Friday, September 2, 2016

Review - YCCTeam Portable Bluetooth Speaker

Hello! Once again, I'm back to review some products for you, so give me a few minutes and hopefully it'll be worth your while! I'm going to be honest, and I'm not afraid to put the product down if it needs it. With that being said, let's begin.

Today, we have a couple of products from YCCTeam. First up is a portable Bluetooth Speaker, which you can find here.

So when I first received this speaker, I honestly had a very low opinion of it. It came in a non-descript beige box, with a piece of clear cellophane packing tape on it. No logo, no branding, nothing. I had no idea what to expect, and the first impression wasn't good. Opening up the box, the speaker was packed securely inside, with a small instruction foldout laying on top of the actual speaker. Removing the speaker, there's also a micro USB cable and a small 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable, both 18" in length. The cables are exactly what you expect, really. They're soft, feel a bit flimsy, but they work. I personally have never had a micro USB cable go bad on me, but this one doesn't inspire much confidence. However, I'm sure we all have a ton of cables laying around, and it's not a big deal to either replace it immediately or wait to see how long it lasts.

On to the important part, the speaker itself… First off, this thing is pretty solid. The outer shell is black painted aluminum, and it feels nice in the hand. For such a small speaker, it has a bit of heft to it, and it actually surprised me. I completely expected a lightweight, plastic shell, and I'm glad I was wrong.

Boxed

I have to be honest here… I didn't even look at the instructions. It's a Bluetooth speaker, how hard could it be, right? Well, there's no buttons anywhere. There's a 3.5mm jack, there's a micro USB port. But buttons? Nope. Then, I looked at the top panel, which is glossy, and barely saw the volume and play controls printed on the top. So I did what I thought was logical at the time; I pressed play. The entire top panel clicked in, and then slowly rose up on a controlled spring release. Immediately, a blue LED lit up the entire speaker, and a voice loudly announced "Power On!" in a British voice. The inside was black metal mesh, and the blue LEDS lit up both the inside and the top panel, illuminating the play and volume controls. Nice. Touch. Color me impressed.

Top Down
Lit Up

So what we have here is a small upwards firing speaker, putting out sound towards a plastic cone inside the top panel. This cone houses the blue LEDs, and also directs the sound outward in all directions. I have to say, it's quite nice to have an omnidirectional output, and you don't get the usual fading sound when you walk around and no longer face the speaker.

Lit Interior

I paired my phone to the speaker, and started up the music. I put on my usual at first: A mix of punk, rap and alternative, just to see if it could play some easy music. It's by no means a bass monster, it's a tiny 3w, 52mm driver! But I have to say, it sounded pretty good, and it got nice and loud in my apartment for a speaker of that size. It was clear, and there was little distortion even at full volume. I have to admit I expected it to start breaking up at full load, but it held on like a champ. I even decided to put on a version of the Imperial March, which is one of the true tests of a good speaker. Obviously it didn't accurately produce the bass and highs in the original recording, but it fared very well for what it is. In no way would you feel like you're missing out, but it obviously doesn't have the impact of a dedicated subwoofer.

You're not going to use this for parties, it simply won't get loud enough. But if you're home and you want to watch Netflix on your laptop? You'll be in great shape. Doing some work around the house, maybe some light cleaning, and want something playing in the background? Perfect. Want to listen to music in the shower? You got it. Granted, I don't think this is waterproof in any way, so don't blame me if something goes wrong!

By the way, the specs list the frequency response as 15Kz to 20KHz which is complete, total, and utter bull****. Now that that's out of the way, the rest of the specs seem spot on. There's a 480mAh battery inside, which says you get about 4.5 hours of play time on Bluetooth, and 6 hours using the 3.5mm cable. In my testing, it's relatively accurate. I'll be perfectly honest I had no way of sitting there listening to music for 6 hours straight, but over the course of a few days it seems to be in line with my usage.

So there we have it. This is definitely a solid buy for the price offered, but if you're looking for something for parties you're definitely going to want something beefier.


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