Hands on with Synchrotech's M-520 Portable Bluetooth Mono Speaker

Synchrotech lent us one of their M-520 speakers to play with for an afternoon. The first thing that was apparent was that this device's fit and finish belied its under thirty dollar price tag. We were pleasantly surprised at the quality and feel, and the photos really don't do it justice.

We needed to charge the unit before using it. The included power adapter allows charging off a USB port, or a power outlet. We opted for the former and let the unit charter for an hour before putting it through the paces.

We took turns pairing it with our phones including my with my iPhone 5S, and another tester's HTC One. Connecting speaker was simple and straightforward. We were surprised at the sound quality and volume capabilities. While the M-520 speaker didn't output Bose or Klipsch quality audio, it certainly sounded good for a portable monophonic device—even at full volume.

What we liked best about the M-520 was the price. At under thirty dollars, we'd be willing to bring it to the beach or leave it on a busy picnic table in the park, because we wouldn't be heartbroken if something happened to it. Our experience with the speaker made us hope that we'll get a chance to test out its stereo cousin, the M-530.

Connecting an iPhone to the M-510 Portable Bluetooth A2DP Music Receiver

Got a loaner M-510 Portable Bluetooth A2DP Music Receiver to test out over the weekend. We plugged it into a Bose Wave II Radio using the included double male 3.5mm stereo audio cable. Our test devices were an iPhone 3GS and an iPad with Retina display (4th generation). Both devices were running iOS 6.1.3. Getting the M-510 to work with iOS devices was a snap, and the sound quality was surprisingly good for typical mobile device playback.

The M-510 Portable Bluetooth A2DP Music Receiver supports the Bluetooth Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) utilizing Low Complexity Subband Coding (SBC). SBC is applied to existing audio CODECs, in other words transcoding on the fly. This is fine for typical medium to higher quality AAC and MP3 stored on portable devices like iPods, iPhones, and iPads. However, if you're expecting lossless formats like FLAC, ALAC, or even high quality lossy formats like lame --preset insane encoded files to sound the same, they won't. Highest quality audio is better served over WiFi with AirTunes/AirPlay enabled audio equipment. That said, the M-510's quality is acceptable for 256 kbps or lower quality iTunes AACs or MP3 files, which is what most people have on iDevices and other portable players. Overall the M-510 is an inexpensive way to add wireless playback ability to devices without that capability. If you're looking for really high fidelity, you're not shopping the under $40 devices market to begin with.

The M-510 Portable Bluetooth A2DP Music Receiver's other big plus is that it provides the choice between an AC adapter and running off a single AAA battery. That last option provides a lot of flexibility when you think of portable scenarios. Don't want to lug your expensive audio equipment outside, but have an old boombox with a 3.5mm line in? Add the M-510 and now that boombox becomes remote speakers for your iPhone 5.

Pairing the M-510 with the iOS devices is a simple as visiting Settings > Bluetooth" and then finding Music Receiver in the list of devices

Tap on Music Receiver and it will then read as Connected.

Later if you choose to remove the saved connection by clicking arrow to the right of the word Music Receiver and then tapping Forget this Device.

During playback, clicking the AirPlay icon on the bottom right of the screen (in orange next to the volume control) allows choice of where the audio signal is to be sent.

Here the M-510 is selected. We can easily switch to the iPhone's internal speakers by clicking the iPhone button.