First impressions to be updated later:

It’s neutral! If you want more highs or lows, EQ ’em in and it’ll play them… but what you get is far more faithful to the source than I ever would’ve expected from a 0 plastic box. This isn’t a ‘consumer-oriented’ sound. It does a bit of ‘loudness curve’ at lower volumes but not much.

It’s LOUD! Max volume is far far above anything I’ve heard from the size. It’ll fill a normal size living room with sound. Anything bass heavy distorts a bit above 60-70% volume but it’s not unlistenable and it occurs far far far louder than you’d ever want to listen in nearfield.

It’s somewhat accurate! Again, not what I ever expected from a plastic box this size. The sound is decently weighted and has good extension for what it is. You won’t be rattling walls and EDM/Rap/Hip-Hop folks will want more bass but it gets the goods across. Bass is controlled, there’s a bit of a mid-bass bump but if you block the port in the rear that goes away (along with some of the bass extension).

It’s got soundstaging in nearfield! Set it on the desk in front of you and you’ll actually hear a good soundfield with reasonable imaging!

I suppose what says it best: I know I’m listening to a good piece of audio equipment when I stop playing “test tracks” and let whatever’s on keep rolling. First time with a portable speaker I’ve ever done that.

Sadly, there’s no AptX here, Bluetooth sound is still very good but if you listen to classical and jazz you’re going to want to connect line-in as there’s a loss of transparency and clarity in the mids and highs. Upside: The speaker is good enough that you hear this.

UPDATE: After using it a while longer there’re a few things idiosyncrasies but nothing fatal. One is that the volume on the unit is independent of Bluetooth volume. So one must turn up the iLoud before having proper volume control from their phone/iPod/etc. A bit annoying. Also, if and when the unit is redesigned for the inevitable version 2, the mechanical switch needs to be replaced by an electronic one, badly. Twice on a recent trip the device while in my backpack ‘turned itself on’ and I was surprised by a blast of sound coming from the backpack when I fired up my laptop. Otherwise the form factor travels extremely well.

The IK-Multimedia iLoud is claimed to be a Hifi studioquality portable monitor. IK-Multimedia themselves published several videos on youtube showing off how much better and louder the iLoud sounds compared to other portable speakers like Bose Sounlink or UE Boombox.

I wanted to hear it by myself and as I know or owned nearly every respectable portable speaker on the market, I ordered one to give it a try.

I think that the iLoud sounds pretty good in most of its frequency range, especially treble is very clean, but for my taste it is missing bass.
There is a hint of bass, and particularly at higher levels it becomes a bit punchy too, but overall the lowest frequencies are just too much subdued to really make music sound enjoying. Due to the forthright representation of mids and treble, the missing bass becomes even more obvious. At low levels bass is hardly noticeable, it becomes quite balanced around 50% of volume, but the speaker starts to distort and sound harsh above 70%.

The iLoud is ineed very loud, but it distorts heavily at its top-volume. In reality it is only usable to about 60-70% depending on the music and the kind of mix.

The built quality is nice and the speaker is not too heavy for the given size, but overall it gives the impression of a very basic design, with a small and flimsy power-button at the back. I haven’t tested the Mic-in, as you can only use it together with iOS apps. A guitar or mic plugged in is not directly heard through the speaker but rather sent to a connected iOS-device (the special cable is included). I have no idea if this will work with devices other than iOS.

I am not sure if the built in rechargeable battery is replaceable, as I haven’t found any door or opening. I assume the whole speaker must be opened or probably sent in for service.

For the given performance I think the iLoud costs a bit too much. I expected a more from this size. Even the Bose Soundlink Mini, which is hardly bigger than the powerbrick of the iLoud sounds more convincing at normal levels. It doesn’t sound as clear or cannot play that loud, but overall the sound of the Bose has much more heft to it.

Concluding I would say that the speaker ineed sounds good, but it doesn’t cause any “wow”-effect. I even prefer the TDK A33 over the iLoud. If the iLoud was cheaper, it would be another story of course!

I went through 3 other Bluetooth speakers before deciding on this one. The first one I had was a G-GO Project just for casual listening and it had great sound and water resistant for only a speaker. But the bass was heavily distorted and didn’t have a clean sound. Next I tried the UE Boom, which had great mids and highs but pretty weak Bass. Also the Battery life was not even CLOSE to rated claim of 15 Hours.. I got 5-6 hours on average at medium volume with standard music. Then I tried the BOSE Soundlink III which had great Bass, and pretty good mids and highs. Although a bit too much emphasis on Bass and lacking a bit in clarity. Decent battery of about 8 hours. Then I tested the iLoud and found a Winner.

The Bass is actually pretty good even in the middle of a room if you adjust some equalizer settings. But it is much better if you set it 6 inches from a wall. It’s claimed to have a bass response down to 50 Hz. Tested it with a Frequency Generator at it is indeed almost exactly 50 Hz when it starts to drop off. Low Bass Notes are still audible into the 40Hz range. So you get almost the whole range in this small speaker which is quite unheard of. Even more important than Bass is the actual all around frequency range of sound and this speaker outdoes anything I’ve heard so far in a speaker this size. Chimes clang and sound like they are in the studio next to you. Drums sound spot-on and hit you with a nice punch, especially around 50% volume.

There is some distortion starting at about 70% volume and gets pretty bad at full volume. The good news is that you will rarely ever go above 50% volume on this thing for personal use. Believe when I say it’s Rediculously loud at 100% and I wouldn’t play it that loud. It’s almost 3 times louder than the BOSE Soundlink III, which was actually fairly loud near full volume. You can notice better sound quality by plugging in the 3.5 mm jack instead of using Bluetooth. Not much but noticable. Fact is this is the clearest, loudest portable speaker on the market I’ve heard at this size and weight.

A bit dissapointing that you need to use a large AC Adapter for charging and no option for MicroUSB charging. So charging in the car is out of the question unless you get an Inverter. Oh and do not be fooled by the 3 hour max battery life at full volume. I bring this with me in my work vehicle for hours a day and listen at a loud volume that is just under being uncomfortable to the ears. Average about 8 hours of battery life. You could easily get 10+ if you listen at background noise level. One of the only portable speaker claims about battery life I’ve seen that are accurate. So I found a keeper.

P.S. I can’t comment on how well it works hooked up to a Guitar and used as an Amp or Mixing music as I don’t have any Apple products. I’m only using it as a Bluetooth speaker for mainly Android and CD Player. At least if I ever get the chance to use an Apple product or Android improves their audio quality, I’ll be able to test it.

Pros

– Looks great from the front and classic speaker design
– Can be used as a decent monitor for Musical Instruments or an excellent Bluetooth Speaker
– Large Output jack for a Microphone or hook up to musical instruments (Requires Apple iOS Software)
– Light for it’s size weighing less than 3 Pounds and quite portable
– It gets very loud for a portable speaker as the name suggests and can fill decent size rooms well
– Great frequency range from sub-50 Hz Woofers to 20 Khz Tweeters
– Very sharp, detailed sound and thumping Bass you can feel slightly if put near a wall
– Speaker is angled upward slightly so it’s perfect for a desk or low table
– Nice stand that folds out to prevent the speaker from tipping over if you use it in a car
– Pretty great battery life of 8-10 ACTUAL Hours at listenable volumes

Cons

– Distorts at really loud volumes
– Bass Port in back is a bit small and rattles a bit with Really Heavy Bass at high volumes
– Cannot charge with a USB cable as it requires included AC Adapter
– Doesn’t have fancy features like Speakerphone, NFC, not water resistant etc.

Sound – 5 Stars out of 5
Features – 4 Stars out of 5

UPDATE: I recently plugged the iLoud into a DAC that has improved sound over my Phones Sound Card. To my surprise it reduced distortion greatly at loud volumes and even noticeably improved the sound quality. Of course this does not work for portable use but it proves that the iLoud speaker is held back by inferior sound cards like ones used on phones and is capable of more.