CONCLUSION

   The very first thing you will notice once you power up the arion Bluetooth portable speaker and start using it is the rather high volume levels (thanks to the 6W total output of the two drivers) which is something we haven't seen even from portable speakers twice its size. What really impressed all of us here however is the audio clarity (highs/mids) even when using the speaker with the volume maxed out. Of course if you max the volume on both the speaker and your smartphone or tablet (or anything that can be used with it) you will most certainly notice the lack of bass which is actually not as bad as it sounds since only the Jabra SOLEMATE really makes a difference in bass (slight but it does). The battery also lasts quite a bit and after 3 full charges we managed to get slightly over 6 hours of playback at almost maximum volume which is even better than the 6 hours Eagle Tech claims (especially since companies usually test their portable speakers at mid volume levels). Using the built-in noise-cancelling microphone to make/answer calls worked but not as good as we had hoped it would but that's not something new when it comes to portable speakers. We did notice two rather strange things however the entire week we were testing the arion. First of all when you turn the device off a female voice says Power Off, however when you turn it on you only get a short intro sound (we would like a Power On instead). Also when scrolling to choose the song we wanted to listen to the speaker made sounds something which we've never encountered in the past. True both things are not really significant enough to interfere with the use of the speaker nor do they matter much but they did strike us as a bit odd so we wanted to point them out to you.

   Most Bluetooth portable speakers with similar volume levels as the arion portable Bluetooth speaker (ET-AR101BP) have price tags which are usually set quite high so i was pleased to see that currently you can purchase it at USD66.38 inside the USA (Amazon). Unfortunately i was unable to track it down inside the EU at least not with an acceptable price tag so it's safe to say that currently EU consumers have no choice but to purchase it directly from USA based online stores. So if you are out to buy a Bluetooth portable speaker and you want lots of volume without compromising audio clarity and obviously without spending much in the process then the arion portable Bluetooth speaker by Eagle Tech is certainly worth a shot and that's why we give it our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Design
- Audio Quality
- Volume Level
- 3.5mm Output
- Speakerphone
- Battery Life
- Price 

CONS

- Lack Of Bass At High Volume Levels
- Sounds While Connected But Not Playing
- EU Availability