Rubber soul

$400, JABRA.CO m.au At 3.7kg the Max is a brute of a “portable” but despite its rubberised bulk, its audio is not its strongest point. With all that weight, and the combined output of two tweeters, two woofers and a bass driver, you’d expect plenty of thump, and it does deliver the low-end goods with dance music and rock, but it’s more about volume than quality, and a little underwhelming for the high price.

On the plus side, the 14-hour battery life is superb, and there’s both NFC and a neatly hidden cable as additional connectivity options, but a lack of subtlety and excess of price scupper it. T3 Says Loud, wellbuilt but overpriced slab of stylised rubber