Stiftung Warentest tests 20 Bluetooth speakers, only six quite heavy devices sound good. The best box weighs around 11 kilos, the lightest good speaker weighs 3.3 kilos and comes from Berlin.
Summer is still lasting a little longer and Bluetooth speakers can be seen and heard in parks and gardens, on balconies and on beaches. The portable boxes are popular and the selection is correspondingly large. Stiftung Warentest tested 20 current devices at prices between 25 and 380 euros.
Unsurprisingly, almost all of the small and light speakers don’t do well, largely due to their thin sound. Despite all the technical progress, large and heavy speakers usually sound better. This applies in particular to the 380-euro test winner, the JBL Partybox 110, which tips the scales at an impressive 11.1 kilos. It delivered the best sound in the test, for which the examiners gave it a sub-grade of 1.9. Its endurance and handling were also rated well, with an overall quality rating of 1.9.
If you want a good-sounding Bluetooth box, you don’t have to carry quite as much. Warentest rated the sound of the LG Xboom 360 RP4, which is significantly lighter at 5.8 kilos (276 euros/overall rating 2.0), just as well. Although it only has a satisfactory endurance, it offers many possibilities for sound optimization.
The Sony SRS-XP500 (286 euros/2.0), on the other hand, lasts a long time, but is a bit more awkward to handle. This is probably due to their very high weight of 11.8 kilos.
The only good-sounding speaker under 5 kilos is the Teufel Boomster, which shares second place with the two heavier devices with an overall rating of 2.0. It weighs only 3.4 kilos, delivers a good tone (2.0), is durable and easy to handle. In terms of price, however, the Berlin Bluetooth box is one of the heavyweights at 350 euros.
The price-performance winner is the 2.9 kilo lightweight Sony SRS-XB43 speaker. It only costs 164 euros, but still received an overall rating of 2.2. Although its sound is only just satisfactory (2.6), its battery lasts a long time and its handling was rated well.
