Since 2006 , Jawbone’s been making noise-canceling bluetooth headsets boasting modern design and military-grade sound. This is not one of those.

This is the Jawbone Jambox — a wireless bluetooth speaker — and it’s what happened when the company decided to let the music out.

Functionally it’s almost exactly the same as a Jawbone Icon , down to the pairing process, three-button controls and MyTALK upgradable software platform, but instead of a tiny mono earpiece you’re getting a stylish portable speakerphone with a 3.5mm input jack and some serious stereo potential.

We’ve had it playing for several hours now, and while it’s not going to be the life of a large party even at maximum volume, it pumps out a terribly impressive amount of clear, room-filling sound for its size.

You can't quite tell from this angle, but that stainless steel grill wraps around an airtight enclosure made of polycarbonate infused with glass, which houses a pair of full-range drivers and a microphone up front and a "moving-wall passive bass radiator" around back for some extra low-end goodness.

We're told this last was quite the innovation, which didn't impress us much until we were told what Jawbone put inside the radiator to ensure mass and rigidity: the unit's 800mAh lithium-ion battery. Speaking of juice, Jawbone tells us the unit's good for about eight hours of continuous playback at 75 percent volume.