JBL Charge 3 Portable Wireless Speaker Review

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JBL Charge 3 Portable Wireless Speaker Review

The king of affordably priced portable Bluetooth speakers has returned. And it's bigger, better and more powerful than before. JBL has for a long time been the best at making portable speakers that were unbeatable. It's now about to retake that title with its latest generation of its most successful model yet. The new Charge 3 is a fully waterproof portable wireless speaker with larger drivers that produce sound that is even better than what was considered to be the portable speaker to beat. Other improvements include a much longer battery life and an upgraded design that is tougher and more durable than its predecessors – the Charge 2+ and Charge 2. We've had some time to thoroughly test out JBL's newest portable offering, which of course also means putting it up against formidable rivals. To find out if the Charge 3 really has what it takes to be crowned king of portable speakers under $300, read the full in-depth review down below!

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Sony SRS-X55 Wireless Portable Speaker Review

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Sony SRS-X55 Wireless Portable Speaker Review

The first ever portable speaker we reviewed from Sony, the SRS-X3, had some of the best sounding bass we've ever heard, but it also left us wanting a little more. The new SRS-X55 is the slightly larger cousin of the SRS-X3/X33 that is surprisingly inexpensive considering the fact that is sounds so good...although not perfect. It's one of Sony's smaller, compact portable wireless speakers to boast refined audio performance and a bunch of drivers that spit out powerfully loud 30W audio in a true 2.1 channel arrangement. It even rivals Bose's similarly sized Soundlink 3 at nearly half the cost. So is the SRS-X55 worth buying? Let's take a closer look!

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Ultimate Ears UE Megaboom Review

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Ultimate Ears UE Megaboom Review

Portable speakers let us enjoy our music wirelessly at home and on the go. And with the smaller, more powerful and longer lasting models offered recently, it's no wonder everyone wants one. Back when Ultimate Ears introduced the UE Boom more than a year ago – the cylindrically-shaped $200 speaker most known for its durable svelte design and immersive 360-degree sound, the company really impressed us with its advanced portable speaker design. So much so that it was worthy of our Editors' Choice Award. The only thing that held us back from giving the UE Boom the highest score possible was that it didn't quite have enough bass under the hood. Despite that, the UE Boom was considered as one of the best portable speakers at $200. But since then many companies like JBL released drastically improved offerings that surpassed the UE Boom's once firm reign over the portable speaker market.

Fast forward to present day, Ultimate Ears used its legendary portable speaker design chops to craft the UE Megaboom, the step-up speaker for people who loved the UE Boom but wished it offered more oomph in the bass department. Its a strikingly familiar looking portable sound producing gadget that promises to deliver ridiculously amazing 360-degree worth of sound with deep bass and magical unicorns thrown into the mix. Okay, maybe the latter isn't true. But everything else is. Or so Ultimate Ears claims. So let's get to it, our full and in-depth review is waiting for you after the break!

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Sony SRS-X3 Portable Wireless Speaker Review

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The thing about portable speakers is that while they make listening to music super conveniant and more social in a mobile lifestlye, most of the ones that you can actually carry around with you willingily aren't capable of providing a that low-end bass you otherwise hear when listening to a large speaker setup, which typically means you can't fit that kind of audio gear into your backpack or move it around as effortlessly as a more compact portable speaker like the $150 JBL Charge 2 and many others. We do know of one such device capable of delivering a convincing amount of bass while still being an extremely easy to carry wireless speaker, and that's the Bose SoundLink Mini. It wasn't until recently that we had trouble finding a portable speaker that was as small as the SoundLink Mini and that could also match its outstanding level of audio richness.

We're talking of course about Sony's SRS-X3. As of today, we think that it's Sony's best sounding portable Bluetooth speaker you can buy that's as moderately sized as many other highly popular and noteworthy alternatives such as the UE Boom, JBL Charge 2 and the Bose SoundLink Mini itself. Sony is clearly taking a jab at Bose with its similarly specced and more competitively priced SRS-X3 speaker. Can Sony's $150 SRS-X3 beat the more expensive $200 SoundLink Mini at its own game? Find out which of these can drop a more satisfying bass punch in our full review and comparison down below!

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The Best Wireless Portable Speakers: The Definitive Guide

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The Best Wireless Portable Speakers: The Definitive Guide

How on earth are you supposed to find a good quality wireless speaker when there's so many choices available? Luckily, you're not all alone because we're here to help you out. Convenience is key when considering a wireless Bluetooth portable speaker, but not every one of these well known brands actually puts out a solid package. Every speaker under the sun boasts how well it sounds when in reality you could end up using a speaker that really isn't as good as the next one over.

That's why we've created this special Gadgetmac Guide edition to help you with purchasing the best wireless portable speaker your money can buy. With a bit of audiophile juice running in our veins, we have managed to separate the ordinary from the extraordinary using our extensive experience handling these small noise making devices all whilst taking sound quality, design and user-friendly features into consideration. Split into two price categories, this guide lists the top best speakers you can take with you wherever you go, but not without having the intense power-to-size ratio needed to blast your tunes as well as the right performance that'll make your ears beg for more of that wireless audio goodness. Jump past the break for the full rundown!

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Boombotix BoomBot2 Portable Bluetooth Speaker Review

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Boombotix BoomBot2 Portable Bluetooth Speaker Review

Rarely do we find a pair of speakers that scream their personality at us, but the BoomBot2 by BoomBotix just might be one of them. It's unlike anything we've seen before, and it packs an unique oomph that we can't help but notice. It's Japanese urban design that set these as one of the first portable speakers with as much character as sound in a portable package. Check out how the BoomBot2 stands up against our relentless testing and if it's as good as it looks in the full review after the break.

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Hidden Radio Portable Bluetooth Speaker Review

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Hidden Radio Portable Bluetooth Speaker Review

Over the years, we have covered a few successful Kickstarter products funded and backed by you, the consumers. Some were as promising as we had hoped, while others let us down. Backing up a certain Kickstarter product doesn't necessarily mean you'll be glad you did at the end. Today, we're going to be taking a look at Hidden Radio. A Kickstarter product so successful, it gathered in nearly $1 million.

Hidden Radio is such an incredibly unique product, you would never have guessed it was born thanks to Kickstarter. What is it? Hidden Radio is a wireless Bluetooth portable speaker that's intuitively designed with simplicity in mind. Don't let the future-esque design fool you though, because as the name suggest, there's a hidden FM radio built right in. An FM radio! Who would have thought an FM radio would make the cut these days with services such as Spotify readily available.

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