NYNE NB-230 Portable Wireless Bluetooth Boombox

I love this thing. It does exactly what I want it to, no more and almost no less, and it's a great value for the price.It just worked right out of the box. There were a couple of pamphlets or manuals in there that I haven't looked at yet; the power adapter; anda double-male audio connecter, so you can plug in some device without using Bluetooth. That's it.I just took it out of the box, plugged it in, and paired it to my Ipad, with no trouble. It was playing in less than two minutes from opening the box,with no head-scratching or having to consult a manual. Just a few simple controls, and it seamlessly starts right up again when you want to use it.It's a nice, light, space-efficient, portable size, for moving it around the house or including in your suitcase that is; not so much for carryon baggage.About half the size of an average CD/radio boombox.For moving it around the house, though, it's a little inconvenient because it doesn't have rechargeable batteries; you either have to use 6 C batteries, which wouldbe expensive as well as a pain in the buliasa, or plug it in everywhere you take it. I just plan to leave it on the headboard of my bed all the time, to listen to music whenreading in bed with my Ipad. Or maybe take it along on a trip and use it in the hotel room.Rechargeable batteries would have blown the price up; in fact, they have another model that's rechargeable and costs about $100 more, which I'd recommend if you wantto take it to the beach.The sound is quite loud, and pretty good. Of course it's not super hi-fi at this price, but quite adequate. If you turn the volume all the way up, it kind of falls apart--sounds tinny inthe highs, muddy in the bass, but at less than maximum, it can easily fill a large room.I haven't tried the speakerphone feature, but it's there if you want it and I'm sure it works fine.

This was a gift for my daughter. I'm not very tech oriented so I was hoping it lived up to it's reviews. It did! Great sound, and if you want it loud it can handle it. She loves it. She's 48

This speaker is average at best. For your money you are receiving a very large (by portable speaker standards) unit that you would think would have some big, powerful drivers in it. Instead, you get a speaker that looks like it can shake a room but actually sounds like a cheap 1980's boombox. The bass is just plain bad. Very under-powered. It's almost like they crammed a go-kart engine in a pickup truck. I just expected so much more from the looks of this thing. You hear the hits but it can't produce much sustained, full sound on the low range no matter the kind of music. Almost sounds like it's echoing through a Pringles can. Are you into metal, rap, electronic tunes that have a lot on the low end? This isn't going to be what you want.The phone feature works pretty well. It sounds more interesting on paper than it actually is. You use a speaker when you are relaxing with a group of friends or something. You don't take speakerphone calls during these times.Battery life is about average compared to other speakers I've owned, but it isn't a built-in rechargeable. I'm not taking anything away from the unit for that design choice, as it probably made the unit more affordable upfront and I have plenty of rechargeable C batteries. It does come with an AC power adapter.For bluetooth speakers, I also own a Logitech Z515, a Logitech UE Boombox and a Jawbone Jambox. I'd purchase a new one of any of those 3 models again before this one.

First off, let me start with what I like about this speaker.For under $100, you will not find a louder bluetooth speaker. That loudness comes at the price of size. It's face size is about the same as that of the UE Boombox but approximately 2 to 3 times thicker. It could fit in a backpack, but it'd take up a lot of space. So it isn't as portable as the slimmer alternatives. Without batteries, it's pretty light. But add 6 C batteries and you're talking heavy. So this isn't an ideal on-the-go option. But it does have a little handle groove in the back, so it is very easy to carry in your hand. It's louder than the Bose Soundlink II, about as loud as the Sony SRS-BTX300 (plugged in ~20 watts), but not as loud as the Logitech UE Boombox. Obviously, the other 3 are far more expensive, but it highlights just how loud these are to compete (in volume) with the higher end competition.The problem I have with these is the sound. There is a dead area in the sound spectrum in the mid-lows. Through the grill, I can see two woofers approximately 3" in diamter. No tweeters were visible. Also, there is a subwoofer exhaust, but I can't see the actual size of the subwoofer itself. With this set up, I'd figure the highs would be the biggest problem, but it is definitely the mid-lows. It is actually quite obvious when listening to music. I wouldn't even call it a dip. I'd call it a vacuum. In some songs, certain sounds are just missing. It's a narrow vacuum, but a vacuum nonetheless. The bass, when it is there is good. Mids and highs are generally tinny, but no less tinny then the bose soundlink IIs (a speaker that I think is horrible and way overrated). But that vacuum in the mid-lows is a real killer for me.For this price, you are not gonna get high-fidelity. Let's face it, no portable bluetooth speaker really can be considered hi-fi. Not even my current favorite, the UE Boombox. The sound quality of the Nyne is definitely low-fi. There are some songs I just can't listen to through the Nyne NB-230. I know sounds are missing, and that is too distracting. But if you intend to use this speaker in noisy environs like the beach or a park, and you need volume over sound quality, these will work. That is why I gave these 3 stars. 5 stars for loudness, but 2 stars for sound quality.I can't recommend these for anything but when loudness is the most important factor. But heck, for $89, there is no truly good sounding bluetooth speaker in the market at the moment. For this price, you are usually limited to ultra-portable speakers with low volume and bad sound quality.If you want a decent sounding portable speaker and are willing to pay a bit more, the UE Boombox is by far the best option out there currently. But if you have to stay under $89, these are a very solid choice. Just mind the gap...the sound gap, that is.note: I used my galaxy note 2, which has a wolfson dac, playing .flac music as source material for testing. I have a very high standard for sound fidelity. I have ~300-500 dollar Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic and AKG headphones powered by a dedicated amp and dac. Just to give you an idea...the home theater equipment and headphone equipment I buy is not ultra-fi, but mid- to hi-fi. I tell you this to give you a comparison of my listening habits versus those of some of the other reviewers of this product. I put this caveat in because I feel this speaker is currently WAY overrated.