Today I woke up in the Headphone Dungeon upside down. I was suspended from the ceiling by my ankles, and the smell of meatballs filled the air. Swedish meatballs….
Suddenly Greta Thunberg appears before me, holding a lightsaber.
“Greta! Are you telling me we should use the Force to combat climate change?”
As she hands me the lightsaber, the only words to leave her mouth are “Bork, bork, bork”. It was then that I realized that Greta Thunberg had a mustache and chef’s hat.
And the lightsaber wasn’t a lightsaber at all. It was… can it be? No…. but it’s the only explanation! It’s a… a…. Bluetooth Speaker!
I wake up at my desk. Must’ve dosed off again. The familiar fumes of Sharpie marker alert me to the new mustache my coworkers have drawn on my face. On my desk is a Jays Bluetooth Speaker, a tiny Swedish Flag, and a sticky note that says “Review”.
Jays s-Go One Bluetooth Speaker Review
Jays is a Swedish company that makes headphones, speakers and accessories of all varieties. Founded in 2006, they strive for functional minimalism and style in their products.
The s-Go One is a Bluetooth Speaker that looks like many things… none of them a Bluetooth Speaker. A wand, a ribbon microphone, a handheld TSA metal-detector, maybe. But it sure doesn’t look like a speaker.
Jays says it was inspired by the architecture in Copenhagen and Gothenburg, and I guess it kind of looks like a Scandanavian skyscraper if you squint your eyes.
Specs
The s-Go one rocks a 10 hour battery life, and can live for 6 months on standby mode. Although the website also says that standby mode is when the power is OFF.
This baby’s got dual 32mm drivers and a passive bass reflecter, and a built-in microphone for taking calls. So it is a microphone after all.
The speaker uses last gen’s Bluetooth 4.2 connection though, and only supports SBC; the lowliest of the Bluetooth codecs. I don’t care if it does look like Scandinavian architecture, this ain’t for audiophiles!
Design
I’m not kidding about the s-Go One looking like a lightsaber. It even comes with a lanyard so you can tie it around your wrist.
When you hold it in your hand, it feels like something to be wielded, you know? I found myself constantly spinning it around and playing with it like a baton. Waving it like a magic wand. Making a “psheeew” sound and pretending it was lightsaber. Just normal stuff you do with a Bluetooth Speaker.
The drivers all face in the same direction, so you can lie the speaker face-up and have it play while stationary. But it really seems designed to be carried by hand, which is kind of odd.
Function?
When it is lying down, the music comes out in kind of a directionless way; straight up, perpendicular to the flat surface. It just doesn’t feel like an optimal design for a stationary speaker.
So I wielded the speaker through the streets of NYC to see how it felt on the go. It got pretty loud at max volume, and it keeps a slim enough profile that you can obscure the source of the music from the passerby. This is kind of fun but again: oddly designed.
Do they expect people to carry this thing when they use it? Or dangle from a backpack? Or just lie it flat like a soundbar that shoots music straight up to the ceiling? I don’t really get it.
Occasionally I set it to a lower volume, which required me to hold it up to my ear like a trendy Scandinavian boombox. This was functional, but I didn’t have the shades nor the pants to rock this position for too long.
On the plus side, pairing is very easy, and a deadpan female voice announces “time to play” once you’re connected. Hot.
Sound
Overall, this thing sounds okay. It did get pretty loud. Not even the noise from Time Square could stop me from blasting “Rock and Roll McDonalds” for anyone within an 8 foot radius.
The low-end gets blown out at the loudest volumes though. And because it’s using SBC, don’t expect much clarity or detail from the high-end.
But the s-Go One is clearly meant to be used as a rad Scandanavian boombox on the mean streets of Stockholm. It may look all sleek and hifi, but this thing is meant to get down and dirty. What I’m saying is: it sounds fine for portable purposes.
Conclusion
I really have no idea what to make of this thing. It looks nice. It’s fun to play with if you use your imagination.
But the oblong shape isn’t great for stationary playing, and playing while carrying it on my wrist was too strange for me. And I fancy myself a strange lad. I guess I’m just not Scandinavian strange.
But seriously, I don’t know who would want this over something more conventional like a JBL. If you’re making a movie and need an interesting sci-fi prop, maybe this would be a good buy.
Pros- Looks sleek, gets pretty loud
Cons- Weird design
This thing isn’t even on Amazon
But you can get it on Jays website for just 799 Swedish Krona!
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