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Soundmatters foxLo subwoofer adds umph to your FoxL v2 Bluetooth speaker, 'fits in your palm'
Soundmatters may not be the first company to ever introduce a subwoofer with a small footprint, but at this year's CES, its new foxLo is taking the claim of being the "world's first palm-sized" on. The 25-watt unit can hook into the subwoofer output of a foxL V2 Bluetooth speakers or any other devices with 3.5mm outputs, thanks to its "full pass audio out" jack. Aside from injecting low-end into your mini-rig with its "Magnetic Drive woofer," the 'Lo can also recharge your gadgets with its built-in USB port. Sadly, however, the gizmo itself only operates on wall-power, putting a damper on any mobility offered by its Bluetooth brethren. Operation limited to a volume control for dialing in an optimal amount of bass, and an LED to indicate power. If you're already hungering to add on a thumpy fidelity boost to your smaller speakers (and refuse to be swoon by a solid set of headphones), the foxLo's set to go on sale this spring for about $149. Full press release after the break.
Jawbone Jambox vs. Soundmatters foxL v2... fight!
Two portable speakers clamber into the ring, each boasting big, beautiful sound for their diminutive size. Both cost $200. Both have the same technology inside. The Jawbone Jambox and the Soundmatters foxL v2 with Bluetooth each want to be your wireless audio wunderkind, blasting music and taking Bluetooth calls. At best, you're only going to buy one. Which speaker should you choose? Following our Jambox review, we got our hands on a foxL and put the two head to head, and after the break you'll see which one came out on top -- both literally and figuratively. %Gallery-111933%
Jawbone Jambox review
You may have already gathered that we're fans of the Jawbone Jambox -- seeing as how it appears in our Holiday Gift Guide -- but does a miniature portable speaker, even one that pumps out 85 decibels, deserve a $200 price? How about that battery life? We've spent weeks now with the little Bluetooth speaker that could, throwing it at every scenario in sight, and after the break you'll find a full review with all the upsides and downsides. %Gallery-106618%
Jawbone Jambox Bluetooth speaker now available for $200
It's hardly the most affordable Bluetooth speaker around, but Jawbone's new Jambox did manage to impress us when we got our hands on it earlier this month, and you can now finally pick one up yourself directly from Jawbone, or at your local Apple store and "select" Best Buy stores. As expected, it'll set you back $200, and it's available in your choice of four different colors / designs, each of which pack the same 800mAh lithium-ion battery that promises ten hours of continuous use, a built-in mic that will let you use it as a speakerphone, and an output capacity of 85 decibels that Jawbone says "fills even the largest rooms with stellar hi-fi sound." If you're looking to judge that for yourself, you can apparently do so at an Apple store, where Jawbone says the Jambox will be "featured alongside the iPad."
Jawbone intros Jambox portable bluetooth speaker, we go hands-on (update)
Since 2006, Jawbone's been making noise-canceling bluetooth headsets boasting modern design and military-grade sound. This is not one of those. This is the Jawbone Jambox -- a wireless bluetooth speaker -- and it's what happened when the company decided to let the music out. Functionally it's almost exactly the same as a Jawbone Icon, down to the pairing process, and MyTALK upgradable software platform, but instead of a tiny mono earpiece you're getting a stylish portable speakerphone with a 3.5mm input jack and some serious stereo potential. We've had it playing for several hours now, and while it's not going to be the life of a large party even at maximum volume, it pumps out a terribly impressive amount of clear, room-filling sound for its size. If you pick it up or set it down on a table, you'll feel the vibrations nearby. You can't quite tell from this angle, but that stainless steel grill wraps around an airtight enclosure made of polycarbonate infused with glass, which houses a pair of full-range drivers and a microphone up front and a "moving-wall passive bass radiator" around back for some extra low-end goodness. We're told this last was quite the innovation, which didn't impress us much until we were told what Jawbone put inside the radiator to ensure mass and rigidity: the unit's 800mAh lithium-ion battery. Speaking of juice, Jawbone tells us the unit's good for about eight hours of continuous playback at 75 percent volume. You'll be paying a good bit to get this designer toy pumping out your jams, as any of the black, red, blue or silver units will run $200 at Best Buy and the Apple Store when they hit November 16th, but if you've been aching for a modern, handheld ghetto blaster, this is definitely one way to go. PR after the break. Update: As some have pointed out in comments, a number of the ideas here aren't actually new -- you can find a very similar portable Bluetooth speaker (down to a patent-pending "BassBattery" and a $200 price) in the Soundmatters foxL v2 with Bluetooth. Update 2: As it turns out, the foxL v2 isn't exactly a competitor, it's an ally of sorts, because the Jambox is a collaboration with the same Dr. Godehard Guenther who invented the original device. "JAMBOX leverages the core analog acoustics that made FoxL great," says a representative, but with numerous improvements: Jawbone's noise cancellation and Bluetooth know-how, a thicker, stiffer speaker enclosure and a Yves Behar design. %Gallery-106618% %Gallery-106677%
