Review on Bowers Wilkins T7 Bluetooth Gold by Sam Anez

Full disclosure first: I have B&W 804Diamond speakers and I really like them, especially after adding a PV1D subwoofer to give the bass a little more presence. I wanted a bluetooth speaker that would allow me to listen to music from portable devices and given my satisfaction with the 804Diamonds I was predisposed to the T7 when it came out. I thought it would sound great even before I heard it. A little more background - we made the last second decision to get my daughter a JBL Charge2 Bluetooth speaker for Christmas. for several hours (and in the case of Charge2 - as a speakerphone) and one was repackaged for return. T7. While I firmly intend to keep both of these devices, my experience with the T7 out of the box was far from exciting, but the Charge2's performance provided the perspective to justify its return. The B&W T7's sound was very clean and a little more detailed than the JBL Charge2, but delivered painfully less bass presence. Keep in mind I'm not talking about the lack of boomy bass here - you have to be realistic, both units are very compact (and I'm not initially interested in boomy and vague bass in any speaker). I was disappointed with the T7's total lack of bass at low volumes. Unless the volume was increased significantly (to the point where the overall listening level was slightly higher than I wanted), the T7 just didn't pack a good punch. At the same time, the Charge2 convinced me, it was very pleasant to listen to and sounded balanced at low levels. After a while he just pushed the T7 off the table in the living room. B&W needs to take a good look at this offering and see if the dollars invested in delicate matrix and iPhone-style packaging can be reallocated to decent contrasting bass and mids (JBL has literally surpassed them with their own PV1D technology) and a balanced, to provide present sound... at all listening levels. I only find this unit suitable if you're listening at a fairly high volume most of the time, and it just doesn't fit in most situations I'm imagining a black and white set using this speaker. Please try again with B&W and JBL - great work!