“It looks good, sounds great and has more functions than it even realistically needs.”
Wireless speakers have grown to become massively popular recently, and finding a good one is becoming ever easier. With that in mind, it is up to manufacturers to not only make good quality products, but to make outstanding ones too. The KooPower C26 model wireless speaker shows its creators’ recognition of this, clearly aiming to be a product which will stand out from the crowd. With numerous useful, inventive and certainly very desirable features to its name, this speaker is as practical as they come on paper, so I took it for a spin to see how it holds up in practice.
When I use the term “took it for a spin” what I of course mean is that I “took it in the shower with me”, with one of the C26’s most boasted-about features being that it is waterproof. Over the years I have both owned and tested a number of “waterproof” products, many of which crack up or all-out fail during a real-life test of that claim. The C26 speaker on the other hand did neither of these things, and performed just as well in the good old upright water-tomb as it does on dry land. My showering experience was, by extension, positively enhanced by its presence.
Both in the water and in within the land-lubbers world, the speaker makes full use of its 10W power output, performing equally as well as, if not even better than, some of the high-end amplifiers which I have used in the past. As a music fan and a rock music fan at that, a speaker that can perform loudly without any kind of fuzzing, cracking or quality-murdering is a must. This speaker succeeded in avoiding all of these flaws, and worked well both for gaming and watching movies or TV shows with too. The audio output quality was greater than that of some headsets which I have tried for gaming, and I was even more impressed that this high standard could be achieved by a single speaker unit.
The appearance of the speaker also gets a solid thumbs up for looking as though it is of a high quality, and equally for not being an embarrassing thing for your friends to see in your backpack. The orange and black version of this model which I received looked particularly cool and if I were to use it outdoors it would handily be a difficult thing to lose. On a related note, the built-in torch works surprisingly well too, and the clip that comes in the box means that carrying or using the speaker on the outside of your bag during your travels is something that can be done with ease. The speaker does however have the strong appearance of an outdoor speaker, so while it performs just as well indoors, it does look a little out of place in the living room.
Controlling the speaker is something which I found particularly well thought out. With may that I have used, you need to have the input device handy to control any songs being played, which when used as a shower speaker is less than helpful. The C26 speaker solves this dilemma with both volume and forward/back controls on the device itself, allowing you to leave your phone somewhere safe. The range of the Bluetooth signal also supports this, with the speaker easily working alongside my phone even when it was in another room. If you should need the speaker to physically connect to a device however, the box contains a handy jack cable for you to use in doing so, as well as a charging cable. The charging input is the same as your average phone’s, and the USB wire also allows for charging the device while it is in use.
The KooPower C26 speaker ticks the vast majority of boxes for what a product like this should do. The only real flaws it does have are in its design. The first is the back panel cover, which provides waterproof protection to the inputs. Useful though this is in the wet, should you need to access the panel beneath it is awkward and largely gets in the way. On the back panel itself, the on/off switch is also pretty stiff to shift. The bigger problem with the speaker however is that all of the writing on it is black text on a black background, rendering it pretty unreadable in low light and especially difficult to decipher when wet. Although this allows the speaker to enhance its high-quality appearance, it does not offer one ounce of benefit to its all-round practicality.
Generally speaking, I was very impressed with this product. It looks good, sounds great and has more functions than it even realistically needs. Everything works very well, it is simple and easy to use out of the box, and it offers you everything that you could possibly want out of a mobile speaker of this kind. With its added adaptations for outdoor environments, bonus points are easily awarded as well. Practicality is the main drawback and is where the speaker falls somewhat short, but if you can see around these simple issues then I would highly recommend this as a fantastic mobile speaker solution.
The Good:
- Genuinely waterproof, with no impact to or loss of functionality.
- Great quality audio output, suited to music, gaming, TV or film.
- No loss of sound quality at high volume.
- Fully utilises its 10W audio power output.
- Stylish, high-quality appearance.
- Easy to control without needing to access the input device to do so.
- Great Bluetooth range, even through walls and obstructions.
The Bad:
- The speaker is designed for use outdoors and looks a little out of place in the living room.
- The back panel’s cover is impractical and gets in the way of the speaker’s general use.
- A sticky on/off switch makes it awkward to activate the speaker quickly on the fly.
- Black labels on a black background make it exceedingly difficult to read the speaker’s functions in low light or when wet.
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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