Review: The Ikarao Shell S1 is almost the perfect portable karaoke speaker

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Karaoke has been performed using the standard microphone and portable speakers for many years, and we get by just fine. But Take ita karaoke speaker company, has decided to take karaoke to the next level. They use technology that has been available to us for years, but for some reason has never been properly implemented into karaoke speakers, to make them more practical and fun. Until now. Their newest flagship product, the Shell S1 Karaokeis their most affordable karaoke speaker with a touchscreen tablet, two Bluetooth microphones and powerful sound for a small portable speaker.

Ikarao sent me his speaker to review. After countless hours of karaoke, I can recommend this to anyone looking for a portable karaoke speaker. There isn’t much competition on the market for this type of device, but the Shell S1 is still a solid product that surpasses its own speaker catalog.

Advantages, disadvantages and specifications of the Shell S1 karaoke speaker

Advantages

• Features a 10.1-inch touchscreen tablet

• Compact and portable karaoke machine

• Powerful 104dB stereo speaker with optional bass boost

• Included are two wireless microphones with a rechargeable battery life of 20 hours

• Can be connected to a TV with an HDMI cable

• Can play and load at the same time

• The integrated Karafun app gets the most out of the speaker.

• Integrated Spotify app

Disadvantages

• No easy way to cast screen to TV

• No built-in YouTube app

• There is no way to fully adjust the EQ

Specifications

• Battery life: Up to nine hours with screen on and 12 hours with screen off

• Connectivity: USB, AUX In/Out, HDMI, WLAN, OTG and Bluetooth V5.4

• Inputs: AUX input, microphone input, USB input

• app: No

• driver: Equipped with two 15W 3.5″ woofers and two 10W 1″ tweeters, covering a frequency range of 50Hz – 18kHz

• Power output: Peak power of 280W and a maximum sound level of 104dB

• Water resistance: No

• Size: 13.9 inches x 6.9 inches x 6.7 inches (L × W × H)

• Weight: 11.7 pounds

First impressions of the Shell S1 karaoke speaker

My expectations for this review were a bit low, especially since I had never heard of Ikarao before. But I was happily surprised. The Shell S1 is a portable one-stop shop for everything you need for a karaoke session. This makes it easy to pick up and take to a friend’s house or around the house. But as I’ll explain, it’s not perfect.

I was blown away by how loud this speaker can be – 104 dB to be exact. That’s loud enough to fill most living rooms. There’s also a bass boost button on the front (along with volume controls, power, Bluetooth, and a local play button for switching the input source) that boosts the bass significantly. I was able to play music on my surround sound system and sing over it using just the S1’s microphone (this is useful if you have a surround sound system that you want to use with the speaker).

Although the speaker is portable, it’s quite heavy for its size (nearly 12 pounds), which makes sense – you’re combining two microphones, a tablet, and a stereo speaker in one product. Ikarao features a shoulder strap to make carrying the S1 easier.

The two Bluetooth microphones are cleverly hidden inside the speaker when you lift the screen, and they automatically charge when stored (just like earbud charging cases). They have a range of about 32 feet and the batteries last 20 hours. They also have handy volume controls, a power button that also lets you switch between microphone effects (including some fun ones), and a button that lets you control the media so you can play, pause, or skip to the next song in the queue (the microphones essentially double as remote controls. I was also surprised at how little feedback I got when I turned up the volume and approached the speaker. I had to really work hard to get any. Overall was the microphone experience excellent.

All inputs and outputs of the interface are located on the back of the speaker. There is another option for a third wired microphone with a 3.5mm input, an AUX input, USB On-The-Go (OTG), a USB port, an HDMI port so you can connect the tablet to a Can connect to TVs, a Type-C power input for charging and an AUX output for connecting to other speakers.

Now let’s get to the fun stuff.

Features of the Shell S1 Karaoke Speaker

The Shell S1’s touchscreen is an Android tablet, but it lacks the ability to download apps, meaning I’m sticking with the box (unless Ikarao decides to do OTA updates in the future). There’s also no way to fully adjust the EQ, but to be honest it sounds great out of the box.

The Shell S1 has an HDMI output that I was able to quickly and easily connect to my TV. However, I have a surround sound system in my living room that doesn’t have an AUX port, meaning I only had to play music through the Shell S1 speaker. If the Shell S1 had the ability to cast its screen to a smart TV, it would not only make it easier to project onto a larger screen for larger groups, but it would also allow those with surround sound systems to use them for karaoke to use. While Ikarao does offer the ability to stream to a smart TV using a third-party app downloaded into the speaker, the experience was confusing and I can’t imagine anyone at a party (especially after one or two Drinks) would manage to figure it out. A swing and a miss from Ikarao.

Although the first thing you might see when you open the screen is YouTube, don’t get too excited. It’s not the YouTube app; It’s just a direct link to YouTube via a Firefox browser. If you ask me, this is one gigantic Ball dropped by Ikarao. Karaoke is primarily done through YouTube, where you can find virtually any song imaginable in a karaoke version for free. The web version of YouTube via Firefox with a 10-inch touchscreen is clunky and slow, to say the least. (If you’re wondering: Yes, that means you can do everything with the browser that you can do with an Android tablet.)

Instead of focusing his efforts on YouTube, Ikarao decided to integrate the Spotify app. This is cool if you are a smart portable speaker. But this is supposed to be a karaoke speaker and Spotify is not karaoke friendly. Sure, you can do it by singing along to the lyrics or randomly finding a real karaoke version of your favorite song, but good luck reading the lyrics.

You can also play music via local USB drives. Not as exciting as the other options, but very welcome if you’re in a place where there’s no WiFi or you just have obscure music tastes.

Of course, you can also connect your phone directly to the speaker via Bluetooth, but then there’s no way to hear the lyrics, which defeats the purpose of the karaoke machine. So what good option is left?

I saved the best for last.

The KaraFun app

Take it has teamed up with KaraFuna well thought out karaoke app that starts at $9.99 per month. This could explain why Ikarao decided not to include YouTube on its speaker, and if that’s the reason, it’s frustrating. While Ikarao offers a six-month subscription to KaraFun with your purchase, why not add the YouTube app too?

Frustration aside, KaraFun utilizes the speaker’s full potential. It’s a more seamless experience than using YouTube for karaoke, with a huge catalog of karaoke songs, a queue feature, the ability to join sessions from any phone and add songs by simply scanning an on-screen QR code, and a fun feature that allows you to take photos and send them via email at the end of your session. However, if you’re not willing to add another monthly subscription to your budget, you’ll have to settle for the other options.

Conclusion

The Shell S1 smart karaoke speaker is impressive and unique. It is very Almost the perfect portable karaoke speaker, although it still has the potential to get there if Ikarao decides to add the YouTube app with an update. If this app also lets you cast YouTube to a TV, karaoke bars could go out of business. But for now, the physical HDMI cable will have to suffice.

Unfortunately, the best way to realize the Shell S1’s full potential is with the KaraFun app, which starts at $9.99 per month. But if you don’t mind that, the partnership works very well. The speaker is powerful for its size, the bass enhancement is strong and the quality of the music does not decrease even at high volumes. The two Bluetooth microphones are high quality, they control the media, have a long battery life, charge automatically when stored and have very little feedback. The touchscreen tablet looks great, making it a true all-in-one karaoke machine.

The speaker is very portable and has everything you need for karaoke right out of the box. With the ability to play and charge, the party never stops as long as there’s a power outlet nearby. At around $300 to $350, this is a top-notch portable karaoke machine.