# Bluedio BS-3 Bluetooth Speaker Review by mark2410



## mark2410

Bluedio BS-3 Bluetooth Speaker Review by mark2410
 
Thanks to Bluedio for the sample.
 
TLDR?  Try here http://www.head-fi.org/t/822848/bluedio-bs-3-bluetooth-speaker-review-by-mark2410#post_12931918
 

 
 
 
First Impressions:  Opening up the box I notice that this one has a soft wrap thing around it, hmm that’s a first from Bluedio, is this a higher end product?  Yeah I should really look up the price shouldn’t I?  Taking it out and it’s in white, I didn’t realise they did this in white, doesn’t their website just have black and gold, oh no black, gold silver and white.  It’s a much more angular thing, the edges are rounded but no entirely round sides.  Oh it’s still got the big rubber base like the AS and AS-BT have, I like that, though that may have something to do with it gripping my little glass table really well.  Powering it up and pairing it, it seems to have enabled the 3D thing, yeah that’s going off.  It’s nice, it’s a little more beefy I think than the AS was, or is it, hmm.  Actually I think they may be the same drivers and this is just a more err grown up looking enclosure.  The look of this is rapidly growing on me though I wish I’d got maybe black or silver.
 
Playing music and this feels very similar to the AS and AS-BT, though I think the treble is a little less and the bass feels a tiny bit les full, from the slightly smaller enclosure?  A quick flick back and forth and they really are very similar but I’d have to give the AS-BT as the slightly better.  I like the BS-3’s look more.  Oh, I’ve just checked the price and this is currently on sale for £28.  Damn, that might well be a mistake as side by side with the AS-BT at £45 one of those price tags isn’t staying at that number.
 

 
 
 
Source:  Mostly a Nexus 5
 

 
 
 
Lows:  Just like its stable mate the AS-BT the bass is nice, its pleasantly reasonable and not trying to be silly buggers with a mountain of humpy one note bass.  It’s not going to please those wanting gobs of bass even if its terrible bass as this is more restrained.  It’s nice, for its size and it is just plain nice to use.  Granted I found I was mostly drawn to more melodic, simple music without some raging bass line because, something this size, never ever going to give proper lows.  It accepts what it is, what it can do and does it nicely.  Of course the bass does roll relatively early for a speaker, again its tiny so this is to be expected but it stays politely linear as does it.  No big hump of something that just ends up screwing with the rest of the acoustic range.  Cyndi Lauper’s rendition of “You Really Got A Hold Of Me” isn’t a track with much low end but it sounds good.  You don’t feel like you’re missing out on anything in the song.  Granted the piano does feel a little bit lacking in body but again, tiny speaker, never going to fully replicate the output of grand piano.  Its tonality is quite nice.  A stirring of low end fullness creeps in at times but the lows can’t keep up with the mids in particular.  
 
While it hasn’t gobs of volume it’s a pleasantly pleasing quality for the sorts of high quality acoustic pieces I’d hope it encounters from good vocalists.
 

 
 
 
Mids:  Mids are what are easiest for drivers of the size we have here and it’s no surprise that the mids are what they do best.  Again we aren’t talking super-duper ultra-high quality, it’s a little speaker and it’s a cheap one too.  The price, which I’m looking at as a mistake as at £28 this is really good.  I mean I’m sitting here listening to Nora Jones’s “Not My Friend” and she sounds great.  I know its skimping on some of the nuances and detail but I’m still enjoying the performance.  Yeah, from a tiny little portable speaker.  It’s just plain and simply, nice.  I still find myself wanting as with its stablemates to be a little off axis.  There is a tendency to swing towards the upper vocal range / lower treble ranges as you begin to crank the volume dial.  With such little drivers the bass and fullness struggles to keep up.  If you want you can make girly vocals really belt out, it’ll go very loud if you want but it’s simply at its best when more genteel.  The sort of little speaker that works so nicely as you’re sat at your desk writing away.  Not entirely focusing on the music and taking apart the composition but just listening to the whole.  Like I said, it’s just nice to listen to music on it.
 

 
 
 
Highs:  They are a little but muted over the AS-BT but I’m fine with that.  The treble is a little high when your bang on axis, the drivers pointed right at your face.  Once you get off axis it tames and I find it the more pleasurable rendition.  The detail level however I think is really nice for a little thing.  It can’t produce the most subtle details, the drivers while tiny for bass production are rather big by tweeter standards.  Again though, tiny portable speaker and really cheap, physics is physics.  The type of treble that works is the unhurried and sparse.  Susan Wong’s “Rainy Days And Mondays” which is super well recorded sounds great.  The bass is slight in the track and the metallic twangs of the cymbals crash with plenty of space around them.  While I know there is actually more detail to be had its doing a good job of it.  That metallic edge and the rolling decay is most pleasing.  
 
At the other end of the scale, Owl City’s “Cave In” the treble is just exploding all over place.  The slightly more muted treble here over the AS-BT is a bit of a godsend.  Even still, you get it on axis, in your face and that treble and the bass line are fighting over who get the drivers attention.  It begins to show up the limitations of what little drivers can do.  In short, this sort of fast, acoustically varied track is hard on them.  Stick to Susan Wong, Diann Krall, Nora Jones etc etc.  Melodic and acoustically simple stuff.
 

 
 
 
Soundstage:  It’s not bad, it’s a tiny speaker and you’re never really going to be persuaded that it’s something huge.  It’s got quite a lot of directionality to it too, though you mostly want to be off axis anyway which is easy enough to achieve.  
 

 
 
 
Dynamics:  Well in the mids, it can really go from quiet to belting it out.  On the whole the dynamics a relatively slight but given you’ll want to be sticking to a moderate volume level anyway it’s something easy on the ear.  Its smooth, it’s polite.
 

 
 
 
Power:  You can crank it to annoyingly loud if you want to.  However it’s really not at its best at all when you do so, you will mostly want the vocal level of volume to sit about normal human speech.  It’s a small speaker and while it can be loud it can’t produce a full, powerful fullness the likes of which proper speakers can.  It is what it is.
 

 
 
 
Battery Life:  Again like the AS-BT the spec says 5 hours but I got more than that.  Not that I sat with a stop watch but I think I got about six and half hours which is weird that a co would underestimate rather than over.  Oh and the standby time is the same crazy 1000 hours, which is almost 42 days.  It is safe to say I won’t be testing that claim and I don’t imagine anyone else will either.
 

 
 
 
Build and Durability:  It’s nice, I’d be more pleased if the outer was metal rather than plastic but plastic is durable, light and cheap.  For the money though, its build is great.  The thing has zero flex anywhere, even on the metal grills front and back.  The buttons too are rubber coated things so there is no jiggling about like on the AS-BT.  Yeah this feels aimed at a more grown up audience yet it’s cheaper.  Oh and it’s got the big rubber foot on the bottom so it stays where you put it.
 

 
 
 
Phone Use:  Well the controls and stuff worked fine, the track skipping and stuff. However for calls while it worked and I could hear them just fine, I was told I sounded distant.  It was clear enough apparently but distant.  Given my mouth was about a foot away from the speaker I really don’t think I was.  Hmm not that it’s primarily a speaker phone but oh well.
 

 
 
 
Value:  So this review you may have noticed is a touch short.  That’s in part because when I looked up the price, at £28 I think they’ve made a mistake.  This is almost as good acoustically as the AS yet its significantly cheaper.  It also looks nicer if you ask me too.  It’s more nicely constructed to boot too.  While this hasn’t the Wi-Fi thing of the AS but this beside the AS-BT I’d take this one every time.  This is a more attractive object, stupid cheap, highly diminutive and yet sounds decent.  Now if only they will make a Wi-Fi version of this.  I’d say if you’re thinking about a little speaker with Christmas coming up then for the money this is excellent and I don’t see its staying at that price.
 

 
 
Conclusion:  So this is a product that is aimed more or less at the bottom of the market in terms of speaker’s right?  The thing is £28 delivered.  I see a bunch of those high quality reviews on Amazon and the low star rated ones moaning that it isn’t bassy enough.  While I wouldn’t say that anyone spelling bass, base, isn’t entitled to an opinion on the subject I suspect they may not have the broadest acoustic experience in the world.  This is after all a speaker that you could shove into a large pocket.  It does say 20Hz to 20KHz and while I’d admonish Bluedio for stating that, not that they are alone in giving figures that are liberal with the truth.  The fact is I’ve been sat listening to it all day and I’m fine with it.  I’m not yearning to turn it off and going back to my real speakers.  Sure it’s not perfect and I’m not saying it can do what they can do but its good enough and it’s pleasant to use.
 

 
 
 
The mids are where these do best and I’m a big vocalist fan, a girlie singing while playing a piano is probably my favourite genre and naturally the little BS-3 does them nicely.  Vocals are clean, a hint light so girlie vocals tend to work better than male but they are always nice.  Nice on the ear so you can just sit with it playing a little background music.  Pleasant on the ear and it has a nice balance to it.  It’s tuned for a balance to be realistic rather than bombastic that should please most audio aficionados.  Say perhaps for a little kitchen speaker or for relaxing to in the bath?
 

 
 
 
So would I / should you buy one?  I think I’d say yes to both.  It’s acoustically a pleasing product, visually a pleasing product too not to mention wallet pleasing.  At £28 delivered right now it feels like a steal, though I’d still be tempted by the Wi-Fi talents of the AS but at £50 that’s achingly close to twice the price.  Acoustically they are both so close to each other too.  Between the BT and the BS-3 I’d take the BS-3 every time, I mean its audio is great for what it is and it looks good, what’s not to like?  Unless you want craptastic bloated one note bass by the spade full, which if you do you’re unlikely to still be reading this, there really is no down side.  I’d grab one before the price goes back up.


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## mark2410

Bluedio BS-3 Bluetooth Speaker Quick Review by mark2410
 
Thanks to Bluedio for the sample.
 
Brief:  Smaller, better looking and cheaper.
 
Price: £28 or US$40
 
Specifications:  Bluetooth version: V4.1, Profiles: A2DP, AVRCP, HSP, HFP, Bluetooth operating range: up to 32ft (no obstructions), Transducers: Φ52mm×2, Frequency response: 20Hz-20KHz, Output power: 2*5W, Input voltage: ≤1V, Bluetooth music/talk time: up to 5 hours, Standby time: up to 1000 hours, Charging time: 3-4 hours for full charge, Speaker dimensions: Height: 3 in (7.6 cm), Width: 8.7 in (22 cm), Depth: 2.7 in (6.8 cm)
 
Accessories:  Micro USB charging cable, Audio cable, User manual
 
Build Quality:  Very good, very solid construction and zero jiggle on the buttons.
 
Aesthetics:  I like it, it’s a more grown up look than it’s AS stablemates plus it comes in 4 colours.  Black, gold, silver and white like I have here.  Visually is very polite.
 
Battery Life:  Excellent.  Its spec says 5 hours but I got about 6 and a half so go figure.  Oh and the standby time is crazy, quoting 1000 hours or about 42 days.
 
Sound:  Highly pleasant and just plain old nice on the ear.  It’s not tuned to be some chavvy bass cannon, with a great heap of bass that all sits on one note.  This is much more maturely tuned and does its best to stay reasonably linear.  Of course it can’t defy the laws of physics so the low end is mostly absent in the depths but its output is nice.  It’s significantly more natural than you would normally expect in this sort of product.  The bass is controlled and mature.  The highs are similar though they do somewhat better in extension and prominence.  However it’s really in the mids that the BS-3 is at its best.  It’s no surprise that “full range” drivers of the size this has its always going to be the mids that do best.  Of the vocals it tends to be girly vocals that do better than male.  Male vocals and cellos can feel a little too light and lacking fullness, increasingly so if you crank the volume.  The lower end can’t keep up with the upper mid-range / lower treble region.  However I’d say you don’t really want to blast the volume out anyway, it’s more for melodic gentle listening I feel.  All in all its looks and acoustics to me says pleasantly mature and pleasing.
 
Value:  Stupid good.  Right now it seems to have had a price cut and I’d be surprised if it stays there long.  For smooth and mid centric gentle listening it is a steal.  Bluedio have just totally undercut the rest of their range but for those buying it’s hard to find a reason against grabbing one of these.
 
Pro’s:  Super great Value.  Mature sounding balance.  Looks good.
 
Con’s:  I’m not sure it has any.


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## tyhot

I have one and I really like it, it looks fine, build quality and packaging are very good and it sound really nice for the price. I have only two complaints:
  
 I use it connected to my monitor via 3.5mm (that is then connected to my PS4 via HDMI). When you are using it with a 3.5mm cable the sound output depends only on the source, in my case the monitor and you cant even control the sound (+ or - loud) on the BS3's buttons. It isn't a problem most of the time (I usually set the volume between 40-60 and it's enough to have a good experience and not annoy neighbors or my girlfriend). But in the Youtube PS4's app the sound output is very low, I have to set the volume to 100 in the monitor and it won't be as loud as a 50 coming from a game would. I know it's probably the Youtube app problem, but if I could make the speaker output a higher volume it would be great.

 The second complaint is that it needs to be charged to work with the 3.5mm connection. Which is wierd because as I said above, when using 3.5mm audio it doesn't let you control the sound output, so why the hell do you need it to be charged? On top of that, if I leave the 3.5mm connected all the time the battery runs out in a day or two (unbelievable), so everytime I want to play PS4 and stop playing I have to connect/disconnect the cable because if I dont it will use all the battery of the speaker.
  
 But as I said, except for these two annoying things it's a great speaker and I would recommend to anyone that is looking for a cheap but good alternative.


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## mark2410

have you tried adding a little amp inbetween the monintor and the bs3?


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## tyhot

No, I dont have any amp in here... and still, I would still need to charge it (or keep it connect to the wall), which would still be bad and not solve my 'problem'. The thing that annoys me is that the speaker USES BATTERY even though it is not using it to power itself (only god knows where the battery is going...). If it would be using its power to output higher volume I would be fine charging it, or if it would not use any charge but I would not need to charge it. Right now it does the bad part of those two options 
  
 anyway, I like it a lot still, it was just a small thing that annoys me every few days (when the speaker suddenly turns off int he middle of a game/movie/music)


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