Steljes NS3
FOR Sleek design; good connectivity; powerful bass AGAINST Hard, bright edge; needs a bit more detail
When you think of British design, what comes to mind? Red phone boxes, the London Underground map, the Mini or Concorde, perhaps? According to Steljes Audio, you can add the NS3 desktop speakers – a “beautifully British design” – to that list. They certainly look good, but do they have the sound quality to match?
Sleek yellow is just the start
If there’s one thing the NS3S have going for them, it’s that they look sleek. As well as the yellow of our test sample, they come in another six colours, including ‘Lagoon Blue’, ‘Gun Metal Grey’ and ‘Vermillion Red’. This is a hefty pair of speakers, weighing in at about 6kg, and the glossy finish on the casing makes them look more expensive than they are.
On the tech side, there’s a 25mm soft-dome tweeter and a 10cm woven fibreglass driver. A word of warning: there’s no grille covering the drivers, so you should keep these speakers out of the way of anything (or anyone) that might be tempted to prod or poke at them.
A simple, effective system
Considering this is a pair of low-cost desktop speakers, connections are plentiful. According to Steljes, if you’ve got it, the NS3’S will work with it. The back of the left speaker has an optical input, a 3.5mm jack and a stereo RCA connection. There’s also a handy USB port on the back for charging devices, although it doesn’t support audio playback.
The NS3S can connect to devices via Bluetooth using the dedicated button on the remote, with a flashing blue light telling you when it’s in pairing mode. It’s a satisfyingly simple system. You can also use the remote to alter bass or treble, which is a nice touch.
Impressively deep lows
And on the whole, the NS3S sound decent. For such a small product, the low frequencies are surprisingly deep. Kendrick Lamar’s King Kunta has a strong bassline, and the NS3S manage to dive down and bring up that force.
Rhythmically, the NS3S are pretty responsive – playing Old Friends from the soundtrack of The Hobbit, these speakers can handle the slow, smooth opening notes as well as they can the speed and adventure in the strings midway through the song.
But they are let down somewhat by their treble. Kanye West’s Power has an added hard, bright edge – not only in his vocals, but also in the backing piano. The treble isn’t particularly well integrated either, sounding disconnected from the rest of the music.
We might be able to overlook this in small doses, but it becomes grating over time, especially as the NS3S are billed as a pair of dedicated speakers for your TV or games console.
They also need a little more subtlety and detail. Your Best American Girl by Mitski has layer upon layer of sound, with erratic noises that should come through clearly. The NS3S can’t quite deliver those fine details, the sharp bursts of feedback or crashing cymbals for example, leaving the song sounding a tad hollow.
And where Mitski’s voice should cut through the background sounds as a point of stability amidst the disorder, the space the NS3S give it isn’t quite as organised as is needed to really tie the song together.
A touch too much edge
For a low-cost desktop solution, the NS3S look the part. There are enough ways to connect your players to keep them versatile, they are aesthetically pleasing, and they have some solid bass power.
Unfortunately, their sound is just a bit too edgy and imprecise to leave a lasting impression. They require a few more tweaks for us to fully recommend them.
“The NS3S sound decent. For such a small product, the low frequencies are surprisingly deep”