harman/kardon Onyx Studio 4 – Portable Speaker, Wireless, Bluetooth 100 Black

Product Information

Mids are dynamic and all the voices are perfectly clear. Lower mid frequencies don’t get overpowered by the bass until you increase the volume above 80%. The distortion becomes noticeable at 90% volume but it’s not too distracting. The app is poorly rated on Google Play and App Store and users don’t really like it. It’s too basic. You can (have to) use it to select the stereo or party mode or to program the handsfree/call button. You can’t play with the sound signature and adjust the EQ settings through the app. Onyx Studio 4 can be loud but it’s not louder than some competitors within the same price range (like UE MEGABOOM or Marshal Kilburn).

Step 1 – Turn on the first speaker, initiate pairing (press the Bluetooth button) and pair it with your phone. You can stream your music to the first speaker now. Stereo separation practically doesn’t exist since all the drivers are close to each other but you can get much better separation if you pair two speakers and play the music in stereo mode. Since then, I have become much more careful around radios, boomboxes, and other audio devices (at least, I like to think so) but I have never lost the passion for audio equipment. Throughout 20 years of my professional career, I’ve been working for various audio equipment manufacturers and even started building speakers on my own in my little workshop. There’s a bunch of reasons to buy Onyx Studio 4 – rich, powerful, and balanced sound, amazing design (one of the most elegant speakers on the market), Bluetooth connectivity, great connection quality, multi-host (connect up to 2 phones simultaneously) and daisy chaining features (connect up to 100 speakers together), built-in battery, built-in microphone, HK Connect app. Omni 10 is another example of Harman Kardon’s recognizable design. Omni 10 is as stylish as Onyx Studio 4 but it’s inferior in all the other aspects. The sound is rich and balanced, the bass is maybe even punchier than on Studio 4 but the overall sound quality of Onyx Studio 4 is better. Studio 4 features more powerful battery (longer playtime), it comes with the app, it has a greater Bluetooth range and more stable connection, and it can be paired with up to 100 other Studio 4 speakers. Omni 10 is significantly cheaper.

Features

Owlee Aviary is similar to Onyx Studio 4 but there are some important differences. Aviary is cheaper and it delivers less impressive and quieter sound. If the sound quality is your priority, Studio 4 is a clear winner. They both have speakerphone feature and deliver similar playtime. Aviary features NFC while Studio 4 doesn’t. Owlee Aviary doesn’t support daisy chaining (can’t be paired with another Aviary speaker) while you can pair up to 100 Onyx Studio 4 speakers together. There’s no app for Owlee Aviary while there’s the HK Connect app for Onyx Studio 4. The speaker has a built-in microphone (speakerphone feature) with some nice software add-ons (voicelogic + echo/noise canceling).

Step 6 – Open the app and select stereo mode. The speakers should start playing in stereo mode (left and right channels). In the following sections we describe how the Onyx Studio 4 performed in all of our individual testing metrics. Sound Quality We can’t complain about the Bluetooth connection and sound quality (sound quality will be discussed in the next section). Step 3 – Press the Connect+ button on the first speaker and then press the same button on the other speaker.

The built-in mic works flawlessly even if there’s too much noise around you. Kudos to Harman Kardon for that. Studio 4 features 3 input ports – micro USB port (for service purposes and firmware upgrade), AUX (3.5mm) input, and DC input.