ELAC NAVA100

Rather than celebrating 100 years on this planet by launching a modern reimagining of one of its earliest or most celebrated creations (as many hi-fi brands now do to mark such milestone anniversaries), ELAC’s latest launch firmly focuses on the here and now. The new NAVA100 is a portable Bluetooth speaker ‘designed for modern living’ and, for the first time ever, packages the German company’s renowned heritage sound into compact, battery-powered form.

The name ‘NAVA’ comes from both the Latin 'navis' (meaning ‘ship’) and Spanish/Italian 'nave' (meaning ‘boat’). It pays homage to the maritime roots of ELAC’s birthplace in Kiel, a city on Germany’s Baltic Sea coast that’s known for the Kiel Fjord and for its sailing culture. So it’s somewhat ironic that the NAVA100 isn’t waterproof. You may imagine a portable speaker as something to casually fling inside a bag to accompany you on a picnic or a day at the beach, or to sling over a tree branch during a camping trip - a speaker that’s almost certainly rugged and waterproof, probably cylindrical or spherical, and perhaps colourful too. But ELAC’s debut offering exists somewhere between that notional portable device and a wireless speaker designed for the home.

This utterly handsome cuboid block of black- or white-finished aluminium isn’t weatherproof - no IP rating is quoted by the company - and neither is it, at 1.4kg  particularly lightweight. It isn’t something you’ll feel comfortable tossing across a room, and its battery life (15 hours as an absolute maximum) is nowhere near as generous as many portable wireless speakers on the market. It is ‘music in motion’, to borrow ELAC’s tagline for the NAVA100 - but only as long as that motion happens in a dry, clean environment, and when you aren’t especially far from a plug socket. Yet for that environment, whether it’s to take your music from room to room or with you on a weekend away, this is one of the best-sounding, most appealing options I’ve come across at this price. 

SOUND QUALITY

In a nutshell, the NAVA100 sounds as sophisticated as it looks - rarely have I heard such clarity and composure from a speaker smaller than your average kid’s lunchbox. Trust me when I say the NAVA100 goes loud, and not just within the context of its diminutive dimensions - at half volume it will satisfy most eardrums and command modestly sized rooms. Naturally, you cannot expect a product of this size and price to fool you into believing you’re hearing music from two spaced-apart stereo speakers - but the NAVA100 does project very well into a room, and its spaciousness contributes to the speaker’s refusal to sound congested unless fed a poorly recorded track that sounds compressed in the first place.

You’re in luck if, like me, you listen to a lot of music where vocals take centre stage, as the ELAC excels in the midrange. There’s venom behind Eminem’s raps, his aggressive inflection and fragmented flow well communicated. The characteristic nasality and dynamic scale that give Nina Simone’s voice such emotional weight are present and correct, too.

There’s only so much dynamic punch a single 76mm full-range driver can deliver, even if its low-end presence is bolstered by  two passive radiators - but there’s a pleasing hint of dynamic ebb and flow in the NAVA100’s delivery, as well as a surprising quantity and quality of bass. Through the ELAC, basslines are controlled, precise and drive songs as intended, and at the other end of the frequency scale is a good sense of presence and bite too. This isn’t the rich, energetic sound many affordable portable speakers adopt - but its articulacy and maturity certainly stand out in what is a relatively immature part of the speaker market.

You can pair two NAVA100 in stereo so that one outputs the left channel and the other the right, and this ‘Dual Play’ operation works well – simply place them a sensible distance apart (1.2m metres produces a lovely stereo image) and press the ‘Bluetooth pairing’ button on both speakers. But we're now looking at ELAC Debut Connex desktop speaker money and, unless ‘easily manoeuvrable’ is a crucial part of the criteria, I know which of these two music systems I would deem the better value sound-per-pound proposition.

LIVING WITH THE ELAC NAVA100

It’s refreshing that ‘Dual Play’ pairing doesn’t require an app in a world where even an inherently rudimentary portable Bluetooth speaker often has one. Indeed, the NAVA100 is the simplest way to get decent sound that you don’t wear on your head. 

That ‘pairing’ button is one of five that occupy the top panel, but aside from those (and a USB-C charging socket on the rear), the curvy-cornered chassis is pretty bare. The main body is stylishly adorned by a finely speckled grille, as well as sleek accents that are copper-coloured on the black finish or silver on the white - the latter finish is the result of another collaboration between ELAC and Brooklyn-based fashion house Adsum. 

The sleek, sophisticated aesthetic and relative heft of the cool-to-the-touch aluminium chassis reassure not only regarding the quality of the NAVA100’s exterior but also of its internals. It’s a nicer thing to hold and look at than most of the competition.

The apparent compromise for such a beautiful-looking, high-performing speaker is that the NAVA100 doesn't take portability and practicality to the extremes as many others on the market. Its 1.4kg weight is significant, and battery life that can dip as low as six hours from a single charge (if you’re really going for it where volume is concerned) is way below the 20-plus hours offered by similarly priced rivals. ELAC claims up to 15 hours of playtime at 25 percent volume (which is probably too quiet). Both of these figures more-or-less tally with my findings - in my test, five hours of playback at 50/75 percent volume drains 60 percent of the speaker’s battery power. It takes just under two hours to charge fully.

CONCLUSION

It’s hard to believe that it’s taken 100 years for ELAC to produce a portable speaker - other equally venerable hi-fi brands infiltrated the lifestyle market with affordable offerings years ago. But for the right customer, its entry is worthwhile. While the NAVA100 may not be the most practical product of its type for taking tunes on your travels, it is among the most sonically and aesthetically appealing. It’s miniature hi-fi dressed up as a portable speaker, ELAC sound in flexible form.

LISTENING NOTES

Nina Simone Strange Fruit
As raw a vocal track as The High Priestess of Soul ever laid down, and the ELAC dutifully communicates the sorrow that drips from her delivery in this devastating protest song. It projects surprisingly powerfully into the room while giving due attention to the accompanying piano.

‍Eminem The Way I Am
Another midrange masterclass from the NAVA100, this time in tracking the rapid-fire cadence of Eminem’s rapping while getting under his tonal aggression. The piano-laced beat dances around it with a purpose that’s often downplayed through lesser equipment, and the track is nicely anchored by the ominous bassline, too.

‍Billie Eilish Oxytocin 
You can’t expect a speaker of such humble proportions to dig deep enough to do justice to a bassline this heavy - but the ELAC still carries its intent, and also that of the screeching synths it underpins, to convey the techno track’s industrial feel.

You buy the ELAC NAVA100 because you want a gorgeous-looking and -sounding speaker you can easily move around the house and, for certain situations, outside of it. Those who want on-the-go music for beach days or the poolside may be better served by a more traditionally hardy, waterproof portable speaker, such as the excellent Ultimate Ears Everboom or Sony ULT Field 5, but don’t expect as mature or room-filling an audio performance as the ELAC delivers.

Any audio source with Bluetooth connectivity, whether that be a smartphone, tablet or music player (such as the FiiO M23), can send music wirelessly to the NAVA100. The USB-C socket is purely for charging; you cannot play music to the speaker via a cable.