Harman Kardon is one of those brands with "stop and stare" credentials.

By that I mean pretty much every H/K device I've come across has made me do a double-take - and that's before I've even turned it on.

These things are works of art. They may not be to your personal taste but at least they make an aesthetic statement.

Then you DO turn it on and wow... Every time. Just wow.

So, looks astounding. Sounds incredible. What more do you need?

Well... nothing - if the latest Harman Kardon is anything to go by.

The Go + Play 3 is a further refinement of an excellent speaker that first launched way back in 2009. Originally, it was designed as an iPod dock, had its own remote control which was stored in a pop-out compartment and was powered by, wait for it, eight D-size batteries.

Oh, if you don't know what an iPod was, ask your parents.

Now, sixteen years on, certain features have been upgraded quite dramatically. Others, not so much.

The general shape of the Go + Play 3 still resembles a bowling bag, with its tapered, oval shape and distinctive brushed aluminium handle. It looks sleek and streamlined but even without eight D-size batteries in it, it's still quite heavy, weighing in at almost 5kg.

As you would expect, the Go + Play 3 is now powered by a 25.92Wh rechargeable cell that will provide around 8 hours playback on a full charge. Otherwise you can leave it plugged into the mains via the standard figure-8 power cable included in the box.

That cable plugs into a panel around the back where you'll also find a USB-C slot for charging connected devices and an AUX input if you've prefer a hard-wired connection over a bluetooth one.

Pairing via bluetooth is incredibly straightforward... and this is where things start feeling decidedly retro. No app is required to set up the Go + Play 3 - in fact, there isn't a companion app at all. A simple press of the bluetooth button on the tempered glass control panel puts the speaker into pairing mode, then you just select it from the list of available devices in your bluetooth settings menu.

No app means no firmware updates, no EQ options (either preset or customised) and no ability to add the Go + Play 3 to a group of speakers.

You can connect with another Go + Play 3 to create a stereo pair by double-pressing the bluetooth button, but there's no way to connect with any other kind of speaker. This seems weird to me when Harman Kardon's sister brand, JBL, seems to be including an Auracast button on every new device these days, allowing wireless connectivity between all shapes and sizes of speaker.

This app-less configuration seems to fly in the face of pretty much every other device out there by contemporary standards and obviously, with no Wi-Fi connectivity you can't use the Go + Play 3 with smart home assistants like Alexa, Gemini or Siri.

Although...

If you can control your source device with a virtual assistant, there's a workaround. Likewise, you can probably tweak the EQ in your phone, tablet or computer - although pre-mixing audio before it gets to the speaker is an unusual way of going about it.

Not that I've felt the need to do that. I've found the way Harman Kardon's audio boffins have tuned the Go + Play 3 is perfect as it is.

You get a 160W of pristine power from two mid-range transducers, a couple of tweeters, a passive front-facing radiator and a mighty, downward-firing, 5-inch subwoofer.

"Never There" by Cake is potentially a challenging song for a portable speaker that packs the bass punch the Go + Play 3 does. The stop-and-start nature of the bass line is matched on the drums and I could imagine it being left somewhat exposed to distortion and rattle on an inferior speaker. However, the Go + Play 3 is a superior product and as such, when the bass and kick drum stop, so does everything, giving extra punch to Cake's quirky track.

Air's trippy instrumental, "La femme d'argent" sounds so organic through this speaker. In the foreground, the jazzy keyboard riffs bubble over the steady bongo/bass backing like a meandering mountain stream. Meanwhile, more ethereal string and synth sounds fill out the background and the Go + Play creates a space for every sonic ingredient, positioning them perfectly.

H/K says by using its dual built-in far-field mic array, the Go + Play 3 senses its surroundings and automatically adjusts to create the most room-filling mix possible. This claim seems to hold up. I tested the speaker in different rooms, different spots in those rooms and I placed it on different surfaces. Whether it sat on a table, a shelf, even carpeted or hardwood floors, the result was essentially the same; fabulous, crystal clear sound over a wide range of frequencies with booming-yet-accurate bass response.

And so you see, although this speaker has very few high-tech addons, I'm not really missing any of them. I haven't felt the need to meddle with any EQ settings, which is lucky, as there aren't any. Sure, it would be nice to be able to summon Alexa or Siri with a spoken command but let's be frank, even now those virtual assistants don't always get the message, which can be a frustration in itself.

There IS a phone button on the control panel which means you can take handsfree calls through the Go + Play 3 and your connected phone, which is potentially useful if your phone is what you were already streaming from.

The one thing I'd like to be able to do and can't is pairing with other speakers. I don't have another NZ$400 for a second Go + Play 3 but I do have several other devices that could provide decent multi-room coverage if only there was Auracast or similar interconnectivity on offer.

That's my only major gripe though, because this yet another fantastic-sounding Harman Kardon speaker. And personally, I think it looks pretty funky too.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Harman Kardon Go + Play 3.