This little unit arrived just before Christmas for review and we thought that given we didn’t think we were the target market for it, the best person to review the Simple Audio “Go” would be the kind of person who may buy it – our 16 year old son Harry.

Simple Audio has a new mini Bluetooth speaker on the market, the Simple Audio Go.

It’s a light and small device, which is compatible with almost every phone or tablet on the market. (I tested it with a 4th generation iPod Touch).

It is perfect to carry around with you (in its little bag) so that you can share your music with your friends, on the go.

The Bluetooth pairing is very simple. Press and hold the pause/play button on the speaker for 3 seconds then select the speaker on your preferred device and you’re ready to go.

If you don’t have a Bluetooth enabled devise you can use the provided mini jack cable which works just as well.

Once paired you can expect a huge battery life – I charged it after every 2 or 3 days, using the provided micro USB cable, and it never ran out of juice.

The controls work well on the actual speaker, although I rarely used them and used the controls on my iPod.

The buttons feel a bit “flimsy” but this isn’t a huge drawback as the rest of the features on the Go are near perfect.  On the bottom of the speakers, there are two rubberized feet that provide great stability on most surfaces.  There is also an integrated microphone, although I didn’t test this feature.

I can see that Simple Audio concentrated a lot on the design of the Go, it’s easy to use and looks minimal and stylish. Proof that simplicity can be excellent.

One disappointment however is that the Go is only available in black at the moment and I feel that it should be more customisable (with a range of colours to choose from.)     

The sound quality is very good, the bass is surprisingly rich and the high notes are pretty clear too.

More importantly for what it is, this speaker is loud and can easily fill a medium/small room. It surprised me the first time I used it, as I didn’t expect such good sound reproduction from such a small compact design…it really was a ‘wow’ moment when I first played Deadmau5 on it and this was in one of the largest rooms in our house.  When I moved to a smaller room, my bedroom, the Go really filled the space with music.

Being ultra portable, I was also able to use it both outside and in the car where it sounded equally good.

Obviously it doesn’t offer the same sound qualities of a full sized HiFi set up, but for a little, portable speaker it performs admirably and for people using a personal music player or phone most of the time, it offers a great and more sociable listening experience and alternative to headphones.

The ‘small’ price (under £80) is also a huge positive.  I have heard other Bluetooth speakers that cost much more and didn’t sound as good.

Ignoring the buttons on the top, the speaker has a good feel and can easily be carried around. It’s got a nice weight without being too heavy or too light.

The Simple Audio Go is a great speaker for use in and out of the home and I would recommend it to anyone who would like to add a social element to their listening experience.

Harry Smith

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We’ve been plagued by power cuts during the storms here in NW France and so we used this little speaker to listen to tunes whilst playing cards by candle light and I have to say I was really surprised at how big a sound you get from it. Great for popping on in the kitchen whilst you’re cooking etc! Perhaps not just for the young folk then!

Stuart Smith