VAVA Voom 21 Bluetooth speaker

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Beautifully made, slightly disappointing sound

VAVA make very high-quality speakers.  This Voom21 was sent to me for review and it's beautifully designed and made, but I was slightly disappointed in the balance of the sound.

The speaker comes beautifully packaged, marking it as a product made with real care. It is very stylish with elegant push-panel controls on the top and an input/output panel at the back. Here you can connect an AUX jack (supplied) to non-Bluetooth devices, a micro-USB lead (also supplied) to charge the speaker, and there's a USB port which acts as a power bank to charge a phone or similar.  The unit also comes with a mains lead so you can simply leave it plugged in if you wish, and this also charges the battery.

It all works very well. Bluetooth pairing is simple both conventionally and via NFC and the signal is very solid up to at least 8 metres. You can connect to two Bluetooth devices at once of you want to; I've tried it and it works very well. Battery life is good.  The controls work well for both music and hands-free calls – but unusually, there's no skip forward or back control on the speaker. This isn’t a problem for me, but some people might like to know.

With all this quality in the build, I was expecting something special in the sound, but it wasn't as good as I'd hoped.  There is a distinct hiss throughout, which can be quite intrusive when the music is quiet.  It is true that the bass in both "Party" and "Surround" modes is quite exceptionally powerful; it genuinely took me aback from a unit of this size.  However, bass isn't everything.  I find it very dominant and a bit boomy in both these modes, and the tops aren't as crisp as they need to be for balance.  In classical music, this is a real problem and it doesn't sound good at all to me.  For rock and other modern music it's much better, and if you like a thunderous kick in the bass this may suit you well.  Tracks like Hey Now by London Grammar or The National's Sorrow, for example, really get the strong, deep bass they need, but the tops and middles, even in "Standard" mode, are just a little drab to my ears.  To me, the sound from the VAVA Voom 20 is better even though it's not such a classy-looking object, and I still think the ADX Pulse V4 is the best speaker I've heard in this range.  It's not as elegant as the Voom 21, but for me it delivers better balance and overall quality of sound at a similar price.

Plenty of others don't seem to share my reservations, so read other reviews before you decide.  Certainly, this is a stylish and very well-made speaker; if you want a small unit which delivers an amazing thump in the bass then this may be for you and I have rounded 3.5 stars up to 4 because of all this but I can only give it a somewhat qualified recommendation.