Floating and waterproof speakers

I have to admit I’m just in love with the idea of having a floating speaker bobbing around in the hot tub with me! To a certain extent, it doesn’t matter how good the sound is – the concept is just so cool!! However, you can have great sound quality as well as the ultra tech cool factor with the speakers I have discovered below.

After getting over my initial excitement I started out by thinking about the features that would be good to have in a speaker for the hot tub. Obviously sound quality is important, it would need to Bluetooth connect to my phone, it would need a decent battery life and also be relatively compact in size. I don’t want to be sharing my hot tub with a huge ugly black slab of a speaker. Oh yes, it needs to look cool as well!

I did the research so that you don’t have to and I decided that the following three speakers were the best and put them on my shortlist:

Budget Price: Ok, so first up is the Cowin Swimmer IPX7. This is fully waterproof and designed to float and, I have to say one of it’s most attractive features is that it looks like a space age flying saucer. This thing is so cute looking and comes in a few different colors as well. It charges via USB, has an 8-10 hour battery life and even features a light display on top! It has a 10W sound output through what looks like a single speaker and a 33 foot wireless range.

The Cowin Swimmer has great reviews with people talking about good sound quality, great packaging and good value for money. On the negative side there are some comments about a loss of Bluetooth connectivity if your Bluetooth device isn’t near (particularly when the speaker is wet) and also some issues over the sound becoming muffled if the speaker gets heavily splashed and takes on a lot of water.

Mid Range: Ultimate Ears UE Roll 2 Again, this is a seriously desirable piece of tech. Who could resist a speaker that “you could bungee it to a kayak whilst going over a waterfall in a monsoon blasting out your tunes” as they say in the marketing blurb.  For some reason getting one of these speakers feels like buying a fun new buddy – erm, why?? This one got a full 5 stars in a What HiFi review – it really is that good.

Amazon reviewers talk about great sound quality and good connectivity with many clearly loving it’s design and cool factor. It even has an accompanying app. On the minus side, it does lack some on unit controls – you can’t skip songs for example without going back to your phone.

This speaker is extremely waterproof and comes with a floatation ring. Without the ring, it will just sink and play away happily to itself underwater. Personally, I think the idea of putting it in it’s own floating ring is quite cute but you might prefer a speaker that you can simply just chuck in the water like the one above!?

By the way – did you see some of the designs this thing is available in!

Splash the cash: Ultimate Ears again here with the Ultimate Ears Megaboom. Again this has a mindblowing 5-star review in What HiFi .

So, what’s to get all excited about and why spend the extra money? Basically, it’s all about the build quality and, even more importantly the sound quality. The unit is fully waterproof with a plasma coated finish which is stain proof. From a sound point of view, this is a high-quality unit. The sound is punchy and energetic and well balanced throughout the range. If you love your music and have a discerning set of ears this is the unit for you! Again, as with the Roll 2 above there’s an accompanying app which allows greater control over the unit and a claimed battery life of around 20 hours between charges.

The Megaboom is essentially indestructible and completely waterproof although my sense is that it’s not 100% designed to float in the water and give the best sound quality. It is completely waterproof but I think is at it’s best right at the edge of the hot tub/pool but is perfectly happy if dropped in.

Waterproof Headphones

If you prefer the idea of a little private listening whilst you are relaxing in your hot tub then you are going to need a pair of waterproof headphones. Again these will be wireless and will Bluetooth to your phone or other device so that you don’t need to have it near to the water. I decided not to look for headphones that were suitable for swimming as this seemed to be a bit of overkill. Those types of headphones tend have inbuilt memory to solve the problem of underwater Blutooth connections and this just doesn’t seem necessary for hot tub use.

So, having done a lot of reading and researching here is my waterproof wireless headphone shortlist for enjoying in your hot tub.

Firstly, – Plantronics BackBeat Fit. These headphones were top in a number of group tests that I discovered and also are extremely popular on Amazon. The main plus points are great sound quality and also the quality of design, choice of colors of the nano coating and the fact that they come with a handy companion app. The battery life is around 8 hours. You can also control your music from the headphones – very hand with wet hands! The headphones are really durable and completely fine if submerged in up to 3 feet of water for 30 minutes.

On the negative side, some people have found the fit a little bit too secure or tight, although the general consensus does seem to be that, after a short “breaking in” period, the headphones are really comfy. Other minor gripes seem to be with the battery life reducing over time with heavy use but this will be the case with many rechargeable devices.

These seem to be a great combination of price features and quality.

A little bit less expensive are the Mpow Flame headphones. Again, there’s a huge amount of love for these online and they are supposed to be super comfortable and thay look good too. The sound quality will be a little less good than more expensive rivals although they still offer great value in this area too. I’m a big fan of Mpow headphones, I bought my daughter a pair of over the ear Bluetooth headphones for her birthday recently which she loves and they are fantastic value.

The Mpow Flames have a good range of 30 meters wireless connectivity, they also come with a variety of bud types and a small carrying case. People talk about great valie for money, reliability and good sound quality as the plus points for these headphones. On the negative side the charging cable is a bit short and the charging poet cover a bit flimsy. Battery life is said to be on the lower side of 7 hours.

So, what if you want to treat yourself and go for something really high end? Well, it seems that the utmost sound quality can be had only from headphones that have an mp3 player attached which, to be honest you don’t really need if you are just using them in the hot tub. These types of headphones are great if you want to swim with them though and I think that would be fun! However, do you really appreciate the nuances of an expensive pair of audiophile headphones whilst swimming around? I’m not sure!?

But, if you want the absolute best in terms of in water personal music entertainment then you absolutely have to get these HydroActive Short Cord Waterproof headphones. You can pair them with any waterproof mp3 player but why not go for the absolute best and get the Underwater Audio Ipod Shuffle. This has well over 1000 reviews on Amazon with a massive 87% being five star reviews!