“An enormous cityscape of stackable guava-colored boxes” — I compared a dozen $10 IKEA speakers to one $120 JBL speaker to see whether sheer numbers are a substitute for better sound engineering

The JBL Flip 7 standing on its end surrounded by piles of pink IKEA Kallsup speakers.

It’s hard to know which factor drew more surprise on the announcement of the IKEA Kallsup. Was it the fact that this Bluetooth speaker was priced at a seriously cheap price of just $10? Or was it the fact that you could link up to 99 of them to form an enormous cityscape of stackable guava-colored noise boxes?

When I tested the Kallsup for the first time, it was the ludicrously low cost and its networked features that drew my attention most, which is why I described it at the time as ‘fun, flexible and affordable’. While its sound quality wasn't exactly top tier, that impressive connectivity certainly piqued my curiosity.