Logitech Mini Boombox

For a long period of time, Bluetooth speakers, regardless of size or price, offered poor audio performance on par with low bitrate MP3s from the early days of file sharing. Logitech's Mini Boombox shows us how far not only Bluetooth, but portable audio, has come. At $99.99 (direct), this speaker is among the most compact, portable designs we've seen. The size alone sets you up for disappointment before hearing it, but the dual drivers of the Mini Boombox pack quite a punch. Obviously, a speaker this size is susceptible to distortion at high volumes, but the system still performs quite well, and pumps out more volume than you'd expect upon first glance. At half the price of the Aliph Jawbone Jambox ($199.99, 3.5 stars), it easily outperforms on the value front alone, earning it our Editors' Choice award for budget portable speakers.

Design
Measuring 2.3 by 2.8 by 4.6-inches, the black plastic Logitech Mini Bombox is unassuming to say the least. Its size makes it ideal for throwing in a carry-on bag, and at 8 ounces, it's not going to weigh things down much. It's surprising that the small front panel hides two speaker drivers for stereo audio behind its grille. The drivers are so close together, you're more or less hearing things in mono, but with the presence of two drivers you at least maintain the integrity of the stereo mix. The top panel has red, underlit capacitive touch controls for Track Forward and Backward, Play/Pause, Volume Up and Down, and Bluetooth and Phone Answering. There is also a tiny microphone pinhole on the left side of the panel. Durable black rubber material covers the side panels and the back panel houses the micro USB connection (for charging), a 3.5mm aux input, and the power switch. An included USB cable connects either to a computer or the included charger, but it is quite short, making charging from a low-to-the-floor wall outlet a bit of a pain. Another minor annoyance is, when charging, the red controls on the top panel light up regardless of whether the speaker is on or off. The only accurate indicator is the blue underlit Logitech logo on the front panel.

Performance
It's almost shocking to hold the Mini Boombox as it plays rock music at moderate to high volumes. It sounds great for such a small device, and you can feel the drivers vibrating. Though there is no deep bass to be had from such a tiny system, the speakers do a great job of providing a strong sense of low-end. The general frequency response sounds full, without the harshness or treble-heavy sound you might expect from something this size. Of course, at top volume, on both your sound source and the Mini Boombox, distortion starts to rear its ugly head. The difference between the Mini Boombox and, say, the Aliph Jawbone Jambox, is that the former costs $100 less, but they both suffer the same distortion issues at top volume. At reasonable volumes, both offer enjoyable audio.

Classical music, like John Adams' "The Chairman Dances," loses a bit of its low-end resonance on percussion hits and larger stringed instruments, but the sound is still engaging and never gets tinny or harsh. Rock music and hip hop, at reasonable levels, sound more robust than a speaker this size should be capable of. Only five years ago, audio performance this strong from such a tiny, portable unit was unheard of. Add in the fact that the audio quality is this strong when it's coming from a Bluetooth stream, and the Mini Boombox is quite impressive.

If you receive a call while listening to music, the audio indicator for an incoming call will sound through the Boombox's speakers. Pressing the Bluetooth/Phone button on the top panel answers and ends calls, and the mic, almost unnoticeable on the top panel, does a reasonable job with audio quality. Call clarity with mobile devices, especially iPhones, is rarely excellent to begin with, but the Mini Boombox does a good enough job that you'll be able to have a clear conversation, wireless and headset-free.

Logitech claims the Mini Boombox gets up to ten hours of audio playback on a single charge. This is a decent number, but it depends entirely on how loud the volume during use is. At moderate levels you will obviously get more battery life out of the speaker than if you're blasting it at maximum volume nonstop.

If you're looking for something in the wireless Bluetooth realm that's more powerful than the Mini Boombox or the Jambox, and are willing to move up in price?and size?the Bose SoundLink Wireless Mobile Speaker ($299.95, 4 stars) is our Editors' Choice for high-end portable speakers. You'll hear significantly more bass from it than you will with the Mini Boombox, but paying three times the price might seem too much. For $50 more than the Mini Boombox, the Logitech Wireless Boombox ($149.99, 3.5 stars) is a much larger portable system that also uses Bluetooth, but offers a little less overall value for the price. For its size, it's really a marvel that the Mini Boombox sounds as good as it does. At $100 you get wireless audio, a speaker for mobile phone calls, and a portable sound system for travel, and it does all of these things quite well.

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