This Retro-Inspired Portable Speaker Is So Darn Cool — But It's Not for Everyone | Gear Patrol (2024)

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Tivoli Audio is a Boston-based brand with a rep for making niche speakers featuring an analog-yet-modern aesthetic. It’s probably best known for its Model One Radio, a gorgeous, retro-looking tabletop speaker with a built-in AM/FM antenna. It’s a speaker you want to look at, listen to … and touch.

The company’s latest creation, the SongBook, has similar appeal — yet it’s also quite different. It’s a portable Bluetooth speaker that takes the shape of a modern boombox. It has a bunch of tactile knobs, sliders and switches. There’s a handle so you can easily carry the speaker from room to room or into the backyard. And, uniquely, it can work as a separate amp for an instrument (like an electric guitar) or a speaker for your computer or turntable.

That said, the SongBook is roughly the size and exactly the same price as the Sonos Move 2 — but it’s nowhere near as versatile or as feature packed. There’s no Wi-Fi connectivity or built-in voice assistant. There’s no multi-room grouping or automatic room-tuning capabilities. In fact, there’s no companion app at all. It holds the most value for those who value more than technology.

Tivoli Audio SongBook: What We Think

Tucker Bowe

Tivoli Audio’s SongBook strikes me as a portable speaker with a strong sense of self — it knows exact what it is and what it isn’t. This is a pretty straightforward portable Bluetooth speaker with striking design and good sound. Thanks to its knobs and switches, it’s super satisfying to touch and interact with. It’s not going to knock your socks off with fancy features or immersive audio. And its $450 price tag makes it a pretty difficult speaker to recommend.

But if you’re really digging its look and vibe and you’re not turned off by its asking price, the SongBook is a pretty dynamite portable speaker that’s super simple to use.

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Tivoli Audio

Tivoli Audio SongBook

• $449.99 at worldwidestereo.com

This speaker is meant to be shown off

Tucker Bowe

First things first: the SongBook is a looker. The speaker resembles an old-school boombox that was then recreated in the mind’s eye of Dieter Rams. It’s clean and minimalistic, but it also shows off its analog accents. The volume knobs, three-band EQ sliders and power switches are really the standouts of the speaker. And I kind of like that.

You get the sense that Tivoli doesn’t want you put the SongBook in the closet when it’s not in use — it’s too pretty. The review unit I have been testing has a lovely army green finish that looks great. Tivoli Audio also offers the SongBook in a cream finish that is equally timeless.

The SongBook has real analog appeal

Tucker Bowe

The SongBook is a portable speaker that invites you to get handsy with it. Instead of using your smartphone to change its settings (or, God forbid, an app), it encourages you to use its dials, switches and knobs to tinker with it. Everything feels solid and well made, so you get this little tactile satisfaction every time you go to adjust something. It’s wonderfully uncomplicated.

To turn the speaker on and off, there’s a little switch at the bottom that clicks magnificently and firmly into place. The same is true with the EQ sliders, as you can hear and feel a click when each slider (Low, Mid and High) gets back to even; it’s like opening your locker in high school or cracking a safe. You can feel it. And that’s cool.

The SongBook is a mono speaker

Tucker Bowe

Just by looking at the SongBook, with its dual speaker grills, you might assume it plays stereo sound, but it doesn’t. Like many of Tivoli’s speakers, the SongBook embraces mono sound. It has dual drivers, a 3.5-inch full-range driver and a 3.5-inch woofer, powered by a 40-watt amplifier. The speakers sound big, bold, direct — and pretty darn good.

Note: Mono sound isn’t better or worse than stereo sound, it’s just a bit different. Instead of the spacious and room-filling sound that you’d get with dedicated left and right channels, mono sounds a bit more concentrated and centered.

The SongBook is capable of getting really, really loud — much louder than the vast majority of my portable speakers — making it a good fit for large rooms and outdoor spaces. I will say, however, that the louder the music, the more distortion seems to creep in. I’ve been on a bit of a Lorde kick and with many of her bass-heavy songs, like “Green Light” and “Supercut,” you get the sense the woofer is really working for it.

The SongBook is far from cheap

Tucker Bowe

If you were to ask me if the SongBook is worth its $450 asking price, I’d tell you probably not. There are too many other portable speakers out there that offer better value, are more versatile and, honestly, might sound a little better too. But that’s not really why you’d get the SongBook in the first place.

This is a speaker that costs as much as it does because it looks as unique as it does — and because the tactile experience of actually using it and fiddling with it is something more digitized options cannot replicate. If you’re into that, you’ll find the SongBook is actually pretty great.

The SongBook leaves something to be desired

Tucker Bowe

Look and feel aside, there’s not actually that much that’s exceptional about the SongBook. It sounds good and gets loud, but in terms of sound quality I wouldn’t put it above similarly sized (and priced) portable speakers, like the Sonos Move 2 or UE Epicboom. It has a battery life that’s rated for up to 10 hours, which actually isn’t that great by today’s standards. It has USB-C and USB-A ports, but it doesn’t support reverse charging for your other devices. And, as mentioned, there’s no built-in Wi-Fi or companion app to unlock smart features.

The SongBook can be used as an external amplifier if you have an external keyboard, electric guitar or other instrument —but I don’t have any of those. It does have a 6.35mm Aux port so you can use it as a speaker for your computer, MP3 player or turntable (as long as it has a built-in preamp), the latter of which I did. It works well and is easy enough to set up, however you do need to supply a 6.35mm adapter as one is not included in the box.

Tivoli Audio SongBook: Alternatives

Tucker Bowe

The best alternative to SongBook is actually it’s bigger sibling: the SongBook Max. It looks quite similar but is a little larger, a little more expensive and a little more capable. The Max has all the same capabilities as the SongBook, but it also has a built-in FM radio (as well as large tuning knob, extendable antenna and little digital display).

There are actually quite a few other portable Bluetooth speakers that have adopted the boombox-style look. Polaroid (yes, that Polaroid) makes the P3 and P4 speakers, which are considerably smaller, more colorful and cheaper. And Anker’s Soundcore Motion X600 is a less-flashy option that also has an up-firing driver for spatial audio.

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