Denon Envaya Mini teardown...

<p>Mark, a good friend of mine finally took the risk to open his Denon Envaya Mini. For all those interested about the drivers and their specs (the drivers are rated at 4W btw.) but also those who want to know what kind of battery is built in and if it can be easily replaced, you must have a look at his video where he managed to tear his Envaya Mini nearly completely apart. Of course he also reassembled it again and made it work just like before:<br /><div><br /></div><object height="480" width="853"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6dK2ZBuAMsI?version=3&hl=de_DE"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6dK2ZBuAMsI?version=3&hl=de_DE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="853" height="480" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>

Mark, a good friend of mine finally took the risk to open his Denon Envaya Mini. For all those interested about the drivers and their specs ...

Review: UE Megaboom - too much boom to be good?

<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeNHNLaUNvnObXb6GHpJbqMkAcDxumlSeRc-U813CFj61upACzjL0f_z8gl9UQOIijz7ZP1jXaeM4KrYG7iN3H4HV_k_OWqLr3vMAA-ZneyOs36RCLRUkn_sJ9cdfP0VwDaOoQ6K805RaX/s1600/uemegaboom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeNHNLaUNvnObXb6GHpJbqMkAcDxumlSeRc-U813CFj61upACzjL0f_z8gl9UQOIijz7ZP1jXaeM4KrYG7iN3H4HV_k_OWqLr3vMAA-ZneyOs36RCLRUkn_sJ9cdfP0VwDaOoQ6K805RaX/s1600/uemegaboom.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>  <br />Happy new year with hopefully many new happy speakers! Therefore let's immediately start with the first one, the new <a href="http://www.ultimateears.com/en-us/megaboom" target="_blank">UE Megaboom</a> that was just released recently.<br />The Megaboom should hopefully improve on many aspects of the smaller UE Boom promising bigger sound, bigger bass and better features out of a bigger body. I was never a big friend of the original UE Boom. Although it had some great potential, it failed completely on overall sound quality and I also found it to be overpriced too much for what it offered. Now the Megaboom seems to continue with this fashion to be priced higher than the competition and equal to many other comparable portable "permium" speakers thus at 300$/� it competes directly with current offerings like those from Beats with their <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/07/review-beats-pill-xl-ultimate-portable.html" target="">Pill XL</a>, or the <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/10/review-infinity-one-premium-wireless.html" target="">Infinity One</a> and the <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/02/bose-soundlink-iii-review.html" target="">Bose Soundlink III</a> maybe even the slightly more expensive <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/11/review-bang-olufsen-beoplay-a2-sounding.html" target="">B&O Beoplay A2</a> which has a similar 360� sound concept. Come in to see if Ultimate Ears can really keep the promise of offering something outstanding this time.<br /><br /><a name="more"></a>The original UE Boom got raving reviews all over, despite being just an average clockradio sounding speaker, albeit a loud one. I am not quite sure why so many still like it but the first reviews of the Megaboom seem to repeat the same story again because the Megaboom is equally praised by all the excited reviewers, although I hardly found any meaningful details regarding sound, they simply state it to be better than the UE Boom, which in reality is not that hard to achieve as meanwhile some speakers costing less than half easily manage to outperform the UE Boom.<br />Of course I got curious and grabbed a Megaboom to have a listen on my own because I am always in search of something better and would be willing to replace some of my current portable speakers. I am not bond to any brand despite being really satisfied with the Envaya Mini as close to pocket-friendly solution or the Infinity One as more of a backpack solution.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIu0TL6GgvoFoI0GhCiRHG2pVqZCOFpjyIsTIMhzK8hR8fPhUsqOjy19vFk7NpLzAZt6LMr_w_Egp0b5AwDm0CaiFbUdnBDs0t1fCgncmaISi6WEWKjolELdt4gf_o8UYSsHaOFu6QDOUz/s1600/megaboom-infinity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIu0TL6GgvoFoI0GhCiRHG2pVqZCOFpjyIsTIMhzK8hR8fPhUsqOjy19vFk7NpLzAZt6LMr_w_Egp0b5AwDm0CaiFbUdnBDs0t1fCgncmaISi6WEWKjolELdt4gf_o8UYSsHaOFu6QDOUz/s1600/megaboom-infinity.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSMrzDPpjPnenSqNcSEIBBZva1GXU4IsTeHAJytvqD0gkSLIqd7z5bx06VGTXWe42i9gQMvSlDKQ6ta2ipD6kEksFgX9srtOh1SdQhoHS_bMQbeqDRsWFy9gKmXBBh4G2-W-SssPQ-MSqK/s1600/megaboom-envayamini.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSMrzDPpjPnenSqNcSEIBBZva1GXU4IsTeHAJytvqD0gkSLIqd7z5bx06VGTXWe42i9gQMvSlDKQ6ta2ipD6kEksFgX9srtOh1SdQhoHS_bMQbeqDRsWFy9gKmXBBh4G2-W-SssPQ-MSqK/s1600/megaboom-envayamini.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Indeed the closest competitor to the UE Boom might be the Infinity One, it has exactly the same length, but is slightly thicker and also quite a bit heavier at 1.3kg with the Megaboom weighing only 0.9kg. The low weight is in fact surprising because most comparable models are heavier with 1.5kg or even more, with only the B&O Beoplay A2 being lighter but still 200g heavier than the Megaboom. The Megaboom is truly quite portable not only because the size is still quite acceptable, it doesn't really feel that much bigger than the JBL Charge 2, but also because it feels less sensitive to damage than the Infinity One, which might give a premium impression at first due to its uncommon stone-like ceramic coating, but in reality is quite prone to scuffing when stroked by some other hard objects, let alone the exposed passive radiators on both Infinity One and JBL Charge 2.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_AOCOuaoYtKuPGgK5dkgfzzYChbUebLa74lgYhCc8CssO9-OXNTfDhk0NnMUx7bh4K_0R5mYb5qg-A612au2c6dvRdaO0OiF4EjNH_3JgkSv3CQ5w4ptjYEq0rUr83F6FmgUtqXkP83Xj/s1600/megaboom-jblcharge2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_AOCOuaoYtKuPGgK5dkgfzzYChbUebLa74lgYhCc8CssO9-OXNTfDhk0NnMUx7bh4K_0R5mYb5qg-A612au2c6dvRdaO0OiF4EjNH_3JgkSv3CQ5w4ptjYEq0rUr83F6FmgUtqXkP83Xj/s1600/megaboom-jblcharge2.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br />Just like the previous one the Megaboom comes packed inside a round cylinder box, but this time the box is really big, hinting at a much bigger speaker than it actually is. Thanks to its top handle the box could even be used as some protection for transport, but because of the huge size this would really take up all space in any backpack, which is a pity and wasted potential if you ask me, otherwise I am asking myself why I would like to keep that box, it is fancy for sure, but doesn't quite make sense.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjen1GpHl6BhuXAnz8pONRiCN4iScUB3hAHdvMFCB0QdUK-WLhQCbOg9JsEeLkk_KyxWKnCMZfT6llBmsurea_8AZNObS5a7__4wghMGh5YbzSuYVrI8rN_ImNKME8zxjO8P4MWRwqCrFic/s1600/megaboom-box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjen1GpHl6BhuXAnz8pONRiCN4iScUB3hAHdvMFCB0QdUK-WLhQCbOg9JsEeLkk_KyxWKnCMZfT6llBmsurea_8AZNObS5a7__4wghMGh5YbzSuYVrI8rN_ImNKME8zxjO8P4MWRwqCrFic/s1600/megaboom-box.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Inside the box you will find a charger and a flat MicroUSB wire in addition to the speaker, but no manual at all.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_aAgtovyOlL-BqJERau-HgF_fDGPPuVzWMctrqzXOqs5gCx9rmVi1UmApehstFmVtoPzn47sazs_ssBLrfyT2NFQOjyDd1eabzQBKuA6VAvu6_8RBtVLhb0mGoMpXSu8QW99Hy5a8FDhL/s1600/megaboom-openbox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_aAgtovyOlL-BqJERau-HgF_fDGPPuVzWMctrqzXOqs5gCx9rmVi1UmApehstFmVtoPzn47sazs_ssBLrfyT2NFQOjyDd1eabzQBKuA6VAvu6_8RBtVLhb0mGoMpXSu8QW99Hy5a8FDhL/s1600/megaboom-openbox.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />Designwise the UE Megaboom looks exactly like the smaller Boom, it is just bigger. In contrast to the old UE Boom which was only splash water resistant, the Megaboom is now completely water proof and can be submerged into water for half an hour at a depth of 1m. There are no IPX ratings given for the Infinity One, but according to the support it should also be completely water proof not just splash resistant.<br />The Megaboom got a stronger battery which promises 20 hours of playback and it supports NFC pairing now, but there is still no AptX onboard. Thanks to multipoint pairing it can stream from 2 devices simultaneously (of course stopping the previous playback if a new one is being started) and it can wirelessly connect to another Megaboom or even a Boom to act as a stereo system or to double the output. There is an app for iOS and Android devices which takes care of the additional features and also adds a built in Equalizer with some fixed presets and a user customizable 5-band EQ setting. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Nlt0W3B26YTvv542bY5yTkWLmelJB5CVflVfrllqbZjA9-Z8bjlywfB3cf2LydO9YFt6GR8wp-JgsebSm8osWYNxM-RTfVYXHSOjhoEFMBA9uUpxilJ9GWIS6Bu418R6wIP-DfvizNE0/s1600/megaboom-app-start.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Nlt0W3B26YTvv542bY5yTkWLmelJB5CVflVfrllqbZjA9-Z8bjlywfB3cf2LydO9YFt6GR8wp-JgsebSm8osWYNxM-RTfVYXHSOjhoEFMBA9uUpxilJ9GWIS6Bu418R6wIP-DfvizNE0/s1600/megaboom-app-start.png" width="179" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixfAARSiTAjWTF7_3UHuRSGj-yofDzXuFoV2JxSeJS-PPEPvRpXdWV2WP9K_Dcp2m1f2uATZpfyPMPbqLidiYOU4N67ksUDh9o-eYoqKnzlfVtfDhsJ4RYw-KbcMnN5jQvgGTv3BIllADb/s1600/megaboom-app-alarm.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixfAARSiTAjWTF7_3UHuRSGj-yofDzXuFoV2JxSeJS-PPEPvRpXdWV2WP9K_Dcp2m1f2uATZpfyPMPbqLidiYOU4N67ksUDh9o-eYoqKnzlfVtfDhsJ4RYw-KbcMnN5jQvgGTv3BIllADb/s1600/megaboom-app-alarm.png" width="179" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJZ1XcdPLSK3wTcTsVBUHpLqau3IwQypsn3KGlKHGC4OL7c8n5cD1eC7JxLuuOpPuOnAKuhqbS1lrED3BrREaJH7-rSgSajPPkrdfkb2R5yhmgXANXtLlP0ME-z5cgBnm2MitUMO9KAbOt/s1600/megaboom-app-options.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJZ1XcdPLSK3wTcTsVBUHpLqau3IwQypsn3KGlKHGC4OL7c8n5cD1eC7JxLuuOpPuOnAKuhqbS1lrED3BrREaJH7-rSgSajPPkrdfkb2R5yhmgXANXtLlP0ME-z5cgBnm2MitUMO9KAbOt/s1600/megaboom-app-options.png" width="179" /></a></div><br />A really nice addition is "smart bluetooth". This gives you the option of powering the speaker on or off remotely directly from within the app. First I thought it to be just a gimmick but it was really helpful to turn the speaker on while being in another room. This worked pretty well because Bluetooth reach of the Megaboom is indeed impressive. I had no dropouts within the entire house and sometimes the Megaboom even connected to devices in the first floor while standing in the cellar where I had left it playing for my battery life test. I got exactly 3:25 at maximum volume. 1 minute before turning off on its own a voice reminded me to attach it for charging. 3:25 is not really classleading, but still better than many other offerings like the 50 minutes I got from the B&O Beoplay A2. The Infinity One would play for 4:40 with exactly the same playlist while the Pill XL should give you more than twice the playback of the Megaboom, so if you intend to use it at the beach for an entire day, avoid turning the Megaboom to the maximum whole the time, otherwise you will drain the battery too quickly. The UE Megaboom can also act as an alarm even when in off-state because the app will turn the speaker on automatically and start either some last played song or some songs you added from your library before. This worked indeed although I didn't really want to test it, but I forgot to turn the alarm off again after fooling around with the app and was quite surprised the next morning to hear the Megaboom actually playing from another room.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWeAkEzoAYzeRWoYLOtsQFb-KyQcG9iprFLmL771nEDQaow_5J9BsUBwzZPoJqh7xGh2WqrifQXvHv8BWNJ6Gh-uo7SdIYWXTAk27D99pMtw2By49oeFcce3GRv6g-TkIhTVzNaVmt3ndB/s1600/megaboom-buttons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWeAkEzoAYzeRWoYLOtsQFb-KyQcG9iprFLmL771nEDQaow_5J9BsUBwzZPoJqh7xGh2WqrifQXvHv8BWNJ6Gh-uo7SdIYWXTAk27D99pMtw2By49oeFcce3GRv6g-TkIhTVzNaVmt3ndB/s1600/megaboom-buttons.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>User interface is pretty simple and minimalistic, Just a power button and pairing button at the top and 2 volume buttons at the side. There is no track control possible directly though the speaker. Volume is mirrored between speaker and iOS devices and thankfully the 32 available steps are fine enough to allow for a sensitive control in contrast to the 16 steps of a JBL Charge for example.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm43PPliEi18yZeUGFe-cwOd4r7fRmRJsL9bdUUKopbVIPZ3HOgJXdY2DAXtxyEpVwaGz3QZYH7FKErCO6q59p9149CNb37lXO64ehPsU45wAaUBS232PB7ACLPRdqFY2RyOUv2E22zuDU/s1600/megaboom-volume.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm43PPliEi18yZeUGFe-cwOd4r7fRmRJsL9bdUUKopbVIPZ3HOgJXdY2DAXtxyEpVwaGz3QZYH7FKErCO6q59p9149CNb37lXO64ehPsU45wAaUBS232PB7ACLPRdqFY2RyOUv2E22zuDU/s1600/megaboom-volume.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />Loudness increase is rather constant throughout the entire range so the speaker won't already reach half of its possible loudness within the first several steps like some other speakers (I am thinking again of the *ahem* JBL Charge 2 here).<br />At the bottom there is a rubber flap that covers the auxiliary and charging port and protects them against water. I am not quite sure if the Megaboom would be waterproof without this flap, but the Fugoo for example had all ports water tight, so there was no need for any flap.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqnLdosmKjsOyqoNBXC62bJ4UC9-GLQL4GQyDFFAKN4XX-RgDAGr_dyB3F_3ilixKtKcAjI97jeAeGYOGE_5snILQ8H0_ZqLPS4KwQ7yyErEpshQ3mreGAX7rnHvkz888wYtgNYDfI7Mzy/s1600/megaboom-bottom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqnLdosmKjsOyqoNBXC62bJ4UC9-GLQL4GQyDFFAKN4XX-RgDAGr_dyB3F_3ilixKtKcAjI97jeAeGYOGE_5snILQ8H0_ZqLPS4KwQ7yyErEpshQ3mreGAX7rnHvkz888wYtgNYDfI7Mzy/s1600/megaboom-bottom.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Charging is accomplished with a standard micro-USB cable, this way it can be charged on the go as well from any possible USB-output. The port is a bit recessed and it might take a bit of effort to fit the plug in. The Megaboom does not have the ability to charge other devices though. When removing the bottom screw a thread is revealed which can make you mount the Megaboom on a tripod or similar. I am not quite sure why I would actually want to do this, but just for trying out, I did.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlTDFWZtIoviYaC6gPIweayTnRQt6N8n56wwHDaqBc2FfXyzojMdp5iNFWiCqR7GnL-z6TNaKsMOA_FueLI77JoKAY6iUyl5izkhrO8R6bVu4MFPHJttiu6AmGwvEIURh35v2y6hhN5aKg/s1600/megaboom-tripod-mount.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlTDFWZtIoviYaC6gPIweayTnRQt6N8n56wwHDaqBc2FfXyzojMdp5iNFWiCqR7GnL-z6TNaKsMOA_FueLI77JoKAY6iUyl5izkhrO8R6bVu4MFPHJttiu6AmGwvEIURh35v2y6hhN5aKg/s1600/megaboom-tripod-mount.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />After turning on the Megaboom will play some bongo-drums as welcome tone similar to the old Boom. These tones get varied depending on the status. When a bluetooth connection is established another bongo-sound will be played, when the speaker is turned off you will hear something else, but still bongos all the time. Thanks to the app you can deactivate these tones completely which is good, because they are quite loud.<br />When connected to a Bluetooth device you can force pairing to another one, while the first one is still playing. When the second one has successfully paired you can switch playback between both back and forth. Once paired the UE Megaboom has quite an aggressive way to connect to already paired devices. Usually I was always complaining if a speaker refused to reconnect to a known device on its own, but in case of the Megaboom multipoint connection seems a bit messy. You never really know which devices are currently connected, if you have more paired devices like for example your computer, your smartphone, your tablet and the phone from your wife, you or the speaker might quickly get confused as I have not found any real way to decide which devices it should connect to unlike the <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/09/review-bose-soundlink-colour-now-were.html">Bose Soundlink Colour</a>, which can cycle through all available devices. With 2 devices connected simultanously the Megaboom might start blasting tunes at maximum volume suddenly, despite your own device being set to low volume, but another one set to maximum. This happened to me several times when I just wanted to listen to some quiet tunes, but the Megaboom seemed to have connected to some other device as well and started playing them back at maximum instead. I am not quite sure what was going on here, but it was scaring. With 2 devices running the app the speaker might also mix up some settings. Although I had turned all bongo playing off through the app, the next time I turned the speaker on they started playing again. These might be trivia, and will hopefully get sorted out in the future with some upcoming firmware update.<br /><br />But how does it sound? I must confess it was quite hard to judge the sonic qualities of the UE Megaboom, because it doesn't sound completely bad, but it sounds odd enough to rather dismiss it for anyone being serious about listening to music. I think it is also the fact that you have to judge the entire volume range that makes an all-embracing sound evaluation harder, because when just playing it at room listening volume it makes the UE Megaboom look pretty sub par compared to many other offerings. It benefits quite a bit when played at higher levels, because the sound doesn't deteriorate that much and only becomes more forced at maximum level. The UE Megaboom can indeed play pretty loud, although I would avoid the last 20% of its volume-range, because bass is dialed back too much but sound is still pretty well under control with little distortion and only some slight limiting. It sounds most convincing at levels between 60-80% where many comparable speakers (including Infinity One, Bose Soundlink III etc) already suffer considerably adding heavy dynamic compression with stronger bass reduction at the same time while already fighting with some intermodulation distortion. The UE Megaboom can play nearly as loud as the Beats Pill XL, but I would definitely choose the Pill XL over the Megaboom anytime, despite not being a big fan of the Beats sound tuning either, the Pill XL performs better overall and manages a more punchy sound at all levels including a higher overall loudness with stronger bass than the UE Megaboom.<br />It was during lunch when I tried out the UE Megaboom for the first time, we were listening to some background music at lower volumes with the Denon Envaya Mini when the Megaboom arrived, I unpacked it and put it right beside starting to switch between both. The first impression was that the Megaboom sounded rather like a kitchen-radio. It was somehow hollow and thin sounding, nowhere close to the refined sound of the much smaller Envaya Mini. Although I never believed in any burn-in process meanwhile I have the impression that after several hours of playing time the sound loosened up a little bit particularly in bass, it doesn't sound that anemic anymore, but you are still missing this typical bass oomph from most Bose speakers including the much smaller Soundlink Mini, which sounds much heavier and substantial, it is still impressive what Bose achieved out of a body that small everytime I dig it out as comparison to other speakers:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4oNDvIsb0Fc-h7KE6Y-qM-lhzxOZcxHGEzhlctXN0hGzt0tGmLhLK9et97R4WLdLfiQyAW3BxGliatZQJ7WJ0_sULYcF_uBrTYYqCtZVXxh8rizl4vBb6YUj5yWjN4uSWsD8XdpDe2dvS/s1600/megaboom-soundlinkmini.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4oNDvIsb0Fc-h7KE6Y-qM-lhzxOZcxHGEzhlctXN0hGzt0tGmLhLK9et97R4WLdLfiQyAW3BxGliatZQJ7WJ0_sULYcF_uBrTYYqCtZVXxh8rizl4vBb6YUj5yWjN4uSWsD8XdpDe2dvS/s1600/megaboom-soundlinkmini.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />As a whole I would rather describe the sound of the Megaboom as strange and honky with no wow-factor but an unpleasant upper bass boost and an equally boosted lower treble instead that rolls off pretty quickly missing all the real upper sparkle. The sound is a bit unskillful because it doesn't impress in any way as meanwhile you can get a better and more natural response of speakers costing less than half and being smaller as well although they won't be able to play that loud for sure. The Megaboom pretends to deliver true 360� sound, but it suffers quite a lot if not one of the 2 drivers that fire to the sides are aimed directly at the listener. Maybe that's why they boosted the whole treble-range to make it appear less muffled if the speaker is placed frontally, but it cannot distract from the fact that the 360� sound claim is just a marketing blah, because depending on how you turn the speaker it either has the tendency to sound acceptable or dull. The fact that real tweeters are missing just cannot be hidden.You get the impression as if the speaker was playing to the back most of the time, or if the sound was trapped inside the cylinder and some other additional speaker was trying to compete against the enclosure. A JBL Charge 2 placed backwards doesn't really sound much worse than a UE Megaboom placed frontally, although the Charge 2 has only drivers at the front. This 360� myth was already suspicious on the old UE Boom, which equally suffered if not aimed at the listener sidewards. It is no way close to the 360� experience you get from the Beoplay A2 with its crystal clear treble, that hardly becomes dull at all.<br />With the speaker turned around to hear both drivers at the same time you will end up with a veiled sound, but nevertheless hardly any real stereo separation. A Denon Envaya Mini on the other hand will offer a real spacious sound stage, the Beoplay A2 also manages a broader and more airy sound floating around the speaker, while with the UE Megaboom it seems to stick to the body. <br />Apart from the lousy treble response which seems to rely solely on its fullrange drivers, bass is tuned quite unfortunate as well. According to the specs the UE Megaboom should have bass response down to 65Hz, but this is only partially true, because bass already starts falling off above 100Hz. It is only that it is boosted as a whole quite a lot, so in the end you might indeed get 65Hz but hardly noticeable because of some -20dB difference compared to the upper bass range around 200Hz. I think bass is boosted that much, to make it reach deeper or to give you the impression as if it was deeper, which in reality it isn't because it is just bloated as a whole. I am sure the strong upper bass boost is to blame for the rather hollow sound, it already overlaps too much with the mids and it covers too much of the lower frequencies. At 200Hz there is a 10dB boost compared to the mids. A range which is usually responsible for all the buzzing problems of a speaker and that preferrably should be tuned down instead of boosted. Not sure who tuned the speaker and what kind of music they were listening to when setting for the final tuning, but it just doesn't sound good as is. It sounds as if some kid had played with daddy's amplifier and turned up the bass dial to the maximum. It is not completely hopeless and I am sure many might be anyhow excited about the "boom" the speaker is able to produce, but this is definitely not a speaker for music enthusiasts longing for higher fidelity, but rather for people looking for loud noise!<br />Unfortunately you cannot do much about this as even the built in EQ accessible through the app will not be able to fix anything. It is a 5-band EQ with the lowest band being 150Hz, and the highest band 8kHz. Lowering just the 300Hz band will not change much in sound, you would have to raise the 1kHz band at the same time, which would result in a huge loudness loss, because in reality the EQ algorithm can just attenuate frequencies, that's why the "bass boost" preset rather corresponds to a treble reducer. I tried flattening the frequency humps of the Megaboom and ended up with an EQ setting like this:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBBZrAXHh90S9Er5Gwnh8jCGqZSA2o4OXRmZgZMliLk48FX0yg-DZdLXByaJ3uXbLdGqbUkRBw2cd99haWHgDt2LdvnTyR7cCA4zAED8SsrUHVExTR8fWBsFIv4cW8aGBv7g2d1uuAMGm1/s1600/megaboom-app-eq.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBBZrAXHh90S9Er5Gwnh8jCGqZSA2o4OXRmZgZMliLk48FX0yg-DZdLXByaJ3uXbLdGqbUkRBw2cd99haWHgDt2LdvnTyR7cCA4zAED8SsrUHVExTR8fWBsFIv4cW8aGBv7g2d1uuAMGm1/s1600/megaboom-app-eq.png" width="358" /></a></div><br />Funnily tuned like that the Megaboom loses all of its loudness advantage and will hardly reach the loudness of the Infinity One anymore, at the same time it doesn't really sound much better than before, just more anemic. I also noticed some anomalies with the EQ which doesn't seem to be permanently stored within the speaker, but sometimes tends to fall back back to "standard setting" again, I noticed this problem repeatedly when just skipping to the next track, although the app still showed "user EQ", the playback was continued with the standard setting.<br />There might be some hope that Logitech will tweak the DSP a bit better and offer a firmware update with a more refined sound. At least they really seem to offer some updates if you look at the history of the UE Boom which also gained some new functions afterwards. <a href="http://www.whathifi.com/news/ultimate-ears-to-let-you-pair-more-10-bluetooth-speakers" target="_blank">Rumors say</a> that they are already working on an update to allow 10 speakers to be connected at the same time...<br /><br />I prepared some comparison videos where you can hear how the UE Megaboom sounds compared to the Infinity One, the JBL Charge 2 and the Denon Envaya Mini:<br /><object height="480" width="853"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qywjksBw1GI?version=3&hl=de_DE"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qywjksBw1GI?version=3&hl=de_DE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="853" height="480" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object><br /><object height="480" width="853"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tSOxKbWf8OY?version=3&hl=de_DE"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tSOxKbWf8OY?version=3&hl=de_DE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="853" height="480" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object><br /><object height="480" width="853"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZAsGngAGI48?version=3&hl=de_DE"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZAsGngAGI48?version=3&hl=de_DE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="853" height="480" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object><br /><br />I did a binaural outdoor test as well to see if the loudness advantage of the UE Megaboom is really big enough to overcome some heavier traffic noise:<br /><object height="480" width="853"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/L3Sgvh36p6I?version=3&hl=de_DE"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/L3Sgvh36p6I?version=3&hl=de_DE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="853" height="480" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object><br /><br />Another binaural outdoor comparison shows how the UE Megaboom competes with the Infinity One at maximum volume:<br /><object height="480" width="853"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TpDCltZh27o?version=3&hl=de_DE"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TpDCltZh27o?version=3&hl=de_DE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="853" height="480" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object><br /><br />The following video shows how the UE Megaboom sounds in common indoor conditions. I tried comparing it against the Infinity One, JBL Charge 2 and the Denon Envaya Mini. I think it demonstrates the real sound character of the Megaboom best. This video is also interesting, because it reveals some problems of the Infinity One assumed you are using good headphones. At the very beginning of the first track you will probably hear the passive radiators rattling from the Infinity with the first bassdrum hits, this gets masked out later on when more instruments start appearing. On the third track you should notice some harshness with the cymbals and hihats when played through the Infinity One, which is some intermodulation distortion already starting to appear at half volume, apart from that I think that the Infinity One as well as the other speakers manage a better and more natural performance notably the Denon Envaya Mini which manages the most spacious sound despite being smallest and cheapest:<br /><object height="480" width="853"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ScS7b_izq8k?version=3&hl=de_DE"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ScS7b_izq8k?version=3&hl=de_DE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="853" height="480" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object><br /><br />I also did a nearfield measurement of the UE Megaboom at around half volume which was taken with the speaker turned sidwards so that one driver was facing the microphone (blue) and both drivers facing to the sides (red) where you will notice severe treble loss. A strong questionable bass boost is also visible, while bass is hardly reaching deeper than that from the much smaller Denon Envaya Mini (which is shown as reference in black):<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaTXcSGfOnQwmO5iaXGg4bK4dqo7lptp5YEQ4ddVuF2v8JPDO3xtcNtAn0d-XrNJjJJXNy2KXsGJGsQYzUi9xaq2IUriJ8mryizSWlZGhgKeUe_87TwYNAfLPguxs0nWfkv5vzXJ_8Xulu/s1600/ue-megaboom-frequencyresponse.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaTXcSGfOnQwmO5iaXGg4bK4dqo7lptp5YEQ4ddVuF2v8JPDO3xtcNtAn0d-XrNJjJJXNy2KXsGJGsQYzUi9xaq2IUriJ8mryizSWlZGhgKeUe_87TwYNAfLPguxs0nWfkv5vzXJ_8Xulu/s1600/ue-megaboom-frequencyresponse.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />In the following graph all EQ presets are measured with the black curve being the "standard setting". As you can see there is no bass boost at all with "bass boost" just some slight treble reduction:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY1hfHvWmU5g811MW6P2dIBYDj5zGG_kRBvOPssXYBE65NPDSU_dQq-eEdV-Lf4gZHTXl3xNyketJKxT7KeC0CqPcD5er0VUKQ9CzpOMbCGmwr6FUTjCBQeUmUsm19Vn8IcND08dlLSlG7/s1600/megaboom-eq.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY1hfHvWmU5g811MW6P2dIBYDj5zGG_kRBvOPssXYBE65NPDSU_dQq-eEdV-Lf4gZHTXl3xNyketJKxT7KeC0CqPcD5er0VUKQ9CzpOMbCGmwr6FUTjCBQeUmUsm19Vn8IcND08dlLSlG7/s1600/megaboom-eq.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />Bottom line is that the great design and all the unique features cannot distract from the unjoyous sound the Megaboom produces. Buying 2 Megabooms for 600 bucks in order to get some stereo separation would be nutty if you ask me, but I am sure there will be many doing exactly this, just because its an "UE" and because it got all 5 stars on "What-HiFi?"<br />It seems the Megaboom was in fact tuned for maximum loudness instead for maximum sound, which is a pity, as I ask myself how often will I really like to crank it up to the maximum all the time? It is the only thing it can do acceptably well: playing loud with little distortion. If this is what you are looking for, you should check out the UE Megaboom, but at the same time you could also just choose the Pill XL and end up with a better sound, although you will have slightly more bulk and more weight to carry. The Pill XL might not be water proof, but it can equally pair with another one for wireless stereo and it can charge external devices, but best of all the battery (in fact the Pill XL has 2 of them built in) is stronger because if you really need maximum volume, it will last about twice as long as that from the Megaboom, which won't even reach 4 hours at its top volume setting.<br />The Megaboom is not a bad speaker, it has pretty decent features built in, I especially liked the "smart bluetooth" option for being able to turn the speaker on or off remotely, it can also act as alarm etc. These features really make sense as Bluetooth reach is generally very impressive and you can control the speaker from some distance, where other speakers won't connect at all anymore. If the price was not as high or the sound tuned more for Hifi I would definitely recommend the UE Megaboom as it is a cool device with a great form factor for being tossed around outdoors. It doesn't seem to need any additional protection as build quality looks really solid, if it gets dirty just wash it down under the water-tap. Unfortunately I didn't have much fun listening to music with it, I always felt forced to try some other EQ setting or turn the Megaboom around because I had the impression as something was not sounding right or if I was missing something. There are cheaper and better sounding alternatives, although not as loud, but if you need this loudness, you should consider other alternatives that easily outperform the Megaboom. Besides the already mentioned Pill XL you should have a listen to the Harman Kardon Onyx Studio if you don't mind the bigger size but still want big bang for your buck, it really makes the Megaboom sound pretty hopeless, despite costing 1/3 less. Interestingly when I finally finished my review Amazon.de already had lowered the price for the Megaboom from the original 299� to 237� for the blue version...<br /><br /><b>+ great and sturdy design</b><br /><b>+ completely waterproof</b><br /><b>+ more compact and lighter than most comparable rivals</b><br /><b>+ 360� sound</b><br /><b>+ louder than most competing models</b><br /><b>+ little distortion at high levels</b><br /><b>+ mirrored volume control with 32 volume steps</b><br /><b>+ multipoint pairing to 2 devices simultaneously</b><br /><b>+ wireless stereo pairing of 2 speakers</b><br /><b>+ NFC</b><br /><b>+ great Bluetooth reach</b><br /><b>+ app support with built in EQ</b><br /><b>+ "smart Bluetooth" let's you activate speaker remotely</b><br /><b>+ built in alarm</b><br /><b>+ ready for future updates </b><br /><b><br /></b><br /><b>- rather unimpressive sound quality</b><br /><b>- bass boosted too much but not overly deep without real punch</b><br /><b>- muffled treble response, especially with both drivers facing to the sides</b><br /><b>- built in equalizer too basic with too little influence</b><br /><b>- no track control possible through the speaker</b><br /><b>- no AptX support</b><br /><b>- short battery life at maximum volume</b><br /><b>- too expensive</b><br /><b><br /></b><b><br /></b></p>

  Happy new year with hopefully many new happy speakers! Therefore let's immediately start with the first one, the new UE Megaboom that...

Denon Envaya Mini f�r �79,90 (Versandkostenfrei in Deutschland)

<p>Kaum ist Weihnachten vorbei, beginnt Weihnachten erst so richtig, denn <a href="http://www.comtech.de/HiFi-und-Heimkino/Bluetooth-und-AirPlay-Lautsprecher/Denon-Envaya-Mini-mobiler-Bluteooth-Lautsprecher-schwarz-blau?shopgate_redirect=1" target="_blank">Comtech</a> hat gerade ein interessantes und zeitbegrenztes Angebot f�r alle unseren deutschen Mitleser: der <b>Denon Envaya Mini</b> frei Haus.<br /><br />Wer bei diesem Angebot nicht zuschl�gt, ist selber schuld ;-)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJwFukB1EHS5fEiNqgUKgx1ViP7e2rxvMEczdcIusevIDIuflTLxten_-Ctlr77TDEBROXyUgaR220hpT0JsfAmu4ptriLJzvV3bpH3AbkP6mVoT-jje7ghRWGvm_Y0TX9ccBMSeOHyDmA/s1600/denon-comteq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJwFukB1EHS5fEiNqgUKgx1ViP7e2rxvMEczdcIusevIDIuflTLxten_-Ctlr77TDEBROXyUgaR220hpT0JsfAmu4ptriLJzvV3bpH3AbkP6mVoT-jje7ghRWGvm_Y0TX9ccBMSeOHyDmA/s1600/denon-comteq.jpg" width="628" /></a></div><br />PS. Ich bekomme keine Provision vom H�ndler oder so, wollte das Angebot einfach an alle Interessierten oder Unentschiedenen weitergeben, die von meinem Testbericht immer noch nicht �berzeugt wurden.<br /><br />W�rde mich nat�rlich �ber alle Kommentare von neuen Besitzern zu dem Ger�t freuen!<br /><br /></p>

Kaum ist Weihnachten vorbei, beginnt Weihnachten erst so richtig, denn Comtech hat gerade ein interessantes und zeitbegrenztes Angebot f�r ...

Merry Christmas!

<p><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/KtgG-8VjAU4" width="853"></iframe></div></p>

Best portable Bluetooth speakers (Oluv's personal favorites 2014)

<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvUDydWP1_DGtJOhRU9J2yQ72vHt2NZTVY-FaoWpEYsXqfkN84GLTsfG5HxEftzI0Q9UMVCIcNhVgqcc3tDP8Jzmip7QFhZSza0SblYb_h6j2IBo9I27dYyxiNZH9ToZXSX8mAkeMDNkQT/s1600/all.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvUDydWP1_DGtJOhRU9J2yQ72vHt2NZTVY-FaoWpEYsXqfkN84GLTsfG5HxEftzI0Q9UMVCIcNhVgqcc3tDP8Jzmip7QFhZSza0SblYb_h6j2IBo9I27dYyxiNZH9ToZXSX8mAkeMDNkQT/s1600/all.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />With this list I want to show you my personal favorite portable speakers that I use on a regular basis including some explanation why I have chosen them over some others and when I use this instead of that. It's been quite a long time I wanted to prepare a kind of best-of list of all portable speakers I know or that I have heard. But after having heard so many, I thought that a real best-of is simply not doable as each speaker has its own strengths or weaknesses. After all those years it seemed I would still not be able to find a single speaker which would satisfy all my needs not until I have heard the new <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/12/review-denon-envaya-mini.html">Denon Envaya Mini</a>, which mixed up my whole perspective and made my whole list until now pretty useless. The Denon Envaya Mini finally persuaded me to sell all other speakers I currently own, including <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/09/review-jbl-charge-2-failed-new-benchmark.html">JBL Charge 2</a>, <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/08/fugoo-bluetooth-speaker-first.html">Fugoo</a>, <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/07/review-sony-srs-x3-bose-soundlink-mini.html">Sony SRS-X3</a> etc. Therefore I would like to present *drum roll* the Denon Envaya Mini as my current favorite portable speaker.<br /><br /><a name="more"></a>As it had already taken me some time to prepare this whole list, I will nevertheless add all the other speakers below, although I probably wouldn't consider them at all anymore. Please let me clarify that my main goal is high audio quality. Most will have probably noticed that I have a weekness for a full-bodied sound. There must be at least some base for the music with enough bass to make it sound satisfying, otherwise I cannot enjoy music and prefer not to listen at all. I don't care about speakers that can play screamingly loud but fail completely at lower levels, or speakers with tons of nice features that only sound like my old clock radio. <br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Denon Envaya Mini </b></u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuRWAXz-sQ-RQFUM9_bFB3zKml2MkeZZ7aHDZ6nZibK_w13ThZA7vfg5PjXQUQb-9OlGqIEAbPeiByAAH6YyuLYE4ylItY57zUfqEHZkrijpYMkPss2TbHW9O9MdVQosyyyP8z0w8u5dCb/s1600/denon-envaya-mini.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuRWAXz-sQ-RQFUM9_bFB3zKml2MkeZZ7aHDZ6nZibK_w13ThZA7vfg5PjXQUQb-9OlGqIEAbPeiByAAH6YyuLYE4ylItY57zUfqEHZkrijpYMkPss2TbHW9O9MdVQosyyyP8z0w8u5dCb/s1600/denon-envaya-mini.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Buy it from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SFZ4EWC/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00SFZ4EWC&linkCode=as2&tag=oluvsgadgets-20&linkId=CFYDE7W7J7FAKJNY">amazon.com</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00NBXJ9NW/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B00NBXJ9NW&linkCode=as2&tag=oluvsgadgets-21&linkId=JGWZNAJDL5OFG3HG">amazon.co.uk</a> or <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00NBXJ9NW/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1638&creative=6742&creativeASIN=B00NBXJ9NW&linkCode=as2&tag=oluv-21&linkId=SOY2BX3R45BYYGK5">amazon.de</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://ir-de.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=oluv-21&l=as2&o=3&a=B00NBXJ9NW" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" width="1" /><br />I doubt there is any better sounding speaker available that small right now, therefore the Denon Envaya Mini gets my first vote to become the overall "winner". It is extremely portable, splash water resistant and has a professionally close to hifi tuned sound. It is not the loudest speaker nor the one with the biggest bass, but it sounds as close to flat as possible at that size with full bass response down to 80hz which appears even deeper thanks to some psychoacoustic algorithms. There is some stereo separation and the Envaya Mini sounds perfect at low and at highest levels with hardly any distortion or dynamics compression at all. It should satisfy 70% of most needs, just if you need higher loudness, you will probably wish for something more powerful, this is where my Infinity One jumps in, which you can find next in this list below. <br />Another alternative to the Envaya Mini would be the the <b>JBL Charge 2</b>. Until I heard the Denon, JBL Charge 2 might have been close to a "near-perfect" portable speaker, but unfortunately JBL managed to screw it up making it unsable at low levels and unlistenable with many tracks because they cause noticeable distortion, otherwise the JBL Charge 2 would probably be the best sounding speaker in its class that I would recommend over all the others more or less on par or above the Denon. I feel still so sorry about all the issues it suffers from, and that JBL doesn't really care to offer any fix. It seems they just recently started to sell a new batch of devices, which don't suffer from any distortion, although they still seem to have some issues at lower levels. Apart from that I also hate the status tones the JBL Charge 2 will play if you turn it on, or when it will connect to a device. The tones are so annoying that you cannot even turn it on in a silent enviroment. The JBL Charge 2 is not usable at low levels, it will sound just poor with bass sounding strange and with additional artefacts noticeable during the first 4-5 volume steps. I usually welcome a mirrored volume control between speaker and device, but in case of the JBL Charge 2 the volume steps are very rough and the speaker becomes too loud too quickly. The JBL Charge 2 has pretty non directional treble response. It still sounds quite good from above or from the side unlike most other similar speakers. I also like the fact that the JBL Charge 2 will retain more bass and sound more dynamic than most other competing models. Even at maximum volume you will be able to hear every drum-kick attack, while the Bose Soundlink Mini or the Sony SRS-X3 will compress them away. Sometimes I would prefer it even louder, especially outdoors, that's why I finally settled for an Infinity One described below. <br />Other speakers in this smaller class worth having a deeper look: I really liked the <b>Fugoo</b> a lot as an all around speaker but also for use at home from room to room etc. It might not be a very loud speaker and bass could take some stronger punch, but it is small enough to be carried around and thanks to its "jackets" is rugged to be just tossed inside some bag or stuffed inside a jacket pocket without any additional protection or pouch needed. Unfortunately none of the jackets does have any clip-on option without the additional mount-pack. It would have been great if Fugoo had included some simple lug in any of the jackets, so that the speaker could be quickly clipped on somewhere. The Fugoo is also one of the few speakers that really withstands a complete submerge under water, it is not just splash resistant like many others, but entirely waterproof.<br />Bluetooth connectivity is great and the Fugoo connects automatically to any found device unlike most other speakers, which seem to be still waiting for the latest one. <br />I also like the fact that the Fugoo remains nearly silent during operation if all voice prompts are disabled. Overall the sound of the Fugoo is quite full-bodied, it is not overly bloated but pleasant to listen to, with a similar bass-amount to many larger speakers like Soundblaster Roar etc, although the sound starts falling apart a little bit above half volume which is not very loud and does not come close to the sound of the Denon Envaya Mini, which is much more serious, and much louder at the same time. If the Fugoo was slightly louder overall with slightly more bass, it would be definitely on my top list if I had to pick just one single speaker, but now the Denon Envaya Mini took this honour and the Fugoo has to go. Another strong contender loved by ones, hated by others is the <b>Bose Soundlink Mini</b>which has no problems like the JBL Charge 2, but I found the sound to be too muffled and too directional and sometimes too boomy. The <b>Sony SRS-X3</b> might be another worthy alternative and I think it sounds best for low volume listening, especially because you can fine-tune the final bass amount with the input-volume of your streaming device, a welcome side effect of the dynamic sound-processing, which becomes confused with lower input levels and dials bass back, because the speaker output needs to be raised. The X3 has some problems at higher volume levels though and battery life is not as stable, especially when cranked. Unfortunately both Sony and Bose play some kind of annoying tones if they are either turned on/off or if they establish a Bluetooth connection. Another alternative might be the <b>Bose Soundlink Colour</b>. The sound is not as mature or not as refined as of all the others, but it is nevertheless a pretty solid speaker with a nicely tuned sound for all volume levels. It will sound good at low and at high levels, without any side-effects or artefacts. Treble is less directional than that from the Soundlink Mini and the Soundlink Colour will not sound that boomy in most cases although mid-bass has quite an obvious boost with some stronger resonance, which can start sounding annyoing with some particular tracks. Also Bluetooth connectivity is one of the best I had experienced so far with automatic reconnection to 2 previous devices after power on, just don't expect any stereo sound as the Soundlink Colour is rather a stereo speaker with mono sound. <br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><u><b>Infinity One</b></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><b></b></u><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ2wzXWW4ldbLDipKpHmQ_jD20nXHnWYV7gIQO3eW-z1kZOWG07IK_oNzoy7CgLQLPC4ewJ5kRI4OM4QoKYNCCHq1EO6nSZyoA7QilAZ6_F-Drq_sHto415q4ZFO8eKezFuDhexVzE7p7a/s1600/infinity-one.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ2wzXWW4ldbLDipKpHmQ_jD20nXHnWYV7gIQO3eW-z1kZOWG07IK_oNzoy7CgLQLPC4ewJ5kRI4OM4QoKYNCCHq1EO6nSZyoA7QilAZ6_F-Drq_sHto415q4ZFO8eKezFuDhexVzE7p7a/s1600/infinity-one.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Still only available from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LOL7HDC/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00LOL7HDC&linkCode=as2&tag=oluvsgadgets-20&linkId=ITAEPPSEXO4IMGCQ">amazon.com</a>, funnily the Infinity One does not sound really that much better than the Denon Envaya Mini, the Infinity One's sound is just more powerful, which is not surprising given the size being 3 times as large. the Infinity One is basically a blown up JBL Charge 2. The sound is similar between both, with the Infinity One just sounding more blown up. The Infinity One is a bit too large and heavy to be carried around whole the time. But if you know that you will need a portable speaker which manages to deliver enough power at higher levels too, the Infinity One might be the best choice. When the Denon Envaya Mini is already at its top volume, resulting in some heavy bass-loss, although perfectly usable without any distortion, the Infinity One will still have enough headroom, although the Infinity One will suffer from some intermodulation distortion at these higher settings, but the Infinity One will be able to keep much more bass at comparable loudness settings and maximum volume should still be loud enough for any smaller outdoor event. The stronger intermodulation distortion at high levels is the biggest letdown of the Infinity One, it sounds more enforced than the Soundlink III and many bass-heavy tracks may start sounding really harsh because of this, while others might still sound perfect, Infinity should have added some simple tweeters to the front drivers, as the back drivers sound pretty clear as they are fitered for higher frequencies, where intermodlation becomes most obvious. Similar to the JBL Charge 2 the Infinity One will also manage to retain the dynamics of kickdrum attacks, unlike the Soundlink III, which will rather iron out any stronger punches. For house-music I would prefer the Infinity One over the Soundlink III, which might be better for Jazz and acoustic stuff due to less intermodulation distortion problems.<br />Unfortunately the Infinity One has the same loud status tones and the same mirrored volume control with even rougher steps than the JBL Charge. In case of an iOS device the volume control is not fine enough to really allow any sensitive adjustment. Thank godness the Infinity One does not suffer from any of the processing artefacts which plague the JBL Charge 2. I think that the Infinity One delivers the best performance of all speakers I have tested in this larger speaker-class aroung 1kg, including Bose Soundlink III, Beats Pill XL, TDK A34, Loewe Speaker2go and even the B&O Beoplay A2, which has its own qualities and problems, thus as total package I just regard the Infinity One as the best option right now.<br />A big problem for all non U.S citicens might be that the Infinity One is only offered in the U.S so you will have to import it on your own if you live outside, which is what I finally did. But for casual listening at home I prefer the Denon most of the time, even though it has slightly less bass, it sounds more natural with more stereo separation and is much easier to carry around.<br />Other possible alternatives: <b>Bose Soundlink III </b>sounds quite similar to the Infinity One, but has a more directional and more "edgy" sound while the Infinity One sounds rounder and more open. The Infinity One also has the option to be charged through USB in case of need and it can charge external devices too. Overall I prefer the Infinity One over the Bose Soundlink III, although the Bose has the better tuning for low levels with a more profound sound and obvious intermodulation distortion should be less of an issue. Other alternatives might be the <b>TDK A33 </b>which is pretty cheap now or the newer<b> A34</b> as both<b> </b>are pretty balanced sounding speakers unfortunately with a pretty bad battery and a questionable charging logic. I never manged to make the A33 play for longer than 6 hours even at lower levels, the A34 seems to suffer from the same problem. The <b>Soundblaster Roar</b> is very similar to the TDK A33 in sound but has tons of additional features which you might need or not need. It doesn't play as loud as the TDK, but overall it is the better speaker I think. It doesn't sound as full bodied as the Infinity One or the JBL Charge 2, but the sound is still quite nice, although it won't knock your socks off.<br />You might also like the <b>Denon Envaya</b> which sounds quite similar to the Bose Soundlink III although not quite as loud but also cheaper. The <b>B&O Beoplay A2</b> would have been my personal favorite if battery life was more predictable and the sound more constant on higher levels. I really like the design and sound tuning is simply impressive, but I couldn't live with the added distortion on many tracks especially at the given price being one of the most expensive speakers shown here. I would also like to add the <b>Beats Pill XL</b>, which is not a very good sounding speaker per se, but a very powerful one with great features, wireless stereo pairing etc. It is still one of the loudest I have heard at this size and manages to sound pretty controlled when the others are already struggling or reaching their limits with the Pill XL still being much louder than all of them.<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><u><b>Bose Soundlink Wireless Music System </b></u><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Xq3CPKlQvsU2HVgSoCIS4KIluYWU1TsVGuTOL5_HGn7xqrYFuPaQhIVcMvqT0DiHgKnlpfRpz6u7DzwicSrdNYAWM7mG0o5bc_Bv9CD_oqQNSmgZyjw0IVFh30LAeuSOVttktXeWAaLI/s1600/bose-soundlink-wireless-music-system.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Xq3CPKlQvsU2HVgSoCIS4KIluYWU1TsVGuTOL5_HGn7xqrYFuPaQhIVcMvqT0DiHgKnlpfRpz6u7DzwicSrdNYAWM7mG0o5bc_Bv9CD_oqQNSmgZyjw0IVFh30LAeuSOVttktXeWAaLI/s1600/bose-soundlink-wireless-music-system.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Although I currently don't use it that much, I still think that this old and discontinued Bose system is a spectacular and underrated portable Bluetooth speaker. It is based on the Bose Sounddock portable which was also discontinued in the meantime but with Bluetooth instead of the Apple-dock.<br />Thanks to its flat design it is still pretty portable despite being larger than the Infinity One and with just 2kg including the swappable battery it should find its place inside any even smaller rucksack. The Bose Soundlink Wireless Music System is one of the most powerful systems at this size. The amplifier delivers 40Watts (unlike the 25W of the Infinity One), and thanks to Bose's DSP processing they manage to push the loudness level quite above the limits of what the 2 fullrange drivers are able to handle by applying some stronger dynamics compression and dialing bass back. Although there is some stronger distortion at maximum volume the Soundlink Wireless Music System nevertheless manages to fill a large outdoor area with sound if you don't want to carry any larger boombox with you. It sounds very full bodied with the deepest reaching bass although it has a tendency to sound a bit muffled, especially at lower levels and off-axis.<br />A possible alternative might be the <b>IK Multimedia iLoud</b>, which is able to reach a similar loudness, but not without distortion either. Unfortunately the iLoud won't sound that full-bodied at lower levels and the built in battery seems to have some issues not being able to hold a charge after some time of usage according to my friend who had used his quite often.<br />Another interesting speaker might be the <b>Harman Kardon Onyx</b> or the much cheaper <b>Onyx Studio</b> which omits auxiliary input, Airplay and DLNA compared to the expensive version. They sound slightly better and are more powerful than the Bose, but are a bit lacking at lower volumes. They are also larger and not that easily portable with the battery life hardly exceeding 4-5 hours at high volumes. <br /><br />If you need still more power and more loudness, you must have a look at all the larger systems like the <b>Klipsch KMC-3</b> or some <b>Pioneer Steez</b> units or the<b> JVC Kaboom</b> series etc. But nearly all of them need extra batteries for portable use and will quickly exceed several kilos of weight. Maybe the new <b>Teufel Boomster</b> could do the trick as it has a built in battery which can be even extended by some additional AA-cells. So far I didn't feel the need for such a unit, it is just overkill for home use, I previously had the Altec Lansing IMT800, but didn't use it much because of the size and the hassle with batteries. But my friend loves his KMC-3 and uses it regularly for outdoor parties with friends.<br /><br />What is still completely missing though are speakers that can be easily put inside a pocket, or attached somewhere thanks to a dedicated clip or carabiner without adding any bulk or becoming tedious. Most of these I have tried so far sound rather tinny, not really comparable to those above, although I am sure with some clever DSP processing and really high-quality drivers even smaller speakers than the Denon Envaya Mini could be brought to respectable output. Here are my best findings for this class:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><u><b>TDK A12</b></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><b></b></u><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkyeIbHlZQ9lPKGLLtPKSAbBgxbIoGs-vHG3kpz58PPSUsrbisnpvJWsdgaa2vkz6REDvCWHFgFh5rCXBMAkRPaQc-Y0DbsWHpkWWal7TbqRUMdeR_O9HmZ0tSpoOU6eet_IonkN4LHl_t/s1600/tdk-a12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkyeIbHlZQ9lPKGLLtPKSAbBgxbIoGs-vHG3kpz58PPSUsrbisnpvJWsdgaa2vkz6REDvCWHFgFh5rCXBMAkRPaQc-Y0DbsWHpkWWal7TbqRUMdeR_O9HmZ0tSpoOU6eet_IonkN4LHl_t/s1600/tdk-a12.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />I think the TDK A12 (micro Trek) produces quite a balanced sound for being that small. It is not the loudest speaker at this size, but it just sounds "right". There is some upper bass which makes it sound appealing, but the TDK is not able to produce any deeper bass, thus it is not really full-bodied and quite a bit too thin for my own taste, but still better than not having a speaker at all. If you put it flat on some resonating surface, you can boost basst slightly, but the passive radiator doesn't really play anything below 100Hz, so don't expect any miracles like with many other vibrating speakers or like with the FoxL Dash 7 that are tuned much lower, but won't produce any hearable bass until they suddenly sound much more mature depending on the surface they are placed on, as shown in my <a href="http://youtu.be/etk4Xu_NGck" target="_blank">example video for the FoxL Dash 7</a>. Unfortunately most of the time there are no suitable surfaces around outdoors for enhancing the sound.<br />Therefore the TDK seems to apply some "virtual bass" algorithm. It sounds a bit as if the lower frequencies not reproducable with the tiny driver were subtly added transposed one octave higher (similar to what MaxxBass is doing). The A12 manges to give an even more full-bodied impression than the similar JBL Clip, although bass reaches considerably lower on the JBL Clip, when looking solely at the frequency response measurements. There is also some bass compression going on, maybe a side-effect of the virtual bass algorithm, but when directly compared it is quite noticeable that the TDK does some processing, which is not a bad thing, as any unwanted artefacts are still kept to the minimum.<br />The TDK A12 has no distortion even at maximum volume, but there seems to be some sample variation as I have tested several different units and on many of them the passive radiators started to rattle heavily at higher volume levels with bass heavy tracks, the resonance-frequency seems to be around 125Hz where rattling is strongest. Because of the single passive radiator at the back side the TDK A12 also has a tendency to vibrate or even creep around when put on certain surfaces. If you attach the included carabiner, this may rattle against the body at higher loudness-levels, that's the drawback of single passive radiator designs.<br />Battery life is somewhat short, especially at high volume. A nice feature is that you can pair 2 of them for true wireless stereo, in fact I have 2 of them and both cost me less than 60�. Strangely stereo pairing doesn't work that well sometimes. I am not sure if this is the speaker's fault, or if the Bluetooth connection of the iPhone is too blame here, but sometimes when in wireless stereo mode the audio quality is reduced considerably resulting in a sound which resembles that of a lower bitrate mp3-file. Sometimes only one will play, although both confirmed the connection. I have not found any regularity, but in case they behave unexpectedly, I have to go through the entire pairing process again to get rid of it.<br />Other similar speakers to consider: <b>JBL Clip</b> produces a similar overall sound but can play quite a bit louder. The JBL Clip can be daisy chained with another one with its built-in wire and it has speaker phone included. Due to its rounded design it is easier to put inside a pocket and the carabiner is already built in unlike with the TDK A12, which has the carabiner separate. The battery life of the JBL Clip seems to be even shorter than that of the TDK A12 though, but due to the included bassreflex port instead of the passive radiator the JBL Clip won't vibrate even at highest loudness levels.<br />I would regard the <b>Mini Jambox</b> as another alternative, although nothing special it is still able to deliver quite a solid sound and will also sound rounder and more full-bodied than both the TDK and JBL, although the maximum possible volume is quite limited. I have yet to find any better sounding speaker that small. Most of them might be louder for sure, but they just don't sound good at normal listening levels. Of course I welcome any other tips!<br /><br />3 years ago it was still unheard of a beverage can-sized speaker that it would be able to produce any bass down to 60Hz. After the Soundlink Mini which was pretty unique at the time of its release there are meanwhile some other alternatives available. The portable speaker market is evolving pretty quickly. So please just take this personal list as some temporary snapshot which may suddenly turn around with any new speaker released, just like it did, when I heard the Devnon Envaya Mini.<br /><br />There are some interesting speakers on the horizon like the electrostatic BenQ treVolo (formerly known as eVolo) or the Massfidelity Core, there is also some rumor about an upcoming larger and more powerful speaker from Fugoo, but I am not sure if I will be able to receive any of those units for a review. As soon as I can get my hands onto something interesting I will let you know. </p>

With this list I want to show you my personal favorite portable speakers that I use on a regular basis including some explanation why I ha...

Review: Denon Envaya Mini DSB100 - the mini speaker (r)evolution

<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTDKTdPR4yTIOhVZzv_wN5r6y5cjDK3pf-0hKAXm_v91hWVFWvXtR4moto9Dl0cD-VPGwxjMl1hpiSBxpBGXLODudTBMQhjLa1TCRO7pxfb6M2_hQC8fRlB8mTNTYBUPKj7pJtOvIBLRrH/s1600/denon-envaya-mini-iphone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTDKTdPR4yTIOhVZzv_wN5r6y5cjDK3pf-0hKAXm_v91hWVFWvXtR4moto9Dl0cD-VPGwxjMl1hpiSBxpBGXLODudTBMQhjLa1TCRO7pxfb6M2_hQC8fRlB8mTNTYBUPKj7pJtOvIBLRrH/s1600/denon-envaya-mini-iphone.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>  <br />I already reviewed the bigger <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/07/review-sony-srs-x5-vs-denon-envaya.html" target="_blank">Denon Envaya DSB200</a> which was introduced earlier this year and although I found it to be quite a solid performer, it didn't knock my socks off. My favorite speaker by then was the Soundlink Mini which was considerably smaller but managed quite a similar sound. Although both were tuned differently, I couldn't discern any real advantage in sound if I chose the Denon Envaya over the Soundlink Mini with a similar boomy bass and similarly muffled treble, except a slightly higher overall loudness but at the same time ending up with a much larger speaker.<br />Now the smaller brother of the Denon Envaya, the "DSB100" was announced recently without making big waves about it as I only managed to hear about it per chance. I became really curious to hear what Denon managed to sequeeze out of a speaker that small, as they don't seem to be a company to contend themself with little. Let me tell you that this is finally the speaker which indeed managed to blow my mind more than any other portabler speaker I have tried in the last years. Come in to find out why.<br /><br /><a name="more"></a>Some years ago most compact portable speakers up to larger book-sized ones sounded rather tinny and unimpressive like the original JBL onTour (a kind of pocket flask) although it was very popular by then and still got pretty great reviews while in reality it was a bright thin sounding speaker, which I would have never had considered for listening to music. Maybe the Soundmatters FoxL and later the Jambox which was based on the same internals of the FoxL were the first that started a kind of small revolution for the entire Bluetooth speaker market about 5 years ago. The FoxL was pocketable and probably the first speaker which really delivered a bit of a Hifi-sound, at least at that time, but all speakers that small didn't even manage any real bass response, the FoxL on the other hand sounded much larger than the size would suggest, especially when positioned well near a wall or corner. A battery used as passive radiator was pretty unique at that time to overcome space-limits, then suddenly nearly all small speakers started to use some kind of passive radiator to enhance their low-end.<br />Looking back now, the FoxL still sounds rather tinny with a quite low maximum output, compared to what is available now. It sounds balanced overall but is still missing the bass-punch of most current speakers. When Bose finally launched their Soundlink Mini 1 year ago (with 2 opposing passive radiators instead of one) they seem to have shifted physical limits of what was possible to squeeze out of a compact speaker on sound. The Soundlink Mini has a cubature of less than half a liter, but manages to play down to 60Hz. Unfortunately Bose preferred to produce too much bass instead of too little, so the Soundlink Mini suffered from quite an imbalanced sound in the end with boomy bass but muffled upper treble and a stronger lower treble boost instead, to divert from the fact that the Soundlink Mini had hardly any upper treble at all. The overly boosted bass came not without problems as deeper bass notes tended to drone on many songs already at half volume with intermodulation distortion creeping in at higher levels. Despite all the flaws Bose succeded with their concept anyhow, as the Soundlink Mini is still selling like hot cakes. Even I enjoyed it for some months and was really impressed about the full sound it was able to produce, but at the same time I already started to complain about it shortly after I had bought it.<br />Since then other companies tried to jump on the bandwagon and issue their own versions of the Soundlink Mini, but most did not even come close the "original", let alone improve on it. Finally JBL managed to offer a worthy alternative with the <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/09/review-jbl-charge-2-failed-new-benchmark.html">Charge 2</a>, which on the other hand was plagued by some unforeseen <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/09/first-impressions-jbl-charge-2-new-king.html">DSP artefacts</a> and yielded the speaker nearly unusable in many cases or with particular tracks.<br /><br />The key to success for such small speakers is the perfect interaction of acoustics, drivers, manufacturing and probably most important DSP. A small driver will never be able to produce any low frequencies on its own without some further equalizing and dynamic adjustment etc. But many companies still seem to be ignoring that fact and launch new speakers that could sound so much better, but do not because you have to turn them close to maximum in order to get a satisfying response. Listen at lower levels and they will sound like a clock-radio, an extreme example being the <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/07/review-sony-srs-x5-vs-denon-envaya.html" target="_blank">Klipsch KMC-1</a> which didn't manage to sound really much better than the small FoxL until you turned it up to at least half volume. A DSP is necessary to "model" the sound accordingly and push the drivers to their limits, otherwise a speaker that could play down to 150Hz without any distortion at maximum volume, will never sound full-bodied or mature at lower levels, if the bass-amount below 150Hz is not pushed at the same time. <br />Denon seem to be the ones who are well aware of that fact and the Envaya Mini is the best example for perfect interaction of all speaker components including the DSP.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYbg8ANg-xoiz9ciSYDMeQSAjlY1rXIxcWnC58YZbNG8sueSN9hEkD8I0747D4B83aBPWBbuL2pLSICVQfCY7jHACX7LuFxv72lONoQjzKOeV8zKBDcFbeMfsWwXPlTcdnf97EXu-AHq0u/s1600/denon-envaya-mini-hand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYbg8ANg-xoiz9ciSYDMeQSAjlY1rXIxcWnC58YZbNG8sueSN9hEkD8I0747D4B83aBPWBbuL2pLSICVQfCY7jHACX7LuFxv72lONoQjzKOeV8zKBDcFbeMfsWwXPlTcdnf97EXu-AHq0u/s1600/denon-envaya-mini-hand.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Enough history and technical blah, let's have a look what we have here. The Denon Envaya Mini is quite an affordable offer within the confusing Bluetooth speaker market. It is available in either black or white, I chose white because this should be more forgiving on a hot summer day when the sun is burning down on it. Retail price is 99� in Europe, but it is already sold for 89� by some vendors (with some temporary offers for 79�) making it considerably cheaper than the Bose Soundlink Mini, which can be found for as low as 159� right now. I am not quite sure about the price in the US, but it seems to be priced higher with 149$. This would make the speaker indeed more expensive in the US, than in Europe, usually it is just the other way round with a 1$=1� conversion. Initially I really assumed the Envaya Mini would cost 99$. But I think even for 149$ Denon offered a really competitive package here. for 89� it's a steal, and I am astounded they didn't already price it higher from the beginning. It makes such speakers as the UE Miniboom, or Jabra Solmate, or some other no-name junk priced close to 100� really appear embarrassing and obsolete. Maybe this is what Denon intended, but they did it with some real understatement unlike many other companies, which promise "big bass, room-filling sound" but everything you get is only some fart.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4iXUf8NR56fbmIni89rCjEU2ivCHlWH5rqp6-B7AfQUkurJ6ZTHGZEb8VJDb3JvuwG-e8ROBIbvCLGmt5vgyYOO5IF-XzHByZwUWHnxaAgj2vSKqFZfZnYreL90ePwbeA6R2AxOf05t-5/s1600/envaya-insidebox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4iXUf8NR56fbmIni89rCjEU2ivCHlWH5rqp6-B7AfQUkurJ6ZTHGZEb8VJDb3JvuwG-e8ROBIbvCLGmt5vgyYOO5IF-XzHByZwUWHnxaAgj2vSKqFZfZnYreL90ePwbeA6R2AxOf05t-5/s1600/envaya-insidebox.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzH7GGf2YpFAkvaf8hYVwefg-tgAnVCCECvGQWDtjCCzHIhXyD_bmF-LCZrhjHh-_rQOkhVhWtFg3IAY1miU2TkW-KtPn3jy3BUc9HYh00yPTTpQqP_YualgLebKNq-RNQILamSNy8F80t/s1600/envaya-pouch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzH7GGf2YpFAkvaf8hYVwefg-tgAnVCCECvGQWDtjCCzHIhXyD_bmF-LCZrhjHh-_rQOkhVhWtFg3IAY1miU2TkW-KtPn3jy3BUc9HYh00yPTTpQqP_YualgLebKNq-RNQILamSNy8F80t/s1600/envaya-pouch.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Inside the box, which is simple but well designed you will find the speaker and a USB-cable among some quick-guides and security notes. There is no charging unit included, so you will have to use your own. At least it comes with a darkblue plush carrying pouch, which can be even used with the speaker playing from inside, as the used material seems to be quite transparent acoustically. Inside the bag you can let the speaker hang somewhere thanks to the closing-lace.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7xwebdmQMLw78b1rJb1nYMUdMJhYrO6x-U04b5z6TYaUhZYT9-3BCYIe7iOrRLqfn5vvso9TA7BjE3wO2RsEpZ0K109-jpJQ47T1Y5OMEa8BhyQN2-6snzq6QMS3tqlbrNZGzLAEErveE/s1600/envaya-bag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7xwebdmQMLw78b1rJb1nYMUdMJhYrO6x-U04b5z6TYaUhZYT9-3BCYIe7iOrRLqfn5vvso9TA7BjE3wO2RsEpZ0K109-jpJQ47T1Y5OMEa8BhyQN2-6snzq6QMS3tqlbrNZGzLAEErveE/s1600/envaya-bag.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />The Denon Envaya Mini is splash water resistant. This means you cannot submerge it under water, but it doesn't matter if it becomes wet or if you operate it with wet hands etc. (IPX4 certified).<br />It is not quite "mini", but it is really slim, making it appear much more compact than it is. It has about half the diameter of the JBL Charge 2 and it is also slimmer than the Soundlink Mini, but it is a bit longer at the same time.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZZsg7E0sFhBtQAFkHEGnLlZUiTV6WjzC_oTeOgnkv4zuqoaMSYy2fhlQYk1zjqjylxFZAPrL2cadV7mnempBkaba4gSuOk9l3zZOYO4EDp_8llBD5zaxHOSJRQ2Fr4b1opdU9SeLepe4v/s1600/envaya-charge1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZZsg7E0sFhBtQAFkHEGnLlZUiTV6WjzC_oTeOgnkv4zuqoaMSYy2fhlQYk1zjqjylxFZAPrL2cadV7mnempBkaba4gSuOk9l3zZOYO4EDp_8llBD5zaxHOSJRQ2Fr4b1opdU9SeLepe4v/s1600/envaya-charge1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh221NIbOgq02zyjgT3XErrrNS7gIP9GuXHpmM1ykVO2quqLeEQIlvQHV_XdzCPtp3yGzAR_IQXpcycCU_lQxkPt7fUdtA6724OPcPON0AB3tHtYc7CaaV3GAMo7DR0Zv2_qvRZHYasepqE/s1600/envaya-charge0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh221NIbOgq02zyjgT3XErrrNS7gIP9GuXHpmM1ykVO2quqLeEQIlvQHV_XdzCPtp3yGzAR_IQXpcycCU_lQxkPt7fUdtA6724OPcPON0AB3tHtYc7CaaV3GAMo7DR0Zv2_qvRZHYasepqE/s1600/envaya-charge0.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />The measured cubature is exactly 0.43l, which makes the Envaya Mini even slightly smaller than the Soundlink Mini and 160g lighter. The JBL Charge 2 is 70% larger, the original Jambox is 25% smaller, but in contrast to the Jambox, the Envaya Mini could nearly be called pocketable due to the rounded edges if not the added length, because it will stick out of most pockets and obviously laying it on thick when carried inside some trousers.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCsmRvK02oEMWJehe2fG5gpgL14OxjHu0ERvQx2iZU2OgSKnWjpxvFDKqdr7-REkUsSthFQKCPfMEOBqDuEKWwDEjbaGs7stKuTfFA0ZjoVFd7OTiUGafAsF2uwZvyoNP7Xmn6rFhDDQhO/s1600/denon-pocket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCsmRvK02oEMWJehe2fG5gpgL14OxjHu0ERvQx2iZU2OgSKnWjpxvFDKqdr7-REkUsSthFQKCPfMEOBqDuEKWwDEjbaGs7stKuTfFA0ZjoVFd7OTiUGafAsF2uwZvyoNP7Xmn6rFhDDQhO/s1600/denon-pocket.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />The Envaya Mini feels really sturdy and heavy, although it is lighter than most competition including the Soundlink Colour, it makes you think it is heavier maybe because of the massive metal housing, while the Soundlink Colour is a bit plasticky.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitDOxudpiocPa_q6tj0_ApBhkTnFRXJ71cuG9olKQsx1Pouth0AzRBb_RHqryvTxKLwAQ3kpZHqXeUwdssKYRpvy9xogPJAfdTyeNxIQbJcr-du4zAc5jZL0hRJ7mP4gWWpvRgnMdOf-SM/s1600/envaya-mini-soundlink-colour1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitDOxudpiocPa_q6tj0_ApBhkTnFRXJ71cuG9olKQsx1Pouth0AzRBb_RHqryvTxKLwAQ3kpZHqXeUwdssKYRpvy9xogPJAfdTyeNxIQbJcr-du4zAc5jZL0hRJ7mP4gWWpvRgnMdOf-SM/s1600/envaya-mini-soundlink-colour1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1abr_3Y-io2C9L_ZlB0qrMzlzxgKod0Dhf44kg2MduYMfqCzkitEsiBLGPA6eBc_b1uuEbFhaoGv93VgYDV0wXDeKdTUo_Uz4Y9iJ4KS9Qz1L1AxbfygjvkxQH0g46MvBRW4SmTs7VtMW/s1600/envaya-mini-soundlink-colour2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1abr_3Y-io2C9L_ZlB0qrMzlzxgKod0Dhf44kg2MduYMfqCzkitEsiBLGPA6eBc_b1uuEbFhaoGv93VgYDV0wXDeKdTUo_Uz4Y9iJ4KS9Qz1L1AxbfygjvkxQH0g46MvBRW4SmTs7VtMW/s1600/envaya-mini-soundlink-colour2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />The Denon Envaya Mini doesn't give the impression of being easily damaged or dented, even without any protection, if you are still unsure, just use the included pouch before tossing it inside a bag. The speaker grille is a thick metal part surrounding the entire speaker which yields just slightly and only with some stronger pressure. Both speaker ends are covered by plastic/rubber caps containing the ports at the left side (microUSB for charging and 3.5mm auxiliary input) covered by a protective flap.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYiUHyl2i2R_QNkKJKupFDIcWrKs29KyMxpMkqi9sv1TWT5tiLBCx-_Bko-XeBMvxXKfDU44juuXQPOqs2EAkrlx28mXLnzpadkLeR4-aBlrll5QO5NYvzbJCABJ032kQ6qNbAnEXtRkLI/s1600/envaya-mini-ports.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYiUHyl2i2R_QNkKJKupFDIcWrKs29KyMxpMkqi9sv1TWT5tiLBCx-_Bko-XeBMvxXKfDU44juuXQPOqs2EAkrlx28mXLnzpadkLeR4-aBlrll5QO5NYvzbJCABJ032kQ6qNbAnEXtRkLI/s1600/envaya-mini-ports.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />At the left you'll also find a battery life indicator, which will light up for some seconds when the additional battery button is pressed. There are 3 distinct charging levels available, green will symbolize 70-100%, orange 30-69% and red a level below 30%. The light will start flashing red continously if the battery reaches 5%.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV4h9TLSNzFHss-3V8e8CXchEF4F_zgTFJd9bfB6ys5OrhGxtTSz6kJ7PvqpMy29IQIFE2ZDm3ykqGIs52aJ33kePOuX12JZUf1fbrZIOg8MGCTsEtyWR3bnVlN2z2FGG7-UFkbwX6rEw2/s1600/envaya-mini-controls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV4h9TLSNzFHss-3V8e8CXchEF4F_zgTFJd9bfB6ys5OrhGxtTSz6kJ7PvqpMy29IQIFE2ZDm3ykqGIs52aJ33kePOuX12JZUf1fbrZIOg8MGCTsEtyWR3bnVlN2z2FGG7-UFkbwX6rEw2/s1600/envaya-mini-controls.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />All main speaker controls are at the right side with a very simple layout. Just 4 buttons, one of them being the power-button which has to be kept pressed for about 2 seconds in order to turn the speaker on or off. Below is the play/pause button which can also be used for answering calls or skipping tracks forward with a double press and backwards with a tripple press. The play/pause button also acts as pairing button when kept pressed for some seconds. The volume-buttons are differently cuvred, so you should feel where to press to increase volume without the need to look at it. The buttons need some stronger force to be operated as they are on the speaker-side you'll need a second hand to hold the speaker firm in order to avoid pushing it around, or just grab it with your hand and do all adjustments holding it in your hand. Volume control is not mirrored between streaming device and speaker and the Denon has 100 distinct volume steps just like all Bose speakers. Even volume levels are quite comparable which means the Denon playing at 60%, will play more or less at the same loudness as the Bose at 60%. Not only that but also status tones seem to be inspired by Bose. When a Bluetooth connection is established you will hear nearly the same tone you always get on all Soundlinks too. Apart from that coincidence Denon doesn't try to copy Bose, but rather improve on that and do their own thing which is good.<br />The Envaya Mini will also play an own power on/off tone, a kind of chord-arpeggio which is a bit annyoing as it is too loud for my taste. I would have preferred it completely without any tones, but obviously I will have to live with it, at least it doesn't talk or play cheesy melodies.<br />The Denon Envaya Mini can connect to 2 devices simultanously. The first device has to stop playback though, in order to enable the second device for playback. The new device cannot take over the playback of the previous one on its own. Unfortunately the Bluetooth pairing logic as a whole is not very aggressive. The Envaya Mini always tries to connect to the latest device only unlike the Bose Soundlink Colour for example which will always automatically connect to both found devices simultaneously. On the Denon you have to force the connection in case it was connected to another device before, it wil simply ignore all other already paired devices. It might be different with pairing through NFC, but thanks to Apple I cannot talk much about that. According to the manual the speaker will even automatically wake up from standby if you tap your NFC-enabled phone on the NFC-logo.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4SAuUXzeMjw2PAXvNMo2xJO3xha8FWrw75w8wIyQqnzmgRbzCrRg7hUENIdTCIkGrhaJc0Sab5bk__HaicPj_VqnGJqnSAps3V6mqEcjRnFigwegKi3Xm-j9QpRPDC4MYyRLqmc_GSQE6/s1600/envaya-mini-nfc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4SAuUXzeMjw2PAXvNMo2xJO3xha8FWrw75w8wIyQqnzmgRbzCrRg7hUENIdTCIkGrhaJc0Sab5bk__HaicPj_VqnGJqnSAps3V6mqEcjRnFigwegKi3Xm-j9QpRPDC4MYyRLqmc_GSQE6/s1600/envaya-mini-nfc.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />The speaker will auto turn off after 15 minutes if no Bluetooth stream is currently being played. When connected to Aux, it will turn off after 8 hours, this can be disabled completely by holding the battery button for 3 seconds assumed an aux-wire is attached and might be helpful if you want to use the speaker as an alarm with your phone attached to it. Attaching an aux-wire will disable Bluetooth, there's no need for any further Aux-button.<br />It seems though, there is a small bug with the auto power-off function. Normally the speaker will turn off on its own after 15 minutes when Bluetooth streaming has stopped. But when 2 devices are connected to the Envaya Mini while the connection to the first device is lost, it will neverthelesss jump into power-off mode, even when the second device is still currently streaming. <br /><br />The Denon Envaya Mini supports all possible Bluetooth codecs including AAC and most important for all Hifi-junkies: low-latency AptX for nearly lossless streaming. I found Bluetooth connection to be extremely stable (maybe even best in class) and with the speaker standing in our most distant room, I could stream music from within all other rooms with only some occasional hiccups. The <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/10/review-infinity-one-premium-wireless.html">Infinity One</a> already struggles at half that distance. Unfortunately there is no support for wireless stereo pairing with another Envaya Mini. This would be really great, but at least you can renumber their names with some button-presses if you intend to own a couple of them for not to confuse them inside your Bluetooth-list. They can be named Envaya Mini up to Envaya Mini4. A pretty unique but definitely helpful function if you really own more devices. I have two TDK A12 for example and I never know which one to select from my list in order to connect to it.<br /><br />Battery-life is claimed to be up to 10 hours. I made some tests and got close to 9 hours at exactly half volume, which means at volume step 50/100. I also did a test at maximum volume and the speaker turned off on its own after 2:40 hours. Some others report 5-6 hours at higher levels around 2/3, but please keep in mind that for best results you have to control the volume directly from the speaker. Some tend to keep the speaker at maximum all the time and control the volume directly from their streaming device, although this doesn't have any effect on sound quality in case of the Denon Envaya Mini, it has a big influence on battery life and I had done some tests to prove this. At volume step 50/100 I go exactly 8:33 until it turned off on its own, for my next test I left the speaker at 100/100 but reduced the volume on my iPhone instead to get exactly the same loudness as before (I double-checked the loudness with another unit that was set to 50/100). With the Denon Envaya Mini maxed out I suddenly only got 5:11. Just the fact that the speaker was playing at maximum, while still delivering the same medium loudness as before reduced the battery life by 40%. If you remember this, you can definitely improve your battery life, as more and more owners are complaining that they can't reach more than 5 hours at low levels, but I am sure they simply keep their speakers at maximum all the time.<br />Although actual battery life does not sound impressive it is much better than the 50 minutes I got from the <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/11/review-bang-olufsen-beoplay-a2-sounding.html">B&O Beoplay A2</a> when it suddenly dropped the volume to half. The Denon does not reduce volume on its own, nor does the sound deteriorate in any way when the battery becomes low, it will play at full-blast until it turns off. Charging took 2 hours with a 5V/2.4A USB-charger. According to the manual it should take around 2:30 hours with a 2A charger.<br />Battery life is definitely not hopeless, but be prepared to charge the speaker every day if you intend to use it often especially at higher levels, and trust me, you will! You won't get the impressive battery-life of the Fugoo, which I only charged once a week with similar usage neither that of the JBL Charge 2 which also has a stronger battery built in as it can also charge external devices. Thanks to its standardized 5V input, you can always charge the Envaya Mini with some external power pack in case of emergency or simply plug it into your computer, or charge it in your car. So far I didn't encounter any battery problems under normal usage, but I noticed that the red blinking light started to appear earlier than I expected.<br /><br />I think I managed to cover all the basic stuff and as you can see there's nothing exceptional here, therefore let's directly jump over and discuss the sound qualities the Denon Envaya Mini has to offer.<br />Describing the sound with just one word might not be easy, but I would probably use the term: stunning.<br />Of course the sound of this minuscule speaker cannot compete with any full-grown stereosystem, but given the limits it is impressive what Denon managed to squeeze out of it with just 2 4cm full-range drivers and a twice as large single passive radiator. I am not sure how many different speakers I have heard during the last years, but the Denon is one of the few which really managed to make me speechless. It does not have the strongest bass, nor is it loudest etc. It is just the fact that it is tuned so well, close to perfect, that really makes you smile, I guess the Envaya Mini is the first mini speaker that can really deliver a close to hifi-experience within its limits of course.<br />The Envaya Mini is not deficient on bass by no means, especially not considering its size or when looking at most other similar offerings, but don't expect the same unnatural bass-boost as that from the Bose Soundlink Mini. Also the JBL Charge 2 or the Sony SRS-X3 will sound more full-bodied, but unlike with the JBL Charge 2 wich has a quite natural sounding bass response, you will hear that the bass of the Sony and the Bose is just bloated, but not very precise or much deeper. The Envaya Mini has a very flat response down to 80Hz and rolls-off stronger below that. It gives you the impression of a grown up speaker unlike all other small speakers, which just continue to sound like clock-radios. Bose and Sony seem to have managed a deeper bass response, but in reality it is just a stronger overall boost. I guess Bose had to boost bass that much in order to make it extend deeper, while Denon on the other hand managed a similarly deep roll-off like the others but at the same time they kept the bass pretty flat. It sounds just "true", not too much not too little, it integrates with the music and doesn't play along or even drown out the mids.<br />Bass could be always deeper of course, but then such a nice overall tuning probably won't be possible inside a such small speaker. I really welcome this flat response, as the Envaya Mini sounds considerably more balanced than the bigger Denon Envaya, which had a similar bass-boost as Bose, and treble response was far not as impressive as from its little brother, because it is not only bass-response which is pretty solid for the size, the Envaya Mini continues to sound good up to the highest frequencies with only some slight boost at around 15khz. Treble is crystal clear particularly when listened exactly on-axis. The speaker drivers are tilted slightly upwards, thus allowing better focusing of treble in case the speaker is placed on a table below with the listener sitting above. Although treble is quite directional, the Envaya Mini is not completely lost if not listened directly on axis. You will lost all the sparkle, but it will still sound pretty clear even from a higher angle. The Bose Soundlink Mini was totally hopeless in this regard, although the JBL Charge 2 has still a less directional treble response. <br />I am quite sure there will be enough people who will complain about lack of bass, while others will complain because of too much like my wife who claims it to be too bassheavy for her taste. I think it is just spot on, if you need better bass (not more) then you will have to look at larger sizes like the B&O Beoplay A2 for example.<br />When I turned up the Denon Envaya Mini for the first time and listened to some familar recordings, I immediately felt "at home", it sounded right and I didn't even bother listening closer to find some inconsitencies. I liked the sound that much that I continued listening to it until 4:00 in the morning, because I wanted to know how this or that song would sound through it. I couldn't stop being impressed when looking at the small box standing in front of me that was able to produce such a big sound. I also tested lots of different placements and found the Envaya Mini to be not very critical regarding positioning. It doesn't have the tendency to sound boomy even at the most disadvantageous places.<br /><br />Thanks to the single passive radiator at the back the Envaya Mini tends to vibrate quite a lot. Usually this shouldn't be a problem though, as the rubber-feet at the bottom absorb all unwanted vibration really well. Even at highest levels with the bass heaviest tracks the Envaya Mini shouldn't rattle around against the base. The vibration can become really strong and could probably compete with any women's toy, but it is remarkable that the speaker still seems to have everything under control, without any unwanted rumbling inside or outside the body. When cranking the FoxL to the max (which of course doesn't even reach the same loudness of the Envaya Mini) you could easily feel that it was already far beyond its limits with the mass of the passive radiator taking control over the whole speaker. The Envaya Mini doesn't creep or dance around, even when I tired putting it on some slippery table it stayed still unlike the Fugoo which had a slight bias towards creeping, despite having 2 opposing passive radiators built in, obviously they were not congruent with each other. Keep in mind to place the speaker directly on its rubber feet without touching other objects, otherwise it will rattle against them. Thanks to the feet the speaker is elavated a little bit, but if you try putting it on some bumpy ground, the main body might still touch the base at some parts and start rattling or consequently becoming scratched. I would avoid putting it directly on concrete without any additional supporting cloth or material. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimF8gXuwHSztKcyBkAHtuZA-K0j1HnOi88_vxC6evg6v9uIsC2C50i_V4VBr7Q915HHgMJJbBpFF4MRUHMLjzbeI2z5MstMFsj2vre1enmTFpreMxU7mYKsPkJ995uN91WGMTADhiiteIc/s1600/envaya-mini-feet1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimF8gXuwHSztKcyBkAHtuZA-K0j1HnOi88_vxC6evg6v9uIsC2C50i_V4VBr7Q915HHgMJJbBpFF4MRUHMLjzbeI2z5MstMFsj2vre1enmTFpreMxU7mYKsPkJ995uN91WGMTADhiiteIc/s1600/envaya-mini-feet1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoDM5YNJKYRPnG_3f5AmaFNwtddKnj65YR6dqffgXoON4wuPO-HANCJoG2S6qMhja7Dk4uHIhgLs3esO135yODih18QqEvuRfbmfwbCJpOoOf-jzQelOsNX8GE2IVoqiaT0PKeFB9MbfFe/s1600/envaya-mini-feet2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoDM5YNJKYRPnG_3f5AmaFNwtddKnj65YR6dqffgXoON4wuPO-HANCJoG2S6qMhja7Dk4uHIhgLs3esO135yODih18QqEvuRfbmfwbCJpOoOf-jzQelOsNX8GE2IVoqiaT0PKeFB9MbfFe/s1600/envaya-mini-feet2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />To be sure I also did some heavy back and forth switching between different speakers during my extensive listening tests only to discover that the Denon held up pretty well with even the larger and much more expensive ones. Just on bass-response alone the Envaya Mini is on par or better than most bigger popular speakers like the TDK A33 or Soundblaster Roar, funnily it even outperforms the <a href="http://oluvsgadgets.blogspot.co.at/2014/11/review-bowers-wilkins-t7-premium-sound.html">B&W T7</a> if you listen at normal levels, it cannot compete in overall loudness of course. In fact I would claim the Envaya Mini to sound considerably more impressive than most speakers in the class above let alone its own class including toys like Jabra Solemate, or <a href="http://youtu.be/uTS6hnmgupE" target="_blank">Teufel Bamster</a> etc, which just cannot compete in any way with the Denon Envaya Mini soundwise.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_xETlPPMrmR9ekcv4LRxxcr0VVFaEXFSCaKKBkqnTdb4V9qh3NyyspPq4EnRsi7MqjqyXT4oaj22mtDlmFLwgrsTOPi2cadAk4I5aL_EIrbjxrjcwtuYqQy4MBaZtkxdwR0bal5Ynpr0B/s1600/envaya-fugoo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_xETlPPMrmR9ekcv4LRxxcr0VVFaEXFSCaKKBkqnTdb4V9qh3NyyspPq4EnRsi7MqjqyXT4oaj22mtDlmFLwgrsTOPi2cadAk4I5aL_EIrbjxrjcwtuYqQy4MBaZtkxdwR0bal5Ynpr0B/s1600/envaya-fugoo.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />So far I really liked the Fugoo quite a lot, not only because of sound, but as overall package it was quite an appealing speaker, including great battery life, ruggedness etc. But putting the Denon Envaya Mini against the Fugoo, you will immediately notice that something's not right with the frequency response of the Fugoo. The Denon will sound more mature, more natural and will play considerably louder without any distortion. There is some serious bass-punch noticeable with the Denon, while the Fugoo despite having a nice deep bass thump is rather lacking on overall bass-amount, especially if you start increasing volume past half. The Denon was impressive because regardless of loudness level it always remained controlled. It sounded full-bodied and warm at lowest levels, and it sounded competent at maximum volume without even the slightest hints of distortion or any noticeable dynamics compression. I am not sure if it really applies any kind of loudness-compensation, but regardless how soft or loud I tried to listen, it never became anemic sounding. I did not notice any intermodulation distortion either, the Denon will sound the same at low levels as it does at high levels with only some bass-reduction but it will never give you the impression as if it was already close or beyond its natural limits. Although the Bose Soundlink Mini might sound more serious on the first listen, you will quickly notice problems with low frequency distortion including some intermodulation into the higher frequencies at half volume, while the Denon will remain perfectly clean, I am not even mentioning the rather muffled treble response of the Bose. The Envaya Mini can even compete with the 3 times bigger Infinity One to some degree. The Infinity One has a stronger bass punch for sure (it has a similar bass-boost as Bose), but the Denon sounds more natural and even larger in regard to its sound-stage.<br />I didn't mention it yet, but the Envaya Mini is probably the first speaker that small, which really manages some kind of decent stereo separation. On many recordings you will get the impression as if some instruments were coming beyond the speaker edges. The effect is not as pronounced as "Liveaudio" from the Jambox, but it is completely artefact-free, while Liveaudio only sounds good when listened exactly on-axis, otherwise it becomes quite weird. There is some additional DSP processing going on here for sure, it just doesn't sound that clumsy as all the other simple phase-shifting algorithms I have heard before. It depends a lot on positioning and distance from the speaker, I found around 1.5m to be the sweet-spot for the effect to become noticeable, and it will also work when the speaker is not aimed directly at the listener, sometimes I even found it to sound better when the speaker was offset or turned away slightly just some degrees. Some recordings will really sound huge and broad when played through the Envaya Mini. Some can give you the impression as if the instruments were floating inside the room. This is probably the reason, why the Envaya Mini is longer than most other speakers. The drivers are placed quite close to the speaker edges to allow better stereo separation together with the alleged stereo broadening algorithm which seems to add to the effect, the speaker really does a great job to offer some stronger stereo width. I've heard various different stereo algorithms, from the simple phase-shifting stuff up to more sophisticated crosstalk cancellation filters like "Liveaudio" from the Jambox. The algorithms used by Denon (I assume something from Maxxaudio) are really decent to that degree that you won't notice any negative impact, while the positive effect is easily noticeable. I am not quite sure what kind of "magic" is going on here, but it definitely works. It is just a pleasure to listen to. A Bose Soundlink Colour will resemble more of a mono kitchen radio if placed against the Denon Envaya. Although the JBL Charge 2 sounds considerably better than the Soundlink Colour (if we forget about the sound processing artefacts for a minute), but if you listen to both JBL and Denon, the Denon will give you that depth and width to the sound, that is totally missing from the JBL. The Infinity One manages slightly better stereo imaging, but is still not quite close to the Denon Envaya Mini.<br /><br />If we recall that the Enaya Mini has just 2 drivers and a single passive radiator inside, one has to wonder how they managed to squeeze out that amount of sound. The DSP as such seems to be quite sophisticated, but apart from the main DSP acting as control center, the Envaya Mini has some additional sound enhancing algorithms included to improve bass response, increase stereo width and extend treble response. The bass you will hear is not all "real bass". I am pretty sure that the drivers have their limit at around 80hz, but on the Envaya Mini you will even hear much deeper notes. The idea behind this is based on a psychoacoustic effect called "missing fundamental". The algorithm (most likely Maxxbass) is adding virtual pitches to the original signal which fools the brain of hearing a deeper note which in reality is not present. This seems to work pretty well on the Envaya Mini as I could indeed hear deeper notes on some particular recordings that are usually missing when played through many other similar speakers, although according to the measurements their bass response should reach even deeper than that of the Envaya Mini. Demanding ears might probably hear some side-effects of this as bass reproduction is not 100% clean and the punch of the fundamental is missing. You'll hear the tone or are rather fooled of hearing it, but the real punch you would usually get from the fundamental is just not there compared to other speakers that really manage to play that deep. It is still a very impressive result what Denon achieved here, the same goes for the stereo widening algorithm and the treble enhancer which work together pretty well and manage to sound convincing without being noticed as some "fake"-effects.<br />In contrast to many other speakers the DSP inside the Envaya Mini seems to be completely dynamic. <br />As we already know the Denon Envaya Mini doesn't have mirrored volume control, which means you can control volume from both the speaker and from your streaming device. Doing so with any Bose speaker or especially with the Sony SRS-X3 and even JBL Charge 2 will result in strange changes in sound, depending if you max out the speaker or max out the player gain. Keeping the speaker volume close to maximum while keeping the player low, will make many other speakers sound strange as the dynamic sound adjustments are not dynamic at all, but rather seem to be bond to the actual volume step. The speakers expect high loudness and will turn down bass instead, although in reality the loudness is still low, because the player-volume is kept to the minimum. On the Envaya Mini the DSP doesn't care what gain it gets in, because the DSP seems to analyse the input-signal in real-time and adjusts bass-amount according to the estimated loudness level, thus the Envaya Mini will sound exactly the same if you turn it up to maximum while keeping the player-volume down and vice versa. You could indeed leave the Envaya Mini just at the highest possible volume step and then adjust the volume directly from the player but as we have seen this has a huge negative impact on battery life, therefore it would have been favorable if they had implemented synced volume control between speaker and player to get the best out of the Envaya Mini.<br />I guess the DSP forces the drivers to their maximum possible excurison all the time before reaching distortion. This way they manage to make the sound full-bodied at low levels while still keeping control of everything at highest level. I only noticed some slight rattling from the passive radiator with really heavy mastered stuff. I did not manage to make the Denon Envaya Mini distort at all with most of my usual test-tracks which left me quite impressed. Other speakers start appying noticeable compression or overall volume starts to fluctuate depending on the amount of bass, not so with the Envaya Mini, as it won't give you the impression it is reaching its limits.<br />I was curious to see where the limits really were and listened a lot. One thing I noticed was that you might get some scratching or crackling if you increase volume on the speaker quickly when some music is playing. Obviously the DSP lags slightly behing the set volume level which might result in some short distortion. Another thing I noticed was that if the speaker was set to exactly 60% the DSP seemed to overshoot the mark because some slight distortion started to appear here as well although it went away again if you increased or lowered volume 1-2 notches. This is a very narrow volume-range where the sound can start sounding clipped and usually you will really have to seek this particular level, as it is only 2-3 steps wide where those problems might occur, therefore I won't call it problems at all, unlike the Beoplay A2, which suffered from considerable distortion through the whole upper half of its volume range.<br />Sometimes the Envaya Mini also seemed to swallow some beats of particular tracks, especially the first 10 seconds of a track were affected. I am not sure if really the speaker is to blame, or the iPhone or whatever, but this never happened with any other speaker so far. It was really weird, but it seemed as if the DSP was getting confused by some new unexpected content in the music. For example when a song started only with a piano sound, the speaker started cutting off some notes as soon as the drums kicked in later on. I tried playing the same tracks through many different speakers but only the Denon repeatedly didn't manage to play those tracks without hiccups, just when I reset the speaker by pressing the play and battery button at the same time, the song was finally played fine. <br /><br />To bring everything into some context I prepared several comparison videos of course. I asked myself why putting the Denon Envaya Mini against some overpriced low-end competition, if we could compare it against the real big boys. Therefore I wanted to show you how the Envaya Mini fares against the much larger Sonos Play:1 which is not portable at all but known for its pretty natural frequency response:<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="//www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/d1rZBgFyre4?rel=0&showinfo=0" width="853"></iframe></div><br />Of course the Envaya Mini cannot compete in both bass response nor overall loudness of the Play:1, but ignoring the differences in bass, sometimes it is hard to tell which one is actually playing, both play tonally on a pretty high level with a very natural response.<br />The Infinity One might be currently one of the best sounding portable speakers available. It is around 3 times larger and much heavier but the Denon Envaya Mini holds up pretty well with what I would call more natural sound than the Infinity One, albeit missing the deeper bass punch of the Infinity One. But when just looking at the difference in size and price, it is hard not to remain impressed by the Denon.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="//www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/L_Li1LY0Z4A?rel=0&showinfo=0" width="853"></iframe></div><br />The same goes for the JBL Charge 2, which manages a punchier bass although with some really strong distortion on the bass-drum. I still wonder how the engineers could overlook such a flaw. What kind of music do they use for testing, or do they just play pink-noise whole the time?<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="//www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Hi3t84UAoQE?rel=0&showinfo=0" width="853"></iframe> <br /><br />Of course we should also try how the Envaya Mini compares to the Fugoo, or to the similar priced Mini Jambox, or the highly acclaimed FoxL DASH7 which is much more expensive than the Denon, that's why I won't lose more further words about this (you can also find some more comparisons on my <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/clavinetjunkie/videos" target="_blank">YouTube channel</a>): <br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="//www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/haiVRVHqrsg?rel=0&showinfo=0" width="853"></iframe> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="//www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/CBwXhzaO3ic?rel=0&showinfo=0" width="853"></iframe> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="//www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Y-Dy350eKBo?rel=0&showinfo=0" width="853"></iframe> <br /><br />We can also have a look at some frequency response measurements. Let's start with an in-room response from 50cm at different loudness levels. As you can see from the measurements there is hardly any increase in output above 50% volume which is just humbug because the speaker can play much louder, but it seems as if the DSP was preventing any louder output if fed with some sine-sweeps only (smoothed with 1/6 octave).<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikprrUrZqJnj5NIZiHa-3ZGStZQXZkUgQlT4xfAuBgLASEEYI6Fv1f1QgQ1G_-ckzUl0RknNO4iHceY8Bi5Hu5MkiG_rbCgrHX8cW8sKW6Zkzo8nGWmFjNmioQ63FfZ7HCUaP9424PoipU/s1600/denon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikprrUrZqJnj5NIZiHa-3ZGStZQXZkUgQlT4xfAuBgLASEEYI6Fv1f1QgQ1G_-ckzUl0RknNO4iHceY8Bi5Hu5MkiG_rbCgrHX8cW8sKW6Zkzo8nGWmFjNmioQ63FfZ7HCUaP9424PoipU/s1600/denon.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />A close-up measurement from 10cm to reduce room-influence as much as possible taken from the speaker-center shows a pretty linear frequency response with a slight upwards tilt towards bass and roll-off below 80Hz (unsmoothed). I think this looks pretty examplary (especially for a speaker with such a small cubature) with only some stronger inconsitencies above 15kHz:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMsytogtOEknbbHw05tbu9Dtqh-PaKOwouUBESnYTUj3kNN-EmHMCEcgmpbroZsER6P6k0UshKeLOI85j1rNFilk4rHhPbPdEd9wqUdJxI2p7uaCRT7wpjeqU7YbglhsEkQ8GbUxXDK2uR/s1600/denon-10cm.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMsytogtOEknbbHw05tbu9Dtqh-PaKOwouUBESnYTUj3kNN-EmHMCEcgmpbroZsER6P6k0UshKeLOI85j1rNFilk4rHhPbPdEd9wqUdJxI2p7uaCRT7wpjeqU7YbglhsEkQ8GbUxXDK2uR/s1600/denon-10cm.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />It might be funny to compare the Denon's frequency response to some other speakers. Most will probably be interested how the Envaya Mini compares to the Bose Soundlink Mini and I think it is pretty obvious that the bass of the Bose is not really deeper just more boosted, let alone the strange lower treble boost, which is nearly 10dB louder compared to a flat response:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiF5I772I6bQOS_y0bRHmOjSjOaHQVhypo4fKDWFGnjGaOmEopmng6vDbVRUhomxNU7uTnGEmwnLjr3TT5rtXi0zygp9V180iVtqBxpHP1zfoGcSmMnKiJJNUYqyCa-s5BnJs2p0vmOaB1/s1600/denon-bose-slmini.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiF5I772I6bQOS_y0bRHmOjSjOaHQVhypo4fKDWFGnjGaOmEopmng6vDbVRUhomxNU7uTnGEmwnLjr3TT5rtXi0zygp9V180iVtqBxpHP1zfoGcSmMnKiJJNUYqyCa-s5BnJs2p0vmOaB1/s1600/denon-bose-slmini.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />I thought it might be interesting to compare the Envaya Mini against the B&W T7 (designed and engineered in the UK), a speaker that is much larger and more than 3 times as expensive and I think it is understandable why I found the performance of the T7 pretty subpar for the asked price (you are definitely paying for the great Micro Matrix here):<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXCm3oNkWsl6aJM7YZrbqNBUE8zObLr5ONFkqlaSQ8Q_nQfCo7f3r0DilBRz4VesqPul0Sq9nGWDbnb5rv80o5zyaxSDm5dy-duP4ReDD_KN-qwXw7c_xqmwg4HuX-lovZm3bKTd3KZh9D/s1600/denon-bw.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXCm3oNkWsl6aJM7YZrbqNBUE8zObLr5ONFkqlaSQ8Q_nQfCo7f3r0DilBRz4VesqPul0Sq9nGWDbnb5rv80o5zyaxSDm5dy-duP4ReDD_KN-qwXw7c_xqmwg4HuX-lovZm3bKTd3KZh9D/s1600/denon-bw.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />Although the Fugoo is not a bad sounding speaker, I think the measurement reveals that the Envaya Mini is more true to the original signal than the Fugoo which doesn't have the same strong bass response, nor does it play that flat:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik2mN1E61US5_DGuDZYCGRpRxc4OfihKuTavfCiLEcVVw6OOB4Iwu1ft89UIpRMVTjLDaBgHUjhhCKksdTfME5OAU-Z48Ke9oJbmOzY8VcrJqgMClb3Nkdp4-vOSJTx4na6tcastjCdT2I/s1600/denon-fugoo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik2mN1E61US5_DGuDZYCGRpRxc4OfihKuTavfCiLEcVVw6OOB4Iwu1ft89UIpRMVTjLDaBgHUjhhCKksdTfME5OAU-Z48Ke9oJbmOzY8VcrJqgMClb3Nkdp4-vOSJTx4na6tcastjCdT2I/s1600/denon-fugoo.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />Just for fun a comparison of the measurements for the Envaya Mini and the UE Boom, which is still claimed to offer spectacular sound by some self-proclaimed "audiophiles", and particularly because it got all "5 stars" in the <a href="http://www.whathifi.com/ultimate-ears/boom/review" target="_blank">WhatHifi review</a>. For the UE Boom I provided the front measurement where you would actually hear both drivers and the measurement of the right side, where you would only hear the right channel (so much for the spectacular audiophile qualities of the UE Boom, just beware of the 300Hz hump):<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1l0E9wjuwCKJ1Cs6joKq2w3_kRaZTEFkpqmrV6XCSdowRjDoCgryJUMfrSX7NBMepuJnn6iT2Ji27_PQ9-MGgtLlOJUVFeI2IKFzRE3qj6642jNihapexO7AGMbG0Or4ZhjkOXIBt3ukP/s1600/denon-ue.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1l0E9wjuwCKJ1Cs6joKq2w3_kRaZTEFkpqmrV6XCSdowRjDoCgryJUMfrSX7NBMepuJnn6iT2Ji27_PQ9-MGgtLlOJUVFeI2IKFzRE3qj6642jNihapexO7AGMbG0Or4ZhjkOXIBt3ukP/s1600/denon-ue.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><u>Bottom line:</u><br />The Denon Envaya Mini left me quite impressed indeed. Regardless what I was trying to play through it, it sounded great at any volume level. I think the Envaya Mini is currently by far the best compromise between sound and size if you want to stay as compact as possible with the best sound possible. There are definitely similar speakers with more bass, but they just don't sound that good overall lacking in either treble response, or fighting with other issues. When hearing the Denon Envaya Mini it finally led me to the decision to sell all the other junk I was owning, including JBL Charge 2, Sony SRS-X3, Fugoo, Mini Jambox, FoxL DASH7 etc.as the Envaya Mini does nearly everything better than the others while still being perfectly portable. It is larger than a Mini Jambox or other smaller pocketable speakers, but it produces such a better sound, that I am willing to bear the extra bulk and weight. Just be prepared to charge it every 5-6 hours if you really like it louder, as the battery seems to be the only weakness of this otherwise close to perfect speaker.<br />The Denon Envaya Mini is definitely my current reference for any portable speaker below 100� sized that small, although it can also easily outperform much larger speakers, albeit without reaching their loudness of course. If you really need more loudness or more power you will probably still need another speaker, in my case it's the Infinity One, but for everyday usage I meanwhile even prefer the Denon, as it sounds pretty close to the Infinity One with slightly less bass but a more natural overall sound. I have yet to hear a better sounding speaker that small, let alone one that is able to offer some real stereo separation. Denon really raised the bar with this one, offering it much lower than most competition makes the other speakers look and sound pretty bad now.<br />The Denon Envaya Mini is to the whole Bluetooth speaker market what the Sonos Play:1 is to the stationary wireless speaker market and earns my highest recommendation for anyone being serious about music to be taken with you! <br /><br /><br /><b>+ great design, high build quality</b><br /><b>+ small, light and perfectly portable</b> <br /><b>+ splash water resistant</b><br /><b>+ impressive and full-bodied sound at all loudness levels</b><br /><b>+ very natural sound with nice treble definition (on axis) </b><br /><b>+ pretty loud without distortion nor compression</b><br /><b>+ powerful bass, never boomy nor weak</b><br /><b>+ wide stereo imaging </b><br /><b>+ great Bluetooth range </b><br /><b>+ multipoint pairing with 2 devices simultaneously </b><br /><b>+ track control through the speaker</b><br /><b>+ carrying pouch included </b><br /><b><br /></b><b><br /></b><b>- upper treble quite directional </b><br /><b>- battery life not very reliable at higher levels</b><br /><b>- significant battery life drop when speaker is kept at maximum while playing low level content </b><br /><b>- no synced volume control </b><br /><b>- no wireless stereo-pairing with another speaker </b><br /><b>- automatic connection to the latest device only </b><br /><b>- needs a flat base to really stay still and avoid rattling</b><br /><b>- some occasional and unexplainable hiccups during playback</b><br /><br /></p>

  I already reviewed the bigger Denon Envaya DSB200 which was introduced earlier this year and although I found it to be quite a solid perf...