CMF Speaker S unboxing and hands-on

Portable Bluetooth speakers are among the most diverse product groups nowadays. They come in all shapes and sizes, materials, colors, and pack different features. But CMF makes possibly the most interesting of them all. Meet the CMF Speaker S, a compact Bluetooth speaker that's just €69 and well worth it. Let's talk about it. First, though, here's an actual look at it over at our TikTok channel.

There's not going to be a true unboxing of the CMF Speaker S. You only get the speaker in a simple box. There are no accessories to go along with it.

As the name suggests, this is CMF's small speaker. There's also the €114 CMF Speaker M, which packs twice the power.

The Speaker S delivers 10W of sound through a 45mm driver with a 70Hz to 20kHz range. It has two passive radiators on either side to simulate bass.

CMF openly acknowledges that the Speaker S is inspired by a milk carton (which some of our keenly eyed editors noticed as well). You can get the speaker in four colors - White, Red, Black, and Cyan- and each gets a custom rotating knob on it. The White and Red have a lever-style rotary knob, while the Red and Cyan models have an X-shaped and ring-shaped knob, respectively.

The CMF Speaker S has a modular design - unclip the lock button on the back, and you can exchange the knob (or the entire front) between speakers. Of course, this would only be useful if you have two or more speakers, as CMF doesn't sell only the front plastic cover nor the knob.

The knob is smart. It's becoming somewhat of a CMF tradition to have a rotating control that does multiple things. In this case, it controls volume, but press it, and it controls playback; press again, and it controls track navigation. It's the kind of diversity a product like a Bluetooth speaker needs to feel fun and engaging.

Let's talk sound. At 10W, this speaker has plenty of volume. I'd characterize its soundstage as clear and midrange-focused. There's solid vocal presence and a clear emphasis on instruments. However, there isn't enough bass. That's perfectly acceptable to many people who aren't bass-obsessed, but there's no denying that some low end is needed to make music feel alive and tactile, and there's simply not enough of it here (even with Ultra Bass enabled, which simply detracts from the rest of the sound quality).

It's not a deal breaker, but it is something you need to have in mind if you're looking at this speaker. Still, we'd argue that no compact speaker has good bass anyway; that's not a main focus on such a device.

On a more positive note, the CMF Speaker S does offer bigger sound than you'd expect from its small form factor. There's also the undeniable coolness factor. Add to that full dust and immersion resistance thanks to IP68, and the CMF Speaker S looks great.

You can get the CMF Speaker S directly from CMF in Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and North America.