Stealth audio is the HiddenRadio wireless speaker’s specialty

By Peter Suciu December 13, 2012

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Check out our full review of the Hidden Radio bluetooth speaker.

Last year we got our first glimpse of the HiddenRadio wireless speaker, now it looks as if we’ll finally be able to hear it. Once a Kickstarter project, the HiddenRadio is now produced and ready to covertly cover your home with your favorite tunes.

This little speaker sports some pretty slick design twists. Twist top of the HiddenRadio, and the device turns on. Keep twisting the cap and it gets louder, making this one of the more intuitive wireless speakers on the market today.

The HiddenRadio features a tacky rubber underside that is meant to help it stay in place. Then again, depending on the type of surface it is set on, it could just end up getting tipped over and go rolling out of view, possibly as a way to hide – that’s probably not what the designers had in mind, though.

What is actually “hidden” on the HiddenRadio speaker is its control layout, which includes a single three-way switch that lets you decide to stream music from Bluetooth, select the aux input or tune into FM radio. Two additional buttons provide the tuning.

As noted, there is no volume control. If you want more sound, you just open it up further. To quiet things down, close it up. As intuitive and nifty as this may seem, there is a purpose for real volume controls and we wonder if this approach might not be so conducive to good sound quality.

However, the designers promise that the HiddenRadio portable speaker can provide 360 degrees of sound from its unique driver and conical design. Moreover, this compact USB-chargeable device is small enough to be carried around and can provide that “anywhere sound” for up to 15 hours – down from the estimated 30 hours the designers had hoped for back in the Kickstarter days.

You can get the HiddenRadio speaker in metallic silver, graphite black or pure white for around $150.

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