Spracht Aura BluNote

Spracht is a small acoustic division of ODI that makes Bluetooth speakers and voice conference products for offices. The last Spracht device we reviewed was the Aura Mobile BT, which is a Bluetooth speakerphone designed to fit on a car's visor. Now the company has released the Spracht Aura Blu Note, a Bluetooth speaker with stereo Bluetooth compatibility made for listening to music. It looks great and has decent sound, though we did wish it wasn't so pricey at $129. For the money, we would've liked additional functionality like music player controls.

The Aura Blu Note is a beautiful futuristic piece of hardware with a chassis that curves slightly outward. It is silver all around, plus its front surface is dominated by a large speaker grille. In the middle of the speaker is a piece of black plastic that also houses a circular blue LED indicator. Measuring 7 inches long by 3 inches tall by 1.2 inches deep and weighing about 9.5 ounces, the Aura Blu Note is also surprisingly small and lightweight, truly earning its promise of portability.

The top of the Blu Note houses all of its controls. They consist of a Bass Boost button, a Stereo Widening button, a large volume rocker, the power toggle, and a PTT button that you can use to make or answer phone calls. Notably missing are any music player controls, which is a shame since the Blu Note is designed to stream music. On the back of the Blu Note are a 3.5-millimeter headset jack and a jack for the power cable. If you prefer not to use the power cable, you can also fill up the battery compartment in the back with four AA batteries, and yes, the batteries are included in the box. The 3.5-millimeter jack is good if you want to listen to music from a device that doesn't have stereo Bluetooth, like an iPod for example.