Check out our full review of the Soundfreaq Sound Platform 2 bluetooth speakers.
Soundfreaq is a relatively new audio company with a refreshingly consumer-minded approach to it’s products. At CES, we got a chance to listen to the company’s new Sound Platform 2, a redesigned version of the original Sound Platform speaker dock that helped put Soundfreaq on the map.
The Sound Platform 2 (available in February for around $150) has many similarities to the original Sound Platform like Bluetooth, aux input, and FM radio, but adds some cool new features that could give it some legs in the already oversaturated speaker dock market. The new dock has larger, 3-inch drivers, a simpler EQ structure for flat, warm, or bright listening, and also a “device-agnostic” charging system. It uses a tray that lets you run two USB cables from the ports in the back of the unit to the front phone stand, which is pretty handy if your music is spread across a growing pile of multiple versions of the iPhone, like us.
If you want to go mobile with the Sound Platform 2, you’ll have to buy the $50 add-on battery, but the cool part is, we were assured there is no sound quality or volume loss while using the device on the go – a common problem with many of the docks we’ve tested. But perhaps the most interesting new feature of the Sound Platform 2 is the ability to pair two of the units together and spread them into separate stereo monitors, both controlled via Bluetooth from your mobile device. This is an ambitious new venture, and Soundfreaq will be pushing it by offering the bundled pair at a discount through its partner, Target.
As much as we could tell through the barrage of noise at CES, the sound quality of the Sound Platform 2 is pretty decent, though the 3-inch drivers lack presence in the low end, and were a bit tinny in the upper treble. We also think there was a tendency for the small drivers to distort at high volume, but we were pretty impressed with the clear center image produced by the two units together as they belted out detailed stereo produced tracks from artists like Led Zeppelin and the Beatles.
Aside from the Sound Platform 2, Soundfreaq will be introducing Lightning-ready versions of it’s Sound Step ($129.99), and the surprisingly clean-toned Sound Rise iPhone dock/radio alarm clock ($99) – available this spring and summer respectively in a variety of rainbow colors. For now, we like the attention Soundfreaq is paying to affordability and real stereo separation, and we’re interested to see where its ambition will take it in the coming years.
