Kindle Fire Speakers

If you want to increase the volume of your tablet, using an external speaker with your Kindle Fire is one of the best ways to do so!

There are hundreds of options, but to simplify which Kindle Fire accessory may work best for you, I've narrowed it down to three external speakers.

Keep reading to learn the pros and cons of each, bluetooth vs wired speakers, and to know which one is my favorite!

Kindle Fire Speaker Volume

First, I'd like to briefly mention the actual volume that the Kindle Fire produces.

The very first generation tablet Amazon released in 2011 had fairly poor speakers, so volume is much more of an issue for the older devices.

Thankfully, with the Kindle Fire HD and HDX tablets released in 2012 and 2013 (respectively) the speaker, volume, and sound performance has greatly increased.

However, if you're like me and like to pump up the sound, having an excellent external speaker is well worth the purchase price!

Next, let's go over some of the pros and cons of external speakers.

Kindle Fire Speakers: Pros and Cons

Here's a list of just a few of the pros and cons to watch for when shopping for an external speaker for your Kindle Fire:

• Volume Capability: soft vs loud
  
• Portability: small vs large
• Connectivity: wired vs wireless

There are definitely other pros and cons but for now this is a great place to start! Let's quickly go over each before we get to the good stuff.

Volume Capability: Soft vs Loud

In my opinion, this is one of the most important features of an external speaker.

What's the point of using one if the volume output barely increases that of your Kindle Fire? If it's still too soft to hear, depending on how/when you're using it, then it's probably not worth the effort and cost.

Also, the quality of the sound is important. How does it sound the more you increase the volume? Does it get distorted the higher you go?

A little distortion usually isn't a problem but a lot can be quite distracting and annoying!

Portability: Small vs Large

With the huge variety of speakers out there, there's also a huge variety of sizes and styles. You'll want to determine how important portability is for your Kindle Fire speaker.

Is it extremely important to you to be able to easily pack the speaker with you? Or is sound volume and quality of greater importance?

Connectivity: Wired vs Wireless

This Kindle Fire speaker feature (that rhymes!) ;) is important, in my opinion, as a matter of convenience.

There are three main ways (that I know of) to connect an external speaker to your Kindle Fire:

1. wire cord that plugs into the earphone/headphone jack
2. wirelessly with bluetooth
   
3. wirelessly with WiFi

I've found that most portable speakers that connect with a cord (to the 3.5mm audio socket) have a really short wire, which may be fine for a phone, but for connecting to a Kindle Fire it's really inconvenient! (More on that later.)

Also, the price of speakers definitely jumps up when you start looking for ones that connect with bluetooth or WiFi, so cost might be of greater importance to you than convenience.

Sorry for all of the above, but I feel it's important to go over some basics for those who need them.

Now, on to the main event!

Kindle Fire Speakers!

Whew! Now we're ready to check out the speakers I've already tested out on my Kindle Fire! Shall we get to it? (Thanks for your patience.)

Boom Cube Speaker

It all started while walking down an isle of my local drugstore and seeing a section of "As Seen On TV" items that were for sale.

There were these cute little Boom Cube Speakers that I thought would be perfect for my Kindle Fire, especially since the package advertised that it was a "Lil' Speaker with BIG Sound!", you could "Clip Them Everywhere!", and they would "Add BIG Sound To Any Device!"

"Alright!" I thought- it would be great to have a portable speaker to increase the volume of my Kindle Fire.

So I picked out a green camouflage one since the others were too girly for my husband to use with his Kindle Fire, and headed home- after I paid for it, of course. I think it cost around $10 bucks, but don't quote me on that!

At first it seemed like the volume increase was pretty good (we were newbies to the world of portable speaks) but after taking it on a trip in the car we found that the sound still wasn't loud enough to truly enjoy music, audio books, videos, etc on the Kindle Fire.

Plus, the cable to connect it to our tablets was really short, making it difficult to use in a comfortable and easy way. (More on that later.)

Here are pictures of the back (port for charging, on/off switch, and cable) and length of the cable:

If I remember correctly, this portable speaker comes with the charging cable, which I didn't bother to dig out to take a picture of.

The original clip at the end of the chain (not shown in the pictures since I removed it to use somewhere else) was annoying as it just got in the way and would clank against my Kindle Fire screen. I would prefer not to scratch the screen, so the clip was not a perk for me, but might be for someone else.

Thus, this lil' Boom Cube, although portable and cheap, didn't meet our needs. Which is too bad....

Kinivo Mini Portable Speaker

For several weeks I scoured the web in search of portable speakers for my Kindle Fire that were in my price range but still had great sound.

I read TONS and TONS of reviews on Amazon and after much internal debate I finally settled on the Kinivo ZX 100 Mini Portable Speaker!

Like most little speakers, it comes in a variety of colors so I picked the classic black and red- this time to match my site's color scheme! :)

One cool feature is the accordion part that you twist open to pop up and twist down to close for more portability!

The product page calls this the "Expansive Resonator Construction Design to give the best low frequency output" which I think basically increases the surface area to allow more sound to emit from a larger area, especially the base. But I'm not a sound expert so I could be wrong.

There's a power button as well as actual volume + and - buttons located on three of the four feet, which is much more convenient than being on the bottom of the speaker!

When you turn this puppy on there's a pretty little blue light that lights up, which is a great visual way to know if you're using up its battery power or not.

How about some pictures with some more details? Okay, here you go...

As for sound, there's definitely more volume and better quality that comes from this Kinivo speaker than that of the Boom Box. If you don't have a lot of extra noise to drown out then this speaker is a great little guy to pack around.

However, I personally found that it still wasn't loud enough when running on the treadmill or driving in the car. For my needs, I really needed something with greater output.

This speaker also has the same problem on the Kindle Fire, what with its short cable that plugs into the audio port. Let's take a look at what happens when you use your tablet in landscape with this speaker.

As the pictures show, the cable isn't long enough to comfortably use the cable when right-side up in landscape, but if you flip it over the cable length is okay, but still not ideal. It's the same for portrait as well.

Since some apps, videos, and other features won't rotate upside down, this isn't a perfect solution.

However, if your main priority is portability, than this sweet little speaker is a decent price for what you're getting.

Now let's take a look at the third Kindle Fire speaker I bought.

Philips Bluetooth Portable Speaker

After my previous purchases and being disappointed with the low sound volume and frustrated with the short cable, I determined that my next speaker for my Kindle Fire would be bigger and wireless.

Unlike the research I did before, my next purchase was an impulsive buy. Amazon was offering the Philips Bluetooth Portable Speaker on "sale" so I jumped like a moth to the flame, but now I doubt it was really a sale since what I paid is almost the same as what it currently costs on Amazon (around $50).

Anyway, I bought this Kindle Fire speaker and decided to test it out.

Let's talk about the external specs first. This speaker is a little over 7" is length, here's a photo of it next to a ball-point pen:

The top has a play/pause and volume - & +, as well as a power OFF or ON switch. Here, let me show you:

When plugged in to charge, there's a red light that turns on at the top left of the front part. When it's fully charged the light goes off.

I'm not going to show a picture of this, you'll just have to trust me, ;) but you get the idea.

Okay, here's the back with an MP3-Link port (which I've never used) and the port for the charging cable:

Fine, but what about connection and sound quality?

Well, it was EASY to connect to my Kindle Fire, just make sure you turn on your tablet's bluetooth and then turn the speaker on. When on, a little blue light turns on in the front at the top right of this speaker.

Once connected to your device it makes a little beep to let you know it's working, which is a nice little perk.

What About the SOUND?

As for the sound quality, it is SO MUCH better than the little portable speakers, which it better be since it's bigger and more expensive. Now I can finally hear my Kindle Fire while running on my treadmill or taking a trip in the car!

Of course, the sound started to distort when you really pump up the volume, but that's to be expected since this isn't a full-out stereo system.

Although this speaker is larger and takes up more space when packing and using, it's worth it to me to have a wireless connection and a nice, loud sound.

Love My Fire Video: Speaker Volume!

How about I let you be the judge? I've recorded a video comparing the basic sound of my Kindle Fire while jogging on my treadmill vs the sound from this Philips bluetooth speaker!

If you've found this review of Kindle Fire speakers useful please let me know by posting a comment below!

Be sure to check out all the other accessories I've tested and written about to find those that you want to try yourself.

I ♥ My Fire!
-Christine