This Inateck speaker has one of those designs you’ll either love or hate. I quite like the hexagonal, almost industrial-looking pattern that forms the speaker mesh and wraps around the sides. The flash of red showing below this grille is also pretty cool. But for some people the BTSP-10 Plus won’t be the sleek, minimalistic Bluetooth speaker they were looking for. Also see: Best portable speakers and budget Bluetooth speakers 2015. Rectangular in design at 165x60x50mm, the 390g Inateck speaker is a lot heavier than it looks. It packs some pretty good audio hardware for the price, though, with two 3W precision-tuned drivers. It’s still easily portable, and despite its rugged appearance Inateck supplies a soft carry case to protect it on its travels. The Inateck BTSP-10 Plus has a rubbery, easy-grip finish. We were worried it would attract fingerprints, but it fared well in our tests. Of course, that could also be because we didn’t touch it more than we had to – the rubbery finish is such that you feel like you need to wash your hands the second you finish handling it. There are also four rubber feet on the bottom, which help keep it steady and protect from vibrations on a flat surface. It’s easy to operate, with the power switch, AUX and Micro-USB charging ports on one side, and three buttons up top – volume up, volume down, and a Bluetooth button that does everything else, including playing- and pausing audio, and answering- and ending calls. Also see: Best cheap headphones 2015. Setup is pretty simple – but we did need to read the instructions, which is something we never do. Unlike every other portable Bluetooth speaker we’ve tried, you can’t just switch it on and then instantly pair it with your phone. You need to switch it on, then hold down the Bluetooth button for six seconds to enter pairing mode, at which point the Inateck will become visible in your Bluetooth settings. Unlike most portable Bluetooth speakers, we were disappointed to find that the volume buttons didn’t also allow you to skip the track. To use this speaker to its full potential, you will still need to interact with the music app on your phone or tablet, which is annoying. Nevertheless, the Inateck BTSP-10 Plus Bluetooth speaker has plenty in its favour. First and most notably is its volume. For a cheap portable speaker, this thing is loud. Much, much louder than what is possible from your phone, tablet or laptop. And sound quality is no different at max volume than when it is little more than a whisper. Inateck ran a decibel test comparing it to the far more expensive Bose SoundLink Mini, with this speaker coming out on top with 107dB against the Bose’s 105.1dB. Second is its Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, which is an improvement over the older versions of the standard used by most cheap speakers, and more power-efficient. It won’t unreasonably draw on the battery of your mobile device, and its own built-in 2100mAh lithium-polymer battery is able to last between nine- and 15 hours (exactly how long will depend on whether you’re streaming audio over Bluetooth or using the AUX connection, and the volume at which that music is playing). There is always some compression when you’re streaming music over Bluetooth (you might prefer to use the AUX connection for this reason), but we mostly found audio crisp and clear. The Inateck BTSP-10 Plus handled everything we threw at it, from heavy bass to ballads, and even did a pretty good job of surround sound. At no point during our testing did we find ourselves dissatisfied with playback. Read next: Best headphones 2015. Follow Marie Brewis on Twitter. Marie is Editor in Chief of Tech Advisor and Macworld. A Journalism graduate from the London College of Printing, she’s worked in tech media for more than 17 years, managing our English language, French and Spanish consumer editorial teams and leading on content strategy through Foundry’s transition from print, to digital, to online - and beyond.
