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You’re probably going to want to keep the extra bass mode turned on. The Motion 300 might be a bit beefier than its main rivals, but it puts that extra size to good use when it comes to audio by delivering fuller and more expansive sound than the competition. Soundcore Motion 300: sound quality Simon Cohen / Digital Trebds

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Soundcore also supports stereo pairing over Bluetooth as long as you have a second Motion 300, but I wasn’t able to test this feature out. With Bluetooth Multipoint you can simultaneously connect two devices, and I found it was effortless to move seamlessly from one to the other. That’s much better performance than either the Emberton II or Flip 6. It’s not quite as capable as Soundcore’s claimed 328 feet, but I got about 180 feet line of sight, and there wasn’t a single spot in our house that didn’t get excellent connectivity. With Bluetooth 5.3, the Motion 300 has an exceptional wireless range. You can still figure it out by checking your phone’s settings or the Soundcore app, but an extra reminder would have been helpful. Soundcore’s documentation isn’t forthcoming. How much is left when this happens? Hard to say. The power button will glow white when fully charged, but then stays that way until it hits “low battery” status, at which point it starts to blink red. Strangely, despite going to the effort of backlighting the controls, Soundcore hasn’t included a detailed visual indicator of remaining battery life, something that is very common on other portables. You can even adjust the button brightness (or turn it off) in the Soundcore app. Thanks to backlighting - a very rare feature on Bluetooth speakers - they’re easy to locate even in a darkened room, and they’ve got nice tactile feedback even under their protective rubber skin.

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You get buttons for power, Bluetooth pairing, one-touch access to the extra bass EQ mode, and volume up/down, plus a multifunction playback button that can play/pause and track skip. Well, it’s the top surface when the speaker is standing - at other times, they’ll be accessible from the side.

Soundcore Motion 300: controls and connections Simon Cohen / Digital TrebdsĪll of the Motion 300’s controls are located on the top surface. I didn’t experiment with dropping the Motion 300, but it doesn’t take lab measurements to know that the speaker will fare better if it makes contact on one of its four rubberized corners than on its metal grille - that thing will dent for sure.Īn auxiliary input for connecting other music sources would have been a nice touch, but I think it’s fair to say most of our devices are Bluetooth-capable these days. (Neither do the Embertons, nor the Flip 6.) It can be fully submerged for short periods of time, but you’ll still need to pay attention if it ends up getting tossed in the pool - it doesn’t float. Like these competitors, the Motion 300 is rated IPX7, giving it excellent protection against water as long as the rubber charging port cover stays securely in place. It’s also the heaviest of the four speakers: 1.8 pounds for the Motion 300, 1.5 pounds for the Embertons, and 1.2 pounds for the Flip 6. Its thinner profile could make it easier to carry around, but the $80 Motion 300 is a bit bigger than the $150 Marshall Emberton, $170 Emberton II, and $130 JBL Flip 6. If you want, it can use that information to automatically optimize the sound - I’ll cover that more in a moment. As such, there are rubber feet on the bottom and rear panels, and Soundcore has installed a tiny gyroscope that can sense the speaker’s orientation. But this is by design - the Motion 300 is meant to stand up, lie down, or hang suspended from its integrated (but removable) carry strap. These products tend to feature cylindrical or boxy profiles to help with stability and 360-degree sound dispersion.

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Its slab-like shape is unusual for a portable speaker. (The first was the boombox-shaped Soundcore Motion X600.) Our review model came in black, but you’ll soon be able to pick between blue and green versions, too. The Soundcore Motion 300 is the second Soundcore speaker to use the brand’s distinct metal and rubber design.

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