Dynaudio Music 1 review

As our homes get smaller, the emphasis has changed from large multiple box sound systems to small more compact systems. We also demand portability and yet want good sound. 

Many options exist for portable sound systems which can playback music from sources like your phones with down quality, but what if you want a system that sounds good, can integrate into an entire sound ecosystem and is also a smart radio. 

Dynaudio, a company more renowned for its high end speakers used by many audiophiles has turned its attention to the wireless streaming market and has come out with not just one but four options. 

The One and Three are portable whilst the Five and Seven require power to operate. The Seven also features a HDMI port with ARC as well as an optical input.

Each can also stream music from external sites and features Apple AirPlay as well as Bluetooth.

The latter two have present buttons and all models can be controlled from a phone app. A remote controls is supplied with the Three, Five and Seven. Each comes with a covering over the speaker area, and there are four available colors to choose from. 

The tech blurb:
https://www.dynaudio.com/home-audio/music/music-1


I tried the Bluetooth, optical and HDMI connection (for Seven)

The annoying thing is that you need to turn on the device and then connect to Bluetooth each time. It does not do if automatically.

So how does it sound?

Let’s start from the Music One

It’s a reasonably small model around the size of the Harmon Kardon Onyx series which will be an interesting competitor.

You get up to 8 hours of listening time, and the One consists of a 1 inch tweeter and a 4 inch woofer. 

There are physical buttons for source, volume, power as well as forward and backwards buttons on the Three and One, with preset buttons on the Five and Seven. There is a USB port to charge your phone.

Setup is reasonable, but there are better apps out there.

You are asked to locate a speaker, and remember to press preset one button on the 3, 5 and 7. The app tries to ask you for your music tastes and makes you try to sign up for a Tidal trial. Most users will be up and running within 20 minutes, which is on the long side if you ask me. For example, I was using my Bose 500 within 10 minutes.

You can listen to music from your phone, streaming sites, local radio streams or even access your computer's iTunes collection. 

But the most important thing is how does it sound?  

It sounds very good! Even though it’s not very big, it can fill a whole room with music and won’t break up unless the volume is turned all the way up. 
The bass is very meaty indeed. Compared to the Bose 500, it manages to dig about an octave deeper, and that's probably due to the 4" woofer at work. The cabinet is also slightly larger than the Bose 500 which is really quite compact. 

The voicing reasonably clear although the Bose 500 is better at this. However when you latch onto a beat, this thing can really rock!

Size matters, so it still loses to it's larger brethen, and if bass is what you are after, the Music 3 is a better bet. But the Music 1 is a more manageable size, and you can bring it out to a party. Bear in mind that the 1 is not even water resistant or splash proof, so be careful to use it at a poolside party. 

Compared to the HK Onyx 5, that can dig really deep too, but that is a simple Bluetooth speaker, whereas the 1 does so much more and can stream from a variety of source. 

With more portable devices out there, such as the UE Megaboom those are far more portable, with more water resistance. However they are also mere playback devices only, and lack the additional streaming capability. The bass is also less meaty and they will not go as loud. 

So who should get this?

If you like good sound, require some portability and want to stream and have access to wifi, this is a solid device to buy. It's in a class of it's own in sound quality and bass reproduction, but also comes with a price tag that's higher than the more basic devices. 










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 I have no financial interest or other interests in any of the items / events I write about.