I have been taking a shower with a Tribit speaker for a long time. No, I haven’t gone mad. And no, I don’t use it as a sponge either. But it allows me to liven up my daily karaoke sessions in the bathroom with great music.
That’s why I really wanted to try their new speaker, the StormBox Pro, which promises power and portability in equal measure. Will he manage to bring together the best of both worlds or will he fail in one thing and the other?
I had several days to test it and today I bring you my conclusions. Small disclose: I was not at all disappointed, although, as you will see, I would have liked Tribit to send me a pair so that I could test the stereo sound mode.
Quality design and construction
If you are familiar with Tribit products, you will not be surprised by their design. It is true that it looks like other similar speakers like the Bose Portable Home Speaker, but I have to admit that I like the black finish of the StormBox Pro better.
While loyal to Apple and its use of aluminum, I recognize the elegance of the color black and it seems Tribit values it in each of its designs as well. Here, the uniformity of this color is only interrupted by the gray peaks of the speaker mesh.
This Tribit design was awarded a Red Dot Award in this year’s edition. And the truth is, despite its simplicity, this is a very beautiful speaker. It is simply a cylinder of 180 x 96 x 96 mm completely covered by this mesh.
In fact, the mesh is only interrupted by the logo at the bottom and the ports behind. At the top are the control knobs (physical, thankfully), while underneath is a rubber that prevents the surface where you place it from being scratched and allows it to stay stable anywhere.
The whole enclosure features a rugged and almost rugged design, which is further enhanced by the fact that it is water and dust resistant. It has the degree of protection IP67, which makes it ideal for taking it to the beach or any place where splashing may occur.
To protect the ports, Tribit installed a rubber cap that prevents any ingress of dirt or liquid. As we will see later, we have a total of two ports: a USB-C port and a USB-A port.
The StormBox Pro weighs 980g, which makes it easy to transport. It fits well in a backpack, so it will be less heavy to carry it from one place to another. It is true that it has a silicone grip, but carrying it in your hand for a long time can make you feel uncomfortable.
Obviously, it will also look great on any shelf you have at home, and even in the shower if you’re going to use it like I did, but Tribit designed it for those who want to take it on a trip ( even at the pool at a depth of 1 meter for 30 minutes).
Sound quality and performance
But you don’t buy the StormBox Pro just to decorate a shelf. In fact, if you’re going to use it for a DJ next time you’re picnicking in the park with your friends, the last thing you want is to disappoint with the quality of the audio.
It won’t be a problem. The Tribit StormBox Micro really impressed us with its power despite its size. The same goes with the Pro: while it’s obviously bigger, the volume levels it offers are still much higher than one would expect for its size.
The StormBox Pro uses a subwoofer 2.1, which means that this subwoofer 3 ”(25W) is accompanied by two loudspeakers, in this case of 40 mm and 7.5W each. The whole of this set offers a power of 40W, and therefore such a loud sound.
It’s a really impressive system, again, considering the size of the device. You won’t have to sacrifice portability for power, power or sound quality to take it with you wherever you go.
Speaking of sound quality, this speaker from Tribit delivers 360-degree sound in which mid-range sounds are amazing. The vocals are also crisp and clear, and the bass is barely distorted.
Let’s talk a little more about the bass. Tribit introduced the use of improved XBass technology here, which allows the bass distortion at maximum volume to be just 0.5% and that means you won’t notice it.
You notice a bit more distortion and loss of bass quality above about 75% of volume, but that’s only true if you forgot to turn on XBass mode.
The XBass button is located to the right of the on / off button. On the other side we have the Bluetooth button, and below we find the battery indicator lights. Very large, you will see the volume buttons (‘-‘ and ‘+’) and a multifunction button in the center.
The functionality of these buttons is similar to that of other devices of this type. The multifunction, for example, will be used to both pause and resume music, skip the song or go to the previous one, answer a call, activate the voice assistant …
The StormBox Pro comes with a Qualcomm chip that makes it compatible with Bluetooth 5.0 and aptX, as well as a range of around 30 meters (although this will depend on obstacles). Good quality was to be expected, although I was a bit disappointed with the latency.
Once you press play, it will take a few seconds to play the song or audio you are listening to. It might not sound like much, but it’s especially annoying when listening to a podcast or watching a movie because you miss the beginning of the sentence.
Connectivity and battery
For the rest, there is little to oppose the proposed Bluetooth. As I said before, this Bluetooth also makes it possible to connect two StormBox Pro speakers at the same time to create a stereo mode, but unfortunately I was not able to test it.
I was able to try another cool feature: the ability to connect two devices at the same time to the Pro. My experience has been a bit patchy so hopefully Tribit can tweak it for future models.
This feature doesn’t mean that you can play audio from two devices at the same time, but rather that you should be able to easily switch between one, just by pausing the audio of one and playing the audio. on the other without wasting time.
To start with, the first time you link each device (the Pro can remember up to 8 devices) you will need to do this making sure that at that point it is not linked to another. Once the two are connected, on the other hand, it’s not as easy as Tribit suggests.
On the other hand, I consider a nice feature to be the ability to use the speakerphone to charge other devices. Thanks to the USB-A port, you can charge the battery of your smartphone wherever you are.
If your mobile has a USB-C port, you can use the cable included in the box. This cable is the one that will also be used to recharge the speaker battery when you connect it to its USB-C port. As usual, you’ll need to use an AC adapter you have at home (or buy one from Amazon).
It will take some time to recharge the 10,000mAh battery (it’s actually two 5,000mAh batteries), just over 7 hours if you use a 10W charger, but the payoff will be great battery life.
Tribit promises 24 hours of use. While it obviously depends on how much volume you are using and how you use it on the speaker, my experience tells me that this is more or less correct. There is no doubt that you can spend the day away from home and enjoy your favorite music without interruption.
Pricing and availability
The Tribit StormBox Pro will go on sale this April 9 for $ 119.99 on Amazon.
To see more options, be sure to check out our pick of the best speakers and the best inexpensive speakers. And if you want to be able to listen to your music without anyone hearing it, then you should get yourself one of the best headphones.
Verdict
Tribit does not disappoint and brings us a Bluetooth speaker with good portability and good sound quality. The system subwoofer 2.1 enables high volume levels and, thanks to XBass technology, even at 100% distortion is minimal.
The StormBox Micro is enough if you don’t want to spend that much, but know that you won’t have such clear sound or such a crisp separation between highs and lows. And if you want even more quality, you should spend more on other brands like Bose.
Los que tengan el oído más fino seguramente notarán el cambio en la calidad del sonido, pero en términos generales, at the mayoría de personas el StormBox Pro les sobra y les basta, sobre todo si lo van a disfrutar en la playa o el jardín de House.
Specification List
- System of subwoofer 2.1 (subwoofer 3 “and 25 W + 2 7.5 W drivers)
- XBass technology
- 360 ° sound
- Qualcomm QCC Bluetooth Chip
- Bluetooth 5.0 and aptX
- 5000 mAh battery x 2 (24 hours of autonomy)
- Degree of protection IP67
- Dimensions: 180 x 96 x 96 mm
- Weight: 980g
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