Being the company's first Bluetooth speaker, the 1MORE Portable BT Speaker can only be considered a success. No corners have been cut and nothing was left to chance—that's my overall impression of this little musical saucer. First of all, it's built like a tank. It feels really robust, and you'll pop it in your backpack without a care in the world, certain that it won't get damaged while being lugged around. Most of the speaker is wrapped in cloth-like material, so it's not slippery when you hold it. It also won't mind being placed next to a pool or on a beach where it might be splashed with water—it's IPX4 certified, which means it's designed to face such challenges head on.

The 1MORE Portable BT Speaker is nice to hold and carry around, but even nicer to listen to. I wasn't expecting such strong performance from a speaker of this size. It's not lacking in any part of the frequency spectrum. Quite the opposite: the bass is thick and punchy, the mid-range is clear and nicely blends with lower frequencies, and the highs are smooth and controlled, if not slightly recessed to remove any chances of the speaker causing ear fatigue. With 30 W power output, the 1MORE Portable BT Speaker is also quite powerful, certainly powerful enough to be used outdoors without disappearing into the background. Everything that's good about its sound becomes twice as good when you opt for the Stereo Bundle, which includes a second speaker at a 50% discount. Two of these speakers then pair themselves wirelessly and work in tandem, delivering a sound that's much bigger than their physical size would suggest, and even richer and more energetic. Two of these speakers can be the only source of music even when hosting a party.

Even though some competitors offer a larger battery in their Bluetooth speakers, the ten-ish hours of battery life of the 1MORE Portable BT Speaker is the standard for a wireless speaker of this size. Of course, your mileage may vary depending on how loud you blast it. As far as extra features go, 1MORE provides a 3.5-mm linear input for a wired connection with sound sources and a microphone, which can be used for phone calls. The microphone isn't the greatest, but serves its purpose—the people I talked to had no trouble understanding what I was saying.

If you're looking for a compact Bluetooth speaker with sound quality that greatly surpasses its physical size, this could very well be it. Take special notice of the Stereo Bundle option with a second speaker at a 50% discount. The total cost of the Stereo Bundle is $149/€129, which isn't an unreasonable price to pay for a compact, fully mobile, battery powered wireless playback system.