Bluetooth speakers seem to be getting smaller and smaller
these days, yet the music they knock out is still of fantastic quality. Wanting
to see just how small a good speaker can get, we turned to chums of The Test
Pit, KitSound, to see what they could do. The answer... the pintsized Pocket
Hive Bluetooth Speaker.
Sitting comfortably in the palm of your hand, the Pocket Hive Bluetooth Speaker is a solid and chunky thing that feels like it could easily withstand a bump or two. In matt silky black, it features a 5W speaker grill on top and a radiator on the underside, with just the one button (to switch it on) taking pride of place on the front.
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As the name suggests this is Bluetooth enabled speaker, but
it also features a 3.5mm standard jack on the back to connect with other
devices, cable included. Charging is handled by the Micro USB port (Micro to
full-sized USB cable is also included to add to your growing collection), and
you also get a very lovely carry case along with it. Which we loved. It's firm
and moulded to the Pocket Hive and everything. God, we love hard carry cases.
Anyway, thanks to built-in Near Field Communication (NFC) syncing your phone or tablet to this thing is as easy as falling over during a particularly cold day in Ice World. With NFC enabled on your device you can simply (and gently) tap them together and the speaker handles the rest. You get a fairly standard range of ten metres with this thing, but the connection always seemed very solid and we never had to randomly reconnect as can often be the case with Bluetooth speakers.
Singe speaker units like the KitSound Pocket Hive are never
going to pump-out immersive music and sound, but that isn't really what they
are for. As the speaker is so portable we tried it out while moving around the
city when we needed a pleasant musical interlude. That 5W speaker is used very
well, as the overall volume that can be achieved was surprisingly high, with
whatever we were playing (both music and spoken word audio) sounding richer and
resonant while the speaker was sitting on a flat firm surface. But even in the
hand, and on grass, it sounded great and reminded us of the slightly more
expensive Bitmore e-Storm LabyrinthX Super Bass Speaker.
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All genres of music sound good, with only slight audible
distortions creeping in at very high volumes. It was perfect for taking with us
out and about, and as an occasional speaker for boosting the output of your
phone or tablet, it did very well.
Around £40
Visit www.kitsound.co.uk