Looking for a mini portable speaker that packs some really nice bass? The Kinivo ZX100 might just fit your featuring a patent pending bass boost system, a snazzy red and black color scheme, and a fair price.
Overview
The ZX100 is pretty small, almost comparable to a deck of cards. It also has a nice red/black color scheme going for it, which looks pretty cool. On the top of the speaker is where you twist to reveal the patent pending bass mechanism/resonator, which works rather well. On the sides, you will find different buttons (power, volume up, volume down), and they aren’t the black parts, rather, the red dips under each symbol. Flip the ZX100 over and you will find an analog audio cable (3.5mm plug), an audio-in port (3.5mm jack), and a micro USB port with an indicator LED above.
Review
The ZX100 Mini Portable Speaker really does its job well. If you don’t twist open the bass mechanism, you get an okay sound, but when you do twist it open, the sound is great. Obviously not Bose quality, but good enough for you to enjoy your music with friends and in good quality.
Here’s an audio sample, using my Yeti USB Mic (Amazon) and the ZX100 with Approaching Nirvana’s “Fade Away” (here). To prove it’s a recording, and not the track, there’s a little bumpy noise at the beginning. I did have to hold the mic correctly to achieve this quality, so take the best sound you hear.
For a speaker of this size, it’s very good.
Here are a few little things that I liked about the ZX100:
- The built-in cable and cable management system work very nicely. In fact, they do not touch the ground.
- The red plastic feels nice and strong, yet flexible, making the buttons easy to press.
- The bass mechanism is easy to open and close.
- Included is a charging cable that doubles as an audio cable.
- The included carrying bag holds everything!
The only things I really didn’t like about the ZX100 are…
- No battery capacity listed, with no playtime listed either.
- Sand, tiny rocks, etc. can get into the bass mechanism, so be careful.
- Lastly, when at high volumes, it vibrates, big time, since there’s not much weight, but keep the volume down a tiny bit from MAX and you should be fine. This speaker can get LOUD, so you probably wouldn’t have it at MAX anyway.
Conslusion
The Kinivo ZX10o is a great mini portable speaker, coming in at $18 (On Kinivo’s Site, and Amazon) it’s also a deal. Overall I really recommend the ZX100 if you are looking for a small, cheap, and portable speaker, with great sound quality.