size can be prohibitive in a tiny space like my living room. Fortunately, Cambridge has smaller, cheaper offerings worth considering, like the Minx Air 100 and the Minx Go.

Gadgetwise Blog: A Rugged Speaker for the Outdoors

The Philips ShoqBox is a rugged, portable speaker that syncs wirelessly with any smartphone or Bluetooth-enabled device.

In the world of portable speakers, simplicity is a big selling point. Their design has been streamlined by adding rechargeable internal batteries and removing cables in favor of streaming Bluetooth technology.

But in their quest to simplify speakers, electronics companies have started to overengineer the design. The $180 ShoqBox from Philips is the latest speaker that works hard to be simple.

At first glance, the compact ShoqBox is a great portable speaker that syncs wirelessly with any smartphone or Bluetooth-enabled device. Looking like a camping flashlight, it’s rugged and splash-proof, and comes with a carabiner to fasten to your backpack. It doesn’t have a lot of fancy features that would detract from its design, making it good for outdoor use.

But if you end up using it at home, the speaker’s simplicity turns into a disadvantage. The ShoqBox has a single mode button for most functions, including on/off, battery level and language options. This requires a lot of pushing on that single button, and listening to the appropriate tones or voice instructions to make sure you’ve picked the right option. (If you push the button at the wrong time, as I did when I accidentally chose the Portuguese-language option, there’s a reset hidden in the base of the speaker.)

But certain functions in a portable speaker really need their own command, like volume and track change. Fortunately, Philips added a recessed volume knob and a sensor that allows you to pause or skip songs with the swipe of a hand. This function works a little too well, as the music stopped and started whenever I reached for the volume knob. Here, an added button or two would have helped.

The sound from the ShoqBox is respectable, even though there is no option to enhance the bass or treble. For stereo sound, two ShoqBox speakers can be paired to your mobile device. The range is about 30 feet, so keep your mobile device nearby.