Verdict
This wireless speaker and DAB radio has improper skills to match its unconventional aspect , including an input tantrum for a mic or guitar . But it ’s priced a little too gamey to try out all that appealing a buy conceive its characteristic and sound quality .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The Tivoli Audio Songbook Max is a giant wireless speaker unit with DAB and FM radio built in .
It ’s a retro - style unit , like most of Tivoli ’s production . But this is n’t a authoritative Pure Evoke orRuark Audio R1that will fit out into just about about room in which you choose to place it . It ’s more distinctive and unmatched than that .
You ca n’t get in touch the Tivoli Audio Songbook Max to Wi - Fi , but you could plug in a guitar and use it as a basic recitation amp . It ’s an flake , and a honorable fit for those who do n’t want a affiliated speaker with a digital assistant inside . However , it ’s ultimately a slightly tough sell thanks to its high terms at £ 699 .
Design
The Tivoli Audio Songbook Max is a more imposing speaker than you might sham from a glimpse at its official photos . It stands 28 cm magniloquent , 38 curium wide , wee-wee it much larger than a Sonos Five front - on .
It ’s particularly eye - catching in the unripened interpretation I have . A two - whole tone cream / brown is also an choice , a style more likely to be able to suit in with the interior decoration of the modal elbow room .
I have used the Tivoli Audio Songbook Max for a couple of months now , but still have n’t quite got my head around how much this is meant to be a rest home speaker , or a portable verbaliser .
Why ? It has a battery , which is bully . However , the bundled cable system is likely way too short to let you place the Songbook Max where you want with it plugged in . Sure , it just uses a USB - C cable to charge ( no arranger include ) but this is not what you gestate of a £ 700 unit .
The Tivoli Audio Songbook Max also does n’t seem made to be ferried around foresightful distances either . It weighs a solid 5.2 kilogram , and the handgrip is not at all padded or built - up . This gibe the vogue , but impacts carrying comfort .
The messaging on what this loudspeaker isaboutjust is n’t as clear as I ’d expect from some of the big brands in audio frequency . For an outside social unit its water resistance is just OK too . IPX4 resistancemeans it should be able to handle lightheaded rainfall , largely thanks to a gristly spile that fits over the rear ports .
Tivoli makes its retro styling intentions clear , though . First up , the front power controls are clonky metal switches . The primal telephone dial ensure an outer ring that move half speeding , like the dial of an ancient radio receiver .
Is glossy plastic also a retro ending ? Not necessarily , but there ’s enough going on here to make the Tivoli Audio Songbook Max distinctly and intentionally out of step with its generation , and in a very unlike fashion to its cheeseparing Ruark competitor , the Ruark R3S.
Features
Unfortunately its set of features is unmated too . The Tivoli Audio Songbook Max has DAB and FM tuner , Bluetoothand an strange 6.3 millimeter front stimulus , which lets you secure in a microphone or guitar easily . This input has its own pre - amp , should you plug in something that need a signal rise , like aturntable .
you’re able to bet , or sing , along to songs with a Songbook Max . But , once again , this seems a morsel of a strange mind in a gamy - price wireless loudspeaker system , particularly when it ’s never going to be a surrogate for an factual guitar amp . And it also does n’t shape well if you directly plug away in a guitar ( rather than using a digital amp , for example ) , as the Sung stop up much , much louder than the guitar and there ’s no separate input signal book .
The Tivoli Audio Songbook Max also lacks Wi - Fi , which is typically at the substance of these orotund wireless speakers . This entail no multi - room , no unmediated streaming without a phone , and that teem quality is limited to that of the supported Bluetooth codecs .
More bad news here : the Songbook Max only supports the AAC and SBC codecs , which is n’t ideal for Android phone users exquisite on havingaptX var. .
Of course , for plenty of people this wo n’t weigh much . There ’s a sure pleasing simplicity to a comparatively garbled speaker not obsessed with digital assistants and cyclosis service integration .
There are other problems , though . My clear-cut first impression on using the Tivoli Audio Songbook Max was it ’s bloody slow . When you take a radio station , it ingest a small eld to change over over . While there are handy predetermined push button up top , little rubber matter ( five of them ) , this does n’t change affair .
Most of the DAB radios I reviewed a decennium or more ago when Modern DAB radio were more rough-cut felt more antiphonal than the Tivoli Audio Songbook Max .
There are some odd bugs in the software too . For example , whenever I search for DAB station , the Songbook reports having found 11 of them , despite it intelligibly having discover many , many more . The Tivoli Audio Songbook Max does not match the expectation of polish that come with a £ 700 price .
Sound Quality
The Tivoli Audio Songbook Max has three driver , and a bass part port to enhance the low - end . While the arrangement look pretty formal , it in reality is not .
You might imagine the two large “ rings ” here are give and right stereoscopic picture drivers . They are actually deep and mid - range unit of measurement , and this Max speaker system gets an additional tweeter missing from the stock Songbook . The large driver are 4 - inch units , the tweeter has a 0.75 - inch diameter .
What does this state us ? There ’s no stereophonic strait here , not that putting a couple of speaker drivers 15 cm apart gets you much of a two-channel impression anyway . I thought I ’d also have to describe the Songbook Max would also have zero pigboat - bass , but that ’s not in reality the case .
While sub - freshwater bass is less sinewy than that of plenty of little wireless speakers with passive radiators , the machine driver and bass port system seems pretty well designed here . There ’s mild output right down to around 30Hz , and the basso is perceptibly less lumpy than in some rival .
What does that signify ? Bass sweetening puppet like ports and radiators are tuned to augment by and large quite narrow frequency ranges , meaning the perceive volume of bass can go up and down as you reach down into the low , rumbliest range .
The Songbook Max is a nicely tune speaker , and it has three EQ sliders right on its front to pick off the sound a bit .
These are made to look like analogue controls , but are not . Instead , the sliders move the basso , mids and ternary between -6 , -4 , -2 , 0 , +2 , +4 and +6 context .
The form does n’t really match the procedure . And I ’m broadly speaking not a fan of these physical controls that make it quite easy to miss track of what your “ received ” setting is .
However , being capable to turn down the sea bass for late - night hearing is handy , and I receive the Tivoli Audio Songbook Max benefits from a mid - range hike of up to +4 . Vocals can otherwise often voice a moment recess , press into the foreground .
Here ’s where we come to the unfit morsel . I had a chance to do some lineal compare with theJBL Boombox 3 , a utterer significantly cheesy in its non - Wi - Fi iteration and a bite tacky in the full fat Wi - Fi version .
It ’s a importantly more dynamic - sound speaker than the Tivoli Audio Songbook Max . There ’s cracking bass impact and treble sparkle , far dear detachment and project of the elements of a mix .
While the Soungbook Max can go loud , it does n’t have much scale to the speech sound and does not fling out music very wide . Some undivided - box speaker unit are justifiably called “ elbow room makeweight ” but the Max ’s audio frequency always too distinctly emanates from a single point in the room , even if it does have party - ready intensity .
It ’s not the form of bulk I appreciate the most either . The beneficial sound speakers and headphones are so effortless you may end up crank the volume without even take in it because there ’s so slight distortion in the sound .
That ’s not really the case here , and one of my principal serviceableness issues with the Tivoli Audio Songbook Max is in many situations it cut straight from slightly too tranquil to too loud with one pressure of your phone volume controls . for certain , you may use the on - verbalizer volume knob for much finer - food grain control , but I do n’t need to have to do that the whole time .
The Tivoli Audio Songbook Max is a fine - sounding speaker . It respond well to the mid - range EQ boost I mentioned earlier , and turn in good mid detail after doing so . Treble is pleasant if not crystalline or all that sparky , and while the sub - bass is light and civil , at least it exists to some extent .
However , I just do n’t believe the audio matches the price , peculiarly when we ’re dispense with a stripped - back characteristic set here .
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Should you buy it?
There ’s no smart help accompaniment here , or multi - way wireless cyclosis . The Songbook Max instead goes sometime - school day with DAB and FM tuners , and the power to easily plug in a guitar ( or mic ) — strange for this class of loudspeaker system .
As well as lacking features considered gist in 2024 , the Songbook Max does n’t have the well-grounded scale , width or separation you might expect when spending this much . It does loud , but dynamics could be better .
Final Thoughts
The Tivoli Audio Songbook Max is an unusual wireless speaker system and DAB wireless . It ’s not just the typical appearance that sets it aside .
Despite costing more than a Sonos Five , the Songbook Max does not have Wi - Fi . It ’s a Bluetooth speaker and radio , not a bright ormulti - room speaker system .
It voice pleasant , but does descend behind the best performers . Dynamics and jut could be better , leaving the Tivoli Audio Songbook Max sounding a lilliputian tame and flat in this class .
Trusted Score
How we test
We essay every wireless speaker we refresh thoroughly over an extended period of time . We use industry standard test to compare features properly . We ’ll always distinguish you what we find . We never , ever , accept money to review a Cartesian product .
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FAQs
It has IPX4 weewee resistance , enough to hold out some light rainfall .
It ’s a little heavy , but has an incorporate shelling and a carry handle . So yes .
There ’s no Wi - Fi , just Bluetooth for wireless streaming .
