Bluetooth speakers are useful for a number of purposes. Portability is everything. Being able to take your speaker to the beach is as valuable as being able to take it from room to room, ensuring you have music no matter where you are.
Rugged speakers are great for more hardened trips outdoors, but often you want something that’s lightweight and easy to slip into your bag or backpack. The Creative Muvo 2 covers all these bases. It’s stylish, weighs only 340g, is easy to use, and tough enough to cover most of your needs.
A small device available in four different colors, you can carry it in one hand, before throwing it your bag. It’s not waterproof, but it is water-resistant meaning a splash or two of water won’t do it any harm. Its edges are smoothed but it’s reasonably competent at withstanding a few knocks. Where things get even better is in terms of its functionality.
Set up can be entirely wireless through Bluetooth, or you can use its aux input. Bluetooth took seconds for me to set up with my iPhone, ensuring I could begin playing music in no time. It’s the kind of process that even the most inexperienced user could figure out, without any need to consult the instructions. Aux input is similarly convenient, and ensures the Creative Muvo 2 has more flexibility than you’d expect. All the ports are neatly hidden at the back of the device, with a small plastic flap to cover anything unsightly when you’re using it solely wirelessly.
It offers a built-in MP3 player too, alongside microSD card support, meaning you don’t actually need your phone or MP3 player on hand, the Muvo 2 will still have plenty of music to play by itself. MicroSD card support also means it’ll double up as a card reader if you need it to, and while those occasions are probably going to be fairly rare, it’s a nice additional feature.
Battery life weighs in at about 10 hours which should suit most needs. Charging is conducted via the micro USB cable that’s supplied, but most users won’t need to use it too often. For a short camping trip, for instance, or a day at the beach, it’s going to last the right amount of time for your needs.
It’s all fairly solid, if lacking anything revolutionary, but where Creative Muvo 2 stands out is its pairing support. You can use a couple of Muvo 2s together to form a kind of stereo set up. It’s a simple matter of pressing a dedicated button on the speakers, before connecting to Bluetooth like usual. Once activated, music plays across both speakers without any effort.
The downfall here is that the speakers will always act in stereo. Play them in different rooms and you might not get the full experience with certain songs because of how it comes through. As a set up in one room, however, it’s pretty great. In particular, it’s ideal for forming a stereo set up for your laptop, or even if you’re in the shower.
Sound quality is also pretty good. Its bass is strong, and overall performance is reasonably loud, even on the lowest setting. While it won’t compete with anything mains powered, it’s an ideal level for a portable, battery based device. It also fits the $79 price point well.
That combination of keenly pitched features and pricing is what works so well for the Creative Muvo 2. It’s not going to appeal to audiophiles in any way, but it is perfect for the everyday user. It’s stylish to look at, easily fitting into your home decor, quick to set up and exceptionally portable, proving pretty much ideal for those who move around a lot. It can sit on your bedside cabinet, before moving to the shower, just before you hit the beach with it. And it’ll do all that on one full charge.