Lounge
Sonodyne Malhar review: This Bluetooth speaker will appeal to audio purists
Summary
The very 80s looking Sonodyne Malhar Bluetooth speaker leans towards minimalism when it comes to design but still delivers a balanced audio signatureLong before vocal for local became part of the political discourse, Kolkata-based audio brand Sonodyne had been making its presence felt in professional studios, concert venues and the living rooms of audio connoisseurs across the country for over 50 years. The brand has a loyal following amongst listeners who prefer their music just “as the artist intended," with no added flavoring.
That theme persists in their flagship home speaker -- the Malhar ( ₹37,500), a 180-watt Bluetooth wireless speaker that is named after the raga Malhar which, as legend goes, has the power to induce thunder and rain (much needed in this season of relentless heatwaves!). It’s an apt name for Sonodyne’s most powerful consumer offering, but does it warrant somewhat premium pricing?
Build, design and controls
Pulling the speaker out of its substantial packaging, the Malhar is visually quite a sight, looking like a cajon (or a clapbox, as some may call it) with the wooden (MDF) cabinet and classic, retro styling. With the natural wood veneer finish, the Malhar is a nostalgic visual throwback to times gone by, when audio equipment very much looked the part. Bear that in mind when you’re trying to fit it into your décor. Or just pick one of the other white, black or red color variants if your interiors swing towards the modern. Either way, the 8kg enclosure and the sizable 424 x 181 x 190mm dimensions demand pride of place in your listening setup. This is not one to be tucked away.
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On the front are two 5-inch glass-fiber cone drivers accompanied by two 1-inch neodymium magnet silk-dome tweeters, both covered by a metal mesh, and the sides have two 5-inch passive radiators – nothing hidden behind any sort of fabric to mask the unabashed focus on acoustics. Inputs are all clustered towards the rear, with optical, AUX and USB audio for audio and a 5V DC USB port to charge a phone alongside.
Controls are basic – input selection, change tracks and volume – and available on a slightly recessed area on the top of the speaker, which hinders visibility of which input is currently selected. You get the same controls mirrored on the bundle remote, which is a tad plasticky and the color isn’t matched to the wood/black color units, which looks a bit incongruous.
By design, there are no buttons or controls to tweak bass or treble settings, which allows Malhar to retain the original feel of the track. At this price point, one did expect Wi-Fi and app connectivity to stream music over the home network and not be dependent on Bluetooth audio with the associated constant smartphone notifications, but the Malhar lacks this aspect. No ‘smart’ features or assistants built in, either. You can, however, pair two Malhars in Duet Mode to massively expand the already sizable space it caters to.
Sound quality
While Malhar leans towards minimalism in design, it scores, and scores big, in purity of reproduction. My taste in music is eclectic, from The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel and Springsteen to Rafi, Rahman and Harris Jayaraj and plenty in between, including plenty of Western classical courtesy years of the child’s piano classes. And although one had the option of connecting the Malhar to wired inputs, I defaulted to using the iPhone and Apple Music / Apple Classical app for most of the music I sampled.
Irrespective of the genre I played, the Malhar stood up and delivered, with a balanced audio signature that accurately reproduced the highs, mids and the lows, without overpowering the vocals or artificially boosting the bass to make it more ‘India-friendly’.
Malhar stays true to the original track across its wide 40Hz – 20kHz frequency range, and even if you turn it up, the speaker does not struggle or distort at high volumes. It even manages to bring the house down with punchier tracks, though I’ll have to admit if it’s a house party speaker you seek, there are livelier, bass-boosted options from Sony and JBL you should consider.
Impressively, there is a very defined stereo separation and an expansive soundstage that few one-box speakers can match. This is a company that knows its target audience and steadfastly caters to them, almost scoffing in the face of most brands that have an enhanced warmth to their audio gear.
Verdict
It's this steadfastness to sonic purity that may limit its appeal to audio purists – no surprise given the legacy of the brand that’s making this speaker.
This is the kind of speaker that I’d want in a den or a living room, to appreciate my favorite tracks and discover newer artists on a peaceful weekend morning, or pair up with an Apple TV to make up for my TV’s anemic sound, but not necessarily something many would call upon for the average Friday or Saturday night.
It’s also not got a whole lot of smart functionality, which is a bummer – it would have been great to have modern 2024 complements behind this 1980s look.
Tushar Kanwar, a tech columnist and commentator, posts @2shar.
