Monster ClarityHD Micro Bluetooth speaker review: A good portable speaker -- when it's discounted

Let's get something out the way from the get-go. Monster's ClarityHD Micro Bluetooth speaker isn't a good buy at $200.

7.0

Monster ClarityHD Micro Bluetooth speaker

The Good

Compact wireless Bluetooth speaker; attractive design with swappable speaker grilles for easy color changes; includes carrying pouch; built-in speaker phone for cell phone calls; supports the AptX audio codec.

The Bad

Not a good deal at its list price of $199.99; battery life isn't as good as the Jawbone Jambox's.

The Bottom Line

The Monster ClarityHD Micro is a very good little Bluetooth speaker, but it's only worth buying if you can get it for less than $125.

That caveat aside, it's a good little wireless speaker that rivals the sound quality of the Jawbone Jambox and offers the same features, including built-in speakerphone capabilities, as well as sound prompts that guide you through pairing the speaker with your smartphone, tablet, or other Bluetooth-enabled audio device. However, it's just not worth $200, especially with the Jambox selling for around $150 along with plenty of other good Bluetooth speakers.

Ah, but like a lot of products that have been out for a while, the ClarityHD Micro is being sold for lower prices at certain online retailers, which makes it a more attractive proposition. In other words, if you can get it for less than $125, it's definitely worth considering.

Design and features
The ClarityHD Micro is a fairly cool-looking compact speaker. Weighing 13.8 ounces and measuring 3.125 by 7.125 by 1.5 (HWD) inches, it's a little taller than the Jambox but a little less deep. It has an internal battery that recharges via a Micro-USB connection and there's an audio input (marked "line-in") for connecting non-Bluetooth devices. The unit has a rubberized bottom, which helps keep it stable when you crank the volume.

An on/off switch on back allows you to connect and disconnect your devices and after you set up a pairing, the speaker should automatically connect with that device when you turn the speaker back on (so long as the Bluetooth is activated on the device).

Once you fire up the speaker, a male voice tells you, "Attempting to connect...searching..." and helps guide you through the process of connecting. Jawbone popularized the whole voice-inside-the-speaker concept, and it's found here as well as in other wireless speakers such as the Jabra Solemate.

Like those competing models, this one has built-in speakerphone capabilities. It also supports the AptX codec, which is found in some smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4. It's supposed to offer cleaner sound when transmitting audio wirelessly over Bluetooth, but it's pretty hard to notice the difference in sound quality with a small speaker such as this.

The other little design extra here is the option to swap out the grilles on the speaker, which comes in black or white. The replacement grilles come in various colors, but they're a little pricey at $20 a pop.

I should also mention that the speaker comes with a drawstring cloth storage pouch and hand strap. I'm not exactly sure when you'd use the hand strap, because most people would set this down on a table or flat surface and leave it at that. But I suppose if you were carrying the speaker around and didn't want to risk dropping it, you could attach the hand strap.

As far as battery life goes, Monster doesn't seem to be promoting a number, so it's a little hard to tell how much you're supposed to get. It's supposed to last in the 6-hour range, depending on volume levels, and you can probably get closer to 10 if you're keeping things at moderate, background-music level. In that department, Jambox is the winner, promising 8 to 10 hours of battery life.

Sound quality
In terms of sound, the ClarityHD Micro is right there with the Jawbone Jambox and other models such as the Philips Shoqbox SB7200, Beats Pill, JBL Flip, and Jabra Solemate. You can quibble over which speaker has more bass (the Jambox may have slightly more) and which has more clarity, but they all play loud for their size, offer some bass, and have significant limitations. In other words, yeah, they play loud, but don't sound all that great, and tiny speakers can only perform so well.

When you play bass-heavy tracks through the ClarityHD Micro, it can handle it, but it will sound restrained. For instance, I ran some Swedish Mafia through the speaker and the music had a little punch to it but not a whole lot. The fact is the speaker's strength is in the midrange, so acoustic tracks and ballads sound best. Tracks like Fun's "Carry On" sounded good, with clear vocals and an overall clean sound.

It helps to put the speaker near a wall or a corner where two walls meet so you get some reflection. With all these little speakers, placement can help improve the sound, giving it a little more fullness. And I'll reiterate that you get little to no stereo separation with compact speakers because the drivers are so close together.

I may not sound incredibly enthusiastic about the ClarityHD Micro, but that's because I've had to listen to a lot of these tiny Bluetooth speakers, and the magic of hearing big sound (but not necessarily good sound) coming out of a small speaker has worn off for me. Still, comparatively speaking, the ClarityHD is a step up from an even smaller speaker such as the Logitech Mobile Boombox or the ball-shaped Sony SRS-BTV5 or the grenadelike Philips SoundShooter Wireless. Speakerphone performance is also good. Callers said they could hear me well, and they came through loud and clear on the speaker.

Needless to say, the ClarityHD Micro is not going to sound as good as step-up models like the Bose SoundLink Wireless II or Jawbone Big Jambox, both of which go for $300.

Conclusion
I'm guessing that the ClarityHD Micro hasn't sold terribly well, judging by the low number of reviews on Amazon. I think that's largely a reflection of its high price tag. It carries a list price of $229.99 that's really $199.99. But no matter, because anything more than $125 is too high. While the sound is very good for its size and the speaker is attractively designed, the build quality isn't robust enough for it to feel like a $200 speaker. And other products such as the $100 JBL Flip sound about the same.

The long and short of it is that this is a 3-star Bluetooth speaker at $200, but it would be 3.5 stars at less than $125. And that's really all it comes down to: price. So, if you can find this for less than $125 (at the time of this writing Amazon had it for as low as $113), it's certainly worth considering. But at any price over $125, it becomes harder to recommend with any sort of enthusiasm.