One of the hottest selling consumer electronics gadgets now
aside from mobile devices are bluetooth speakers. There are so many of them in
the market that it is really difficult to choose the best one. Last year, I
posted a review of the Divoom Bluetune Pop which was a great little speaker. It
served its purpose of getting better sound from my tablet and phone. This time
however, I need something with a little more “Oomph!” I needed to search for a
bigger set of portable speakers for less than $100 or Php 4,000. Obviously,
that meant leaving out my favorite Bose Soundlink mini which is about $200. I
was able to narrow down my list between the Braven 440 and the Logitech UE
Mobile Boombox. Both were about Php 3,700 – 4,500 in Greenhills and sound very
similar. The Braven did have more features like being water resistant and the
ability to use it as a powerbank. However, while I was looking around, I found
the Logitech Mini Boombox for Php2,700 which is the older model UE Mobile
Boombox before Logitech acquired UE. I figured that since I won’t be using it
everyday, I decided to get the Logitech Mini Boombox and save some cash. Let’s
see if I made the right choice.
Design and Use
First of all, all three speakers have almost the same size
and shape. The Braven and the UE have a more rugged look while the Mini Boombox
has a more subtle design with nice looking backlit capacitive touch buttons.
Personally, it looks like something you would like to display on your desk.
While the other two would look more suited for use at the beach or somewhere
outdoors. All three have speaker phone
functionality and have about 10-12 hours of playtime. I was able to test mine
for about 11 hours and it still had some charge left. Bluetooth pairing was fast and simple, although you have to hold down the bluetooth button on the speaker for 4 secs. when pairing to a new device.
Sound Quality and Verdict
This is where it gets tricky. Sound quality is very
subjective and to be honest, if you put all three side-by-side and play your
tunes at the highest volume, then the Braven 440 and UE actually sound better.
I noticed that they had less distortion at max volume and better handling of
the higher range. However, I don’t usually play at full volume. In fact, I
normally just keep my volume levels at a comfortable 50-80%. At that range the
Mini Boombox sounds better and louder with a richer base at least to my ears. I
would suggest if you are someone who uses a Bluetooth speaker everyday, then
perhaps spending more for the feature-rich Braven 440 might be better buy. But
for the occasional user like me, you can save 1000 bucks and get Logitech Mini
Boombox as it still sounds really good.
The Good:
- - Loud sound with good base
- - Price
- -Backlit touch controls
The Bad:
-
- Older model
- - Case not included
- -Mini instead of the usual mico UBS charging
-Need to press bluetooth button for 4 secs when pairing a new device
- -Distorts at max volume
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