Klipsch The One Plus review

I thought I knew exactly how my favorite songs sounded. That is, until I tried the Klipsch The One Plus speaker (not a particularly catchy name, I know). Despite its awkward moniker, it nevertheless gives some of the best Bluetooth speakers a run for their money.

While the speaker gets ridiculously loud and fills my entire house with booming bass, it also sounds amazing at lower volume levels. The immersive soundscape that’s full of bass maintains clear vocals. The premium design fits right into my home audio setup without looking garish. Thanks to an array of connectivity options, I was able to stream my music over Bluetooth but also plug it into my record player to listen to my vinyl in perfect clarity.

While there’s so much to love about this speaker, I have two very minor issues. I wish there were more onboard controls, and the speaker must be plugged into a power source, so it’s not portable. The speaker also isn’t Wi-Fi streaming enabled despite being socket-powered.

To find out more about how I got on with the speaker, you can continue reading this full Klipsch The One Plus review.

Klipsch The One Plus review: Specs

Klipsch The One Plus review: Price & availability

The Klipsch The One Plus speaker is available at Amazon U.S. for $274 and at Amazon U.K. for £279. It comes in a matte black colorway with silver accents, or in walnut, a natural wood finish with grey cloth speaker grilles.

That lands it in the middle of the Bluetooth speakers space, but I think it’s worth every penny if you’re an audio nerd like me. It needs to be plugged in though, so if you want amazing sound quality with the convenience of portability, the Marshall Kilburn III would be the way to go. The Marshall is more expensive at $379/£299, but for great audio like this, you’re going to be forking over some extra cash.

The Bose Soundlink Home offers the same effect as a piece of home decor while providing great sound, and it’s a little cheaper at $219. However, since it is battery-powered, you run the risk of the battery dying, which isn’t an issue with the Klipsch. And for bigger sound, you could look to the Bose Soundlink Max, but it doesn’t have the same sleek look that comes with a home speaker.

If crystal clear audio quality isn’t your main concern, you could look at the Tribit StormBox Lava, which is a lot cheaper at $129/£129. And while the audio of the Tribit outperforms its price range, it’s nowhere near as good as the Klipsch.

Klipsch The One Plus review: Design & build

The Klipsch The One Plus speaker has a sleek, premium design that’s synonymous with the brand. Klipsch makes a wide range of high-end and more affordable audio gear, and the One Plus sits firmly on the higher end of things, and you can totally see that just by looking at it.

There is a wood veneer finish on the top, giving it a homely feel. I tested the matte black colorway, and this was perfect for slotting into my home audio setup without looking garish. The cloth trim around the speaker ties everything together nicely, too.

The accents on the speaker are brushed silver, giving it a more premium look. On top of the speaker is a volume dial, highlighted in that same silver finish. That’s it for controls, though — we’ll get to that later.

The speaker measures 12.52 x 6.1 x 6 inches and weighs 7.94 pounds. At this size and weight, it’s easily movable, but it can only be used near a power outlet as it’s corded electric, which is disappointing. Another sleek-looking choice is the Fender x Teufel Rockstar Go 2 ($129). This speaker offers more portability but still looks extremely slick.

The Klipsch houses two 2.25-inch full-range drivers and a 4.5-inch high excursion woofer to create a massive soundstage despite its small stature. The 2.1 stereo system allows for surround sound, so no matter where I stood around the speaker, I was getting the full force of the powerful sound.

On the back of the speaker is an auxiliary input and a USB-C port that gives you a choice of where and how you want to stream your music.

Klipsch The One Plus review: Controls & connectivity

The controls of the Klipsch The One Plus speaker are very basic and straightforward. Like I mentioned, there are only two controls — a volume dial and a button for switching sources. Nothing to control music playback, unfortunately.

Holding the button enables the Bluetooth connection.. Bluetooth is very easy to use, and the speaker connected to my phone immediately. If the button is held down until it turns green, the speaker will pull audio from the auxiliary input, which lets me plug it into my record player and use the Klipsch to play my vinyls.

Pressing the button for less than a second enables the USB-C port, and this can also be used for reverse charging. So even though I was streaming music from my phone all day long, it stayed full of juice.

The speaker turns on and off by itself when it detects the connected device and is in use. Since there is no play button on the speaker either, this must be done from the streaming device. All the controls that you need for the speaker are in the app, though, and a phone makes for a pretty good remote control as it’s always with you.

On the whole, I can appreciate the lack of buttons, given that it results in a more minimalist look. It’s not going to be best for everyone — for more on-board control, the JBL Authentics 300 ($449)offers more physical controls while featuring a sleek design.

The One Plus speaker uses Bluetooth 5.3 and has a 40-foot streaming distance. I was able to walk all around my house without the connection becoming jumpy or cutting out at all.

Klipsch The One Plus review: Features

When you first use the Klipsch Connect app for The One Plus speaker, it takes you through all the speaker’s features and how the controls work. This minimized any guesswork so that I could get straight into personalizing the sound and dancing around to my favorite tunes.

For late-night dancing sessions, you can enable night mode — and I know this is a feature my neighbours are more than grateful for. This mode decreases the deep bass of the speaker to stop any thumping rhythm travelling through walls and across floors. Anyone who loves a bassy speaker (like me) will know the feeling of bass carrying through the walls and across floors. And with this speaker, the bass does indeed do a lot of carrying. But with night mode on, I couldn’t feel the bass in the next room.

And on the opposite end of things, if you want the speaker to be even louder — although I’m not sure why you’d need that since this is the loudest speaker I’ve ever used — you can connect multiple The One Plus speakers with Broadcast Mode, which enables stereo connection of up to 10 speakers. This is done by pressing the utility button on the back of the speaker twice.

Most Bluetooth speakers come with apps for more control, and although it is a cheaper model, the Tribit app for the Tribit StormBox Lava is my favourite as it is a clear and concise app. The Klipsch app relies more on minimalism.

Klipsch The One Plus review: Sound quality

I’ve got to say it. This is my favorite of all the speakers I’ve tested. Sure, it’s not portable, but with sound like this, I want to keep it a secret for myself and never take it out of the house.

In the Klipsch Connect app, there are five EQ presets to choose from. The default sound profile is called Flat, and this keeps the bass, mids, and treble all even. This is my favourite EQ setting, but Bass (you can guess what this does) comes in a close second. There are also presets for Vocals, Treble, and Rock, as well as a custom EQ option.

I used the speaker with the Bluetooth connection and streamed my music with the Qobuz app. For a tabletop speaker, the bass performance is incredible without sacrificing the mids or treble at all.

To first test the Flat EQ, I listened to Robbers by The 1975. I was listening out for the clarity of the song’s driving riff and the drum performance. The vocals were incredibly clear, while the consistent riff of the song came through equally strong. I pretty much listened to the entirety of The 1975’s discography, and it’s the best it has ever sounded.

To test the Vocal EQ setting, I listened to Just Two Girls by Wolf Alice. This preset, as you can imagine by its name, totally enhanced the vocals of the song, but without sacrificing any of the rest of the instruments’ impact. It brought out the breathy quality in the lead singer’s voice, which is something I always adore when I listen to Wolf Alice. The piano remained the focus of the track without losing the cymbals and the treble.

Although the bass of the speaker on the default EQ setting is plenty good, I wanted to test the Bass EQ preset. So, to put this to the test, I turned to the faithful Charli XCX. Von Dutch is carried by the deep bass that is a signature for Charli, and I was quite literally blown away by the results.

I could actually feel air being propelled out of the speaker by the drivers. But everything else in the song was still incredibly clear and crisp, with nothing sacrificed to the bass. I cranked the volume (sorry to my neighbours) and I could feel the bass reverberating through my whole house. It is literally insane.

I also listened to Drum Show by Twenty One Pilots. The beauty of Pilot’s music is that you’re always blessed with sick drums and an awe-inspiring bassline. I used the Rock preset, which raised the bass and treble. Even though they are a bass and drum-centric band, the vocals remain crisp and clear throughout. The speaker is brilliant at balancing and letting all the best bits of the music shine through.

To test out the auxiliary connection for actual high-resolution playback, I connected the speaker to my record player. I listened to Wolf Alice’s The Clearing in full and was truly impressed as I danced around my house. I achieved an awesome, clear, and sound, far improved from the speakers on the player. Where there is usually some crackling through the speakers when I listen to vinyl, this was completely negated, but I still got that authentic feeling that’s different from regular streaming.

I also tried out the USB-C wired connection. I couldn’t tell much of a difference between this and the Bluetooth streaming setting; however, I should note that I always stream my music at the highest bit-rate possible. I listened to all of the same songs to draw a comparison, but the sound reproduction is so clear when using both functions that, however you choose to listen to the music, it is going to sound awesome.

Klipsch The One Plus review: Verdict

What can I say, this is the speaker of my dreams. The sound is awesome. It’s clear. It’s loud. It’s punchy. I’m not sure what else I need from a Bluetooth speaker. The clarity of the vocals makes my in-depth listening sessions as perfect as they can get, and the bass performance is the best I’ve experienced. There are also a lot of connectivity options, and the premium design is the cherry on the cake that makes this look good absolutely anywhere.

But I wish there were more buttons on the speaker to have more control. I think the option to manually skip or play and pause would make the listening experience better, so I could put my phone down. The speaker also isn’t portable and needs to be plugged into a power outlet.