Damson Oyster Bluetooth Speaker - White/Black

Bought this for $85 and it's been a wonderful addition to my collection. Sounds great and boasts nice, loud sound with plenty of bass. However, its only worth it if the price you're paying is below $100.While producing great sound, the speaker is in my opinion only, not very pleasing to the eyes or pleasing to hold. Its in the shape of an American football (must specify because this is a European product.Another big letdown, probably the biggest letdown is how dumb the speaker is. It cannot remember more than one past connected device so you have to enter into into pair mode every time you turn it on and want to connect to another device. 2nd is when you plug it in, there is no charge indicator, unless you have the speaker on, theres no way to tell if the speaker is charging, and I don't even know if it can charge in the off position. There are no audio-indicators to indicate volume Max, or different modes. Speaker can distinguish between 3.5mm or bluetooth, you have to press a button, you can't upgrade firmware, and the charge cord is proprietary, not USB3.0 based. I understand that normal micro USB chargers charge at 5 volts, .5amps to 2.1 amps just fine, but some tablets charge at 16v 2 amps through USB3.0 based cable and I don't see why Oyster's 18v charger has to output with a specific end as opposed to a more universal and easily available method of charging.What I did like was the included box and pouch, and the charger input is swappable between many wall outlet styles of many regions. The included 2.5 foot 3.5mm cable is insulting to the speaker. I liked the removable magnetic grills, but to be honest I personally won't ever feel compared to tinker with that sort of thing. I feel like I got a great product for $80 which is the only thing keeping me from buyer's remorse. I would not recommend buying it for $150Before Damson Oyster, I've been using two Ultimate Ears Mini Booms and I love their versatility, user friendly operations, sound, double up feature, dedicated app, more options, size, simplicity, and upgradeable firmware from the home site.If you're going for sound quality and performance per the dollar, then definitely consider buying used Oysters for under $100. Their lack of popularity in the states/amazon means you can pick one up for under $90 currently at the moment. Just be warned the only downside is the UI, if that term is even appropriate here, is dumb, annoying, and will take some time getting used to.

Nope. Not a pearl. Great sound is what you get here. I discovered Damson Audio almost by accident. My niece works in an independent bookstore, and told me they had a new and different speaker in the shop. As an old school audio guy, I was skeptical that anything could really be "new" - let alone "different" from what was out there. I was pleasantly surprised when she showed me the damson Cisor BT-5. This is a small solid cylinder of aluminum, that when placed on practically ANY surface - creates amazing audio playback. I bought one on the spot, and have had untold hours listening to tunes (but even more fun - showing friends how cool it is to turn "things" into speakers)Flash forward to a few weeks ago. I saw that Amazon now has the oyster speaker by Damson. I was looking for something that was portable so I could use it in my large, open classroom for music playback during school - but could easily pick up and stash in my office at the end of the day. Having been impressed by my previous purchase, I ordered an oyster in black and white. Thanks to Amazon Prime, I had it in 2 days flat, and was charging it up!A smallish adapter with multiple plugs/prongs is included, an aux cable, along with a microfiber pouch/bag that holds the oyster in one pocket - and charger/cables in the other. The oyster has an adapter input and aux input on the back bottom. The design reminds me of something out of Star Wars. The black and white version has a cool stormtrooper vibe to it. Glossy white, silver end grilles and black fabric grille cloth. Very sharp looking indeed! There are 4 drivers in the unit. 2 side firing tweeters and 2 rear firing drivers. It's smaller than it seems in the pictures, and reminds me of a larger version of the toy football you had as a kid. I charged it overnight, then fired it up at school the next day.Sound is very good - and VERY loud. You will be amazed at the level of audio this thing can put out. I filled a very large open studio at a volume that was certainly easy to hear anywhere in the room. And it had plenty more oomph if required. We tried it with a macbook pro playing via bluetooth (iTunes) and found that it paired quick, and lasted the whole six and a half hour school day on one charge, with power still available. Since the high end comes out on the sides, it creates a very open sound. Unlike a boom box type speaker system, where all speakers are facing forward, the oyster instead creates a more omnidirectional sound field. In short, it can be put anywhere in a room and sound great, since it doesn't have a "right way" to be positioned.I found it sounded best with a little boost in the high end via the iTunes EQ. But we were mainly playing the Spotify service. I used the AUX in with my iPod touch, and it sounded great as well. I haven't tried using it for a phone call yet - but it DOES have a microphone so it can be used as a hands free calling speaker.All in all, I am quite pleased with the combination of design, sound and battery life. Unlike the Cisor, you won't be tempted to stick it on things to see how they sound - but you will fill an area quite easily, with great sound. I am looking forward to seeing what Damson comes up with next!

TL;DR: If you're after sound quality, get the Oyster, it's pretty portable and is great for group listening, if you need something purse friendly, don't mind spending twice as much and losing sound quality get something like a Jambox mini.So I was jealous of my mum with her Jambox and went on search to get my own, after looking at the prices and reading reviews of various similar products, this product came out on top. I believe when this product came out it was priced at around £150, competing with Bose SoundLink Mini, since then the price has dropped and it's now available for ~£50 new here on Amazon, making it less than half the price of the Jambox mini by Jawbone (the one my mum owns).Each speaker has excels where the other falls short.Sound quality:The Oyster has 4 active speakers and one passive bass radiator, two drivers on the front (mids and lows) and one speaker on either end (highs) and the bass radiator on the back. Whereas the Jambox has two active drivers and a passive bass radiator, both active drivers on the front, radiator on the back.In terms of sound quality the Oyster obviously wins this, in every way, for every type of music I tested, pop, rock, electronic and classical. Given the difference in size and number of speakers, this probably wouldn't surprise, but given that it's half the price, this is pretty great.Form:For portability the Jambox wins this round hands down measuring only 150mm long by 39mm wide by 57mm tall and weighing 343 grams. The Oyster measures 233mm long by 120mm wide by 95mm tall and weighing 795 grams (size measurements made from the largest diameter on the curved sides). You might be able to get away with fitting the Jambox in your pockets, if you have somewhat baggy trousers on, the Oyster can sit in your backpack comfortably, I had a little test using it through my rucksack and the sound quality suffered slightly, but you could still use it on the go if you wanted.Other notes:The Oyster has a minor quirk where, when first switched on, the device lacks some of its bass, this can be fixed easily by adjusting the volume up or down one notch, it's not a particular volume that causes the issue, but that it's only recently switched on. This is a pretty minor issue, as you'll need to be next to it to switch it on, so just pressing a volume button isn't difficult at all.The Oyster also has great sound from every angle, whereas the Jambox is fairly front directional.I haven't used the Jambox enough to comment on its battery life, but the Oyster can handle 1 or 2 hours a day for a week before needing a recharge, so battery life isn't really a concern here.The Jambox uses the more convenient micro USB charging method, where the Oyster has an 18V charger, which comes with different plugs/prongs for different countries. I'd rather have a micro USB connector here, but the Oyster has a beefier battery and it'd probably take an age to charge with a 5W USB connection.If you have any questions about the product feel free to ask leave them in the comments.

I wanted to give this 4.5 stars, the sound quality is great with one caveat, unless you love base you are going to need to tone it down a little. So if your source, phone or whatever can adjust the base then this is FANTASTIC otherwise you may be disappointed.We also have a Cambridge Audio Minx Go and this sound significantly better!ProsSound quality (see above)ConvenienceBuild QualityConsYou need to be able to adjust the base at the source!Material mesh could get dirty - the Minx Go is easier to wipe down - we use that for music in the kitchenDon't expect to be able to have the source to far from the device (common for all devices not just this one)Tested with Samsung Galaxy S2 / Note 2 and Sandisk Clip+ (via cable)

The speaker sound was good at lower levels but if u applied any kind of volume it would distort I even tried to get an equilizer app for my iphone but it did not seem to help much it was well built and solid but because of noise issues I returned it, this is the first purchase I have ever had to return to amazon but they were great in dealing with it, perhaps part of the problem was that I sound tested the small bose Bluetooth speaker before I brought this, if you just like classical music this speaker might be the one for you great build quality and good sound at lower level volume

Initially I was not very happy with the sound from the speaker. However, after a few days running in the sound greatly improved - enough for a 13 by 10 bedroom.The white looks a bit shiny but you get used to that. Otherwise the unit seems well made.After less than a week the main speaker unit gave up and all I had was the tinny sound from the side speakers. Returned and refunded quickly.Given it 4 stars since I accept that some products simply fail.

THE LOOKS, SOUND AND CONECTIVITY ARE GREAT BUT I HAVE ONLY ONE GRIPE ABOUT THIS PRODUCT AND THATS HOW TO IT KEEP CONNECTED . IF YOU DONT HAVE A SOUND SOURCE FOR A WHILE IT SWITCHES OFF , I ASSUME TO CONSERVE POWER, BUT I FIND IT ANOYING TO HAVE TO MAKE A CONNECTION AGAIN. BUT APART FROM THAT I AM PLEASED WITH IT, ESPECIALLY THE PRICE I PAID WHICH WAS AROUND £46