OM/ONE - World's First Levitating Bluetooth Speaker

I just got 2 of the OM/One speakers in today. After watching the video and listening to the CEO and Sound Engineer (I'm really questioning this one) I decided to give it a go in stereo. The claims from OM make it sound like an impressive audio system that has a unique feature. They lead me to expect great sound and stunning looks.Un-boxing/Setup:I opened the first box and found the packaging to be top notch. I would not be too far off to assume this is where most of the money for each speaker is being spent. As I continued unpacking everything I found the base. It was nice and is certainly the best looking part of the entire speaker system. The speaker looks and feels cheap. I thought it might be a demo speaker, the ones that don't really work but are there for display only. When I set the orb on the charging stand the USB cord lit up. After a few minutes the cord stopped blinking so the orb must have a full charge.Playing music/Sound Quality:I tried several different types of music. All where ripped from studio quality CDs into MP3 at 320kpbs. On my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.4 (2014) the MP3 files sound good for a tablet. I certainly don't expect a tablet to sound anything like a dedicated speaker.Mashables posted this statement "takes audiophiles into new territory". This leads a person to believe the product has at least good quality sound. Mashables was either paid to review this product, or threatened at gunpoint!I'll make it simple for everyone to understand. The OM/One sounds muffled in the high frequencies. The lows are barely achievable if you play with the EQ settings to turn down all of the mid-range frequencies. If you are looking for a good sounding speaker LOOK ELSEWHERE! This is not worth the money or the wait to receive it. I have not listened to a speaker that sounds this bad since 1982 when I had a $29 boom box that had a blown speaker. It really sounds that bad.Played the exact same music on a Creative Labs Roar and the OM/One was demolished by the Roar at the same audio input levels. The OM/One put out less than half the volume and 1/3 or less of the quality. That was pretty shocking to me since the Roar has a smaller bass/mid driver. The OM/One running with two speakers for stereo still did not come anywhere close to the Roar in quality or volume.Does it Levitate?Yes, if you are VERY careful. Once it's charged up and in place it does levitate and can even be spun for your amusement. This is the only satisfaction you will receive while using the OM/One.Conclusion:I could not be forced to recommend this product! It is not worth the price at any cost as a speaker! It would be a serious disservice to other potential customers. Anyone who would recommend the OM/One after playing over an hour of songs on it would be committing a criminal act that I think should be considered fraudulent!I wanted to like it. I tried to like it. I certainly do NOT like it! I'm sending both back. If I don't I'll hate the fact that I wasted almost $400 on two pieces of junk as far as audio quality goes.

At first this was amazing, although the sound was not very good. I then disconnected and reconnected the bluetooth from my phone and the sound was great. However, I had a great deal of trouble getting it to levitate resulting in thumping bangs as it crashed to the base. I wrote to OM/ONE support who assured me that this would not damage the speaker.Then, getting the knack of levitating the orb I watched in fascination as it spun and the sound was great. However, in five minutes it said it was low on power. I hooked the charger to the base and put the orb on it. A string of blue lights started flowing along the cable, but stopped in less than 30 seconds. Each time I try to charge it, the same thing happens and it never fully charges even after sitting on the base for twelve hours.I did leave it levitating with the speaker being off just for the beauty of it. After ten days the orb fell with another clunk to the base for no reason at all. Now it will levitate for about thirty seconds, rotating in its orbit, and then clunk, another fall to the base. It won't stay floating for over thirty seconds now.I tried to use it as a speaker phone and the party on the other side, while clear and loud to me, could not hear me at all.Great idea, but definitely does not live up to its promotion. I wish that it did.

I won't bother to comment on how difficult the speaker is to levitate, the unimpressive sound quality, or the several month lead time. Instead, I will warn you that the device may ship broken. After several months of waiting for my device, I began the setup, only to find that I could not charge the orb through the base. While it can be charged (as indicated by the LEDs on the cable) when attached through an external USB charger, I could not charge the orb through the base unit. There is some kind of electrical malfunction there. Furthermore, the blue light on the base does not turn on, but rather flashes and send pulses through the orb. The electrical defect in the base makes a faint clicking noise. Perhaps that "rigorous inspection" should be a bit more rigorous.

Disappointing. Not worth the price tag nor the wait. The sound quality is muffled and scratchy, The volume low for the weight this thing packs it better have some massive batteries inside. Levitation takes practice. I am not even sure if it charges while levitate, If so why the charger on the side?? I was led to believe that this thing will levitate and charge. The build quality is not great. The box that it comes in is nice though. The firmware is a bit buggy on the BT connectivity side, and the compression, since the sound can get scrambled up. and you might need to stop and start your music. over all I would say that it might just be a novelty item.

This is a really cool idea but awful design. The way to charge this thing is just bizarre. I guess they wanted to make it look seamless and have the orb sit on a stand that has two prongs that would make contact and charge. While this is a cool idea, the execution of it is all wrong. It is almost impossible to get it to line up correctly and it just will not charge. There is real no way to tell if it's charging. The usb cable that goes into the stand is supposed to light up blue with a stream of LEDs going to the base but it just plain doesn't work. So if you ever lose that cable and use one that does not have the lights you will not know at all if your orb is making contact or charging.

Sending it back. The sound sucks ... but the biggest thing, the buzz factor, is the levitating. And it doesn't. Spent four hours and still can't get the thing to float.Do not buy this. Terrible.