Let me be honest. Before this review, I had no plans on getting a Bluetooth speaker myself, but having a look at the Braven 440, the chances are now a lot higher. Find out in our quick review why.
Out of the box, the Braven 440 comes with an adapter, a USB cable (for charging other devices), an AUX cable, a protective strap, some paperwork and that’s it. The speaker itself feels light and solid despite how heavyweight it performs. It’s also water resistant, but it warns us not to submerge the whole device in water. The surface is beautifully all metallic with rubberized accents and this allows the Braven 440 to do all things well.
Aside from the place for the strap, all tangible connections go through the back which is sealed by hard detachable rubberized cover. It features a USB port, a reset button, a micro USB port for charging and audio in. You can also press a button to see 5 orange dots light up; this shows you the amount of battery remaining – more on that later.
Connection and maneuvering through the device is quite messy. It takes a long press to power up the device and also a long press to power it off – sometimes it just takes too long and sometimes it would take you two to three times to be successful. There’s also a pause and play button which works good enough and there are volume buttons which work okay but not as such when used as playback controls. Long pressing the -/+ buttons will make them function as previous/next buttons, which makes everything minimalist but also at the same time a hassle.
As for pairing, just read through the manual and pairing will be a breeze (long press of play). Unpairing won’t be much of a problem too anyway as the device can remember up to a number of 8 Bluetooth devices.
Now here comes the highlight; the speaker is breathtaking. It’s loud, it’s clear and it delivers the elements that we are looking for in audio. The bass is killer, the mids are engaging and the highs do average (not bad, but the least impressive of the three).
I listen to a lot of punk rock myself and I can say that I immediately notice the bass sounds whenever I start playing the music (appreciated with a few of Pierce The Veil, Save Rock & Roll by FOB and mostly Ain’t It Fun by Paramore). The bass riffs are totally distinguishable on those bits but the guitars and screamos were something I appreciated the least. Classical music from Les Mis and a few epic orchestras and choirs sounded okay on the other hand as they showed me quite a balance.
The battery on this marvelous thing is also a beast. We haven’t really drained it yet while listening to music; we usually recharge on the third day when the quality starts to distort at around 20% and that’s through playing podcasts, music at maximum volumes in the shower and in an empty classroom for around hours a day. We can’t give you an exact number for our testing but we guess it’s safe to say that Braven’s claim of 12 hour playback is near to be true. It also allows other devices to charge into it with a 1,400mAh battery inside. Only through both charging and music playback were we able to manage to drain huge amounts of the battery in fast times.
To check out what we are talking about in a nutshell, check out our video down below:
Conclusion
I showed the Braven 440 to a lot of people and they were immediately interested. When I showed them what it could do, it blew them away and a lot of them were sold at a price of Php3,650. People across the 3rd floor of a fast food joint were looking at us in marvel with this in hand. My family is up to get one too, as well as my friends.
The Braven 440 is an amazing Bluetooth speaker, speakerphone and a portable charger that comes in an amazing lightweight yet solid package. We find the long pressing of buttons quite a hassle but that’s really just a minor complaint. Water resistance is a bonus, and the rest is just as good as it gets.
What we liked about it:
- Distinguishable bass
- Smooth mids
- Water resistant
- Extremely loud volume
- Long battery life
- Works as portable charger
- Light and solid build
- Metallic and rubberized design
What we didn’t like about it:
- Treble could use some improvement
- More responsive buttons would be nice
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