This is my quick review of the Tibo Kameleon 6 in time for Christmas, it is a very smart bit of kit I have to say

Kameleon Range

This is my quick review of the Tibo Kameleon 6 in time for Christmas, it is a very smart bit of kit I have to say.  The Tibo Kameleon 6 is the largest in the range of multi room speakers that are WiFi and Bluetooth streaming compatible. The range includes a smaller Kameleon 4 and a baby Kameleon touch that is Amazon Alexa compatible.

Design

Tibo Kameleon 6 speaker has a 1 x 5 1/4” drive unit and a twin rear tuned port for controlled tight bass and a 2 x 1” silk dome tweeter for natural high frequency response.   All this is delivered with 60 watts of RMS power supplied by a class D Amp 4 ohms, with a frequency range at 100Hz-20KHz.

The Tibo Kameleon 6 has WiFi control and it is a very intuitive.  There is a free App for Android and iOS.  It is also Bluetooth compatible and comes with a 3.5mm line-in for connecting other devices.  One of the really nice features of the App/product interface are the 5 programmable presets, which mean you can walk in and just hit the power button, choose a preset button and the 6 connects to the WiFi and will start playing without fussing around with a phone, almost like a radio!

Kameleon Side Panels

The Tibo Kameleon 6 comes with 3 sets of interchangeable side panels, that simply stick to the sides magnetically.  This is actually a really nice touch, the colours are white, dark grey and walnut, for matching your home décor.

There is, rather usefully a USB charging port at the back as well, to make sure your phone stays topped up.

Quality

The build quality here is very good.  The unit is reassuringly heavy, with 2 bass ports at the back.  It all feels rather reassuring, the touch screen console on top is very aethetic.  The fabric mesh cover overall is thus far ‘flex free’.  There are rubber feet on the base to hold the unit in place on slidy surfaces.

Tibo Sphere 2

I’ve also got here a Tibo Sphere 2, in red.  This is a portable, smaller version of the Kameleon, with a claimed 8 hour battery life, it has the same WiFi and Bluetooth features.  The Sphere 2 is chunky, heavy, well built and has a leather carry handle which is just the part.  I’m very impressed with this box; its portability and sound are the key features for me.

Setting-Up the Tibo Kameleon 6

Set-Up is pretty simple for WiFi and Bluetooth.   Bluetooth is the usual, switch on, put it in Bluetooth mode then scan from your phone to connect.  WiFi mode is similar.   The App searches straight away for a new device.  It asks you to connect the device by hitting the WPS (WiFi Protected Set-up) button at the back and boom, you’re in.  Login to Tidal in the App and you’re away with Favourites, etc. The Tibo Kameleon 6 has Spotify Connect built in too.  I’ve had perfect connectivity and stability in the last couple of weeks

Performance

One could put quite a strong case together that, based on the couple of weeks I’ve had to play with these devices, we are in Sonos busting territory here

One could put quite a strong case together that, based on the couple of weeks I’ve had to play with these devices, we are in Sonos busting territory here.  The Kameleon 6 is certainly very competitively priced to the Sonos 5 (£299 v £499), the quality is all here physically and from an audio perspective.   The Kameleon touch looks great and I would be confident it would sound great too based on these devices here.

Presets

5 Presets, touch-screen

The Tibo Kameleon 6 has 5 presets on the top of the device and in the App.  If you set one or two of these to a radio station you can literally just turn the Kameleon 6 on, hit a preset and you’re away.  I’ve got 6 Music and Radio 5 Sports Exrtra for the Ashes at the moment and it is great stuff.

Additionally I have set the other presets to Tidal Playlists either of my own making or albums on Tidal.  So, if I hit 3, I get Radiohead’s ‘OKNOTOK’ streamed straight in, brilliant.

WiFi mode

WiFi Mode facilitates the Tidal and Spotify (via Connect) streaming as well as TuneIn Radio, Napster is there too but here’s no sign of Deezer or Qobuz in the App but I guess you could just Bluetooth those in from the relevant App.

WiFi Mode also supports playing files from your phone and saves you setting up Bluetooth, I suppose

Tidal, Sound Quality

I am bound to say the Tibo Kameleon 6 sound pretty good to me, there’s bags of power here, low end thump and the detail is really impressive if you care to listen closely.  I’m no Sonos expert but this is working nicely for me with a dominant sound here in my office that is very controllable indeed.  Sonos has always felt over-priced to me  and Tibo may have cracked this one and the sound quality and flexibility puts it in the right place.

Spotify Connect

I’ve a small play with this, Spotify Connect works nicely and the sound is really good.  No complaints at all with connecting or maintaining a signal.  Similarly the 3.5mm jack works well with a traditional iPod or with my phone.

Bluetooth 4.0

Bluetooth also is really good, bright and delivers a good sound, again I’ve had bother with connectivity.  The early dull effect of Bluetooth seems to have been cracked in recent times and the aptX codec is performing well here.

Overall

Based on my, albeit limited, exposure to Sonos, this Kameleon 6 feels like a box you could hang a multi room music solution around in your house, with no loss of fidelity or quality but at a fraction of the price you pay for the Sonos brand.

The Tibo Kameleon 6 is retailing near £300.  The Sphere 2, that I have also been enjoying, is retailing near £189.  Both are available on Amazon UK.  More info from Tibo here.