MINIRIG 3 Portable Rechargeable Bluetooth Speaker - 100 Hour Battery - Loud Hi-Fi Sound - Black

This is a big "small" speaker that makes a noise much, much bigger and fuller than it's size. Sound quality: bass is surprisingly true, mid-bass (male baritone voice) is absolutely tremendous, upper mids are fine, upper range is a little veiled (they sell a separate subwoofer; I wish they actually offered a complementary tweeter). Can go VERY loud on the louder setting, which tapers off the bass as it gets louder so the speaker doesn't blow up. I use it for large-room presentations and if you look away you'd expect it to be a rather large PA speaker, though the sound is cleaner. For music and smaller rooms I use the lower setting because the sound is more balanced. There's an app that's used to drive the settings (loudness, equalizer, etc), which is surprisingly useful and fun. It's got a large internal battery which can be used to charge external devices like your phone. Connections are a little bit custom (not USB on the input side) so I bought replacement adapters to be able to use the conventional USB cables I travel with. Now, should you spend this much money on a bluetooth speaker? For my application (travel/presentations) it was totally worth it - small, powerful, and accurate. For music, it's really darn good. (There's a German fellow on You Tube who has run many comparisons; totally worth checking out). The sound is just short of audiophile, which is sooo frustrating. The slightly lifeless high end is surprising since that's kind of the easiest thing to get right in a small speaker. For male voice, it may be your favorite speaker you've ever owned (I've owned some good ones). In the end, the execution (design/app) is brilliant, the sound is very good - but could be stupendous. I hope the developers take this as a kind of compliment and a goal. If you've got the $ and you want to own a device that is designed with such attention, intelligence and commitment that you feel like you have a personal relationship with the developers, this one is for you.

These are both great speakers - no frills but focused on producing excellent sound. In my opinion, both are superior to Bose and UE speakers in the same price range, namely around $200. So, which is better. It is a close contest. The Denon is a solid brick of a speaker, about 8" long, square, and very attractive with the grey stripe scheme. Solid in your hand, exudes quality. It has rich, clear sound and surprising bass. Denon is a serious AV company and it shows in this speaker. Really crisp sound, no reliance on acoustic tricks or inflated DSP. Battery life is great. All in all a quality speaker for someone who values premium sound and wants no bells, flashing lights or gimmicks. Now, the minirig 3. I had read glowing reviews, but frankly I was doubtful a single driver in such a small enclosure could put out quality sound. Boy, was I wrong. The minirig 3 has amazing sound. Clear sound with balanced bass. And it can go loud. Louder than the Dennon. Frankly, it is amazing the quality of sound this little speaker puts out. LIke the Denon, it is built like tank. Industrial looking. Only one button, on/off. It also has an app for adjusting the sound, and like the speaker, it is all business. Works well. Comes with a case and charging cord. While the Denon is impressive as you might expect, the minirig will stop you in your tracks with its quality of sound. It simply beats the Denon in all areas in terms of sound. A good competitor for the minirig 3 is the Bose 500 Home Speaker. Side by side the same about the same in terms of bass, soundstage and clarity. Of course, the Bose is over twice as much, four times as big and is not portable. So, if you are on the fence about buying a minirig 3, go to your local Bose store and listen the Bose Home Speaker 500. The minirig compares well to it. Why the minirig 3 is not on more best bluetooth speaker lists baffles me. It trounces my Bose Revolve and Minlink II. UE Booms are also inferior to the minirig 3. It is the best bluetooth speaker I have owned, and I think that ounce for ounce it can compete against any speaker, wired or wireless. Highly recommended.

After much research, I picked the Minirig 3 to replace my Bose Mini that I used for 5 years almost daily. So I wanted a replacement that would sound as good or better. The Minirig 3 is an amazing speaker for it's size. You can play it very loud without the sound distorting. It has a very good range that is clear in the mid range as well as in the trebble range. I have found most speakers these days do not handle the upper trebble very well. So for music with voice and instrumental jazz or classical, it sounds amazing. If you listen to pop music it also sounds great but the bass is more subdued than the Bose mini which always amazed me for its size. However the Bose mini cannot play as loud as the Minirig 3 and definitely distorted when played at high volume. The battery life of the Minirig 3 is way ahead of any other Bluetooth in that size. I have not measured the life of charge but it is in days at medium high volume. I listen to talk radio all day everyday.. Compared to the mini, I had to charge it everyday and lately the battery had declined to where I has only an hour play at best. Build quality: It feel like it is well built. Solid. I really loved the case and land-yard that came with it. It helps prevent any scratch and makes it easy to carry. The Bad: For a fairly newly released speaker, I was very disappointed that they used a jack connector for charging. It uses a special USB adapter /cable that comes with the speaker for charging. They should have used USB C type connector which is very much future proof and here to stay for many years. The jack with the special adaptor cable means if you lose the cable, you will have problems charging. That dramatically reduces the flexibility of using any standard charger cable. The round shape is definitely more awkward than the Bose Mini and it is bigger. Bottom line: Love this speaker and would 100% recommend it. I plan to buy 1 more to play it in Stereo mode and I will also buy the Sub-woofer to get the bass that I feel is missing with the Minirig 3 played alone.

These speakers achieve the most superior sound, build quality, and battery life physically possible. There is only one button on the speaker which allows it to be compact, but the speaker has so many extensive functions that it can end up in a frustrating user experience. There are many unclear things about the instructions for many features and functions. The biggest issue is the product flaw when linking two speaker together wirelessly. There is frequent dropout of the slave speaker in many cases that simply cannot be fixed, while other times they function properly. The MINIRIG app which is required to set the outputs of the MINIRIGs connected wirelessly to be mono in order to use with their MINIRIG subwoofer they also make, unless you have two subwoofers to play both the left and right channels separately. The problem is if you only have one subwoofer and want to listen in a 2.1 mode, you have to have the MINIRIG app open in the background, otherwise it will default to playing only one channel for the subwoofer. The MINIRIG app then causes interference with Spotify, Apple Music, or whatever streaming service you are using, and the stereo dropout will become a frequent problem. All in all, their use can be very frustrating and honestly make you pick up a different speaker at times to not be bothered with the hassle. All is forgiven when they do work, and you hear the great sound. After 2 years they finally got their splitter cables back in stock to connect directly with your phone in wired mode more easily, so that is a plus.

I'm a wannabe audiophile and super particular about sound quality and being able to hear all those little sounds in music. I've owned several other bluetooth speakers and am a serial electronics owner...always wanting to try new cool things. I've owned Bose, Harman Kardon, etc. When looking for a replacement for my cheap Anker Soundcore (for use around the house while doing various projects..painting, etc.), I wanted something higher quality. This little minirig is pretty cool! It was a snap to connect to my PC and my iPhone. Launched Spotify and checked it out. The quality of sound, volume, and bass coming from this little guy is impressive to say the least. It's in a different league to the cheaper speakers I've owned. When playing "Calculating Loneliness" by All That Remains...I paused my work and realized...this sounds like the acoustic guitar is right in front of me playing. I played it a few times over and over thinking...this is crazy to sound so good! Note that I did download the iPhone app and adjusted the settings to my usual liking ([0-10 scale]...70Hz ~6, 250Hz ~5, 850Hz ~6, 3KHz ~7, 10.5KHz ~9). Realize this is a little speaker and we're limited by physics, but if you want to up your bluetooth speaker game...this will do it. My 16 YO son came down and was impressed as well...putting on some Future or Turks or something and cranking it..it was really loud (and not distorted)...my wife came in from the other room and yelled at us :) One tip...try a few different locations as sound is very different depending on location, surface, etc. How does something so small have so much base and still give great mids and highs?! Pair that with so much battery life and I've found a winner. I'm even considering buying a second, the subwoofer, and setting them up like a little home stereo...it allows that kind of 2.1 setup where one minirig plays right channel and the other plays left channel...slick!

So before buying these speakers, I've own two of the Bose revolve plus speakers (the lantern looking one). And this is definitely a step up from them. Why? The Bose speaker sounds muddy to me, mainly it's because of its heavy bass. They are good speakers in their own rights, but my ears are more happy with these mini rig 3. Yes, I bought a pair of them just so I can have stereo mode. And let me tell you, it is like hearing a mini hifi system, assuming you do the wired connection, but bluetooth mode is good as well. These speakers put out a lot of sound for their size. The power output is 40 watts each speaker, more than enough to fill a small-medium size room. You can also experiment with how they sound by placing them differently. For a more direct studio experience, have them facing you. But for a room filling experience, have them pointing up the ceiling, and against a wall. I recommend that you go to their official website first before downloading the app. Why? They have the owner's manual and faqs on their site. You don't necessarily need the app, but you do need it to update the speaker(s) if you are trying to pair them in stereo mode or other mode etc... But if you just want one speaker, then you don't need the app. For the app itself, well it is buggy and will require your patience, but hey you're buying the speaker not an app. The app does have some options you can mess with and tailor the sound to your preference. Sound quality out of the box w/out messing with its config: 8/10 The bass was enough for me. If the bass on the Bose revolve plus is a 10, then these would be an 8. It is tight and punchy, it sounds like a boxer hitting a 300lbs punching bag. Are there more similar great speakers out there? Yes. But can they beat these in terms of sound quality, size, and price ? I have yet to see a worthy competitor.

I was pretty excited when I read all of the great reviews on this thing. Forty watts of power and deep bass plus audiophile sound, I'm sold I thought. SO I plunked down the exorbitant $190 and bought one. Well, to my dismay everyone was straight up WRONG. This thing sounds terrible. The sound is hollow and the bass disappears at higher volumes. It literally sounds no different than a $20 sound bar my daughter has. There is NO WAY this is even close to 40 watts of power. I tried all of the settings on the app, (which is terrible by the way) and the sound barely improved. Had to send it back. Do not waste your money on this.

I periodically host events with friends where I want some "room-filling" sound without lugging around a huge system. Looking around, people seemed to think this was the best one available, so I gave it a shot. It certainly sounds quite good. It doesn't "fill" the room as much as various YouTube reviews seem to imply, but it's certainly better than any other Bluetooth speaker I've heard, especially with the optional subwoofer attached. My main complaint is just that someone seems to be trying to be too clever with the software: * First, of all, it doesn't just detect/pair like a normal Bluetooth speaker if you have any cables plugged in (like the aforementioned subwoofer). * Once you do manage to pair it, the default settings are such that you can't even use it on a table/desk nearby because it's set so loud. For example, even at the minimum volume on your phone, you can't have a conversation with someone at the table because it's so loud. * Installing the companion app lets you finally adjust the volume curves so that you can have it nearby while also speaking with friends. Though having to use the app to do so is annoying (the phone already has a volume control, guys!). * Also, once paired, the MINIRIG is a bit of a bluetooth bully. If you manually select Disconnect from an iPhone bluetooth menu, it will disconnect, for a second, but then it's back! If the MINIRIG is still on, there doesn't seem to be a way to actually tell it "no thank you, I'm good" without just forgetting the device entirely, which means you have to re-pair it next time you DO want to use it. * The supporting app supports doing some interesting things like adjusting curves and whatnot, but frankly this too is trying to be more clever than it needs to be. Just getting in to do basic stuff like adjusting volume means clicking through a series of screens with dubiously ambiguous iconography. The SoundCloud integration was neat, but the lists never seem to be updated, so we quickly stopped using it for that. * Plugging in the subwoofer is a bit of a guessing game since it has two 3.5mm jacks and neither are labeled (on either the MINIRIG or its subwoofer). So I'm still not sure I ever connected them "properly" (it seems to work in both). It says "high" and "low" gain in the manual, but honestly it didn't seem to make much difference in mine. * The little case is nice, except that it doesn't actually have enough room to carry the power cable(s), so you're left wondering what to do with your cable if you're traveling anywhere. * The cable system, with the pass through USB, while clever, is pretty ugly. The cord isn't quite long enough to stash somewhere out of sight, and even if you could, you've got a tangle of cords when everything is hooked up: power for MINIRIG, power for subwoofer, and 3.5mm cable connecting them... Just kind of an unsightly mess. May as well have gone with a bigger "boombox" form factor honestly... If you're just using the MINIRIG by itself on battery (which is quite good btw) it's fine. Looks nice.