You might call the Mass Fidelity Core the Tardis of Bluetooth speakers. If you’re not a Doctor Who fan, the analogy will be lost on you. But basically the good doctor’s time and travel machine is bigger on the inside than on the outside. That’s certainly true of the Core, which delivers a huge 3D sound that’s a lot bigger than the box from which it comes.
We look and listen to a lot of portable Bluetooth speakers. A lot. It takes a lot to impress. The Core from Mass Fidelity impresses. Forget the fact that the name of the company sounds more like a financial services firm than an audio company. This is a compact speaker system with a lot going for it. It generates a holographic sound that projects much larger than its source. The folks from Mass Fidelity suggest listening to the Pink Floyd track “Money” to get a sense of the audio holographic projection. It works. Lo that we can’t quite reproduce that here.
It has more connectivity options than any other small speaker I’ve seen, including Bluetooth, optical, USB, and Aux. It also has NFC connectivity and comes with a remote control. Bluetooth pairing took a few seconds. It also has a self contained rechargeable battery that will last for bout twelve hours of playing time. The cube-like box is very attractive and the controls are simple to see and use. All the connectivity is in the rear of the case, which is smaller than a Kleenex tissue box cube.
The Core can be used in a multi-speaker, multi-room configuration. You can use two speakers in a stereo pair, or multiple speakers in multiple rooms accessing multiple music streams, and all without an app.
We found sound quality to be excellent, but better at higher volumes. The 3D effect will vary depending on the nature of the recorded content. Giving the system an optical input means you’ll be able to use your both lossy and lossless files. You can also hook it directly to the output of a turntable. The system is designed to compete with market leader Sonos – and in many ways is comparable to the mid-price Sonos Play 3. Because of its nature, it may not do true justice to your Hi Res files, but it sounds great with everything that your CD or MP3 player can pump out.
The biggest drawback to the Core is its price, a hefty $599. Though even at that price, with all of its capabilities we think it may well be worth it.
The electronics in this little box are pretty complex, and frankly I’m not sure I understand the process. But this video help to explain it:
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