It might look like a radio, but this speaker is an audio powerhouse

There aren’t many retro-looking speakers that can directly stream music via Spotify like Tivoli (Image credit: Nandagopal Rajan/The Indian Express)

Of course, it is a regular Bluetooth speaker for those who want to just connect it to their smartphones. But streaming music from phones often comes with irritants like notifications and incoming calls. This is where the ability to connect to WiFi via Apple AirPlay and Google Chromecast gives this one an edge over regular speakers. While you can select sources and settings using the dials, there is also a full-function remote that lets you change settings with ease and even set up alarms and adjust the time display on the screen. However, the Tivoli Audio Model One Digital Gen 2 does not connect to the Tivoli Audio app.

The first time I streamed a song from Apple Music, I was actually taken aback by the sound profile of this tiny tabletop radio. This packs a punch way above its size. I have tested much larger speakers which did not have the impact of this tiny box on my dining table. And it is not just about being loud, the bass on this one is one of the best I have felt on a Bluetooth speaker.

If you don’t want to stream music using Wi-Fi it also supports FM radio (Image credit: Nandagopal Rajan/The Indian Express)

This is the kind of speaker in which you understand why the Malayalam rapper Baby Jean, with his Leonard Cohen-like baritone, has become such a sensation in Kerala. When I played Midhun Mukundan’s Chandrachooda, it was as if my entire 2BHK apartment had come to life with some divine Carnatic vibes. The bass vibrations can really fill the room, even as the vocals get their own space to undercut the lows.

This is also the kind of speaker that will let you lounge on the weekend with a classic Ghulam Ali or Jagjit Singh Ghazal. As Ali’s soulful voice Chupke Chukpe seeps into the heavy July air, I can hear the layer of the tabla very clearly taking a backstage and the sitar stepping in when needed.

The audio quality is superb when you are using Bluetooth or WiFi. However, I could not connect using my iPhone using AirPlay, maybe because I am on the iOS 18 Beta version. However, I had no issues on Android and could set up the speaker in a couple of minutes. With FM, you can easily select stations and save them in presets, accessible via the remote. But then I had no intention of spending time listening to ads at home, so did not really use the radio option much.

At Rs 48,590, the Tivoli Audio Model One Digital Gen 2 might come across as expensive to some, but given the superior audio quality and features, this is a worthy investment that will pay you back by the time you are at the end of your first playlist. This is one speaker I really enjoyed reviewing and one I can recommend, at least to those who don’t mind spending for their music.