Wow.
I'm an audio engineer so I spend an awful lot of time working with audio equipment and speakers. I know what sounds good, how things are supposed to sound, and the general public likes to hear things. I was looking for the right water-resistant Bluetooth speaker for a low price and with a name like Cambridge Soundworks I figured I'd dive in as I've heard good things but never personally used one of their products.
Build & Interface
It's a beautiful speaker. One caveat I have about it is that the left and right drivers are really only on one of the two sides, which is fine, that's really all you need. If I was nitpicking I'd say the OontZ logo at the left (or when standing upright) top of the speaker distracts from the speaker's beautiful shape and design (personally I don't see a name like OontZ sticking) because it simply doesn't serve any purpose other than to be an extruded logo. Perhaps if the "O" was used as a power button in future models, it would make more sense. I plan to use this speaker pretty much everywhere, as it's fairly sturdy, lightweight but with enough heft that it feels like a good speaker. I'm very surprised I was able to pick this up for $25, but would gladly purchase it again for $35 at it's original price.
Sound Quality
I can't tell you how incredible sounding this speaker is for it's low price, you really have to hear it for yourself, but I'll try to describe it as best I can. The speaker creates full, rich sounds regardless of standing upright, so long as the speaker is facing you, or is facing an open space, you'll hear it. The bass is incredibly punchy, though the low end leaves a little to be desired at high volumes (and I'll talk about that below) it's a fantastic all around speaker. It's LOUD, definitely designed for entertainment, and whether you're watching TV or listening to music it sounds great. I could see myself using this speaker at a pool party, on the beach, as I already use it in the shower and take it with me while walking around my house.
I've listened to various genres of music to push thing's limits and it's almost completely delivered. Classical music is concise, classic rock isn't just soulful it's clear, and it handles rap and pop music's bass-heavy tunes very well. I do have to say though, if you bass-heavy music with a lot of low frequency variation you're going to be upset. I say this because if you turn the speaker to it's highest volume, the speaker's punchy bass drowns lower bass sounds out, so instead of getting those deep hums, they'll probably be drowned out by the loudness of the bass, as the speaker is designed to create lots of impact sounds so you can really "feel" the bass. If you're into electronic musicians like Flume with a lot of heavy bass variation, you'll need to pick up a really expensive speaker, and that's not this. BUT, that's not what this speaker is and you will struggle to find a Bluetooth speaker even in the one to two hundred dollar range that can correctly play those kind of complex bass variations--to add to that, this one is also waterproof and small so there's not much to complain about.
Overall
For the quality of the audio, this speaker delivers an amazing sound quality at an incredibly reasonable price. I've used a lot of Bluetooth speakers in this price range like the DKnight and some other generics, I've also spent some time with the JBL Flip 2 and the Bose Soundlink--this thing is far superior for both it's function and it's value. The battery life of this speaker is incredible as well. The fact that this speaker exists in this low of a price range makes incredibly happy, it makes it easy to replace, and allows me to try other speakers, to compare even, but as far as low priced speakers go this thing should be killing the competition if it isn't already because it's my go-to mobile speaker. It feels good, it sounds good, and its battery life is fantastic. I’ll update this review periodically to see how it stands up to the test of time but wow, this was an awesome buy.
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Reviews with images
Great speaker for the price
First off, for its size this is a fantastic little speaker. Build quality is fantastic. The unit feels so very solidly built. You will not believe the sound that comes out of this thing. The sound is so clear it’s amazing. Highs and mids are incredible and yes, there is a decent amount of bass. You can really feel the bass thumb on whatever it is sitting on. Some post that the speaker sounds like garbage and that people must be deaf. I can say that THOSE are the ones who must be deaf. Folks…it’s a $35 speaker! It sounds fantastic for what it is meant to do. These aren’t $600 floor standing stereo speakers.I will say for those that think the sound quality is lousy or there is no bass that they must either be listening via something like Pandora, which has no type of tone adjustment in the app whatsoever, or they are listening through a music app that has limited equalization (or they have no idea how to adjust tone via the app). Boston’s “Long Time” happened to come on Pandora as I was listening and it sounded quite nice. After a bit, I switched over to the same song in my music library on my phone and played it thorough Poweramp (which has both tone and equalization options). BIG difference in the sound quality. People have to be aware of 1) WHAT the music is actually being played through and 2) WHEN and HOW the song was actually recorded originally. People can’t expect a Jackson Browne song that was recorded in the 70’s to have the same “punch” that Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” would have, for example. I have no idea how some people say they cannot hear this speaker or that it doesn't fill the room. I can crank it and hear it upstairs with no problem. These people must be clueless as to how to increase the volume on either the speaker or the source audio.Overall, this is a fantastic speaker for the money. At this price range, it is hard to be disappointed.
