sounds to me like you weren't aware of what a one pi is beforehand- it does have a rolloff in the bass as you describe, and it is a small, very inexpensive speaker that performs extremely well for what it is. I'm not sure "thud" has a place in a good speaker... what kind of music do you listen to? how loud? I would take what the musician friend said as a major compliment to a speaker.Maybe you need to move up to a Pi Four or three with the 12LF to satisfy your needs...or maybe the 2 Tower or a double driver Pi One would do it...personally, I wish you'd try them all and report back so we can all learn!!