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

Product Information

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. 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. 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.

If you need something really cheap that looks similar to Onyx Studio 4, iClever BoostSound might be the best thing for you. You should be aware that iClever BoostSound could never deliver the same sound quality but it’s actually not that bad. iClever looks and feels cheaper (which is not a surprise). The bass is more boosted than on Onyx Studio 4 and. iClever’s playtime is slightly longer (12 hours compared to 7 hours). iClever features micro SD card slot while Studio 4 doesn’t. On the other hand, Studio 4 comes with the app and can be paired with up to 100 Onyx Studio 4 speakers. They both have built-in mics.

FAQs

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. The grille is removable (but it doesn’t come off easily). You can use the speaker with or without the grille, depending on your taste. The grille has a protective purpose so you might want to leave it on, especially if you are going to use the speaker outdoors.

Studio 4 is very much portable since it has a built-in battery and it’s not too heavy to carry around. So, if you want to use it outdoors, you can. But, be warned that it’s not very rugged and that the battery inside the speaker has the capacity of 3,000mAh. The capacity is not bad but it’s not great either, especially when there are 2 woofers and 2 tweeters inside the speaker that need to be driven. Studio 4 features 3 input ports – micro USB port (for service purposes and firmware upgrade), AUX (3.5mm) input, and DC input.

On the rear panel, you will see the carrying handle at the top, the bass reflex port in the middle, and input ports at the bottom. There are also two undetachable feet that provide stability. We can’t complain about the Bluetooth connection and sound quality (sound quality will be discussed in the next section). The battery is not that small (3,000mAh) but there are four drivers inside (+ passive bass radiator) so the playtime is not really great. Harman Kardon claims that you can get 8 hours of playtime but you can actually get less than 7 at 50% volume (less than 4 hours at 100%). This great sounding speaker needs some larger battery. Step 6 – Open the app and select stereo mode. The speakers should start playing in stereo mode (left and right channels). The bass response is impressive for the speaker of this size. The low frequencies are present and punchy even at low volumes (maybe even slightly boosted).

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. The Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 4 performed well in some of our tests, but particularly poorly in our portability metric, resulting in a mediocre overall score (as you can see in the table above).We were mostly happy with this speaker’s performance but there are also some issues that need to be mentioned. Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 4 comes in a premium-looking box along with a charging adapter (2 wall adapters for EU and US market), user manual, and 1-year warranty. Hard carrying case is not included and you have to buy it separately. The speaker has one 3.5mm input but the audio cable is also not included. Specs Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 4 Specifications 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. 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). The speaker has a built-in microphone (speakerphone feature) with some nice software add-ons (voicelogic + echo/noise canceling).