Hey guys, I’m Roland the Techusiast and today we are going to take a look at this
very small, portable and affordable wireless speaker – stay tuned.
Creative, the company behind this speaker has asked me if I would take a look and review
this speaker, and I said yes.
Now, keep in mind that this isn’t sponsored and I am not being paid for this – this
review will only reflect my own opinions and thoughts as well as my 1 week of experience
with this device.
That said, let’s jump straight in to the review.
All in all, the unboxing experience doesn’t involve anything fancy.
You get a basic box, the speaker itself and 0.6 meter Micro USB charging cable – as
well as the manuals.
Since this speaker is very affordable, I don’t think it would be reasonable to complain about
the packaging as it has everything you need in a nicely laid out format.
The design is minimal and elegant, I personally think that it resembles a lot from the Mac
Pro, but in a modernised version – and of course in a much smaller form factor.
The majority of the speaker is made out of aluminium and only the bottom gets some plastic.
This gives the speaker more weight and a much more premium looking build, which should hold
up for a fairly long amount of time.
The buttons on the lower base are made out of rubber and plastic and they provide a tactile
feel when pressed.
There are 3 audio playback controls including volume up and down that include forward and
back functionality as well as a play/pause button.
In terms of ports, there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack, SD card slot and the micro USB charging
port.
Underneath the speaker there’s a rubber base to keep it steady and safe on pretty
much all surfaces.
The speaker weights 210 grams and the company advertises the size as “Music in your Palm”
– which is certainly true.
And now, perhaps the most important part – the Sound Quality.
Upon first turning ON and trying out the speaker, I was shocked by the quality this small speaker
can provide.
As mentioned in my other reviews, I am no audiophile – but I can certainly tell when
something has a rich sound that makes most frequencies sound great – in most environments.
Considering the small form factor, there is plenty bass and the overall sound quality
is clear and crisp.
It’s a very well balanced portable speaker.
The acoustics are so great that I immediately tried out a few genres including country,
rock, EDM, Hip Hop and a few more– and all music tested, everything sound great with
no complaints at all.
The audio only comes out of the top speaker as the rest of the sides are surrounded by
the metal build.
You’d think this would result in distortion and a really fake surround sound experience
– but it’s the exact opposite.
A room can be filled with sound in no time and even when being outside, the speaker is
powerful enough to be clearly heard in a comfortable range of up to 10-15 meters.
This, of course is a different story if you’re outside in a noisy environment – nevertheless,
it’s powerful for most activities out there.
In terms of features, it’s sort of a “smart speaker” – but at the same time, not really.
I put smart speaker in quotes because it has a functionality to ask questions via Siri
or Google Assistant, but you’re unable to simply just ask the question, instead you
have to double press the Play button to get it up and running.
It’s a great feature to have when your phone is in your pocket and don’t want to grab
it, otherwise – I don’t think many people will take advantage of this very great feature.
As you would expect, it also has a built-in microphone.
So not only you can trigger your virtual assistant, but you can also make and answer calls using
the speaker.
The Metallix surprisingly also has FM radio built in – which is a great thing to have
– and it was reliable and it worked just well – again, great and useful feature.
But it doesn’t only have FM radio, it also has an SD card slot, so you could easily insert
your sd cards and listen to music while you’re on the go, without risking to drain your phone’s
battery life.
If these aren’t enough features for you then, here are a few more: It has a 3.5mm
headphone jack and the speaker itself can be wirelessly connected to a very same speaker
– providing you a stereo experience with great audio quality and overall better performance.
The battery life is advertised to last up-to 15 hours on a single charge.
When I first started using the speaker, I’ve received it at 70% and then started using
it throughout the day and up until 3AM – had a small party, so it was a good chance to
test out how long it would last on max volume.
The next day when I checked on the battery, it still had 30% left, after 8 hours of continuous
use on maximum volumes – that’s pretty impressive from such a small speaker.
Since then, I started using it as my primary speaker and on maximum volumes it would last
between 9-12 hours on a single charge, while on lower volumes it exceeds the advertised
15 hours mark.
For a speaker so powerful in such a small form factor, I’m surprised by these results
and find it incredible what you can get at such low prices nowadays.
All in all, this is one incredible speaker that has premium build, surprisingly great
audio quality, useful features and a long lasting battery.
A couple things that this speaker doesn’t have is any water and dust protection, and
the new standard USB-C charging port.
Sure, you can still get away with a Micro USB charging port in 2018, but I would love
to see more companies including it on more budget devices.
As for water and dust, this is not built to be placed near wet and dusty environments,
so it’s not recommended to put it next to a pool or attempt using in rain.
So, if you’re looking for a cheap wireless speaker that is feature rich, lasts for a
full day on high volumes and provides great audio quality – I really don’t think you
should look elsewhere.
At £20 or $30 this is very affordable and checks all of the boxes on a list that you
might be interested in having in a portable speaker.
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All that said, thank you for watching, I’ll see you next time.