Harman kardon onyx studio 1 wireless portable bluetooth w

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“The Onyx Studio offers powerful portable sound that performs admirably across multiple genres, moves easily lớn any room, và looks damn good doing it.”

If you’ve got a funny feeling you may have seen Harman Kardon’s new Onyx Studio công nghệ bluetooth speaker before, it’s not Déjà vu. The minimalist saucer of sound is a scaled-down evolution of H/K’s original Onyx speaker, which debuted last September. Part of a surprising new partnership between H/K and Sprint, the Studio trades the original Onyx’s Saturn-esque halo stand for a more utilitarian, dual-pronged design. It also cuts out Airplay and DLNA wireless support, as well as an Aux input, leaving bluetooth không dây as its sole source.

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The result of the Onyx Studio’s slimming-down from its feature-rich predecessor is a slimmer price point, though the speaker still runs a rather hefty $400 at Sprint retail locations. For that price, the Onyx Studio offers powerful sound, five hours of portability, và a sexy khung factor that looks good nearly anywhere – from the kitchen counter khổng lồ the mantle. While not without its shortcomings, the speaker is a capable sonic companion that’s sure lớn impress guests with its chic aesthetic. Follow us below lớn see if HK’s latest audio offering is right for you.

Hands on video


Out of the box

Minimalism was the pronounced theme as we pulled the Onyx Studio from its box. A stout, all black dish, the speaker boasts a solid frame & a premium feel thanks lớn the smooth, rubberized material that runs along the bulk of its exterior. The passive radiator layered in sparkling chrome at the center of the speaker’s rear immediately drew our eye, mirroring the backside of H/K’s Nova speaker set.

Also at the back we discovered a succinct input đầu vào panel bearing only a nguồn port & a micro-USB port, both residing just above the speaker’s stumpy chrome legs. After spinning the disc back around, a knock on its hard plastic speaker screen revealed a sturdy guard for the speakers beneath.


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After digging around in the Studio’s box for a moment, we discovered a pretty thin selection of accessories: a power supply & cable, & a packet of instructions.

To say this speaker is designed with simplicity in mind would be a gross understatement.

Features và design

While previewing the H/K Onyx’s striking satellite dish form-factor, you might think it’s pretty unique, but we’ve seen this movie before, with similar designs offered by both Bang và Olufsen’s BeoPlay A9, và the furry-faced Libratone Loop. Still, the Onyx Studio is a gorgeous take on the blooming trend, và we love both the look and feel of this succinct little pod.


To say this speaker is designed with simplicity in mind would be a gross understatement.


The speaker is relatively easy lớn cart around thanks to lớn a convenient handle carved into its back, though it’s a little too heavy for carrying long distances. Ostensibly, the speaker is meant to lớn be plugged in for daily use, but it does offer a rechargeable battery for up to lớn five hours of wireless playback. The speaker stretches 11-inches in diameter, and measures just over 6-inches deep, and 10-inches high.

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The Onyx Studio’s minimalist approach extends lớn both form & function. Since this device only offers one way lớn play, there aren’t a whole lot of extra cables or controls to giảm giá khuyến mãi with. As for control, the speaker has four buttons sprinkled along its rubberized circumference, including one for volume, power, and Bluetooth pairing.

For playback, the speaker supports the slightly less efficient bluetooth version 3.0, which likely cuts into its battery life a bit. We were also a little disappointed lớn discover the speaker can only pair with one device at a time, which can be a bit of a hassle if your music collection is spread across your sản phẩm điện thoại device arsenal, or if more than one person wants khổng lồ play DJ.

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Prying the speaker screen from the front face reveals an attractive configuration of drivers, including dual 3-inch midrange drivers, dual ¾-inch tweeters – each powered by its own 15-watt channel of digital amplification – và at the đứng top center, a second passive radiator. Harman Kardon claims a frequency response of 60Hz-20kHz, a claim which held up well in our testing, thanks in part to lớn the Onyx Studio’s dual passive-radiator design.

Performance

This thing sounds BIG for its size. And while we basically enjoyed its performance throughout the frequency spectrum, the bass response was especially striking. It’s just not that common khổng lồ hear bass that’s smooth & full from a unit this size, but H/K seems to lớn have squeezed every ounce of performance possible from its dual passive-radiator setup.


It’s just not that common to hear bass that’s full, smooth, & powerful from a unit this size.


Also striking was the upper register, which brought trang chủ the blue ribbon when it came to accuracy and presence for the speaker. Cymbals, high frequency synths, and string attacks were all well-struck, with plenty of presence và detail, yet rarely leaned into the sharp bite that can be a pitfall for speakers that strive for precision in the treble.

Midrange instruments lượt thích vocals, acoustic guitars, & horns displayed the kind of warmer resonance that sits right with our ears, và the speaker did a good job of blending the thinner treble with the more mellow meat of the midrange. However, we missed some detail in the midrange instruments – the Onyx came up short of what we’d gọi hi-fi sound here. It wasn’t something that was overt when listening casually, but there was a loss of definition in more ancillary instrumental tracks, from the refined effects in Radiohead’s “Subteranean Homesick Alien,” khổng lồ the richer textures of the slide guitar solo in Ray LaMontagne’s “For the Summer.”

Of course – và this isn’t surprising for a speaker of this kiến thiết – there was also almost no stereo separation lớn be heard, which likely contributed khổng lồ some of the muddled up sound we heard earlier.


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We also felt bass response could get a little muddy when it was called khổng lồ keep nimble. This is probably attributable lớn the use of passive, rather than powered bass drivers. Still, the bass made itself known, and some of our favorite sonic moments came while listening to lớn hip-hop tunes lượt thích Snoop Dogg’s “Gin and Juice.” The speaker reproduced all of the track’s percussion loops with tight, rounded resonance, và the bass was big và boisterous, with little khổng lồ no distortion or speaker vibration.

Conclusion

Harman Kardon’s Onyx Studio offers powerful portable sound that performs admirably across multiple genres, moves easily to any room, và looks damn good doing it. It’s pretty pricey for how few features it offers, and it falls a little shy of full-on high fidelity. But if you’re looking for a speaker with a striking design & big sound that can post up anywhere with ease, this little saucer is an enticing choice.

Highs

Full, powerful soundSmooth bassClear, accurate trebleSleek minimalist aestheticPortable

Lows

Misses some fine details in the midrangeBluetooth only, no aux inputExpensiveEditors' Recommendations