Victrola Music Edition 2 Review
A neat and tidy Bluetooth speaker but let down by unremarkable audio
Verdict
A neat and tidy Bluetooth speaker with some handy skills and good battery life, but it’s let down by unremarkable audio performance
Pros
- Loud for its size
- Handy built-in charger
- Long battery life
Cons
- Pricey
- Slow to charge
Availability
- UKTBC
- USARRP: $199.99
- EuropeTBC
- CanadaTBC
- AustraliaTBC
Key Features
- Wireless chargingBuilt-in wireless charging pad
- Battery20-hour battery life
- Water resistanceIP67 toughness rating
Introduction
Not everybody’s heard of Victrola, but if you’ve ever seen the iconic HMV logo you’re familiar with one of its ancestors. The original painting – you know, the one with Nipper the dog listening to the record player – was used by the Victor Talking Machine Company, which sits at the top of Victrola’s family tree.
These days Victrola still makes turntables, although they’ve come on a bit since those early phonographs, but it also has a range of wireless speakers – and the Music Edition 2 is its top portable offering.
At $200 it’s not cheap, and as a less well-known name it’ll have its work cut out among so much competition from more familiar brands, but its built-in wireless charging pad does make it stand out from the crowd. Can it make Nipper proud?
Design
- Solid build
- Portable size
Slightly larger than a standard house brick, but thankfully not as heavy, the Music Edition 2’s chassis is made of metal, with zigzag-shaped cut-outs on the front and back that allow you to see the grille underneath. It gives the Music Edition 2 a look that’s reminiscent of a table top radio but without feeling overtly retro. The top and bottom panels are rubberised, so it certainly feels solidly built. It’s a little prone to scuffs and fingerprints, but they don’t show up too much on the matte finish.
Its size and shape also make it ideal for moving from the kitchen to the bedroom to the bathroom (thanks to its IP67 waterproofing) or taking out into the garden when the sun’s out. It’s perhaps a bit too large to pack for a weekend away, although the wireless charging panel on top means you would be covered if you accidentally left your phone charger at home.
On top you’ll find two sets of three buttons, which allow you to control almost every aspect of playback without having to reach for your phone. They’re nice and solid, so it’s unlikely you’ll press any of them by accident when moving the speaker around, but the symbols on them can be difficult to make out in anything but very good light.
There’s also a status light in one corner, which lights up when the speaker’s turned on, flashes blue when it’s in pairing mode, and with a quick press of the power button will change colour to indicate how much life is left in the battery. When it’s down to less than 10% left the light will start to flash red, but it’s easy to miss, so some sort of audible warning would’ve been handy.
Features
- Built-in wireless charger
- Decent battery life
- IP67 rating
The Music Edition 2 isn’t exactly crammed with features, but it does have one that sets it apart: a wireless charging pad.
The Qi panel sits between the two sets of buttons on top, marked by an embossed Victrola logo, but if you didn’t know it was there you’d never guess the speaker had hidden powers. The pad is always active when the Music Edition 2 is plugged in but as this is primarily a portable speaker you’ll usually need to activate it by holding down the relevant button on top.
You do have to make sure your phone is correctly placed for it to start charging, but this wouldn’t be the first wireless charger to be a bit fussy over how you position devices. If the pad goes unused for five minutes it’ll turn itself off to save battery.
Using the Ampere Test app on iOS, I found the Music Edition 2’s wireless charger could charge an iPhone 14 Pro at 5.76 watts. That’s towards the bottom end of the wireless charging spectrum – the phone itself is capable of charging at 15W if you use MagSafe – so don’t expect it to fill up too quickly.
Using the wireless charger will obviously have a detrimental effect on the life of the 4400mAh battery, which Victrola says will give you up to 20 hours of playback before it needs to be plugged in. Without using the wireless charger we found that to be about right, with the speaker conking out after 18 hours at 50% volume, so you could probably squeeze out an extra couple if you knocked it down a notch.
Our review sample took over seven hours to fully recharge, which Victrola told us isn’t normal, but it may be because there’s no UK plug adaptor in the box so we had to use a third-party one.
The review sample only came with a US plug adaptor, but you do get a USB-C cable in the box – and it’s not just used for charging. There are USB-C and 3.5mm ports on the back, both of which can be used for playback. If you have a second Music Edition 2 you can also link them together to form a stereo pair. If you’d prefer, they can also be switched to mono mode. There’s no microphone, so you can’t use it as a speakerphone, but that doesn’t feel like a huge absence.
An IP67 rating means it can be submerged fully in up to a metre of water half an hour, plus it’s also totally protected against dust, although any sand or dirt would be a nightmare to clean out of the triangular-shaped cutouts on the front and back.
Sound Quality
- Lacks bass
- Clear vocals
- Some signal issues
The Music Edition 2 might not weigh as much as a brick, but it might help solve some of its shortcomings if it did. Its stature means it lacks bass weight, with some songs sounding skewed towards the top end, but it does depend on the genre.
Play Jelani Blackman’s Hello and the bassline lacks authority, while the rhythm section in the live version of Donald Fagen’s I.G.Y. just feels a little thin. Drums often lack impact, while the snares in Arcade Fire’s No Cars Go sound a touch harsh.
Voices tend to fare better. Laura Marling’s vocal in Song for Our Daughter is clear and rich in tone, while Bill Callahan’s distinctive baritone on Too Many Birds has plenty of character. The understated arrangements on Rozi Plain’s album Prize are full of texture, too.
The Music Edition is capable of going fairly loud for its size, and it does sound better when you pump it up, although it doesn’t have the power to soundtrack a party. It’s not a bad-sounding speaker by any means, but there are better out there. With no app to tweak the EQ, you can’t even fiddle around with how it sounds either.
Bluetooth range is good, which should be expected from Bluetooth 5.0, but I did encounter some signal issues when playing music with the phone placed on top of the speaker, which isn’t great if you want to listen while you charge.
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Should you buy it?
If you want long battery life: It might not quite hit the claimed 20 hours, but the Music Edition 2 will still last longer than a lot of the competition.
If you like a lot of bass: The Music Edition 2 doesn’t have the biggest low-end presence, so bassheads will want to look elsewhere.
Final Thoughts
It’s never been more difficult for a Bluetooth speaker to stand out from such a big crowd, but Victrola manages it with the Music Edition 2’s built-in wireless charger. Whether it’s enough to convince anybody to buy one is a different matter, particularly when you consider the cost.
At $200, it’s $20 more than a Sonos Roam, which also has Wi-Fi. Sure, that speaker doesn’t come with a built-in charger, but JBL’s Charge 5 does, albeit not a wireless one, and that’s $20 cheaper than the Music Edition 2, too.
Of course, if the Victrola sounded phenomenal that extra $20 would be worth spending, but its audio performance is fine rather than fantastic, which makes the Music Edition 2 harder to recommend over its rivals.
How we test
We test every wireless speaker we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Tested for more than a week
Battery drain conducted
Tested with real world use
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FAQs
We found the Music Edition 2 could charge an iPhone 14 Pro at just over 5 watts, which is towards the lower scale of wireless charging.
Full specs
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
