Skip to main content

Definitive Technology Bluetooth Sound Cylinder makes up for your tablet’s puny speakers

DefTechsoundcylinderCheck out our full review of the Definitive Technology Sound Cylinder bluetooth speaker.

Are you the type of person who takes your tablet everywhere? Do you sit in Starbucks all day long watching Netflix when you should be working on that report? Are you the type of selfish spouse who would rather sit up in bed at 11 pm and watch a hockey game on their tablet than watch it downstairs so that your wife can sleep? If so, Definitive Technology has the ultimate Bluetooth loudspeaker to take your horrible behavior to the next level. Rather than plug a pair of headphones into your tablet or laptop, clamp Definitive’s $200 Sound Cylinder Bluetooth loudspeaker to your device and enjoy sleeping on the sofa.

Related Videos

All kidding aside, the Sound Cylinder offers a rather substantial upgrade to the sound quality of any 7” or 10” tablet or laptop thanks to its two front-firing 1.2” midrange/high frequency drivers, 1.7” side-firing woofer, and three channels of Class D amplification. You would be amazed how powerful 8 watts can be in such a small enclosure. The 2.1 system can really crank; which is likely to get you banished to the basement or forced to get your coffee at a gas station if you do not keep the volume low.

The Sound Cylinder has a battery life of 10 hours, but that diminishes rather quickly if you play at maximum volume levels for too long. The Cylinder has a micro USB port for charging and a 3.5 mm jack for other devices such as a smart phone or iPod. The “audiophile” within could also run something like the Audio Quest DragonFly USB DAC from a laptop (just use the DTcylinderfrontsupplied stereo mini-mini cable) to the Sound Cylinder for a portable high-end system to take on business trips or to Grandma’s house on Thanksgiving.

The magnesium alloy clamps are very strong, but rubbery covers guarantee that your precious screens won’t be damaged. The retractable kickstand makes it easy to prop your device up on a table or on your lap and the aluminum/magnesium cylinder is durable and quite sleek looking. The Cylinder weighs less than 1 pound and is only 7.5” long.

For $200, you really can’t do better if portable audio is your thing and you hate lugging around your fancy headphones. Of course, you could always consider the $100, rubber-clad Zooka wireless speaker for a much less expensive (albeit less impressive-sounding) option. 

Editors' Recommendations

C’mon, Apple — if Sonos can admit it was wrong about Bluetooth, so can you
Handoff between Apple iPhone and Apple HomePod second-gen.

For years, Sonos has relentlessly championed the benefits of Wi-Fi audio. The company even ran a cheeky (and hilarious) campaign showing how annoying it can be to use Bluetooth, featuring pinging notifications and phone calls routinely interrupting what should have otherwise been enjoyable music-listening sessions. Times have changed, however, and not only has Sonos added Bluetooth to its two portable speakers (the Move and the Roam), but recent leaks suggest that it’s considering expanding support for Bluetooth into its main portfolio of powered speakers too, starting with the as-yet-unreleased Sonos Era 100 and 300.

This amounts to a tacit acknowledgment that Sonos may have been too zealous in its past refusal to adopt Bluetooth audio, and I can’t help but think that it might be time for another company to rethink its rejection of Bluetooth: Apple.

Read more
Best earbuds for making phone calls for 2023
Apple AirPods Pro 2 and Sony WF-1000XM4

Someone once said that life moves pretty fast, and if you don't have a good pair of earbuds that sound great when making phone calls on the go, you might miss something important. Or something like that. The point is, if you work at home, at the office, or from coffee shops or airports while traveling, you need a great set of earbuds with a mic that do an excellent job of capturing your voice clearly during phone or Zoom calls while blocking annoying background noise with decent active noise cancellation (ANC).

No matter your usage levels, budget range, and style preferences, there's something for every user in the market. From the high-end $249 AirPods Pro 2 for Apple users to the budget-but-excellent$80 Earfun Air Pro 3, there's a lot to pick from.

Read more
Definitive Technology’s new speakers bring the boom from another Dymension
The Definitive Technology Dymension Series DM70 tower speaker.

California-based audio company Definitive Technology has been making insanely high-performance speakers since the early '90s, and today the company is announcing its new Dymension Series, a nine-speaker lineup that's built around its "bipolar" driver array technology and features built-in powered subwoofers, on-wall surrounds, and Atmos-certified height modules, among other sonic treats.

You might not be immediately familiar with the Definitive Technology brand name, but it has a prestigious lineage, as one of its founders was Polk Audio founder Sandy Gross, and its sister brands include Boston Acoustics, Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, and Marantz.

Read more