We used a Sprint Mogul loaded up with some music to test the Acoustic Energy AE-29. Several trends were immediately apparent. Miles Davis sounded a bit strident and harsh, while Moby's "Extreme Ways" lacked any semblance of bass. The lack of low-end was further evident on the Rolling Stones' "Heart of Stone." Switching to U2's "I Will Follow" revealed the AE-29's volume limitations: cranking the dial anywhere above 40 percent or so resulted in distortion and breakup. On the bright side, the actual Bluetooth signal remained constant, with no dropouts, static, or dead spaces at all.
Sounds bad, right? Actually, most of that is par for the course for Bluetooth speakers. We dusted off the Parrot DS1120 Bluetooth models for comparison. The somewhat beefier Parrot speakers provided a bit more tangible bass, but otherwise the sound quality was extremely similar, with a harsh mid-to-upper range evident on certain tracks.
To further drive the point home, we patched an iPod with the same music directly into the AE-29's line-in connection, and the improvement was dramatic. Sound exhibited better clarity overall, and we could turn the volume up closer to 60 percent of maximum before it distorted. In other words, the AE-29 delivers better sound quality from wired versus Bluetooth wireless sources, and its Bluetooth performance--while below our standards for pleasant listening--is right in line with competing models we've heard.
And speaking of that competition: aside from the aforementioned Parrot DS1120, Bluetooth audio fans might check out iLuv's two Bluetooth-capable boomboxes. The iLuv's offerings have more features (iPod docks, CD players), but their unibody design means there's less stereo separation than you'd find in the Acoustic Energy.
In the final analysis, the Acoustic Energy AE-29 is a perfectly decent Bluetooth speaker system, but we're becoming more disenchanted with the quality limitations of the format as a whole. Ideally, the additional bandwidth offered by the forthcoming Bluetooth 2.2 standard will bring with it a corresponding improvement in sonics. In the meantime, the Acoustic Energy AE-29 is probably as good as you'll get in a Bluetooth speaker system; we just wish it cost closer to $150.
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