All products featured are independently chosen by us. However, SoundGuys may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links. See our ethics statement.
The Cowin Ark Bluetooth speaker has a detachable Subwoofer
There are plenty of Bluetooth speakers on the market, and they all pretty much do the same thing with varying level of success, which is why every time something new and innovative comes along it usually catches our attention. The Cowin Ark is a Bluetooth speaker that aims to blur the line between portability and home audio and does a fairly good job at it by the looks of it. Up top is a fully functional Bluetooth Sound Bar (dubbed the Cruze) that you can pick up, toss in your bag, and be on your way. But the base of the speaker is also used to wirelessly charge the Cruze as well as add another layer of bass (pun intended) to whatever it is that you’re listening to.
One of the cooler things about the base of the Ark (dubbed the Bass Station) is that you can have more than one. Placing two or three Bass Stations around the house allows you to move the Cruze from base to base and have the same immersive experience. If you need to leave the house, the Cruze has two drivers and passive radiators in it to go along with a lithium battery that Cowin claims will last you about 8 hours of constant playback before needing to be charged again. So taking it with you on a picnic or to a friends house won’t be a problem at all. If it does happen to die on you and you’re nowhere near a Bass Station, it can also be charged by a standard micro USB which shouldn’t be hard to come by nowadays.
Another feature of the Bass Station is that because it charges the Cruze via inductive charging, you can also charge any phones with wireless charging capabilities as well. The Bass Station features a 3.5” subwoofer on the back that redirects sound out the front of the speaker and add some power to the low end. It’s also NFC compatible so you can connect to the Arc by simply tapping a compatible device to it instead of digging through Bluetooth settings and has a built-in microphone for answering phone calls. The Cruze also has some playback controls up top that let you control your music with just a few taps.
The Kickstarter campaign has already shattered its goal and it still has 22 days to go at the time of this post. There are plenty of perks to choose from so if you’re interested in getting one (or more than one) for around the house make sure to go back the project at their Kickstarter page. Perks start at about $170 for regular customers and go all the way up to about $7,000 for a distributor package, so make sure to pick one up for yourself because they’re going quick.