Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 4 Review

The Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 4 provides good performance in a battery powered package that can easily be moved around your home. If you're tired of wearing headphones while you cook and clean, this speaker is an inexpensive way to fill your home with sound.

Performance Comparison

The Studio 4 was the lowest scorer in our testing. However, its low price and functionality still make it a good deal.

We utilized a variety of tests to establish the scores. You can read about how the Studio 4 faired in all those tests below.

Sound Quality

The Studio 4 sounds good, but not quite as good as the models that don't bother with an internal battery and opt for staying tethered to a wall socket.

The Studio 4 lacks some depth and clarity when compared to its wired competition. This means the bass isn't quite as powerful and the music lacks some of that crystal definition that denotes truly high-quality sound. If you're looking for a refined listening experience, this isn't the speaker for you (if you're looking for such an experience in a smaller, less expensive speaker check out the Bose SoundTouch 10). If you're fine with a speaker that sounds pretty good instead of superb, you'll be more than satisfied with the Studio 4.

User Friendliness

The combination of a simple Bluetooth connection but lack of any special features earned the Studio 4 an average user friendliness score, that was at the back of the pack when compared to the other models we tested.

The Studio 4 uses a simple Bluetooth connection, which makes connecting pretty much any Bluetooth enabled devices quite easy. Its internal battery also lets you move the unit around without having to deal with power cables. It cannot be hooked up to a WiFi network, so you won't be able to stream music directly from the internet, you'll need a Bluetooth device as an intermediary. The HK Connect app will let you link multiple speakers together, but if you want to go that route both Sonos and Bose offer much better systems. The Studio 4 does not include a remote control.

Volume

The Studio 4's volume is quite impressive given the fact that you can easily carry it around, and it is even louder than some of the smaller speakers we tested that rely solely on a wall socket for power.

The Studio 4, like all of the speakers we tested, had no trouble filling our 600 square foot testing room with sound. However, it would struggle a bit more than the larger, wall socket powered speakers if you filled that room up with people. Still, we think it would be plenty loud enough for most parties, and with the battery can follow that party out to the porch to watch the sunset.

Connectivity

The Studio 4 offers a Bluetooth connection along with a 3.5mm audio jack. You can also link multiple speakers together with the HK Connect app, but the speaker isn't really optimized for being part of a multi-speaker system. This amounts to all of the connectivity most users need, but without any bells and whistles.

Value

Let's get one thing straight: the Studio 4 is not worth its $450 list price. However, that list price seems to be a bit of a gimmick, as most online retailers sell the speaker more in the neighborhood of $160. At that price the Studio 4, with its decent sound and ability to quickly be moved from room to room, becomes a great value. If you don't care about having a battery powered speaker you can get better sound quality from the likes of the Bose SoundTouch 10 for just a bit more.

Conclusion