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The InnoFlask deserves some high marks in the clever design department. The $129.95 Bluetooth speaker’s flat, thin frame is reminiscent of its name (no, it doesn’t hold booze), and it comes with a good-looking, leather-covered, snap-shut case that doubles as a desktop speaker stand. But at this price, you also need to sound like a $100-or-more speaker, and the InnoFlask does not. There are distortion issues, and even when the audio is delivered cleanly, the speaker doesn’t get very loud. This isn’t surprising when you look at the InnoFlask’s tiny frame—but it is when you consider its price; for the same amount you can get far superior sound with the Editors’ Choice Bose SoundLink Color ($198.98 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) .
Design
Measuring 1 by 5.4 by 2.6 inches (HWD) without its case, the classy InnoFlask comes in black, white, blue, and orange models. The front panel of the InnoFlask is all speaker grille, with the Inno logo placed in the center. The side panels have polished metallic accents, with the left panel housing Volume Up/Down (and, if you hold them longer, Track Forward/Back), Power, and Bluetooth controls, along with a status LED. The volume controls work together with, not independently of, your mobile device’s volume.
Along the right side panel, there’s a micro USB connection for charging via the included USB cable and a 3.5mm Aux input for playing wired sound sources (no Aux cable is included, however). The rear panel houses large perforations that push out air from the passive bass radiator, which helps add a bit of body to the bass response.
While a flask may have been the design inspiration for the speaker itself, the included case transforms the speaker’s dimensions somewhat and acts as a stand. It’s a leather-covered, snap-shut piece reminiscent of a jewelry box or glasses case, and is cleverly designed so that, when it is half-open, the tension of its snap-shut lid clenches the speaker to hold it at an ideal listening angle for desktop placement. The case is thus more or less essential as a stand that points the two 3W drivers toward your ears and eliminates desktop vibrations that can make the speaker sound like it’s rattling. 
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Pairing with an iPhone 5s was a quick and simple process—no pressing of the Bluetooth button was even required, as the InnoFlask powered up ready to pair. Inno estimates the InnoFlask’s battery life at roughly 10 hours. Unfortunately, there is no speakerphone functionality with the InnoFlask; you’ll have to take calls on your actual device.
Performance
It’s unrealistic to expect too much from a speaker this size on tracks with powerful sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” but there are plenty of speakers in this price range that can handle the bass response without distorting. The InnoFlask cannot. In fact, the InnoFlask cannot handle big bass, such as the thumping on this track, at even moderate-to-low volumes. It simply distorts, whether flat on a table, handheld, or in the case. Even intense classic music moments occasionally caused the InnoFlask to distort.
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Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a song with far less deep bass content, is the type of track the InnoFlask can handle at higher volumes. Callahan’s baritone vocals sound rich and have a crisp treble edge to them, the guitar strumming remains bright and clear, and the drums take a bit of a backseat in the mix. There’s no distortion, and the sound signature is mostly mids-to-high-mids focused.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the InnoFlask doesn’t distort, but it sounds quite taxed. The drum loop is about all the drivers and passive radiator can handle, but they deliver a thumping low-mid response here cleanly, while the vocals remain in the forefront with a reasonable high-mid clarity.
Classical tracks, like the opening scene in John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, sound crisp and bright through the InnoFlask, with a hint of richness in the lows that adds body to the sound signature, but this is at maximum volume. At lower volumes, the speaker’s sound thins out noticeably, and at those levels, the output for classical music is extremely low.
Basically, the InnoFlask is a decent-sounding speaker at moderate volumes on non-challenging tracks, but it doesn’t get very loud for its price, and it is a distortion factory on more than a few genres at higher volumes. Sure, it’s good-looking, but its performance lines up more with a speaker that costs half as much, like the Logitech X300 Mobile Wireless Speaker ($49.95 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) . For less than $150, you can take your pick of reasonably full-bodied, distortion-free portable Bluetooth speakers, like the Bose SoundLink Color, Jabra Solemate Mini ($60.02 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) , or the Panasonic SC-NT10 ($26.99 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) .
2.5
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The InnoFlask is a good-looking speaker that exudes class, but its audio performance is quite limited for its price.
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Source link : https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/innoflask