Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 4 Review

The Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 4 just barely fits into the portable Bluetooth speaker category. Compared to other Bluetooth speakers it is so large that it is more suited to moving around the house rather than taking with you wherever you go.

Performance Comparison

The Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 4 performed well in some of our tests, but particularly poorly in our portability metric, resulting in a mediocre overall score (as you can see in the table above).

In the following sections we describe how the Onyx Studio 4 performed in all of our individual testing metrics.

Sound Quality

The Onyx Studio 4 earned a high score of 8 in our sound quality testing. With its large size it was able to produce, deep, resonant bass, which wasn't quite as deep but was much clearer than the bass of the JBL Charge 3. It combines this bass with crisp treble and a large dynamic range to create a full sound with a good amount of depth. Occasionally the Onyx Studio 4 would lose some clarity when playing high pitched notes, something at which the Bose SoundLink Revolve was more adept.

Portability

The Onyx Studio 4 was the worst scorer in our portability testing. It earned a 2 out of 10, far off from the top score of 10. At 4.5 pounds the Onyx Studio 4 is almost three times heavier than the next heaviest speaker in our review. It is also quite large (it is essentially a flying saucer with an 11-inch diameter) and either won't fit in or will hog all the space in any backpack or bag. We'd be hard-pressed to think of a time we would bring this speaker further afield than the backyard patio. It might make it on a car camping trip, but with just 4.5 hours of battery life, it won't make it through very many campfires.

Volume

The Onyx Studio 4 was one of the loudest speakers in our testing, sharing the top score of 9 out of 10 with the JBL Charge 3, putting it well ahead of the low score of 4. It is able to retain sound quality at high volumes and would be able to fill most of an average sized house with sound. This is definitely the speaker we'd choose if we wanted to throw a big party. However, that party would have to be at our house, because we wouldn't want to have to lug the speaker around.

Battery Life

The Onyx Studio 4 lasted 10.5 hours in our battery life testing, well longer than the manufacturer's claim of 8 hours, earning it an average score of 5 out of 10. Considering this is a speaker that one would most likely use in or around their home, that feels like more than enough battery life. It is also, conveniently, a good bit longer than the average backyard barbeque.

Value

There is a huge discrepancy in the Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 4's list price and what, at the time of this writing, it is actually selling for at online retailer sites. The list price is a whopping $450, but we often see it selling for just a third of that price. At $450 it is a terrible value as you could get much more capable home stereo systems for a similar cost that are only moderately less portable than the Onyx Studio 4. Additionally, if you're looking for a portable speaker than the Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 4 is a poor value at any price as it most likely won't match up with your expectations. However, if you want a speaker that you can move around the house and can get really loud when you want to, and you find it on sale, the Onyx Studio 4 is a decent value.

Conclusion