Tuesday, December 6, 2016

What’s The Difference Between a Wireless Speaker And a Portable One?



The past few years heralded an era of evolution for a number of products from the audio family and Wireless Speakers are probably the cornerstone of said era of evolution. These speakers are not unlike the boom boxes that dominated the audio industry back in the 80s and early 90s; the only difference is that instead of playing just one cassette at a time, these speakers can stream your entire music library form your phone or iPod wirelessly. That, and they look a lot nicer than heavy boom box stereo players.

Wireless Speakers stream your music over a number of wireless protocols including the very obvious Bluetooth as well as Wi-Fi and DLNA. These speaker also have the option for an AUX input for added compatibility with your computer. These speakers wouldn’t be so popular if they didn’t offer so many connectivity options. However, it’s rather easy to confuse a Wireless Speaker with a portable one; they both fundamentally connect with your devices wirelessly but there’s a very obvious difference: Size. Portable speakers are designed in such a way that you can carry them around in your bag and show them off to all your friends; whereas, a Wireless Speaker is meant to be placed on your shelf.

Wireless Speakers are designed for high fidelity audio performance and as such, they usually house a number of speakers, woofers and tweeters, giving them a considerably large footprint. In short: not very portable. In fact; most wireless speakers only connect to your devices wirelessly but still require electricity from your sockets rather than relying on battery power like portable speakers do. Portable speakers are also far more durable than their indoors counterparts while wireless speakers focus more on aesthetic.

2 comments:

  1. Some great info here. One of things I've noticed is that even though Airplay connectivity carries more data than bluetooth, some bluetooth only speakers like the B&O S3 can still win. Good review: http://best-wireless-speakers-reviews.com/bang-olufsen-bo-beoplay-s3-bluetooth-wireless-speaker-review/ Overall it's amazing how far wireless has come!

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    1. I meant to put the video too https://youtu.be/I2AvM_ATc5I

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