Goondu review: Bowers & Wilkins T7

Put together a hi-fi brand and some fancy design and you can charge a premium for what are essentially poor sounding “lifestyle” speakers these days.

Thankfully, that isn’t the Bowers & Wilkins T7, the first portable Bluetooth speaker from the well-loved British speaker maker.

Sure, it’s beautifully designed and it’s expensive at S$590, as B&W gear are these days, but the sound is also richly enjoyable from such a small unit.

Let me start with the look and feel. The smooth rubber material wrapping around the plastic externals in a dark metallic-looking finish has a premium feel to it.

The honeycomb design surrounding the main driver units is a cabinet that not only looks great but helps to absorb some of the vibrations that ruin the audio for many small speakers.

The only thing B&W should improve on here is the interface. Yes, they make everything appear neat, but the buttons are so subtle you can’t find them unless you look really hard.

Perhaps B&W thinks nobody’s going to use them after they connect via a smartphone’s Bluetooth connection?

Still, the company’s main argument – the T7’s audio quality – is not in question. For a portable speaker of its size, it is as sure-footed and authoritative in its grip on sonic material as you can get.

From my tests, I can say there isn’t the all-too-common fraying at the edges, whether this is in the higher notes of a piano or the lower octaves of a double bass.

You can roll off the edges, as some designers of small speakers might do, but at the same time, you don’t want the music to sound sterile. The T7 seems to strike a nice balance, given its physical limitations.

Certainly, I don’t expect it to be punchy like a pair of bookshelf speakers, or offer their high-end extension. Yet, it has a presence that is engaging, both when you are listening critically and when you are just chilling out at night.

I played Stacey Kent’s The Changing Lights and her voice came across reassuringly warm and velvety on a chilly evening. At the same time, some of the vocals on Sparklehorse’s Maria’s Little Elbows were haunting and intimate, as they should be.

What I also liked was Tears for Fears’ recent live Spotify Landmark gig. On the T7, it sounded like the cosy small performance with a small group of fans that it was.

Much of this, I believe, is down to B&W’s use of Class D amplifiers in the T7. Small and efficient, they can generate lots of power to drive even large speakers.

If well designed, they give excellent control over the drivers that make the good noise. The two 12W units on the T7 certainly don’t disappoint.

They drive two 50mm full-range drivers on the T7. For the low-end, B&W has included two bass radiators, which it claims is optimised for movement and stiffness to deliver both beats and bass lines with impact.

If there is one thing I’d like to caution, it’s to place the T7 on a solid surface. The speaker sounded somewhat hollow when I had it on a table that had a top that was less-than-solid.

Put it on the next table with a more sturdy surface and the sound seemed more focused, having more body to it. Just like regular speakers, the T7 requires you to reduce vibrations as much as possible.

And please don’t use it like a desktop PC speaker. It sounds way too muffled up close, like most hi-fi speakers do. So, move yourself back a few meters in the room and you’d like the T7 a lot more.

At S$590, B&W’s offering will put off some potential buyers. Indeed, it’s almost twice the cost of the X-mini Clear (S$299). Yet, the T7 is clearly more polished in terms of its design and audio quality.

Not twice as much, for sure. Then again, for folks who are willing to spend more than S$1,000 for a smartphone, S$590 for a “companion” speaker isn’t unthinkable.

Certainly, if you have the moolah for a great-sounding portable speaker, the T7 is worth a listen.

In a small room, it’s thoroughly enjoyable, especially if you are using it for mood music. At parties or picnics, it will liven things up, for sure.