Libratone Too: a nomad all terrain speaker, yes, but with style

Ergonomics

With its form of school bag (or large pastry flash), we can say that the Libratone Too adopts an original design to say the least. This does not prevent it from enjoying a serious and careful design. The materials chosen, of good quality, are consistent with the nomadic backpacking use promised by the enclosure. The Too is shock and drop proof and can especially resist splashing water in all directions (IPX4 certification). However, no carrying case is provided to facilitate transport or protect it.

The Too may be compact, it is not so light (585 g). A large grid in mesh fabric, all around the enclosure, is associated with a dense and thick plastic frame. The speaker rests on a large non-slip rubber base so that it can be safely installed. True to the spirit of the brand, the Too also incorporates a small rubber loop, to hang it everywhere, as well as the famous touch control panel stamped with the Libratone logo. A cover conceals and protects the connections, consisting of a micro-USB port for charging and a 3.5 mm mini-jack input. Four colors are available: dark gray, light gray, blue and red.

The user experience is the same as all other Libratone portable speakers. Regulars will therefore instantly find their bearings. Those who do not know may be a little confused at first by the touch interface, because it centralizes all the commands. Fortunately, after a few short sessions, all the manipulations become clear and you can take full advantage of your speaker.

In addition to being complete, this interface has the merit of being reactive. Wireless connection via Bluetooth 4.1 is also very simple, even without an NFC chip. It is even possible to pair the speaker to two different sources or to connect two Too to each other if you want to enjoy true stereo.

Like the spark other products, the Libratone Too can count on the manufacturer's dedicated application, available on Android and iOS. It allows you to control the speaker remotely (playback management, navigation between tracks, listening volume, choice of source, etc.) and gives access to small bonuses, such as equalization profiles or an indicator accurate of the remaining battery level.

Only 12 hours of autonomy are promised by the Too. In fact, we were very pleasantly surprised to exceed this promise more than widely, since we were able to reach more than 35 hours of use after a full charge.

The on-board microphone did not surprise us, however. It is of the same ilk as the other microphones integrated in portable speakers. The captured signal is not very clean, but we can still correctly distinguish the voice when we are within 60 cm of the speaker in a relatively calm environment.

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Audio

The Libratone Too delivers a distinctive sound rendering, but convincing given its size. The transition from wired to wireless has no audible impact on sound performance.

You might as well warn straight away: don't expect to enjoy stereophonic playback with a single speaker. The Too certainly has two broadband speakers (coupled with a bass-reflex system), but their location completely skews the appreciation of space. The design and shape of the speaker do not allow to enjoy a truly homogeneous 360 ° rendering. As our measurement can show, we are moving towards a W rendering when the listening point is directed towards the edge of the speaker, and the midrange arises when we aim at the upper face of the speaker (where are located on the touch panel and the ignition button). This is not too problematic given the usual use of a speaker of this type, but it is important to clarify it for those who would look for a stable stereo on a fixed listening point - on a desk, for example example. For this type of use, a KEF Muo or SoundLink Mini II speaker will be more suitable.

Apart from this point, the Libratone Too shines especially by the beautiful reproduction of the first spectrum part, just before attacking the high mids. It descends relatively well in the bass, which allows you to enjoy a comfortable sound seat and offer a good feeling of depth, all with more than correct precision given its small size. Even with rich and demanding content in this area, we manage to detect the elements correctly. Low mids are a little privileged, which gives a warmer aspect to the whole and boosts the feeling of proximity to the voice, for example. The voice is also well served by the good presence of the mediums; it therefore retains good intelligibility, despite the pronounced hollow in the high mids. This accentuates the softness and the warm side of the sound rendering. Some sources appear more behind the scenes than usual, or simply lack clarity. The most detrimental is the pinched, almost pungent character of the treble. We would have preferred a less localized and softer reproduction, especially when the volume is pushed to the bottom. Furthermore, better precision would not have been too much.

The Libratone Too is not the most powerful speaker in its category, but its power remains sufficiently controlled to be usable up to a comfortable listening level. The distortion is calm across the entire audible spectrum, in most cases. It is only when the volume of listening is pushed very significantly that one begins to perceive a slight effect at the treble level.

On the wireless communication latency side, we were able to observe a fairly contained offset of around 170 ms. It is therefore noticeable if you are extremely sensitive and focused on this point, but most of the time, it remains tenuous enough to quietly follow a video.

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Conclusion

The Libratone Too is a very convincing speaker on the ground. It offers, with a careful design, a very beautiful and very complete user experience. The sound rendering, well controlled on the first part of the spectrum, is not to be outdone, but we expected a little better at the level of high mids / highs. The homogeneity of the 360 ° rendering is also a little disappointing. On this point, other models are doing much better, including the Boom 2 or the SoundLink Revolve, for example.

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