Dynaudio Music 1
Given we’d preferred the larger units to the Music 3, it seemed likely we might enjoy the junior Music 1 less again. It turned out otherwise, and given the lower price (and even lower street prices at present), we thought this Music 1 to be a delightful companion, and in some ways extraordinary. It again has an internal battery ready to run, and the same wireless connectivity. We left it on warm-through duties streaming ABC Jazz using the Dynaudio app, and at first listen had thought its sound to lack something in the way of cut-through, a little soft up top. But the more we heard, the better we thought it, and then up came Nick Haywood’s Wiggy Blues (that’s Australian jazz bass Nick Haywood, not Haircut 100 Heywood, despite the track title) and the kick drum was emerging with quite astonishing depth and weight for a unit so small. The walking upright bass on Noah Preminger’s Walking On Eggshells descended to notes far deeper than our expectations, while the intertwirling trumpet and sax were well toned — not razor crisp or sharp, not washed in airy room acoustic, but very much present and correct, presented with a good power behind the music, yet with lower audible distortion than many (maybe any) rivals in a unit this size. Even when we ramped the Music 1 into the last three LEDs of its volume indicator the sound held together, and even had enough in reserve to allow some dynamic squeals from Kenny Barron’s saxophone on Blue Waters. The more remarkable this, given the Music 1 is a mono speaker, and the source was 80kbps internet radio.
It was not genre-restricted, either. The same EQ that allows acoustic bass its depth also grabbed electronic bass and rolled it out in a sonic boom on Childish Gambino’s This Is America — not full hi-fi agility and tunefulness, but highly entertaining. Indeed some may find the EQ distractingly deep for casual listening, and it had one side-effect in pushing plosions on male spoken word, so that Triple J’s DJ had little bass explosions under each pop of his banter.
But how successful it is when you remove the mains cable and carry the Music 1 away as a portable device! We were greatly impressed with its al fresco performance — this thing could create a pulse in open air out on the patio. We’re not sure we’d subject its stylish wrap to the beach, but it’ll bang whever it goes.