Friday, 15 January 2016

DBPower - BX-900 Bluetooth speaker


Rating: 5/5

Review:
A very good little speaker



I was sent this speaker by DBPower free for an unbiased review and I am impressed.  It's not hi-fi, obviously, but it is a very nice little unit at this price.

The speaker is very well packaged in a smart, sturdy box and comes with a micro-USB charging cable, a jack-to-jack lead.  (There were no instructions included with mine, but I see that other reviewers had them, so that's obviously just a packing error.)  The whole thing has a nice, durable feel to it, and the speaker itself is very well made. It is solidly built with a faux-leather finish giving a nice retro feel. The inputs, micro-SD card port and on/off switch are on the back so they are accessible but unobtrusive and the controls are on the top. They are clear, neat and work very well, giving volume up and down, skip forward and back and a multi-function phone button to take calls via the inbuilt microphone. Bluetooth connection was straightforward and solid with a good range of at least 8m and the jack input allows connection to non-Bluetooth devices.

In use, I found the sound very good indeed for such a compact speaker. I have listened to a lot of music through it, from Tudor choral music to London Grammar and it all sounds pretty good. The top is very sharp, the middles distinct and full and the bass is very decent for a unit like this.  If you want a real bass kick, you'll find it a bit weak and things like the low strings in Sibelius's Karelia Suite or thedeep bass in London Grammar's Hey Now don't come over that well, but it's quite adequate for most things.  It goes loud enough to fill a medium-sized room without audible distortion and battery life seems to be around 4 hours, which is fine for me.

I have tried a lot of speakers in this sort of price range, and I think this is good value at this price. I can recommend it.
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8 comments:

  1. Get the MOst13 April 2016 at 20:25

    fake review. I have the speaker. this speaker aux does not work. also the micro memory card cannot detect the music.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sid Nuncius14 April 2016 at 07:00

      Hello, GtM.

      I'm sorry you had a bad experience with this speaker. This is a genuine review, though - mine was just fine with both AUX and card inputs when tested. In fact, the playlist I used to test the sound thoroughly was on my Sansa Clip+ which is a non-Bluetooth device and which I connected via the AUX input.

      I think you must have a faulty speaker. Try contacting DBPower, who are a reputable company; I'm sure they'll offer you a replacement.

      Delete
  2. Markpit7 June 2016 at 22:09

    Got it today. Very high quality sound! I just can't seem to figure out the function of the "M" button.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sid Nuncius9 June 2016 at 07:18

    Hi, Mark.

    The M button scrolls between input modes - just keep pressing it until you're connected to the input you want.

    HTH
    Sid

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Markpit10 June 2016 at 06:42

      Thanks for replying.
      Not sure if I understood it though. If only you could exemplify it... (is it to be used when one needs to answer the phone while it's playing music, for instance?)

      Delete
    2. Sid Nuncius10 June 2016 at 07:32

      Hi, Mark.

      I'm afraid I gave this speaker away so I don't have it to investigate any more, but the M button is a "Mode" button. When you switch on, I think it's in Bluetooth mode by default. Pressing the M button changes this to AUX or Card input mode and back to Bluetooth again as you press repeatedly.

      Answering and hanging up calls is controlled by the pause/play button (you'll see a little phone symbol on it.)

      I'm relying on a very dodgy memory here so I could be wrong, but try it and see what happens. I hope that's some help, at least. If you're still struggling, you could try emailing DBPower:
      service@dbpower.co.uk

      Cheers,
      Sid

      Delete
    3. Markpit10 June 2016 at 07:52

      Hey Sid,
      You're the best, man! Really appreciate your answering my questions at this late at night (2:50am in NY. I see you're like 3h behind us).
      Something tells me you're right about the "M" button function and as you said, there's a phone icon on the play/pause button.

      I'm in love with this little box! I had it in my car Wed when I went to my cousin's bday bbq and I used it and everybody just loved it and many of them connected their phones to it. Even when you turn it up loud, there's no distortion or anything.

      Once again, thanks a million for your help.
      Have a great weekend! B-)

      Mark

      Delete
    4. Sid Nuncius10 June 2016 at 08:05

      I endeavour to give satisfaction, sir, as Jeeves might have said. :o) You're most welcome - and it's 8am here in London now, but I get up early.

      I hope you continue to enjoy the speaker!

      Kind regards
      Sid

      Delete

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