There’s Y2K kitsch and then there’s this outrageously priced Bearbrick Bluetooth speaker
If you’re not familiar with Rinaro, allow me: the formidable Ukrainian acoustic engineering company is the engineering partner behind the excellent (and very expensive) Meze Audio Lyric, Elite, and Empyrean headphones. What you should know is that nothing this company makes should be considered a toy.
And if you’re too young to remember the 2001 launch of the collectible toy Bearbrick, the nine-piece posable toy bear that stole millions of hearts around the world in a variety of sizes and adorable iterations, then we can’t connect on any level. .
Jokes of course. Bearbrick (stylized BE@RBRICK), is as synonymous with Y2K fashion as glistening cyber-hungry teen faces, low-rise jeans and chunky platform shoes. Bearbrick was originally given away as a gift at World Character Convention 12 in Tokyo and is still produced by the Japanese firm that designed and launched the figurine, MediCom Toy.
So while it may seem like an odd collaboration, a collaboration between MediCom Toy and Rinaro happened – and it resulted in this high-quality Bearbrick Audio portable Bluetooth speaker.
This is Bearbrick’s first portable Bluetooth speaker in 400% size. To clarify, the standard size of a Bearbrick is 7cm tall and these highly collectible figures are referred to as 100% Bearbricks. Other Bearbricks are named after their size in relation to this: 50% Bearbricks are 4cm high, 70% are 5cm high, 400% are 28cm high and 1000% are 70cm high.
Opinion: It has expensive audio chops and Y2K appeal in the early 1990s – and I want it
It is no exaggeration to say that this is one of the most advanced Bearbricks ever. With over 20,000 hours of engineering time and 214 newly designed parts, the loudspeaker features QUAD’360, an omnidirectional sound technology developed exclusively by Rinaro for this collaboration. Essentially, the speaker has four custom acoustic drivers (a front-firing tweeter in each ear and two rear-firing woofers stacked one above the other) inside his head.
Controlling the Bluetooth 5 compatible speaker is made easy with a single button press to allow iOS or Android devices to pair. But keep in mind that this is “just” a Bluetooth speaker, not an AirPlay speaker with Wi-Fi or one of the best wireless speakers.
To further appeal to fans, the volume and track selection buttons are also located in the left and right hand – Bearbrick’s posable, posable nature is a big part of its enduring charm. Rotate the right hand to skip the track; turn the left hand to change the playback volume.
Available in three limited editions – Clear, Smoke and Black – the speaker offers up to six hours of portable listening plus a relatively fast 90-minute battery charge via USB-C. That battery is designed in such a way that it can also be easily replaced in the future, which is a wise choice given the price.
Two of them can be connected to create a stereo pair, but you’ll need significant disposable income; the Bearbrick 400% Bluetooth speaker officially drops November 2023, priced JPY70,000 / $499that’s about £389 or AU$750.
To save you the trouble of checking, that’s more expensive than the best Bluetooth speakers we’ve tested. On the other hand, I love the general vibe of this as much as I love the weird anthropomorphic GravaStar Mars Pro, which looks to all the world like it could glide over my cold, dead body after harvesting my vital organs.
Somehow Bearbrick is kinder though, right? Despite the gloomy colorways, the atmosphere is more cuddly than the ominous, Dalek-esque Wilson Audio Alexia V speaker towers, monolithic Monitor Audio clothespin sonic structures, Bang & Olufsen soundbars mimicking graceful sailing ships or Devialet’s Phantom setup.
What does Bearbrick think? Impossible to say; I’ve always liked that he (is Bearbick even tied to traditional gender stereotypes?) has no expression. Usually Bearbrick and I now both share a passion for high-end hi-fi and that can only be a good thing.