I love music. All sorts of music. My playlist ranges from Nine Inch Nails to Niccolò Paganini. From Spice 1 to Gymnopédie No 1. Not a single day goes by when I don't listen to music. When Teufel shot me an email asking if I wanted to give its flagship portable speaker a listen, I said, "What's a Teufel?"
Turns out, Teufel is a German company that's been around since before I was born (barely, since 1979 to be precise), making some of the best THX home audio systems ze Germans had ever known. Fun fact: "teufel" means "devil" in German.
It appears as though I'm not the only American to have never heard of Teufel (I did an informal poll of music lovers and industry professionals that I know). That's probably what led the German company to pair up with world-renowned Fender to release the Fender x Teufel Rockster 2 series of portable speakers.
Fender has been around since 1946, when Leo Fender and Doc Kauffman – under the brand name K&F – built the Model 26 "Woodie" amp (that can still sell for well over ten grand). In 1948, Leo took his act solo and cranked out the first Fender Esquire, which later became the legendary Telecaster. Since then, Fender has pretty much become a household name, even for those who aren't musicians.
And if we're being honest, Fender lending its name to Teufel's Bluetooth speaker speaks volumes to the credibility of an otherwise unknown company in some markets. Fender wouldn't just stick its logo on something less-than-stellar, I don't think. And the collab has boosted sales of the Rockster series to one of Teufel's biggest hits.
Now that that's outta the way, what's up with the Fender x Teufel Rockster Air 2? Is it worth the currently-listed US$479.99 hype? That's a pretty decent chunk of change for a portable Bluetooth speaker ... lemme break it down for ya:
This thing ROCKS.
First impression: "It looks like a Fender amp, do like!" followed by, "Dang, it's heavy!"
I immediately queued up my favorite "test-a-system's-capabilities song," DJ Magic Mike's "Lower the Dynamite." A 1989 Miami bass track of speaker-blowing Roland TR-808 bass with layered E-mu SP-1200 breakbeat samples, serious record scratches, and just a pinch of vocals.
I was immediately surprised. Fully cranked, the speaker did not clip. At all. Zero. And it's loud! And it bumps! I'm the guy who modified my car doors to accept 6x9 three-ways and threw a 12" Rockford Fosgate sealed box in the mix. I'm telling you, I really like music.
I was too excited by the loud yet clear audio that I couldn't wait for the song to finish and I immediately went into musical-ADHD-mode, listening through at least the first chorus of songs by Die Antwoord, Baauer, Squirrel Nut Zippers, DJ Snake (Turn Down for What?!?), Led Zeppelin, Muddy Waters, etc, trying to find a flaw during playback. Nothing was immediately apparent.
I've had it for about two weeks now. I listen to it almost every day in my house and out in the backyard. It's spent roughly half of its life at full volume (sorry, neighbors), playing nearly every genre of music (except country, of course).
Now that I've had some time with it in various scenarios, my only real gripe: The high-frequency treble from the 1-inch tweeter is very directional. If you're directly in front of the speaker, even dozens of feet away, it's crisp, sharp, and detailed. Take a couple of side-steps away from the sweet spot and the high-frequencies drop off pretty quickly, leaving you with rich bass from the 10-inch sub and less than perfect treble.
It's not a deal-breaker, in my opinion, but it is a bit short-sighted for a portable party speaker.
But that also leads to the fact that it isn't just a portable party speaker. It's a speaker that pushes the limits of prosumer gear and flies just close enough to "professional" that it could get the Icarus rap and fall short.
If you take a peek at the back of the Air 2, you'll be happy to see stuff like an XLR input AND output (for anything XLR: mics, mixers, other speakers, you name it!), a 3.5mm input (like a headphone jack, but for input), a 1/4" input (for an instrument), and even a USB-C charging port to keep your phone or whatever topped up. Oh, and an "eco" button that I'll get into in a minute.
There are even volume level controls for each input. Want to Bluetooth in a backing track while you jam on your Strat and rip a lead solo? You can. Wanna to daisy-chain your Air 2 into your Fender stack? You can. You want to plug in a mic and serenade your crowd mid-solo while the backing track is still playing through both speakers, while eating Cheetos and chewing bubble gum? You totally can.
So, who is this speaker for, exactly?
Buskers. It's the perfect speaker for the people who stop you in your tracks, cranking out covers of your favorite songs while sitting on street corners. The people doing freestyle raps. Public speakers or announcers at an event. The mobile DJs who wants quick setup and easy teardown while still sounding really, really good.
Or anywhere that plugging into power is an issue. The Air 2 has a ridiculously long battery life at FIFTY EIGHT HOURS from its 12-volt, motorcycle battery-sized LFP battery. So, marathon-buskers, I guess. The 58-hour figure is achieved by playing the speaker at half volume. But who buys a big portable speaker like this to only play it at 5/10? Not me. Fully cranked, it'll still run for 31 hours in Eco mode. That eco button on the back I mentioned earlier? It limits the bass to conserve battery-juice, giving it over a day's worth of max volume playback.
Outside of plugging in my Fender acoustic electric guitar on occasion to let my neighbors know how bad I am at playing the guitar, I probably won't use half the functions this beast is capable of. The Air 2 has the built-in ability to wirelessly connect to another Air 2 to get a full on stereo experience, where one speaker will act as the left and the other the right channel. I don't have two to play with, but if I did, I bet my guitar playing would sound twice as good.
A professional artist, on the other hand, might find it almost good enough, but lacking in other aspects: Yes, it technically has DSP under the hood, but there's no way to control it. There's no companion app or parametric EQ – just a couple of twiddly knobs on top for bass and treble. And forget about vocal effects. There's no reverb or magic button to make your drunk karaoke buddy sound like the Celine Dion she thinks she is.
And let's not forget that the speaker doesn't have an IP-rating for water or dust. That means that it is not at all protected against the elements. All those inputs and outputs on the back? Yeah, there isn't even a cover plate for 'em. Teufel really missed the mark on that note.
The Rockster Air 2 is not exactly small for a portable unit. It's a tad shy of 2 feet tall, 12.7 in wide, and 13.5 in deep (59x32x34 cm), and weighs a hefty 31.2 lb (14.2 kg). Big enough that Teufel offers a (substantial and not cheap) backpack accessory for carrying it around on your back rather than the off-balance waddle you'll be doing using the built-in handle on top.
There's a ton of info about the tech specs behind it on the Teufel website: Bluetooth aptX HD/AAC, 47-22,000 Hz, 80° horizontal and 40° vertical coverage area, 80 watt RMS, Class D amp, 115 dB at 1 meter, etc ... but I just wanted to make this a real-world review with my real-world experience.
So to round it off: If I were in the market for a sub-500-dollar, great-sounding, portable speaker with an unbelievable battery life that I could even jam on? Then heck yeah, the incredibly long-named Fender x Teufel Rockster Air 2 would be at the top of my list. Its huge sound and lumbering size makes my JBL Flip 6 just seem silly – though I absolutely love the little JBL. Nothing compares to its size vs sound quality ... But I can take my JBL in the shower with me, so there's that ...
I think I'm going to buy another one.
Source: Teufel
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