Single-unit stereo portable Bluetooth speakers with stereo AUX input - do they exist?

[midix]

Most (all?) portable Bluetooth speakers on the market are mono. Some claim to have True Wireless Stereo (TWS) support for stereo sound, but you need to buy two units to make it work.

 

I know that separate speakers give the best stereo soundstage, but also I know that well-designed single unit stereo systems can sound decent enough if speakers are oriented outwards. I remember enjoying my Nokia N79 built-in stereo speakers a lot!

 

Are there any Bluetooth speakers that have stereo sound built into a single unit and also have a stereo AUX input jack?

 

If there are no such options and I have to buy speakers with TWS, then I'm wondering how AUX works with TWS? Will stereo work with two units if I connect AUX to one unit only or do I have to split my audio cable and connect both units? If someone has Blutetooth TWS speakers with AUX, could you please check it for me, if it is possible to have stereo sound using single AUX cable?

[Mojo-Jojo]

I have a Bose SLIII and am super happy about both its audio quality and the stereo sound stage. It has Bluetooth connectivity and a 3.5mm audio jack. They don't sell it anymore, but it probably has a successor.

[midix]

1 hour ago, Mojo-Jojo said:

Bose SLIII

Thanks, I browsed their current models but unfortunately could not find any that mentions supporting stereo sound on a single unit. Portable Bluetooth seems to be treated as a "lower-class citizen", assuming that people use it just for "background noise" and do not care about stereo. Maybe buying two TWS units (and overpaying for the packaging, batteries, doubled BT receiver electronics) is my best option. It has a bonus - doubled battery life  

 

After some search, I found a few models by JBL that have stereo, but the price is ... oh. I hoped to get something under 100 EUR.

Edited July 3, 2022 by midix

[Mojo-Jojo]

For that price range, I can also suggest looking at a Marley Get Together Mini. I've had a Marley Get Together (non-mini) which also has Bluetooth and a 3.5mm Jack. The sound was quite good for the price point, build quality was a bit less solid and the battery died after 2 years on my unit, but I've seen friends use theirs for years without problems.

 

Plus side: their support was quite good, supplying me with a replacement battery after I contacted them.

 

The Mini is $99 right now on their own site and has a 3.5mm jack as well. Only thing is I can't speak for its sound quality.

[midix]

Thanks, Marley Get Together Mini looks nice, albeit somewhat difficult to find in stores on "European side of the big pond".

[IPD]

https://www.amazon.com/Altec-Lansing-LifeJacket-Waterproof-Bluetooth/dp/B084BW2XSH/

 

Has Aux behind the water-resistant plug over the USB and charging inlet.  Love mine.

[midix]

On 7/4/2022 at 9:08 PM, IPD said:

https://www.amazon.com/Altec-Lansing-LifeJacket-Waterproof-Bluetooth/dp/B084BW2XSH/

 

Has Aux behind the water-resistant plug over the USB and charging inlet.  Love mine.

Thank you, seems nice and durable device. It's just weird that Altec Lansing website has only manuals and marketing materials but no actual specifications of their speaker. Also, their speakers seem to be difficult to find in European stores  

 

Does its AUX input have no latency? I recently found out that some speakers have latency even when connected with a cable in AUX, because they have DSP chip with complicated eq and other processing logic. That adds to latency and make the speaker unusable for, let's say, microphone or musical instrument input where real-time audio output is needed.

 

Is it really stereo? Can you clearly separate the left / right speaker in this test video?