Proving that portable speakers can always be made, well, more portable, Soundfreaq today announced the release of its ice cream sandwich-sized Pocket Kick Bluetooth speaker. The $99 speaker is designed to allow users to “listen and share their favorite songs with their friends, anywhere and everywhere,” and became available today on Soundfreaq’s website, with plans to land on Amazon next week.
The Pocket Kick is part of a new wave of seriously travel-friendly speakers that have slimmed down to around an inch thick, such as the Boomphones Pocket Speaker (formerly Carbon Audio), Monster SuperStar, and Jawbone Mini Jambox. Soundfreaq’s version is a sturdy little device, loaded with a healthy helping of features to get your attention, including Bluetooth version 4.0, a 10-hour rechargeable battery, a 3.5mm Aux input, and an on-board speakerphone. A carrying strap is also supplied for easier portability.
Audio for the mini-me device is handled by two custom drivers around 1-inch in diameter at the front, supplemented at the low end by a larger passive radiator at the rear, both protected by metal speaker screens. Sound is also run through Soundfreaq’s proprietary DSP, which was still being tuned when we first laid our hands on the speaker at CES this year.
We pulled the Pocket Kick in early to see how it handles, and first impressions are generally favorable. Bass output is obviously a weak point, but it provides more punch than expected with lower percussion, and a lot of gusto in the upper register, especially in midrange instruments like vocals and electric guitar. It’s certainly a little snappy at the top end, and didn’t quite stand on par with the similarly priced UE Mini Boom in our short time with the speaker.
Still, that’s to be expected from such a slim frame, and users are often asked to trade a little performance for portability in this corner of wireless audio. In any case, the speaker certainly kicks the stuffing out of our iPhone 5’s paltry speakers, offering lots more clarity and power. We’ll likely be doing a full review of the speaker soon, so keep your eyes peeled.
The Pocket Kick comes in three shades, including black, platinum and gold, and more variations are likely in the works (we’re told an actual ice cream sandwich color scheme isn’t out of the realm of possibility). If you’d like to pick up a Pocket Kick for yourself, you can do so from Soundfreaq’s website today.
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