In the cut-throat market of wireless speakers, the trick of the trade is originality. Diving into a seemingly infinite sea of choices, a new portable speaker on Kickstarter from BSX Electronics called the JookBox hopes to lead your eyes and ears away from the tide thanks to a clever app that allows multiple users to control a playlist that can be synced across multiple speakers, creating a party full of DJs.
Part multi-room speaker, part portable companion, and part…well, Jukebox, the JookBox truly aims to be a jack of all genres in the wireless speaker game. The speaker connects over both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, allowing users to sync music on up to 10 speakers over a home network, or take a single speaker on the go, with up to 10 hours of playback time on the battery. It also allows users with compatible smartphones to tap connect via NFC.
Using the Sonos-esque app, anyone in the room can dump songs into the ongoing playlist. from services like Spotify, iTunes, and 8tracks. And just in case somebody throws down their favorite Creed track, you can pull their atrocious choice from the list, or at least move it down in the order (hopefully) until they’ve gone home. You can even control how many songs each person can play, and who gets dibs on the next son in the list.
Claiming the Jookbox offers hi-fi performance, BSX has loaded its speaker with dual 2.5-inch midrange drivers, and a passive radiator to cover the low end, with a total power output of 10 watts RMS. The company doesn’t provide specs for total resolution, but since the speaker incorporates aptX, it should reach at least CD-quality resolution over Bluetooth with compatible devices (which leaves out iPhones), and it’s a good bet they’ll reach at least that level over Wi-Fi connection.
Still, at this size (about the same as the Beats Pill or Jambox Mini) we don’t expect life-changing audio performance. But that’s not the end of the world, considering the extremely budget-friendly pricing for the JookBox, which starts at only $100 for the Early Bird Special. At that price, even run-of-the-mill audio performance could make this speaker a serious bargain, considering its well-rounded arsenal of talents. The speaker needs some help however, as at the time of publication it’s still about two-thirds shy of its $35,000 funding goal, with 26 days left to go.
If you’d like to hire the JookBox as the backdrop of your party, or just a new wireless companion, you can pick one up at its Kickstarter page now, with delivery expected in February 2015.
