As you are no doubt well aware, these days the vast majority of us store our music libraries digitally. True, some of us still have dozens of CD’s that do little more than take up room and collect dust on our shelves – I mean, c’mon, when am I ever going to listen to Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping” ever again? But when it comes to cranking the tunes, we turn to our smartphones, tablets, and computers. Streaming music through these devices is commonplace, and as such, has opened the market doors for a plethora of wireless speakers.
Unfortunately, devices that use Sonos or Airplay can be quite expensive; however, those that use Bluetooth, which comes integrated into virtually every modern tablet, phone, and computer, are much more affordable, and even better, aren’t platform-specific. I recently had an opportunity to test the Rocketfish Bluetooth Indoor/Outdoor Speaker, and have to say, I was pleasantly surprised.
DESIGN
Substance
The Rocketfish Bluetooth Indoor/Outdoor Speaker (WSP313) is much more substantial than I had expected it to be. At more than a foot long (15.3”) and almost 9 pounds, it looks and feels more like an addition to a decent home theatre set up than a wireless speaker, which to me, is a great selling feature. I find that a lot of wireless speakers look as though are meant to fit in a hipster’s backpack or on the shelves of a prepubescent girl, which is fine, but as an adult, I want something that is versatile and fits with my décor, yet can be taken to a pool party at the drop of a hat.
Simplicity
The beauty of the Rocketfish WSP313 lies in its simplicity. Besides the speaker, all you get in the box is a 6-foot long 3.5mm Stereo Adapter Cable and an AD adapter. That’s it. And the speaker itself is equipped with three buttons along the top – Power and two Volume controls. There are no extraneous buttons or gadgets you need to fiddle with. Just connect, play, enjoy.
Versatility
Designed to either stand upright or on its side, the Rocketfish WSP313 suits any décor, and as is expected, can be toted from one room to another, to your patio, pool, the park, or anywhere else you may want to take it. In fact, the speaker’s stands double as handles so you can easily carry it from place to place.
Perhaps the best design feature however, is the fact that the Rocketfish WSP313 is designed to withstand the elements. That means that a little rain, or a splash from a pool won’t put a damper on your good times. Plus, it also comes equipped with a line-in connection so you can connect and listen to music from non-Bluetooth enabled devices as well. So, whether you are hosting a cocktail party in the dead of winter or a pool party in the heat of summer, you’re completely covered insofar as music is concerned.
SETUP
Setting up the Rocketfish WSP313 is a snap. It takes no more than two minutes at most. All you need to do is navigate to the Bluetooth settings screen on your phone, tablet, computer, or MP3 player, wait for the list of Bluetooth equipped devices to refresh, select Rocketfish RF-WSP313, click it, wait for it to connect, and you are good to go.
USAGE
Dare I say usage is a snap as well? Well, it is. Once your Bluetooth enabled device is connected to the speaker, you just navigate to your music library, select a song or playlist, and hit play. Your music will automatically stream through the Rocketfish WSP313, so long as your media device is within 10-metres, or 33 feet, from the speaker. And with one battery charge, you get up to seven hours of continuous playback time.
SOUND QUALITY
The Rocketfish WSP313 features aptX® decoding, which delivers CD-quality sound over Bluetooth, enabling users to listen to their music wirelessly without sacrificing audio quality. While I do believe that overall, the sound quality was fantastic, I did find that it lacked a little depth, and wish the speaker came with the ability to adjust the bass and treble. That said, the sound easily fills a room, and carries well outdoors, presumably due to its 4” woofer and two 2.75” tweeters, which create dynamic cross-spectrum sound.
PROS
- To me, the fact that the Rocketfish WSP313 is weather and water resistant is a huge selling feature, and makes it the “mailman” of wireless speakers.
- The sound quality the single-speaker pumps out is surprising given its MRSP of $150. In fact, to be perfectly honest, when I first took the speaker out of the box, I was expecting it to retail for much, much more.
- Its design is very sleek, modern, and versatile, making it a great addition to any room, while also making it suitable for the outdoors.
- While it’s weight took me by surprise at first, the fact that the speaker is 9 pounds means it won’t blow over when a gust of wind or rain makes an appearance at your outdoor festivities!
CONS
- One thing to keep in mind with a Bluetooth enabled speaker is that depending on your music-playing device, it may pick up additional sounds while you are listening to music. For example, I tested the speaker by pairing it with my iPhone and streaming music from my music library, however, every time I received a text message, the volume would temporarily dip. In addition, before I changed my phone settings so that there were no sounds associated with typing text messages and emails, those keyboard sounds would come through on the speaker.
- The only other con is the fact that you can’t make any adjustments to the bass or treble of the music your are streaming, so depending on the quality of your digital music, you may not be thrilled with the output through the Rocketfish WSP 313
Overall though, I am a big fan of this speaker. So much so, that I am pretty confident I will be popping out to Best Buy in the very near future to pick one up for myself. And now, back to listening to Chumbawamba 
