Portable Bluetooth speakers have become popular in recent years, particularly because of the poor sound produced by smartphone speakers. They’re just not good enough for enjoying music with a small group of friends — be it at the park, the beach, or even at home.

Consumers in the market for a set of Bluetooth speakers have no shortage of options and no matter their budget, there is something for everyone. If your budget is big, then you’ll want to consider the SB330 from Samsung. They produce big sound at an equally big price.

Aesthetically, the SB330 is simple but neat and will look good in any setting, even the office. It has a metal body and feels solid in the hand. The SB330 is one of the smallest Bluetooth speakers on the market, measuring just 164mm x 69mm x 62mm. Weighing 600g, its not particularly light for its size, but this is a good thing.

The audio quality of the SB330 is superb. It’s loud for its size, and the sound is thick and crisp. This is due to the large speaker frame and the two 56mm audio drivers that are mounted behind the metal grill. Turning up the volume, this wireless speaker is quite a bit louder than any portable speaker we have tested to date, at least in its size category.

A cool addition to the SB330 is its support for near-field communication (NFC), which makes pairing a smartphone effortless. If your phone supports NFC, you simply swipe it over the right-hand side of the speaker to have it pair via Bluetooth. The speaker can also be paired with non-NFC phones by pressing a button at its rear. Older devices like iPods can be connected via 3,5mm audio cable.

For more serious use, SB330 doubles as a conference speaker or hands-free office dialler. Voice audio is crisp and the microphone pickup is sensitive enough for most small meeting environments.

A row of buttons decorates the top of the device — there are volume and playback controls, and a button to answer phone calls.

This wireless speaker runs on lithium-ion batteries and it comes with a power adapter to run it directly from a wall socket. To charge the battery takes just over two hours and a full charge will deliver about 15 hours of use, unless you’re blaring music at maximum volume.