Denon Envaya Mini nur heute um 69€ auf amazon.de

 

Heute gibt es den Denon Envaya Mini in schwarz und weiss im deutschen Amazon store um 69€ im Angebot. Schnell zuschlagen, da dieses Angebot nur heute (16.12.2015) gilt.

Der Denon Envaya Mini zählt in seiner Klasse meiner Meinung nach klanglich immer noch zur Spitze, auch wenn sich mittlerweile einige interessante Alternativen in diesem Preisbereich tummeln: Klipsch GiGAnker A3143 Premium Stereo Bluetooth 4.0 SpeakerAudio Dynamix Atom V3 

Ja selbst gegen den heiss erwarteten RIVA S schlägt sich der Denon wacker bei weniger als 1/3 des Preises: 

Fugoo XL - donation campaign and giveaway raffle

With every new video that I post I am asked why I don't review the Fugoo XL and compare it to the JBL Xtreme. The answer is simple: because I couldn't get a unit yet.
I have been in contact with Fugoo for some time now back when the small Fugoo was released in Europe last year. I also asked about the Fugoo XL immediately when it was announced the first time and was originally promised to receive a unit as soon as they became available. Unfortunately now when they have been finally out in the U.S. for nearly one month, I didn't get any answer about a possible unit anymore. I might have the chance to grab one when it becomes available in Europe which is supposed to be at the end of November, but this may be a bit late for many who are interested and still not sure which speaker will suite them more: Fugoo XL or JBL Xtreme!

As I want to stay as unbiased as possible for my reviews and not count on charities from companies who in return expect positive reviews for their free review samples, I would prefer to buy the speaker on my own. Unfortunately currently I cannot afford buying the Fugoo XL as it is available only in the U.S so far. It would cost me around 480€ including shipping costs, taxes and customs fees to get it to Europe. I already ordered the new and just announced Libratone Zipp Mini some days ago, which seems pretty interesting as well, therefore I cannot buy another speaker right now.
That's why I decided to start a kind of donation campaign for a review unit of the new Fugoo XL speaker.

My idea would be to ask for donations to cover the ordering costs of the Fugoo XL in order to be able to prepare an extensive review, make some comparison videos and add it to the audio-database. When everything is done at the end of my review I would of course give the speaker away and raffle it among all those who donated for it. My goal would be to achieve 500$ which would hopefully cover the shipping to Europe with some rest amount so that I can hopefully ship the speaker worldwide to the "winner" who will be chosen at random with some kind of lottery.

Why 500$?

some rough calculation:
300$ - Fugoo XL
~30$ - express shipping to an U.S. address of a friend or myus.com service
~80$ - shipping to Europe
+ 22% taxes and customs fees
_____________________
~500$

I would like to collect 500$ until the end of October 2015. As soon as 500$ are reached, I will order the Fugoo XL "Style" immediately from Bestbuy or Amazon depending on availability, also because it is the cheapest model while "Sport" doesn't seem to be in stock yet. Then I will hopefully still have enough time for shipping it to Europe and doing my videos including a review etc. If everything works out, my plan would be to have the first videos up in mid November.
If 500 people donate 1$ each, the goal would be achieved quickly. I will stop the donation if the amount exceeds 550$, but I need some safety buffer depending on where I will have to ship the speaker afterwards. I have no idea how much shipping might cost to Australia for example!

If I don't manage to achieve 500$ until 1st November I will of course return all payments to the original donators, so there would be no risk for you that I keep the money unjustifiably. If you like the idea and would like to contribute but also to get the chance of winning the Fugoo XL afterwards, please donate through the button below.

(Update: I changed the payment method to paypal.me now, as the with the usual donation procedure paypal charged around 14% fees from the donated amount. This way I will have quite a loss in case I have to refund all donations if the final goal isn't reached. On paypal.me just leave the box at the bottom unchecked, as you don't pay for any goods).

Update 2: donations are closed now, the donation goal was reached, more updates coming soon!

Of course I will prepare Vlogs of any step and goal achieved and post them on Youtube, so that you stay up to date. And at the end there will also be a video of the final tombola, where the official winner of the Fugoo XL will be drawn. Maybe I can even broadcast it "live" through Youtube.

I hope it's obvious that I have no financial interest or profit from this campaign and simply want to contribute my part for anyone interested in the Fugoo XL.

I hope you like this idea and beg for some support.

Thanks a lot, your O!

Review: JBL Flip 3 - the UE Boom killer

According to JBL the Flip together with the Flip 2 are their most popular portable speakers. To tell the truth, neither of them really managed to impress me. They were rather tinny sounding, the first version had also quite harsh treble response with some honky upper bass boost, although the second version was smoothened out a bit, it still sounded far from impressive and the battery life was pretty underwhelming as well. Now JBL came up with a completely new design more similar to the new JBL Xtreme or JBL Charge 2. Let's have a look if the JBL Flip 3 (buy from amazon) is really an improvement over the predecessors.

Review: JBL Xtreme - how much bass can you handle?

The JBL Xtreme (buy from amazon) (not to confuse with the older and meanwhile discontinued JBL OnBeat Xtreme) suddenly appeared in an inconspicuous way without any preceding official announcement. There was just a leak on Youtube and some weeks later it was already available on the european JBL site for pre-order, which I did immediately as I had this particular feeling that JBL might really have an interesting product here. So far it doesn't seem to be available in the US yet, and to tell the truth I have no idea when it is going to be released there and why it hasn't been already released. Update: JBL Xtreme was released in the US on September 1st as well.
Looking back in the history it took JBL a long way to finally come up with some impressive portable speakers after a period with rather underwhelming devices. Although JBL always had great sounding speakers, their portable speakers were rather lacking, including all the old onTour models, the JBL Flip series, JBL Charge, to finally redefining their standard with the JBL Charge 2. The JBL Charge 2 despite having some initial issues is a pretty good sounding portable speaker in some ways even better than all competing models. The cylindric design with 2 opposing passive radiators at the sides was afterwards used for another Harman speaker: the Infinity One. The Infinity One was something like a blown up JBL Charge 2, bigger, with bigger sound and a more premium finish. Now the JBL Xtreme seems to continue with this obviously successful design and looks like a blown up Infinity One, again larger, heavier and more "extreme". Jump in to find out if the Xtreme can really take it to the extreme?

Review: Braven BRV-PRO

Braven BRV-PRO Review:

:by Kyle Weldon (July 1, 2015)

Braven’s latest rugged outdoor entry into the portable bluetooth speaker scene is an overall solid speaker.  The design follows it’s little brother, the BRV-1, in many respects and for those familiar with the BRV-1, you know it’s a decent portable rugged speaker design.  Braven’s approach on the audio spectrum is for these devices to be used in an outdoor environment.  I will break down the various aspects of the speaker below, but overall the sound signature is set for outdoor listening, with an emphasis on the midrange and treble section of the audio output.  But, the PRO does carry a good solid low end as well, once you hit certain volume levels.  Let’s get into the particulars on the speaker:

First Impressions: Marshall Kilburn & JBL Xtreme... and the winner is?

It was a stressful evening. I got the Marshall Kilburn from my friend and wanted to concentrate on this next, prepare some preview video or even a full review. But arriving at home the JBL Xtreme was standing in front of my door.
I already had a short listen to the Kilburn together with my friend where we did some switching between the RIVA Turbo X and the Kilburn, and although quite a bit fuller sounding than the RIVA, the Kilburn didn't really manage to knock my socks off, but when I turned on the JBL I immediately knew this is going to be more fun. Suddenly the Kilburn started sounding a bit honky and tinny. Both are not neutral speakers like the RIVA for example, but the JBL is simply tuned for more fun. It is a bass-monster, very powerful, louder than the Kilburn, louder than the RIVA Turbo X and probably as loud as the Beats Pill XL (RIP), but with the difference, that the JBL still sounds punchy and powerful with lots of bass at maximum volume and the bass sounds like bass, not as if someone was knocking on wood. I couldn't notice any stronger distortion at maximum volume, and although there was some slight dynamic processing, it was not as extreme as on the JBL Charge 2 or on the Infinity One. The JBL Xtreme is a real party machine. Take it to the beach and crank it to the maximum, it will still sound impressive. They claim 40W but from AC-power, I tested if it became any softer from battery and although there is a slight difference in loudness when run from AC-power, I had to check several times to really hear the difference, it is by far not as pronounced as on the Harman Kardon Onyx for example. The JBL Xtreme gets just slightly louder maybe 1-2dB when plugged in, but it doesn't reduce bass or deteriorate sound by any means.
Everyone who is already in panic looking for some substitute for his Pill XL, because he sent it to Apple already, don't look any further. Even if you are still undecided if you are really going to send it in, just take the 300$ from apple and order the JBL Xtreme immediately!
Now the Megaboom really became an expensive toy.

Meanwhile I managed to prepare a short introduction of the Kilburn and soundcheck between Kilburn and the Xtreme, as well as a full review for the Xtreme here.

Please have a listen and let me know what you think:


And the winner is? I think I must have a bit more listen to the Kilburn...

Review: JBL Charge 2+ where's the plus?

It's time for an update of the JBL Charge 2. After Bose added "II" to their new Soundlink Mini, Sony made an X33 out of the old X3, now JBL added a "+" to the new JBL Charge 2 which in contrast to the other two seems to be the better portable speaker for the upcoming summer especially because of its claimed water resistance. I thought I will do a detailed review of the Charge 2+ but after trying it out, I would say that it is the same speaker as it was before without the "+". Not much has changed or improved at all, therefore if you are really interested in all the details about the JBL Charge 2+ you can also read my original review of the JBL Charge 2, just simply ignore all my ranting about any distortion or DSP issues of the first version, as the JBL Charge 2+ has none of those problems. But when buying a Charge 2 you can always check if the latest firmware is installed. The latest firmware (1.4.1) finally fixed all problems for the Charge 2 as well and made both sound and perform virtually identical. If you have a JBL Charge 2 with the latest firmware, in reality you have a JBL Charge 2+ just without the alleged water resistance. The JBL Charge 2 can be meanwhile found for much less (Deutsche Telekom started offering it for 88€ recently), therefore I would rather go for the old unit, as I don't really believe any of the JBL Charge 2+ water resistance claims. If you are still interested jump in to read what has changed or what hasn't changed at all between the two.

News: Class A speakers - Braven BRV-PRO, UE Roll...

It is quite rare that iLounge gives an "A"-mark for a speaker, which according to them would mean "highly recommended". Now 2 recent releases got an A with the Braven BRV-PRO which got a straight flat A, the highest mark for any portable speaker (only some few other portable speakers received an A from them so far, like the JBL Flip, the G-Project G-Boom, Soundfreaq Sound Kick, id America TouchTone and the Soundfreaq Pocket Kick (you can find my own review of the Pocket Kick here btw). The other one being the UE Roll, which although just an A- is still highly recommended and impressive.

Of course I would like to test both speakers and give you some real unbiased opinion on them, but the Braven BRV-PRO costs 178€ here in Europe, when I could get two JBL Charge 2 for the same price with the recent offer from Deutsche Telekom. The UE Roll costs even 129€ in Europe and given that this is a European product, I find it questionable that it should only cost 99$ in the US. In this case I would definitely rather choose another Denon Envaya Mini instead.

Therefore folks, probably no review from me on these highly recommended speakers as I am not going to spend 300€ for these toys, but will rather invest the money in something more serious like the new JBL Xtreme, which in fact is already on order... This one will probably get a "C" on iLounge btw, just like the JBL Charge 2 which only got a "B+" from them. But I want to hear real music, not play lasso with my speaker or fetch it with my dog!

Of course any first hands-on experience on these is highly appreciated, feel free to comment if you already heard them and find them really that great!

News: JBL Xtreme available for preorder for 299€

The JBL Xtreme is already listed for preorder on the European JBL Site and should be available from 25.6.
There are new details regarding power and battery, and this Xtreme thing will have a 10.000mAh battery built in, which is obviously necessary to power the 40Watts amp.
The battery indicator is similar to the one on the Infinity One, but it was moved to the front now (clever!) As visible from the other product images the JBL Xtreme has an own kind of zipper to protect the ports. They finally seem to take water protection more serious with the Xtreme than with the Charge 2+, which has the ports completely unprotected.

Could be a real beast of a speaker, making the UE Megaboom sound funny...

News: JBL Xtreme coming soon - blown up JBL Charge 2?

Mediamarkt Netherlands posted another interesting video showing a supposedly new speaker similar to the JBL Charge 2 or rather Infinity One: the JBL "Xtreme". Similar to the JBL Flip 3 the JBL Xtreme will be water proof and have the ability to connect with multiple speakers wirelessly thanks to JBL connect, but what makes it extreme, is either the extreme sound quality as claimed in the video, or the fact that it can charge 2 devices at once!

It looks a bit as if this model was indeed based on the Infinity One with quite a similar form-factor and the same carrying lugs at the top. Instead of the useless rear drivers from the Infinity One JBL/Harman seem to have included tweeters this time as the blueprint rendering below would suggest. Maybe they finally noticed the overly strong intermodulation distortion of the Infinity One as well? This is what you get when little fullrange drivers are pushed too hard to deliver both high and low-end at the same time!

With all those new releases this is going to become a pretty interesting summer if all these videos are not fake but really showing leaked upcoming JBL products. No price nor availabilty yet, but the JBL Xtreme could be a new benchmark even outperforming the Infinity One among most other contenders in its class.

News: JBL Flip 3 coming soon - shrinked JBL Charge 2?

It seems Dutch Mediamarkt leaked a video of the upcoming JBL Flip 3, as there has been no official announcement yet.
In contrast to the farting bassreflex port of the previous versions that were not able to produce any bass worth mentioning, the Flip 3 uses the same dual passive radiator design of the Charge 2 and rather looks like a shrinked version of it, but the Flip 3 is claimed to be waterproof with support for wireless pairing of several speakers (maybe up to 3 as the video suggests). I am not quite sure if stereo pairing with 2 speakers is also possible, but this would be great. If the JBL Flip 3 manages to sound as serious as the JBL Charge 2 which is to be assumed as the acoustic design looks very familiar, then the JBL Flip 3 might become a very serious portable speaker and a much better alternative to all this UE junk out there.

It will be available in 8 colors and comes with a handy wrist strap. Of course no information about availability nor price yet, but I guess it will be announced soon and come to the stores this summer.

News: Minirig - now with Bluetooth!

Yes, finally Minirigs brought us their great Minirig with Bluetooth included, something many owners were already asking for from the beginning.

 
The great thing about the new one: it supports AptX for best streaming quality and 2 of them can be wirelessly paired for stereo sound! Apart from that it is as sturdy and great looking as the old one. It is water resistant and still has the impressive battery life of 8 hours at maximum volume or up to 50 hours at moderate levels! If I think about the UE Boom which dies after 2 hours on top volume, but hardly manages to sound as good as the Minirig...
You can check out how both compare at maximum volume from my video I did last summer, although I was still using the old non-Bluetooth Minirig. The new one is supposed to have even better sound especially at lower levels as according to the engineer there is some bassboost included now, which makes the sound even more full-bodied than before, which also shows up in the specs: while the old Minirig was only rated down to 100Hz the new one should play to 75Hz which is on par with the JBL Charge 2 now.

Let's hope I can get one of the new Bluetooth Minirigs for a test soon...

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

 
Happy new year with hopefully many new happy speakers! Therefore let's immediately start with the first one, the new UE Megaboom that was just released recently.
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 Pill XL, or the Infinity One and the Bose Soundlink III maybe even the slightly more expensive B&O Beoplay A2 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.

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

 
I already reviewed the bigger Denon Envaya DSB200 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.
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.

First Impressions: Denon Envaya Mini - mini big speaker

I was about to prepare some further reviews of speakers like the Pioneer Freeme or the Cambridge Audio G2, when I received the freshly announced Denon Envaya Mini which suddenly makes the reviews of all the other speakers pretty much obsolete. Although I hadn't noticed any big announcement to tell the truth, I was really curious to hear it when I finally discovered it and did my best to get it as soon as possible. In Germany there are already offers for as low as 90€ including shipping, which puts the Envaya Mini on the same price level as the NudeAudio Move Super M I reviewed recently. Not sure when the Denon Envaya Mini will become available in the U.S. and how much it will cost though, so jump in to ease your waiting!

Review: NudeAudio Move Super M - pocket sized, not so "super"

I am still looking for a nicely compact speaker to be carried all-around, small enough to fit inside a pocket which despite its small size should be able to pump out some serious sound. So far I haven't found anything worth mentioning. The Mini Jambox, TDK A12 or JBL Clip being probably the best solutions are still far from anything serious sounding.
Now NudeAudio came up with a kickstarter campaign for their Move Super M speaker which finally managed to find its way into commercial stores. After all the hype I thought I should give it a try if it really deserves all the rumor, so jump in to find out if it is worth the hassle.

Review: Infinity One - Premium wireless portable speaker

I must confess that the Infinity One was the most awaited speaker I wanted to try lately. My request for a review sample directly from Harman was denied with the statement the Infinity One not to become available outside the U.S. I am not sure if they might change their mind, but even in the U.S. availabilty still seems quite a bit limited.
At least my good old friend is dependable as he took the risk of ordering one overseas paying some premium taxes and import fees. But this is what you are ready to pay for a "Premium wireless portable speaker", which the Infinity One is called according to the Infinity site.
For all desperate potential buyers living outside of the U.S. there is still the option to buy the Infinity One directly from amazon.com as they seem to be shipping their units to Europe too or maybe even worldwide. Ultimatively you can try a delivery service like "myus.com".

Review: Bose Soundlink Colour - now we're talking!

The latest Bluetooth speaker from Bose is also the most affordable one, costing just $129,- or a bit more in Europe with €139,-. The new Soundlink Colour is not just a stripped down version of the bigger Soundlink III or the Soundlink Mini, as it rather seems to introduce an own new category of fashionable and colourful portable speakers for Bose which are more suitable for real outdoor use than the previous Soundlink versions. Let's have a look how much features and sound Bose has managed to squeeze into their cheapest Soundlink.

Test: Fugoo Bluetooth speaker - der aktive Lautsprecher für Aktive!

Ich habe nach einigem "Betteln" nun endlich direkt von Fugoo ein Testgerät zur Verfügung gestellt bekommen. Dass ich das Gerät nicht selbst gekauft habe, soll meine objektive Meinung dennoch nicht beeinflussen. Ich fand den Fugoo seit seiner Vorstellung bereits extrem interessant, bloß war er bisher auf dem europäischen Markt noch nicht erhältlich. Aber die Kombination aus Design, Features, extremer Robustheit und einem vermeintlich guten Klang, ließ den Lautsprecher beinahe perfekt für Outdooraktivitäten erscheinen. In der Zwischenzeit konnte man sich den Fugoo sogar direkt über amazon.com nach Deutschland oder Österreich liefern lassen, aber die Gefahr war mir dann doch zu gross, ob ich damit überhaupt zufrieden sein würde, ob mir der Klang gefallen würde, ob er laut genug sein würde etc. Eine Rücksendung wäre wohl dementsprechend teuer geworden. Mittlerweile ist er aber sogar schon auf Amazon.de zur Vorbestellung gelistet, wobei nur noch die eigentliche Verfügbarkeit offen ist.
Die meisten Testberichte zum Fugoo sind zwar positiv, aber es gibt immer wieder extrem negative Bewertungen, die dem Lautsprecher zu wenig Lautstärke nachsagen. Andererseits gibt es auch genügend Testberichte zu Geräten, die im Grunde für die Tonne sind, und trotzdem sich die Leute begeistert darüber auslassen, wie phänomenal dieser Lautsprecher um 20 Euro doch sei, und was für ein "Klangwunder". Somit blieb mir nichts anderes übrig, als den Fugoo selbst auszuprobieren, um mich von seinen Qualitäten zu überzeugen.

First impressions - Fugoo Bluetooth speaker!

I just received the Fugoo speaker yesterday so my own review will be coming up soon. Unfortunately it is going to be in German this time, sorry folks, but there are already some great and detailed reviews of the Fugoo in English, like that from Gadgetmac, Mashable by Brent Butterworth, Tom's Guide etc. but Fugoo is currently starting to offer their speaker in Germany for the first time, though any German review is still missing, so I will hopefully be the first one to close this gap!

As you can see my son is already pretty excited about this new toy. He even managed to drop it once, but  there is no need to become worried, as the speaker is extremly rugged and well protected inside the "Sport"-jacket. I also received a "Tough"-jacket which looks like a tank. Of course I will test this too, although I am a bit afraid of my floor getting damaged if my son manages to drop it again inside this one.

My first impressions are very positive indeed. Although I immediately became annoyed by the much too loud voice-prompts, you can deactivate them completely with some button presses. There are lots of different combinations to enable different modes, you probably have to learn them by heart, but the Fugoo can do lots of things, the limiting fact is that it has only 3 main buttons and the power-button, so look forward to some finger-acrobatics.

The sound is pretty smooth. It is by far not as heavy as on the Bose Soundlink Mini, but the Fugoo sounds more natural with very clear mids and perfectly tuned treble. There is plenty of bass, reaching quite deep, it is not as boosted as on the Bose, but the Fugoo nevertheless never sounds anemic. You really get a sense of punch and there is "real" bass, unlike most other portable speakers I have tried, including the JBL Charge, UE Boom etc. I think the Fugoo can compete pretty well with bigger speakers as well, becaues when I directly switched between the Fugoo and the Soundblaster Roar, I preferred the much more open and less boomy sound of the Fugoo, without that much upper bass, but with more low bass instead compared to the Roar.
As the Fugoo is nearly omnidirectional you don't need to care about placing or aiming it at you. It sounds just good, wherever you put it, even on the floor from above it sounds gerat, regardless if you are listening from behind or from the front, as it has all drivers spread to all sides.
Volume control is synced with the player, which is great because you can also control start/stop and track skipping directly from the speaker, if you intend to use it mounted on your bike with your phone hidden somewhere in your pocket for example.
The only thing I noticed is that maximum volume might be a bit low for some. Currently it is by far not as loud as the Bose Soundlink Mini for example, but I still have an older Firmware (01.00.14) installed, so I will hopefully be able to compare it with the latest 01.00.46 firmware which is claimed to improve sound quality and overall loudness! I will try to prepare some comparison videos as well as detailed frequency response measurements. Of course there will be also a comparison to the Soundlink Mini, and maybe the UE Boom, but after having listened to to the Fugoo for some minutes only, I can already claim by now that the Fugoo is just a class above the UE Boom with a much more mature sound, while the UE Boom can play considerably louder, but just sounds like a tin-can speaker, not a grown up system!

Please be patient and give me some time to prepare everything!