Turcom unveils their new rugged portable speaker, the Titan

We are at it again with another Bluetooth speaker review and this time around we have a smaller, more portable audio device with Turcom’s TS-455 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker. This little speaker come equipped with two speakers packing 5 watts of power each and wrapped in and smooth looking Aluminum casing. Along with the sleek design, this speaker is not built to be babied as it is rated at IPX5 standards so it water resistant to boot. In terms of the other technical internal specs, we have a Bluetooth 4.0 chip and 1800 mAh battery to allow 12 hours of playback between charges. Sounds good on paper, so lets see how it performs out of the box. 

 

For starters, this little speaker looks smooth and aluminum shell is a great complement to the MacBook while being slim enough to fit in my laptop bag without excessive bulk. The battery life is also surprising as most of the compact, or even the larger speakers I have reviewed, do not come with lengthy 12 hours standby. What good is the long battery life if you are like myself and forget to turn off before stowing away, well Turcom thought of this as well by including an auto-sleep function. In terms of the sound, it was not great, but it was not bad either as it was just enough to fill a room with clear sound with good highs but the mid and low range were nothing to write home about. 

 

Is this a bad thing, not at all when you see how slim and compact the durable aluminum wrapped speaker is. The internals and features are also some of the speaker’s stand out features over other portable wireless speakers in it’s class. The incorporation of the Bluetooth 4.0 chip allows this speaker to sync up with any Bluetooth compatible device such as computer, tablet, or phone. Now for the price tag, Turcom has the speaker priced at $55.99 which is a fitting price for it, but at the time of this review, the speaker was marked down to $37.99, which is great price point for this little beast. 

Be on the look out for: Onbeat-200

I little bird has made me aware that Christmas has come early amidst the flurry of CES announcements. Divoom has sent us out their Bluetooth speaker, the Onbeat-200. Different from Divoom’s previous speakers, the Onbeat-200 sports not one, but two speakers. The device comes in at a portable 6 inches and of course a passive bass radiator is included in the design for that added depth topped with onboard controls and built in microphone. In the spirit of other Divoom portable audio speakers, the Onbeat-200 comes sporting their common assortment of color and an aggressive low price of $79.90.

In the following week we will see how it compares and if it deserves a spot on Santa’s nice list.

Musemini lets MashButtons play with their DBoom

It’s another Bluetooth speaker review and this speaker comes from musemini and ambitiously titled DBoom. Packed inside this boombox is Bluetooth 3.0 and NFC technology, built in noise canceling microphone, on board controls if your phone isn’t nearby, and six watts through two speakers with passive subwoofers.  This little speaker was also designed for skins so that you can personalize with photo’s or representing your favorite team by including a free voucher for up to a $20 value from their exclusive “skin” partner. Let’s see if musmini’s wireless speaker lives up to it’s name.

To start, the DBoom looks great, with the glossy front and the “shattered” looking speaker grill. It was a bit odd to me that the speakers faced upwards, but the down firing passive woofers are pretty common and the rubber feet do not slip on any surfaces. The sound quality is very clear at any volume even when giving it all you have got. I liked the front facing controls as I was able to play, pause, and change the track from the front making it easy to change tracks without having to access my phone. You are able to daisy chain the speakers and it is easy to do for additional sound in larger areas, but I was not a fan as it takes away from listening without the hassle of wires.
With a number of bluetooth speakers now providing the ability to charge from the speaker, the DBoom does not offer that feature. The name DBoom was also a touch optimistic as in terms of what this speaker provides in bass is pretty low in comparison to most portable speakers reviewed, but if bass isn’t an issue the highs and mids make up for the shallow depth. The only other item I was not sure of were the controls, as you have to access your phone if you want to turn it up or down. I have seen a number of speakers successfully use the pause/answer/track controls into one button and then the other two that are labeled by “+” and “-” signs adjust the volume. 

After a solid week of use and numerous playlists, I enjoyed my time spent with the DBoom. It was slightly larger than I was expecting as some are so small they look like toys and stick, but the DBoom is pretty loud at 95 decibels from two feet away so filling a room with sound is no problem. Also, unlike most, the DBoom uses a removable 2600mAh battery, so if you know you will be without charge and are unable to go without music, just take a couple full batteries with you to swap and go.  Musemini’s DBoom is available now in five colors at the price of $129.99.

Use the coupon code mashbuttons15 when ordering and save 15% off your order.

Zooka is Carbon Audio's stand and wireless speaker

This next Bluetooth speaker review comes from Carbon Audio in the form of the Zooka for the iPad. What makes the Zooka special is it’s unique design, as not only does it offer wireless playback but it also includes a kickstand and grips to the side of the iPad making for a nice fit while holding the tablet. This speaker is built with a silicone design for a safe, fingerprint free, comfortable grip while on the iPad. On the opposite side from the grip lies the microphone and controls which consist of power, track, volume and sync buttons. It's time to see how this Bluetooth speaker holds up to wireless speakers past.

This is a sleek little speaker, compact and easy to carry around with me in my laptop bag and the kickstand just adds to the numerous ways in which this speaker works well with apple devices. One of my favorite ways to use was placing along the side of the iPad to make the tablet easier to hold while reading for long periods of time. When the Zooka was not holding my iPad upright, it was placed on the top of my MacBook Pro and with the cutout for the iDevices home button it did not cover the front facing camera, making for great conference calls with the microphone and louder speakers. You can tell when the buttons are pressed as they click when pressed, which I hugely prefer; mainly because most wireless speakers use touch sensors making it hard to tell if the input was recognized.

On the other hand, the sound quality was less than what I was expecting, it does not improve the quality per se, but more along the lines of increasing the volume output of what your tablet or laptop is currently capable of. The only other issue I had was with the build quality, the reason to call this out was that the silicone wrap did not line up right, slightly covering the already small charging port. Downfalls aside, Carbon Audio’s Zooka is incredibly versatile, with a handful of devices in which it is capable of grabbing hold of and the additional volume it provides without need of a cable making this a portable speaker a great buy with the price tag of $99.99.