Ah, would you look at that! A nice summery image with the sun shining. It might not be like that in the UK anymore, but as winter approaches it means a number of things – Black Friday deals being among them.
I tested a surprise 5-star speaker months back – the Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 9 – and had wondered why there was a sudden surge in reader interest on that product. The answer is simple: its price just plummeted in both the UK and the US.
Which is very good news if you're looking for one of the best Bluetooth speakers at a cut of the usual price; it even undercuts Sonos' price margins sufficiently for me to say "forget them" – nice as that brand's deals have been for this sales period.
Funnily enough, the Onyx Studio 9 isn't specifically designed for outdoors use, but that makes it all the more applicable now. It's a really stellar portable in my view – although you'll need to return it to a mains power point to recharge when it's out of battery.
This portable might not be the smallest ever, although that's besides its point, putting it into Sonos Era 300 territory with ease. I've been using it around the home very happily – outdoors right now would be no good, as it's not weather-sealed against water ingress.
As an upgrade to an earlier Onyx 8, the 9 has a far larger battery (4722mAh vs 3283mAh), meaning it can deliver 8 hours of output away from the plug. I've found that true in reality, too, ensuring a full working day without the wires needed.
Note that this is a Bluetooth-only speaker (plus Auracast to connect further speakers), however, so there's no Wi-Fi like many Sonos products offer. That, in part, explains the price gap.
Any negatives?
From the moment you switch the Onyx 9 on, the amount of bass that this fairly small speaker can provide is massively impressive. Yet, thanks to a trio of tweeters, it can separate the higher frequencies nicely.
However, while I found the Onyx Studio 9 super-easy to carry around indoors, the lack of any charging 'cradle' was annoying. I've had older Harman Kardon products with such a design – something ready and waiting for the speaker to be parked on with ease for recharging. That's not the case here, you'll need to reinsert the fig8 cable instead.
But, honestly, that's about the only low note here. Even at the original price, I never expected this Harman Kardon speaker to be so top quality. Now it's even cheaper, then, it's even more of a bargain – to Sonos-rivalling levels, but for even less!
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