Gadgetory

I'm David Connolly executive editor for cnet.com and I'm here with the Jabra soulmate this is a compact bluetooth speaker and it does have unique design it does look a little bit like a sneaker and follows in the footsteps of the Jawbone Jambox it's a little bit bigger than the jam box and it does offer a little bit bigger sound I can't say the sound is all that much better than the jam box it is bigger it this does fill a small to medium-size room with sound and it does sound pretty good and I think a lot of people will be impressed with its sound at higher volumes it does get a little bit harsher sounding is a little bit muddier but admit to maybe level seven or so it can play pretty loud and does sound fairly detailed and offers good bass it does have that treaded underside that does look like the sole of a shoe and what's good about that is that this thing doesn't move around when you're playing it at higher volumes some of these smaller speakers when you pump a lot of bass through them they will shake a little bit this one however is stable it also does have this little loop on the side it makes it pretty easy to carry around like that everybody will carry around like that but I did find myself using that loop this also comes with a special carrying bag that bag allows you to put the speaker inside the bag sound gets out but it is water-resistant sand resistant so it is good for taking to the beach with you the jam box of course comes in multiple colors this one however only comes in two this is the black version there's also a white version the last interesting feature is that there is a line in court built into the bottom of the unit it fits right into the tread and hides away you can then pull it out and use it with non bluetooth devices and it is a nice feature to have that in many ways this is very much like the Jawbone Jambox it does have voice prompts when you turn it on and when you pair the device also it does have a built-in speakerphone a battery life is also pretty decent you get about eight hours of music out of this without having to recharge and all in all this is a very solid speaker it does cost $199 there's a lot of competition in this market right now the jam box is right around 179 there are a lot of other speakers at $1.99 so I can't say this is an incredible deal at that price I'd really like to see it around 149 but it's certainly a solid compact Bluetooth speaker I'm David carnelian that's the Jabra soulmate Bluetooth speaker thanks for watching