Harman Kardon Aura Studio 3 Speaker Review
A novel design 360 degree audio, and it’s a mood light. Introducing the Harman Kardon Aura Studio 3 speaker; it's nothing like anything we’ve seen or heard from the world of speakers, but that could definitely be a good thing.
Design
Great design isn’t just about how it looks, but how it works. Almost everything about the Aura Studio 3 summarises this. Anyone familiar with the Apple Macintosh G4 era in the early naughties, will know that Apple and Harman Kardon collaborated on a speaker project which was expounded by the then current Apple aqua design language, using translucent materials so you could see into the neatly arranged internals. Winning plaudits, Harman Kardon kept the mould alive. It has since seen the aesthetics refined and rethought elsewhere, such as the Aura Studio 3 incorporating darker tones within the base that conceals the inner workings of the 360 degree driver set-up and it has a smokey cylindrical top rather than being crystal clear. In this era of chaotic households and lives, the Harman Kardon Aura Studio 3 offers a calming presence of symmetry and neatness - it’s a tranquil piece of furnishing. Uniquely, inside the dome is a linguine-like textured glacier featuring cool toned LED lighting, setting an ambience through the textured base with the lighting gently washing across. It’s an effect that isn’t obnoxious or unsavoury, but complimentary - especially with the evenings drawing in; you can see the dome glow ever so slightly like a timeless valve glass speaker.
Connectivity & Control
As well as being wireless via Bluetooth version 4.2, we also have the option to use a wired input via a 3.5mm aux cable for a lossless connection. Wireless is the flagship way to connect, with a ten metre range and a quick re-establishment of previous devices which is greatly appreciated. Around the speaker are touch sensitive buttons: one for Bluetooth control, one for power, separate ones for volume and one we only recently discovered on the front to disable the lighting.
Audio Performance
Most standalone wired speakers are suitably proficient at producing a reasonable stereo presence. The Harman Kardon Aura Studio 3 Speaker offers a more immersive 360 degree soundstage that will radiate from its cylindrical design. This may seem a little silly if you’ve got the speaker confined on a shelf or in the corner of a room, but even in this situ, it’s been an exciting speaker to listen to and compares strongly against a singular Sonos Play. However, move the Aura Studio 3 out into the open, say just a metre away from a wall or even situated on a coffee table, and you’ll be hurled into a new dimension of sound, with vocals and instruments scattered into their own spaces and a sound that offers equality to all ears within the room. It’s our favourite speaker for listening to podcasts, with comprehension of the spoken word at low volume levels, so you can have a conversation within the same environment, being absolutely faultless!
‘Autumn in New York’ by Diana Krall was one of the first pieces of music we heard through the speaker and it wowed us with the impact from its rounded and rather broad soundstage. Vocals are crispy and echoing as intended across the the room, with the subtly of the drums, strings and guitar all being gracefully and independently exact. Walking around the speaker our experience is unchanged and volume levels contain a fiercely stable audio reproduction even at 100%. Stereo width is reasonable and definitely obvious, but not as convincing as a true 2 channel set-up. But when we dive into intentionally mixed 360 degree audio, which is coming of age thanks to dedicated technologies like Apple Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos, we learnt that this speaker did a good job handling content intended to be heard via Apple wearable audio products. Like the new mix of ‘Don’t Know Why’ by Norah Jones, a fantastic example of how a familiar song can be experienced in a fresh way, with guitar pieces, vocal styling and general spacing subtly tweaked so it feels more live and immersive. Overall the Harman Kardon Studio 3 did a good job with all the spatial audio formatted content we sent it but, of course, this format is far from mainstream.
Bluetooth vs aux is still an easy one to answer; the latter wired connection sounds a smidgen better, especially with lossless audio - but it’s not a gaping difference and has to be listened for rather than being obvious. Harmon Kardon have paid close attention to audio detail when it comes to making a great wireless speaker with the Aura Studio 3. There’s not been a time when we’ve felt the ranges are suffocating each other and it's very accurate in regard to achieving true representation within the higher ranges and giving these frequencies their own dimension. Pressing play on the new release ’Chaise Lounge’ by Wet Leg, featuring a mild bass line running through it, a convincing ‘live’ soundstage of vocal pieces that occasionally pop in left and right, a continuous guitar riff, shaker bits in the background and the main vocal arrangements at the forefront - you really feel enveloped within the song because of the rounded dimension of the audio and the sharpness of the audio engineering. These main vocals are laid out within the higher range, but are mixed to have a slightly muted persona that intertwines into the middle ranges, and the speaker presents all of this with impressive tolerances, something which has been the case across our entire music library.
Verdict
Visually stunning sound is what the Harman Kardon Studio 3 Speaker delivers, with a bounty of volume that will overflow rooms with sensational audio that offers equality to all ears. It excitingly peals back the curtain of a future where music is mixed specifically for 360 degree sound from a singular object.