Like those rotten Transformers, Bluetooth speakers come in all manner of disguises. An innocuous dustbin turns into a blaring ghetto blaster with a wiggle of your smartphone. Keeping up with appearances, the SRS-X3 has a sensible rectangular design, resembling a box of After Eights or a hamster’s coffin. Hook up some tunes over Bluetooth 2.1, NFC pairing, or via a 3.5mm cable, and the box turns into an audible circus of delight.
Bass bins at the front and the back, and two 10W amps, allow the speaker to punch out tunes like Rocky in a meat factory. The speaker would probably suit a garden party better than a debauched corner of a music festival: it’s not even waterproof.
The seven-hour battery life will keep you nodding until dawn, though, and an in-built microphone allows you to share telephone calls with the world like a wretched narcissist.