Welcome to Tech Obscura, where we search the darkest corners of the internet for all things strange, eccentric, and delightfully bizarre. This week, we’re looking at Bluetooth speakers that can turn anyone’s boring ol’ cubicle into a conversation piece.

 

Bluetooth speakers have a clear purpose: when you want to make some noise, wirelessly connect one of these clever gadgets to your smartphone or laptop for audio that’s louder, clearer, and just better than your wimpy little phone speakers can produce.  The problem with Bluetooth speakers though is that they can be a bit… boring. Overly utilitarian, you might say. It often feels like you’re choosing which color of square to buy. But at Heyup, we don’t like boring.

 

Check it these Bluetooth speakers that let your weird flag fly:

 

GravaStar - VENUS

Price

$67.45

Why we love it

• It’s a speaker that looks like a robot. Enough said.
• Designed by former BOSE engineers, these actually pack serious sound
• RGB lighting and low-latency bluetooth audio

Weirdness scale

★★☆☆☆

It’s not that strange. It’s a little bit of an odd product mashup, but the style and RGB lighting will fit right in with action figures and custom-built PCs.

Have you ever thought, “I wish my speakers looked like robotic sentries from the future?” I mean, probably not, but that doesn’t make these intricately-designed speakers any less cool. And most importantly, they sound amazing with thumping base and full-spectrum sound. As a nice bonus, multiple units can link together for true stereo sound.

Learn more about GravaStar - VENUS

 

Divoom Multifunctional Pixel Speaker

Price

$84.99

Why we love it

• It’s more than a speaker. The 16-bit display brings some serious retro flavor.
• The companion-app is slick and allows you to display community creations
• The rear-facing subwoofer pumps serious base for its size

Weirdness scale

★★★☆☆

This is a true conversation piece. The conversation will mostly be explaining to people why your Bluetooth speaker has a keyboard.

Why does this exist? Not sure, but I’m glad it does. This thing sports a retro PC design complete with an 8-bit pixel display, an SD card slot for local music, and a small mechanical keyboard with blue switches for that satisfying clicky keypress. Listen, you can play Tetris on this thing. If that doesn’t make you want one, then nothing will.

Learn more about the Divoom Multifunctional Pixel Speaker