I don’t know about you, but there’s something in me which is always seeking smaller and smaller gadgetry which can still do the job well enough to avoid too much compromise.
I had my portable hifi rig down to a good 13inch laptop, a single 4tb USB powered HDD, a Chord Mojo DAC, a Fiio X7ii DAP, a good pair of IEMs and on the speaker front, either a pair of Audioengine A2’s or Riva Turbo X single speaker. And of course Roon to run the show 
My weak link has always been the speaker end of things.
The Riva is a great speaker, battery lasts forever and tonality is really full. It’s not really a good stereo option, with side firing 2 inch speakers and one front firing 
Good for parties and casual listening only.
The A2’s are good but they have a coloured upper bass which is enhanced and tends to ruin nearfield listening and can even overpower open space far-field listening. Of course they can be eq’d but I always feel I’m cheating somehow and that the speakers should, well…just sound bettter!
I have lived with this setup for a couple of years now for my on the go use but lately I’ve been hankering for something better so after a bit of shopping around (looking at the Ruarks and some small studio monitors), I stumbled across these crazy things:
https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/iloudmm/
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ik-multimedia-iloud-micro
I was watching a load of videos on you tube where studio engineers, producers, and musicians were one by one singing the praises of these non descript mini monitors. I knew they’d be mine.
Well I can honestly say I am confused. In a good way.
These things are tiny, but they sound like good 5 inch monitors (I have Kef X300A’s and Adam A5X).
I’m currently listening to them side by side to my Kef X300A’s (which I favour over my A5X’s for sheer musicality) and switching between them and there’s very little in it, I mean… what’s going on here?
The key feature is an uncoloured and detailed sound throughout the frequency range right down to an alleged 55hz and this translates to a really precise and believable micro stereo image. It’s uncanny, for the size and demeanour of these things, I am getting a surreal experience.
They’re so good that they had me listening, at quite low volumes, it must be said, into the early hours of this morning to my old albums. Yes, they’re that kind of audio product.
And they do go loud (enough). I was worried reading some reviews that were mentioning low volumes, but I’m not sure how that coud be the case after testing them yesterday. These certainly go to loud and clean levels which necessitate raised voices. I.e. good for small party use.
So there you go… My micro hifi is now complete. At only 7inches high x 5 inches or so deep and maybe 3.5inches wide per side, and not delicate, I can take these along with other gadgetry on holidays in a small trolley case or even backpack, yay! They are very light too. They weight around 2kg including the cables and power brick. This is the same as my Riva Turbo X, which is amazing.
An outstanding product.
