Audio Pro Addon T3 review: A Bluetooth speaker with personality

I was rather fond of the Audio Pro Addon T10 when I reviewed it earlier in the year, so it was with a degree of excitement that I approached the smaller, battery-operated Addon T3. It doesn’t look significantly different to its larger Bluetooth speaker sibling, maintaining a similar speaker arrangement that gives it a slightly aghast anthropomorphic expression, but it lacks the IR receiver which made the T10 look like it had an extra beauty mark.

Much like the T10, the T3 comes in various colour finishes including green, white, black and orange, and all models include a useful leather handle on top. As there’s that built-in battery, the handle makes more sense than on the heavier, mains-powered T10, as you’re more likely to be moving it around.

It’s still not something you’ll want to throw in a backpack to take on the road, though, as the T3 weighs a hefty 2kg. However, as a speaker you can move freely around the house or take down the end of the garden, it’s a comfortable weight. Measuring 215x135x115mm, it’s not overly large, either.

Its solid cabinet gives it a reassuring, premium feel which helps with its weighty, confident acoustic delivery. It’s very well finished with nicely rounded corners and edges, and there are two short feet on the front which angle the front of the speaker upwards, giving it some clearance to help disperse the sound.

On the top of the speaker, you’ll find a row of control buttons finished in an attractive, metallic rose gold. It could do with fewer buttons in my opinion, though, as there’s not only a dedicated button for pairing the speaker with your phone, but there are also separate buttons for switching to Bluetooth and the speaker’s auxiliary connection.

The latter two could easily be combined into one button, for example, and the pairing button seems excessive when so many other Bluetooth speakers can enter pairing mode simply by holding down the Bluetooth button. What’s slightly aggrieving is that, even with all of these buttons, there aren’t any media playback controls, so you can’t pause or skip tracks on your Bluetooth-connected device.

Control niggles aside, it does have a handy USB port on the back of the speaker which you can use to charge your smartphone. However, it only outputs at 5V/1A, so it won’t charge it particularly quickly, and you can’t use it for playing tracks off a USB stick either, which is a shame. I suppose you could use it to neatly power a Chromecast Audio, letting you cast your tunes to the speaker without an additional power adaptor.

Inside, the T3 has a Digital Class D amplifier that delivers 2x5W to the two, 2.75in textile dome tweeters and 15W to the 3.5in woofer. A bass reflex port is found on the back of the cabinet, and the speaker has a frequency range of 60-20,000Hz.

The T3 delivers a sound that is confident and powerful for a speaker of this size and price. However, it’s not the most detail-driven speaker out there, as its low frequencies arguably become a little boomy on certain tracks. I noticed it on First Aid Kit’s ‘My Silver Lining’ where some of the violins became a bit lost, but otherwise there wasn’t a lot to complain about considering the speaker’s price.

Its audio quality has a rather warm sound to it, which some people might find preferable, but I prefer a slightly more transparent sound. Still, there’s certainly a lot to like about the T3’s sound signature, and the well-weighted cabinet keeps what could have otherwise been some rather unruly bass in check without any reverberation. There’s no hint of any distortion, either.

Battery life is rated at an excellent 30 hours on medium volume, or 12 hours with music blaring at full volume, so it should have more than enough longevity to get you through a party or barbeque. Mind you, the speaker isn’t water resistant in any way, so bring it indoors if your next garden party is a washout.

Overall, there’s a lot to like about the Addon T3. It has the same charming design heritage of the equally impressive T10, and the inclusion of a battery makes it more versatile than the T10. Likewise, its sound quality is more than respectable for the price, and its battery life is excellent. Altogether, it’s a top-notch all-round Bluetooth speaker, and it wins a Recommended award.