MOVABLE BEATS
I. The Party Starter Shaped like a tennis ball can, the 9-inch-tall UE Megaboom serves up 360 degrees of enough big, punchy sound to fill a pool party or a suite at the Bellagio. Its rubberlike exterior shrugs off spills, splashes, and stains; up to 20 hours of battery life means the speaker will keep pace with the rowdiest festivities. $300; ultimateears.com II. The Refined Companion See the honeycomb shell around the edge of the Bowers & Wilkins T7? More than a striking design element, it provides extra structural integrity and squashes the audio-scarring vibration that often plagues small speakers. Good thing: The 8-inch noisemaker houses two 50-mm drivers that crank out 18 hours of warm, balanced sound. $350; bowerswilkins.com III. The AnythingProof Powerhouse Drop it, dunk it—hell, drive over it: The Fugoo Tough XL is built to survive nearly any abuse. Better suited to a truck bed than a briefcase, the 14-inch-long, 4-lb. speaker, shelled in fiberreinforced resin and fortified by an aluminum cage, delivers 100 decibels of noise bolstered by eight acoustic drivers. $330; fugoo.com
BRING THE NOISE ANYWHERE WITH ONE OF THESE PORTABLE BLUETOOTH SPEAKERS.
I. The Tiny Titan The palm-size Mass Fidelity Core creates a room-saturating audio that seems as though it’s coming from a family of speakers. The secret: It pushes out several sound waves that intersect and create the illusion of multiple sources. In addition, the speaker boasts Bluetooth connectivity, a 12-hour battery life, and analog and optical inputs. $449; massfidelity.com II. The Ace of Bass Like your streaming music with a thick, juicy low end? The Denon Heos 7’ s seven speakers deliver a feel-it-in-your-skin bass that would make Pharrell turn his head. It’s also one of the first on the market to implement the new Google Cast standard, which makes it easy to stream songs from different audio apps on your phone, tablet, and laptop.
$600; denon.com III. The Hi-fi Stunner A sculptural, 29-lb. block of aluminum sitting on a glass base, the Naim Mu-so is stuffed with six amps and drivers that throw out 450 watts of some of the cleanest audio we’ve heard from an all-in-one system. Fusing retro hi-fi class with bleedingedge digital details, it handles everything from home theater to modern streaming.
$1,500; naimaudio.com
SINGLE SPEAKERS THAT PACK THE SONIC PUNCH OF MUCH LARGER SYSTEMS.