Libratone One Click

Hearing is believing with this excellent wireless speaker

Portable rugged Bluetooth speakers are a great idea when you buy one and take your music outdoors, but a terrible idea when other people do it and you have to listen to theirs. Libratone’s One Click will surely appeal to the more considerate audiophile: like the company’s Zipp speakers (trendy-looking cylinders with zip-on fabric cosies), it’s a decidedly upmarket accessory.

This model adds practical to posh with a protective bumper that you can prise off to reveal various mounting points for the supplied rubber loop and strap. That makes it easy to carry wherever you’re going, and hook it on to something when you get there. An IPX4 splashproof rating means a sudden downpour won’t hurt it.

Libratone’s songbird logo (right) isn’t just branding: it lights up when you turn the speaker on. You can slide your finger around it, as if turning a knob (although it doesn’t actually move), to adjust the volume. A long press on it activates Bluetooth pairing, so you can connect your laptop, phone or tablet wirelessly or pair a second One Click for a stereo setup. Stereo is almost missing the point, though, because Libratone’s ‘360° Fullroom’ technology sends sound in all directions, giving you solid, balanced and refined audio no matter where you stand in relation to the speaker. Bass, as you’d expect, isn’t huge, but the midrange does full justice to vocals, and instrumental subtleties aren’t lost. With the rechargeable battery rated at 12 hours, even Wagner fans will be happy. The only obvious reason not to buy a One Click is to buy a Zipp mini instead. This used to sell for £179, but has been discounted to £149 (see www.snipca.com/21931). Based on similar speakers but with a more powerful amplifier and extra bass, it adds Wi-fi and multi-room support, offers Apple Airplay or Bluetooth aptx for a higher-quality audio signal, and works with DLNA products and streaming services such as Spotify. So it’s a more flexible speaker for only a tenner extra, and its fabric cover is replaceable. Then again, it’s not as rugged or splashproof, and its battery lasts two hours fewer. The choice is yours.

It sends sound in all directions, giving you solid, balanced and refined audio