Venstar Bluetooth speaker

Rating: 2/5

Review:
Disappointing sound

I was sent this speaker without charge for my unbiased review: in my unbiased opinion it isn't very good. It's well made and functionally perfectly adequate, but the sound is pretty poor and there are far better speakers in a similar price range.

The speaker is nicely designed and robustly made, with a good set of controls on the top which work well to control volume, phone calls and music playing. There's a simple on/off switch on the back and a jack input so you can play music from a non-Bluetooth device as well. You also get decent-quality micro-USB and jack-to-jack leads for charging and AUX connection respectively.

All of that is fine. The problem is the sound, which I find poor. I have tried it using two different phones using Bluetooth and wired connection from both, and with my Sansa Clip+ mp3 player: it's the same problem on all of them. I see that other reviewers here think the sound is great, so I contacted the seller to ask whether I just have a rogue product, but I have had no response, so I'm reviewing what I have in front of me:

The bass is weak and there is very significant hiss at all volumes. This occurs when connected both by Bluetooth and AUX input, although the hiss disappears after a few seconds on pause in Bluetooth mode – but returns the moment playing resumes. I also notice an odd high-pitched, almost distortion effect when in AUX mode, which I find hard to describe but which can be irritating. The overall effect of all this is to make the sound thin, tinny and unsatisfying; it's better than phone speakers (which, let's face it, isn't saying a lot) but I would expect significantly better at this price. The standard of small speakers has improved a great deal in the last few years and this doesn't really match up, I'm afraid.

So…I can't really recommend it. Even though it's well made and looks good, the sound is the vital thing in a speaker, and this doesn't come up to scratch for me.

(There are lots of good speakers at this sort of size and price. A favourite of mine is the August SE30, which is only about half the price of this and which has served me excellently for a couple of years now.)