Music can be an essential, daily necessity for us and anyone who’s anyone enjoys listening to it when going from A to B. However sometimes the case may be that once arrived at location B, music is essential there too, but this time it must be heard communally and not antisocially. Behold the portable speaker, a device that cuts in and offers a solution to having your music heard out loud disregarding whether the people around you like what you have on offer. With a large array of portable speakers available, it can be difficult to find one that posses a certain degree of durability (for heights and outdoor terrain), portability (is it easy to carry around) and of course it needs to have an impressive audio output. To save you rummaging through the net and purchasing one you may later regret, the gang over at Sandberg have given me their latest portable audio product and I have to say it ticks everyone of those boxes.
The Pocket Bluetooth Speaker Pro is the latest portable audio offering from the team at Sandberg, who were also generous enough to send me the nifty credit card Powerbank. Connecting wirelessly to any Bluetooth device whether it be mobile phone or tablet, the Speaker Pro promises to provide impressive audio performance and an easy hands-free alternative to answering calls. With easy to access functions such as next/previous track, play/pause etc, the speaker also works as a handy remote control for your device. Spanning only 20cm in length, the Speaker Pro appears to work well as a handy travel sized audio device, but do all of its impressive specifications fall on deaf ears?
Upon opening the box I was immediately impressed with the speakers look and feel. The Speaker Pro may be nowhere near as compact or tiny as others on the market, (or others I’ve reviewed for that matter), but the added weight does provide a confident level of durability. The Pocket Speaker Pro may not literally fit in one’s pocket, but its simple rectangular shape makes it easy to store in any bag or suitcase. The speaker’s rubber feet also add a degree of safety and quality that make me feel confident in placing the device on any available surface. It may be simple in its design but it’s sleek, tidy and easy to use, so much so that it would look perfect on any shelf in any room. Also dwelling inside the packaging is a Micro USB charging cable, which doubles up as cheeky spare charging cable for your phone, permitted it’s not an apple one. One sneaky addition which was a nice surprise was the inclusion of a 3.5mm jack to connect one’s iPod to the speaker, turning it into a wired speaker if your preferred device is one that sadly lacks Bluetooth. As for charging the speaker, it can take up to 3 hours to reach the battery’s full capacity, however the speaker’s battery can last 6 hours of continuous play, but if you’re like me and it’s only on for 30/60 minutes at a time, it’ll easily last for a week.
As for the Pro Speaker’s sound, for the most part it sounds clear, crisp and more than satisfactory, however be cautious if you’re listening to anything loud and/or basey as it doesn’t cope all that well. Being an avid heavy metal fan, all of my music tends to be loud and basey, and unfortunately I found the speaker to crackle and ultimately struggle to cope with anything that screamed too many decibels. For everything else however it worked like a dream, luckily the fiancée enjoys 90s dance and boy bands and I couldn’t complain about anything, apart from the music of course. What I’ve found within my collection of portable speakers is the volume levels/limits, where they only go as loud as the device it’s currently connected to, yet the Speaker Pro surpasses that and surprisingly I was able to crank up the volume far more than expected, which worked wonders outside where volume is often lost in the wind. The same cannot be said however for the sound quality if you are to use the Speaker Pro as a hands free alternative as you just can’t quite hear them. Up close in a quiet environment, the caller sounds clear, quiet but clear enough to understand what they are saying, however half way across the room or even just at arm’s length the sound quality quickly diminishes. On the other end of the call it’s just as difficult to speak into as it is to hear, for if your mouth isn’t pointed directly towards the tiny hole next to the volume control you’ll find yourself repeating yourself more often than you’d like to.
The Sandberg Bluetooth Speaker Pro in short is an impressive device that is very easy to use with fantastic audio quality to boot. It is disappointing that it can struggle when the volume is too high or the beat too thumpy, but 9 times out of 10 the audio performance from this portable speaker is tremendous and the Bluetooth connectivity is quick and stable. It’s not the smallest portable speaker on the market today, but it’ll be tough to find one with a similar level of strength and durability; I honestly felt confident enough to place this anywhere in and outside of my house. It’s pretty naff and needless as a hands-free device, but as an easy to use, easy to connect and easy to enjoy Bluetooth portable speaker, it’s pretty great.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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