This particular writer is something of an audio freak. I've been a fan of music and radio since I was a kid, and today I've usually got at least one Bluetooth device nearby so my favorite podcasts, audio books and Spotify tracks are always within reach. One of the holes in my system, however, has been how to keep the listening going in the shower or at the beach, so I took an automatic interest in the Nyne Aqua.

The Aqua is rated IPX7, which means it can withstand being submersed in a meter of water (3.3 ft) for up to 30 minutes. To be clear, that doesn't mean that it will blast out your jams with crystal clear fidelity from the bottom of your hot tub, it just means that if you leave it at the bottom of the pool for half an hour, you probably won't destroy it.

We put it to the test in the shower at home where it happily took plenty of splashing, spilled shampoo and ugly drops in stride, filling the bathroom with great tunes and chatter the whole time.

To really up the ante, we also took it to Colorado's Pagosa Hot Springs on a frigid January day in the Rocky Mountains. The outdoor air temperatures were below freezing, but the hot springs pools we floated the Nyne Aqua in went up to 109º F (42º C), so it was facing some serious extremes simultaneously on its front and backsides.