Matrix Qube2 Bluetooth Speaker review
The Matrix Qube2 Bluetooth Speaker is a pocked-sized aluminum Bluetooth speaker with an eight-hour playback ability with 2x3watts of dual-speaker goodness backed into a six and a half ounce body.
The TL;DR version of this is like it, it’s loud, solid, too expensive for my tastes, but a good product.
We covered the previous incarnation (the Qube) about a year ago. Much like that one at the time I think it’s extremely well constructed, very loud, and just a bit too expensive for what it is. I hope it ends up with a nice price drop like the original and then it would be at a price point I feel would be agreeable for all.
First off, the bass just isn’t there. It’s significantly better than it was in the Qube, but a speaker this size is not going to deliver anything but emulated bass. It sounds like there’s bass, it doesn’t feel like it. I don’t think there’s any speaker this size that’s going to overcome that though without screwing it to a table and plugging it into a wall.
The speaker dual three watts of sound are louder than I would have expected. You can get it up to annoying levels which would be great for a small party, but perhaps due to the very solid aluminum casing around the speaker it just doesn’t receive as strongly as you would hope it would. This means at a party you probably want to have line of site and not anyone in betwen your broadcasting device and the Qube2.
The range is decent, but not the full Bluetooth range some of my speakers get. I get a good 15 feet with no issues but stepping between can cause the speaker to start making glurp noises. I’ll point out this is not particularly bad for a Bluetooth speaker that’s in an all metal case.
The Qube2 comes with a carrying strap and pouch, although with this tough speaker I’d rather see a carabiner/belt clip so it could be shown off. It’s a really pretty product to look at and doesn’t appear to require the protection of a soft bag.
It should be noted that the special audio cable that’s included includes a standard USB connector. This does not allow you to use the thing as a USB audio device. It’s solely for charging, which is sad because this would make a perfect laptop speaker.
I’m actually a bit torn on where this speaker lays in my rankings. It’s very portable, has a decent battery life, and can play from a standard headset jack with the included audio to MicroUSB cable, which means you’ll need to carry that around if you want to be able to play audio from any non-Bluetooth enabled device, or just save some Bluetooth juice.
It’s not quite the speaker I want, but the lightness, durability, and volume tend to make up for that. The price is still at a point where it’s about $20 higher than I think it should be priced at, however when you’re trying to get a limited supply item in the first month or so you’re going to pay. And if they can get that price, more power to them.
One thing that does stick out to me is the claim in their Amazon product description that the sound is loud enough to knock the pictures off your neighbor’s wall. While most sounds should theoretically be able to have an affect on something on the other side of the wall, that’s going to have to be a very poorly hung picture in order for this speaker to knock it off in any reasonable time frame.
Also bad Photoshop hurts… please think of the pixels.
Beyond complaints about advertising, the thing is solid. I like it.
The Matrix Audio Qube2 is available from Amazon for $79.99. You can also get it at the manufacturer’s website.
