Review: XtremeMac Soma BT Portable Bluetooth Speaker

Portable bluetooth speaker units are the runaway hit accessory so far in 2013, because they’re small and light enough that you can easily carry them around while, if right, sounding good enough to add significant audio quality to a device like an iPad or laptop. The XtremeMac Soma BT aims squarely at that market.

It’s a fairly lightweight unit about eight inches by three inches by two inches. And while it’s a single speaker housing, it employs the trick of firing its two upper range tweeters out the front and a lower range passive subwoofer out the bottom in order to create some degree of spacial stereo separation. As as result the Soma BT sounds impressive when you’re somewhat close to it, and can be cranked quite loudly while still sounding decent if you’re looking to use it on the other side of the room from you. The six hour battery life is about average. The inclusion of detailed a battery life indicator is a plus. It would be nice if it included play and pause buttons, like some of its competitors, as opposed to just the volume buttons it offers.

Where this device ranks in terms of the overall bluetooth speaker market depends on which price point you can find it at. XtremeMac officially sells it for $129, which makes it a four star product out of five. It sounds about as strong as the very best $99 competing products, which means you’re essentially paying $30 extra for the classy styling, which almost looks like it could have been designed by Apple. But at the moment Amazon is selling the Soma BT for a mere $69, which makes it an absolute steal.

xtrememac.com