The Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 6 is portable, waterproof Bluetooth Speaker that looks more like a design piece than something that can get soaked in the rain and continue working. Anyone seeking an accurate mix should steer clear, but mega-bass lovers looking for rumble in a portable, Outdoor-Friendly design will be pleased.
Design
The Onyx Studio 6 is an upright, circular speaker with a cutout, rubberized handle, making it look like a designer handbag from some angles. Available in black, blue, or gray, the 11.2-by-11.5-by-5.0-inch (HWD), 6.5-pound speaker has considerable heft, so the handle is pretty much a necessity.
Almost hidden against the backdrop of the cloth grille is an array of rubberized black buttons, including Bluetooth, power, volume plus/minus, and a playback control that skips a track when pressed twice (but oddly doesn’t navigate backward when pressed three times).Below these controls, there’s a tiny status LED that shines through the grille, and an array of powerful drivers, including a single 4.7-inch woofer and a single 1-inch tweeter that combine for 50 watts and a frequency range of 50Hz to 20kHz. The speaker is compatible with Bluetooth 4.2, and supports the SBC codec only. Two Onyx Studio 6 speakers can be wirelessly connected to form a stereo pair
A covered port on the back protects the connections for the included power supply, as well as a 3.5mm aux input (no cable is included for that input). There’s also a micro USB service port.
An IPX7 rating means the speaker can technically be submerged up to a meter in water, though Bluetooth signal doesn’t do well underwater. The point is, it should be fine poolside or in the rain. Just make sure the cover for the connections port is closed.
Harman/Kardon estimates battery life to be up to eight hours, but your results will vary with your volume levels.
What’s missing? The speaker has so much bass depth, an app with EQ would really have been helpful. And some users might might appreciate a speakerphone function—there’s no mic on the Onyx Studio 6.
Performance
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like the Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the Onyx Studio 6 delivers palpable deep bass that will vibrate most of the surfaces you place it on. At top volumes, the bass doesn’t distort, though it does thin out a but—the DSP (digital signal processing) kicks in to prevent distortion.
For tracks that don’t have bonkers sub-bass like this one, but still pack some serious low-frequency punch—like nearly every track on the new Fiona Apple record, Fetch the Bolt Cutters—the Onyx Studio 6 still delivers thunder and then some. Luckily, it doesn’t overwhelm the mix, but playing the this record at high volumes has an almost live venue PA feeling to it, with intense bass on the kick drum hits.
Harmon Kardon Onyx Studio 6 Specs
| Channels | Mono |
| Bluetooth | Yes |
| Wi-Fi | No |
| Multi-Room | No |
| Physical Connections | 3.5mm |
| Portable | Yes |
| Water-Resistant | Yes |
| Speakerphone | No |
| Voice Assistant | None |
