So you’re in the market for a small portable speaker and you have about £40 to spend…
The Double Blaster by Boom Pods is a rechargeable Bluetooth speaker utilising Bluetooth 3.0 that also allows for 3.5mm wired connection.
Starting with looks, the Double Blaster is available in a range of colours, and the charging cable/3.5mm jack is in a matching colour which is a minute detail but strangely satisfying. It is finished with a soft t
ouch material which is indicative of its quality. The pod shape with a flat base makes it practical and pleasing and the neoprene bag included assures it will stay that way.
Charging doesn’t take an age which can be a major flaw in similar products and the rechargeable lithium battery will last the 6 hours claimed on the box, though I did get more time out of it using a wired connection but that is to be expected given the energy greed of Bluetooth.
It’s a nice size for portability and the vibrant colour (I have the blue) is stylish but standout so I don’t foresee losing it easily. You’re not likely to lose it either because the 3 watt speaker and subwoofer technology means it produces excellent volume and the bidirectional output fills small to medium rooms excellently, falling off in bigger rooms and outdoors, although whatever the size of the room or landscape the quality of sound is excellent when compared to its similar counterparts.
The sound is well balanced capturing mids and highs never straying into the horrendously tinny like so many small speakers and laptops. The bass won’t blow you away at low volumes, obviously, but you feel its presence in producing a well-balanced sound. 50% volume and upwards you’ll notice the bass making more of an impact but I love that it never gets into the realms of insanity when bass overwhelms everything else about the track you’re hearing. The sound feels layered with instruments easy to pick out across all genres and vocals are treated excellently by this 3 watt over achiever. I felt on some tracks the vocals sounded as if they were playing from a vinyl record, sounding more true to life than binary coding.
Different mobile devices will output different volumes, in regards to phones the Double Blaster is better than your phone so for goodness sake don’t play your phone aloud, volume limits on devices are the limiting factor because this speaker will continue to perform beyond mobile phones. A Nexus 9 and 10 got more out of the Boom Pods Double Blaster than a few friends phones had and it was here I found the speaker performed best.
The Bluetooth range is excellent and quality is not affected until you get some real distance (10m +) between you and the speaker. The wired connection produces excellent sound and can be used with anything with a 3.5mm connection. For example if you sadly have a laptop with those terribly tinny and unbalanced sad excuse for stereo speakers this little orb of audio will benefit from the increased amplification of larger devices. Because of this increase in amplification sound is improved, layers are found and unbelievably max volume from my laptop did not cause any distortion in sound from the DoubleBlaster, it just kept on performing.
So if you’re in the market for a Bluetooth speaker, with a rechargeable battery, excellent range and audio performance this offering from Boom Pods is a steal at around £39.99. It’ll do what you want it to and then you’ll find out it can do more.