Nude Audio Move portable speakers review

Here at the Lazygamer HQ, we love it when the courier pitches up. It usually signals that we’re about to get some new thing; a game, some hardware, a toy to play with. I recently became rather excited when the man in the courier van drove up to deliver something. I’m expecting a rather exciting, high-tech delivery any day now, so you can imagine my disappointment when I opened the package to instead find not one, but three sets of speakers. Not window-shattering, eardrum-splitting speakers, mind you. Lifestyle speakers. Little, portable ones. My disappointment was frankly, misplaced.

We received three of the available models of Nude Audio’s Move speakers. Looking like little, electronic soap-on-a-rope, they purport to offer great sound, great portability and great battery life.  Much to my surprise, they delivered on all of those promises. They’re all encased in a rubber sheath that helps prevent scratches and knocks, and all offer sound that belies their diminutive size. We’ll tackle them in order of size.

Nude Move S – Wired

The smallest and cheapest of the range, the little Nude audio S we received was the wired model. Lacking the wireless connectivity of its bigger brothers, the Nude Audio S is a largely waterproof, portable little speaker with its own, built in lithium-ion battery. Connectivity here is solely through the included, and attached 3.5mm stereo audio cable. There is but one button on the thing, a little press button for switching it on and off. The speaker itself is monaural, but with speakers of this ilk, that’s not a factor. Far more important, is the fact that its tiny little acoustic chamber produces reasonable sound, with an 8 hour battery life. It’s charged with an included micro USB cable. There’s another 3,5mm input port, but we’ll get to that later.

The smaller one retails for around R350, but you can find it cheaper if you shop around.

Nude Move M

The larger, medium sized –speaker is a little larger than most portable speakers of this sort, but that’s to give it an enlarged acoustic chamber. That helps it produce some rather impressive sound, according to its makers – and they’re not wrong. Though it topples out and distorts at high volumes, the mid sized speaker is rather impressive when it comes to low and mid frequencies – so you’ll be able to hear your favourite pumping tunes on the beach, your patio or poolside. Just don’t dunk it in the water – because it’s that “splashproof” sort of waterproof. It connects via Bluetooth to any device that supports the standard, though the 3.5mm input can be used for legacy audio devices. Like its smaller sibling, it charges via USB – and though it’s rated to last for 8 hours according the box, I found it to last far, far longer. It has a tiny little hole that houses a pick-up mic, making it applicable for use as a hands free device for your phone. Unlike the smaller speaker, this one actually has some buttons; a power button, volume buttons, and another to pair the speaker and use it as a hands free device.

Interestingly the 3.5mm input also allows you to daisy chain these speakers together – so you can hook the S up to the M, or link 3 of the M’s together, boosting the audio output. It’s very nearly entirely pointless unless you have a stack of them, but it’s a nice addition nonetheless.

Of the portable Bluetooth speakers I’ve used, this is certainly one of the best when it comes to price and performance as well as build quality. If you’re looking for a mobile speaker that packs a punch without sacrificing portability, you needn’t look any further than this. If ultimate portability isn’t at the top of your priorities, and you want something that really makes some noise, there’s the larger one.

The Nude Move M retails for around R600, but can be found for less.

Nude Move L

Though it’s a unique and interesting-looking unit, the Move L is a little large for a portable speaker. At one end is the same sort of rope that you’ll find on the smaller ones, but it’s a bit too big and heavy to hang on things as you would with the diminutive speakers. At the top you’ve got buttons for power, Bluetooth, and volume, while on the side you have a power socket, 3.5mm line-in and a USB port. Yes, this one has a battery that’s too big to charge over USB, so you’ll need to plug it in to the wall for it get its power. You can use the USB port to keep your MP3 player or phone charged while you send your tunes through air via Bluetooth. The front grille conceals two speakers, making this the only unit in the line-up to deliver stereo sound. It’s also got a third speaker at the back that functions as a little subwoofer to pump out your bass. As with the Move M, connecting your device to the unit is as simple as pairing via Bluetooth. Likewise, the line-in can be used to daisy chain the unit with other speakers from the range.

Where I was rather impressed with the audio from the Move M, I was actually a little underwhelmed at the sounds that spewed forth from something of this size. because of the dedicated sub speaker, it’s even bass heavier than others, making it more suited to club tracks and dance tunes than anything else. High frequencies are flattened, lost in the thump. It sounds good enough; I was just expecting better considering how impressive the medium one for its size. The large version also lacks the speakerphone, making it less fully-featured. As with the medium sized one, battery life goes beyond the rating on the box.

This one’s going for just over R1000.

Last Updated: October 24, 2014