Accessory review: The Bass Egg
Although our favorite smartphones and tablets come with speakers, they are rarely ever very good. In terms of both loudness and clarity, smartphones and tablets just can’t compete with a higher-quality, external speaker.
There are a number of companies that are trying to capitalize on this fact, including Bass Egg. Bass Egg is a company that is currently in the process of producing a very high-quality reverberation speaker that sounds fantastic and appeases even the most judgmental audophile’s ears.
The Bass Egg itself is still currently in the pre-production stages, but the company sent me a prototype to use and review. As a sort of disclaimer, the prototype is nearly the final Egg, but it’s missing Bluetooth. Other than that, the final, purchasable model will sound and look the same.
And honestly, that’s a really good thing.
Design
Speakers can sometimes be rather beautiful pieces of engineering – and the Bass Egg is no exception. I don’t personally think that it looks much like an egg, but it’s beautiful, nonetheless. The body is made out of a matte metal that has been molded into an hourglass shape. It’s a really nice design, even if it doesn’t look much like an egg.
On the top, there’s a flat piece of smooth plastic that houses four capacitive buttons – Mode, Previous/Volume Down, Next/Volume Up, and Play/Stop. In my time reviewing the speaker, the buttons were always incredibly responsive, never missing a press. If you don’t like using capacitive buttons, though, don’t worry: the Bass Egg comes with a remote so you don’t have to use them.
On the back, you’ll find the Bass Egg’s plethora of ports. Aside from an On/Off switch and 12-volt DC power port, you’ll also find miniUSB, USB, and 3.5mm headphone jack ports; and also a TF card reader. All of them can be used to play music, making this speaker an incredibly versatile one.
Finally, here’s the bottom. It’s a small, metallic, circular disk that, once placed on a flat surface, will vibrate that surface and subsequently play your music through whatever that surface is. As the name of the type of speaker implies, a reverberation speaker vibrates the surface that it’s on. The vibrations cause the air around the object to move, thus making music.
Performance
I’m going to start this section out in a very blunt manner: the Bass Egg is one of the best speakers I’ve ever used.
It really sounds fantastic. It gets loud, stays clear, and is incredibly fun to play around with to get the best sound. Generally, I stuck to larger surfaces throughout my review – they always gave me a louder sound. If you go for a smaller surface, the Bass Egg will still pump out your song at a decent volume, though it won’t be as loud as a bigger one.
Wood, glass, metals, and even cardboard boxes will all give you a distinct “style” of sound. I tended to prefer wood-based surfaces out of all of them, as they give off a deep and beautiful sound.
Whichever surface you do choose to use, make sure it’s cleared off and free of debris. If, for example, you’re using your desk, don’t leave pens, pencils, and various pieces of office miscellany on the desk; if you do, the vibrations will cause those objects to move around and make the song sound really horrible. While this is one of the reverberation speaker’s few drawbacks, I personally think the few minutes it takes to clear a surface is worth the incredible sound that comes out of the Bass Egg.
Conclusion
When it comes down to speakers, everything is subjective. However, I like to think that I have a rather discerning ear. I can’t stand any low-end pieces of audio equipment because, frankly, listening to music should be enjoyable. Luckily for the team that designed the Bass Egg, their product does just that.
The COO of the company tells me that the Bass Egg is currently being produced – and it’s actually for sale right now. The original Kickstarter that we reported on stated that the product would cost about $99 when it was released. Unfortunately, the price has risen to $119, but that’s still a fantastic deal should you want one.
And believe me, you really want one.
You can purchase your own Bass Egg from the company’s website for the original price of $119. If you want to get the Bass Egg for just $90, you can head on over to the company’s website and enter the promo code THXFBF. This promo runs until January 31, 2013.
