Monoprice’s Harmony Capsule 200 is a decent-not-great portable speaker (but has great battery life)

By Dustin Darnell

The Monoprice Harmony Capsule 200 Portable Bluetooth Speaker is, overall, a decent speaker. The sound is mostly good, but there is some quiet static at all volumes. 

There are some programming improvements that would be nice. Each time the speaker is powered on, the volume is set to medium rather than using the volume of the device that is connecting to the speaker.  If you are in a quiet place, the speaker will be very loud when powered on.  Initially, volume cannot be adjusted with your phone and must be adjusted with the speaker buttons. 

There is virtually no tactile response from the buttons, which makes it difficult to know if you have pressed the buttons or not. With some functions requiring a double press, this makes some of the functions a bit difficult. One of the functions is changing audio modes. There are three different audio modes, but there is almost no discernable difference between them.

 However, the battery life is great. It is advertised as 8 hours, but it seems closer to 20. It has very small feet so this can be used upright or on its side without rolling.

Also, the speaker is on sale now for US$36.99. That’s down from the regular price of $69.99. Here are the speaker’s specs, per Monoprice:

• Large dual 52mm and single 66mm speaker drivers
• EQ tuned for high quality, high volume playback
• Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity with Qualcomm® TrueWireless™ Stereo
• IPx7 all weather certified
• Large Lithium‑ion rechargeable battery for all day playback
• Microphone for voice assistant phone control (Siri/Celia)
• Auxiliary and microSD card inputs for additional audio sources
• USB‑C charging input

Apple World Today Rating (out of 5 stars): ★★★