These budget Bluetooth speakers have transformed the way I play games and watch movies
The Majority D80 speakers are perfect for placing on a bookshelf or coffee table and have really improved my iPad audio experiences
I won’t beat about the bush here: The Majority D80 are the best Bluetooth bookshelf speakers my ears have been treated to in a long while. Compared to Tom’s Guide Audio Editor Lee Dunkley (who is a Jedi Master when it comes to all things sound), my lugs are but puny Padawans. I’m grateful he’s given me the greenlight to pen this piece considering my ears are the current version of the subpar Chicago Bulls side who pale in comparison to the peak 1997 Michael Jordan-inspired team Lee’s lobes operate at.
Still, that doesn’t mean my somewhat uneducated ears can’t appreciate just how good the Majority’s D80 Bluetooth speakers sound paired with the right devices.
While Bluetooth is the easiest way to connect them to my iPad 2021 (12.9-inch), Steam Deck OLED and one of the best gaming PCs, these slightly chunky speakers also support USB and HDMI ARC connections making them a viable option for a compact setup involving one of the best TVs if your entertainment center doesn’t quite have the room to accommodate one of the best soundbars.
Majority D80 Bluetooth speakers: £99 @ Amazon UK
These fantastic Bluetooth speakers pack a whole lot of ear-pounding punch for less than 100 notes. With silk dome tweeters and 80 watts total power output, the sounds these reasonably-sized speakers generate is robust and surprisingly loud at full volume. The helpful remote makes pausing songs or shows when listening to content on a smartphone or tablet a doddle, too.
Full disclosure: I like my audio loud to an almost ear-damaging degree. So you probably shouldn’t crank up the Majority D80 speakers to the max like I have. At full volume, these £99 speakers are so punchy, they’re not a million miles away from delivering the sort of room-filling audio my surround system provides, which includes a Sonos Arc, a pair of Sonos Era 300 speakers and a duo of the company’s Sonos Subs. Not too shabby an achievement from the Majority D80, seeing as my Sonos system cost all the money to assemble.
And yes, my neighbors do resent me for perforating their eardrums.
Majority rules
The biggest selling point of the Majority D80? They’re fantastically malleable. I’ve paired them with a variety of tech I own and the audio results have proven well-rounded thanks to some table-rumbling bass that doesn’t make my room go boom to an overly obnoxious degree.
With 80 watts of power output, EQ and Silk Dome sliders you can twiddle on the rear of the Majority D80 in hassle-free style, this suitcase-friendly pair of Bluetooth speakers are pretty much the perfect device for Nintendo Switch players who want to take the Majority D80 on a vacation. Although a word of advice, these portable speakers are so naturally loud, you should probably turn down their volume before you get kicked out of your hotel room.
Though they’re annoyingly not on sale at time of writing in the States, it means U.S. readers will have to pay international shipping fees if they want to buy the Majority D80 from Amazon UK. While I love playing the best Steam games on my Steam Deck through these speakers, I probably feel a little more comfortable recommending the super affordable and surprisingly resonant Creative Pebble V3 Minimalistic 2.0 Bluetooth Speakers that are available for just $34 on Amazon, which also ranks as one of our best computer speakers.
Back to the Majority D80. I think these are ideal Bluetooth speakers to pair with one of the best iPads. I’ve had my test samples planted on my coffee table for a week now, and I’ve already built up an assortment of ear-arousing memories that will stay with me for a good while.
A couple of recent examples of how much the Majority D80 have improved my tablet’s audio compared to listening to content on my iPad Pro’s (already decent) speakers? My inner WWE fan couldn't help but jump on YouTube to check out this week's episode of Monday Night RAW, where Dwayne “The Final Boss” Johnson laid the soggy smackdown on Cody Rhodes, with the D80 speakers pleasingly emphasizing the lashing rain on a frigid Chicago night in the build-up to the biggest WrestleMania of all time.
Soaking up the T.rex’s guttural roar while battling the Indominus Rex during the fan-pleasing finale of 2015’s Jurassic World really brought the best out of the D80’s bass levels, too.
A minimalist remote that comes inside the box is also welcome, allowing you to switch between optical, USB or HDMI ARC connections with a quick click, while also letting me pause some of the best Netflix shows I've been listening intently to thanks to these winning speakers. There are also a trio of buttons to let you switch between, Movie, Music and Dialog modes.
If you’re in the market for an affordable pair of Bluetooth tabletop speakers that get pleasingly loud while serving up a well-balanced soundscape, I’d definitely check out the Majority D80. They’ve made my iPad and handheld gaming experiences a whole lot more enjoyable.
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Dave is a computing editor at Tom’s Guide and covers everything from cutting edge laptops to ultrawide monitors. When he’s not worrying about dead pixels, Dave enjoys regularly rebuilding his PC for absolutely no reason at all. In a previous life, he worked as a video game journalist for 15 years, with bylines across GamesRadar+, PC Gamer and TechRadar. Despite owning a graphics card that costs roughly the same as your average used car, he still enjoys gaming on the go and is regularly glued to his Switch. Away from tech, most of Dave’s time is taken up by walking his husky, buying new TVs at an embarrassing rate and obsessing over his beloved Arsenal.