ASWY Ondo Air Speaker v2

We’re a bit up in the air about this one…

$199 Manufacturer ASWY, aswyshop.com Features 360-degree sound, wireless charging, LED touch controls Floating speakers are a sure sign that we’re finally living in The Jetsons – either that, or manufacturers are running out of ideas to cram into their equipment.

Sure, when you see the Air Speaker in action for the first time, you can’t help but be mesmerized by how it hovers above its base unit (powered not by The Future, but simple repelling magnets). In fact, it’s quite easy to become distracted by the speaker’s constant rotation. However, we never warmed to the Air Speaker beyond it being anything other than a conversation piece.

It isn’t meant to be just for show, however. Its maker says the its levitating, 360-degree sound projection cuts wave absorption into surfaces, producing a cleaner sound – and there’s wireless charging for the battery, too, with a claimed 12-hour life. Although we never thought of its sound quality as explicitly poor, we found it underwhelming, and it failed to pack the kind of punch we’ve experienced from some other Bluetooth speakers of a similar size.

If you were seriously considering buying this, it’s the novelty factor that probably prompted your interest in the first place. Sadly, even getting the speaker to float isn’t without its problems. You have to use a cumbersome plastic holder in order to make the speaker stay where it’s supposed to be, and even then it tends to float slightly off the base’s center.

the bottom line. Weird, but not wonderful, thanks to some awkward design and assembly.