There are many low cost portable bluetooth speakers on the market, but few are as striking as the August MS450 Portable Bluetooth Speaker. This small, but powerful, little speaker has a striking circular design with a central console that doubles as an on/off switch.
The August MS450 comes with a USB charging cable and 3.5mm aux cable (for use with non bluetooth devices, e.g. an old MP3 player). As well as inputs for both of these, the base also contains a microphone in case you want to use the speaker as a hands free kit.
Setup of the August MS450 was really easy, just push the center console to switch it on, search for it as a bluetooth device on the item you want to pair it to and select the speaker. The two devices quickly pair up and it’s ready to use. The speaker remembers the item it’s been paired with and will automatically reconnect next time both devices are powered up. From then on anything you play on your device will have the sound coming out of the August MS450 speaker.
Once setup the August MS450 is a small, but fairly powerful, speaker. At higher volumes I there didn't seem to be any distortion (note that the audio in the video below is a mixture of music and live action, watching it back it sounds like there is a hiss, that's not the speaker, that's my video).
Testing the August MS450 with various musical styles demonstrates what a versatile little speaker this is. There is a lack of bass, but that's to be expected for the price, and the speaker doesn't sound tinny, it's a big step up from in built mobile speakers.
The speaker has controls on the top for skipping tracks, adjusting volume and answering calls. The volume controls can be a little trick and it's easy to sometimes hit the next/forward buttons when attempting to adjust the volume on the speaker, but as you can easily adjust the volume via the paired device this isn't much of a problem.
This is a great little speaker which doesn't take up too much room and is perfect for travelling or taking outdoors.
Available now from Amazon: https://goo.gl/Rasc8o
