With the Bluetooth speaker marketplace becoming increasingly crowded,
designers are looking at their products from new angles to gain an edge
over the competition. For Honk Kong-based startup Crazybaby, this
included the speaker's underside, with the team developing a levitating
Bluetooth speaker that floats above its charging station to project
sound from every surface.
The Mars speaker comes hot on the heels of the floating Om/One,
which we looked at in August. This spherical speaker levitates using
magnets, and is claimed to offer enhanced performance through its
entirely unobstructed surface area. The innovative design catapulted the
Om/One to crowdfunding success, with the speaker now available for
preorder at US$199.
The Bluetooth 4.0 Mars speaker, however, does have a few points of
difference in functionality. Its cylindrical charging station doubles as
a 3.7-inch (9.5 cm) excursion subwoofer, along with two USB ports for
charging your devices. In addition to this bass boost, the developers
claim that suspending the speaker in the air above avoids waves being
absorbed by surfaces, said to improve sound quality.
Waterproof at up to three feet (91 cm), the so-called Mars Craft
recharges automatically when docked in the base and can be thrown in
your bag like a regular Bluetooth speaker, providing up to eight hours
of playtime on its own. Mars has also developed a companion app to be
available on both iOS and Android. One feature of the app is proximity
volume, which sees the system identify how close the user is and adjusts
the sound level accordingly. It also incorporates a microphone, which
can see it serve as a speaker phone as well.
The spaceship-like Mars speaker is currently the subject of a
crowdfunding campaign. Early pledges of $169 are available, with
shipping estimated for April 2015 if the campaign runs as planned.
You can hear from some of the Crazybaby team in the pitch video below.
Source: Crazybaby
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