Tribit StormBox Blast 2 review: explosive sound, bright lights, and big battery life

Selecting a brand new Bluetooth speaker is lots like choosing a brand new automobile. It is advisable know the options you need, perceive the belongings you don’t actually care about, after which discover the producer who delivers each in a bundle you may stay with. Personally, in terms of music, I’m a bass babe. I hearken to quite a lot of blues and rock, which suggests I actually wish to really feel it when the low finish kicks in. Fortunately, I discovered the proper mixture of excessive quantity, nice bass, and a battery that didn’t die on me after a number of measly hours of thumping music.

The Tribit StormBox Blast 2 is an enormous boombox-style speaker that weighs in at virtually 16 kilos, and delivers daring stunning sound, it doesn’t matter what you’re listening to. It’s received an enormous capability for sound, as much as 30 hours of battery life on a single cost, and customizable LEDs that add some aptitude to these after-dark dance events whenever you go tenting. Whereas it was a bit bigger than I’d anticipated, it was definitely worth the trade-off to make sure my music was loud sufficient to listen to, and that it’d be capable to sustain for hours (and hours … and hours) of DJ time. So what precisely labored so properly concerning the Tribit StormBox Blast 2? Let’s have a look.

Tribit StormBox Blast 2: specs

Design and options

The Tribit StormBox Blast 2 is a hefty mannequin measuring 18.7 by 10.2 by 7.6 inches, and weighing in at virtually 16 kilos. This speaker isn’t dainty, and it delivered massive, daring sound whether or not I used to be hanging out on the again porch, or utilizing it to interchange the audio system in my Smartcar. With a 30-hour battery, it was additionally greater than able to preserving the tunes going all day (and evening).

Behind the perforated grille there’s a chonky 80-watt subwoofer, two 45-watt midrange drivers, and two 15-watt tweeters for 180 watts of stereo sound on battery energy, or 200 watts if it’s plugged in with the AC adaptor. All collectively it’s massive quantity, placing the Blast within the StormBox Blast 2’s title. The XBass characteristic additionally deepens the bass in music to rib-thumping extremes. There are even built-in LED lighting results that may be managed and customised with the accompanying Tribit app.

The StormBox Blast 2’s physique is a tough black plastic shell. It’s a stable piece that extends to its grippy, textured deal with, making it simpler to hold. I say simpler, as a result of at 15.7 kilos, the StormBox Blast 2 is a hefty speaker, and I’m unsure I’d attempt to hold it someplace at that weight with out loads of assist. It could shortly turn into heavy, and after I first pulled it out of the field I practically tweaked my wrist as a result of I wasn’t anticipating it to be so heavy. Tribit may need taken a web page from the Soundcore Boom 2 Plus‘ playbook and added a shoulder strap.

Tribit additionally needed to make sure this speaker might do every part you requested of it, together with doubling as a karaoke speaker (a lot the identical as lots of the a lot larger and pricier occasion audio system just like the JBL PartyBox Stage 320 we reviewed this 12 months). It options inputs for 2 microphones which have their very own quantity management in addition to a dial for including a reverb impact. Sadly, I wasn’t capable of take a look at this as a result of I didn’t have a mic in the home. Tragic, I do know.

All the things is safely protected behind a sturdy rubber pop-out panel on the again — the 6.3mm karaoke inputs and quantity/reverb dials, in addition to a USB-A port, a USB-C port, a 3.5mm AUX port, and the AC charging plug. The rubber panel itself seals up every part tightly when it’s not in use, and the identical rubber creates a circle on the underside of the speaker to maintain it in place when you’ve put it down.

The StormBox Blast 2 has an IP67 rating, which imply it’s waterproof in as much as 3 toes of water for as much as half-hour. I wouldn’t counsel really tossing this speaker into the pool, however you can, and it’d nonetheless be good to go. Heavy rain received’t give it an issue both. I hosed the speaker down and left it within the tub for a couple of minutes to examine, and after letting it dry out a bit, it nonetheless labored simply superb.

Bodily controls for the speaker are on prime of its physique, and there are eight buttons right here. The three center buttons are your quantity controls, and all of them are raised, making them straightforward to really feel for even should you aren’t trying. You get a quantity down, pause, and quantity up button. The center O button does double obligation, letting you pause the music in addition to skip forward to the following observe, or again to the earlier observe.

To the left of the amount is a Bluetooth pairing button, energy button, and the battery indicator. Whereas the facility and Bluetooth buttons aren’t raised like the amount is, you may nonetheless really feel them and so they’re responsive. To the fitting of the amount controls are the buttons for lights, XBass, and TWS for connecting a number of audio system collectively. The bar that each one the buttons sit alongside is textured in a different way than the physique, making it straightforward to really feel the place they’re without having to have a look at precisely what I used to be doing.

Lights and Tribit app

The Tribit app has two primary features: to manage the lighting results, and higher fine-tune the listening expertise. Contained in the app are 4 sections: Speaker, Mild, Equalizer, and Settings. The StormBox Blast 2 options three completely different units of lights too, two lightbars, a center mild, and two aspect lights, making it a enjoyable option to mild up the evening at events or get-togethers.

Beneath “Speaker” the app exhibits you the present battery proportion, allows you to modify the amount, play/pause, and skip forward or again a observe whereas listening. “Mild” provides you entry to 3 completely different preset lighting modes, and allows you to customise every of them. You possibly can tweak the sunshine bars, center mild, or aspect mild, modify the colour and brightness, and even inform the speaker in order for you it to flare to the rhythm of the music. So far as coloration goes, you may go for a cycle of colours, a rainbow, or absolutely customise the colours utilizing a coloration wheel to choose the proper shade.

Inside “Equalizer” there are eight preset modes to select from together with the power to construct customized settings with a 5-band equalizer that allows you to tweak the settings and save them for particular songs or playlists. You may make as many customs as you need, title them, after which discover all of them below the Custom-made tab within the equalizer settings.

The “Settings” menu provides you entry to firmware and some extra choices comparable to exhibiting the amount indicator on the sunshine bars, situations when the speaker will auto-shutdown, and the power to replace the firmware, shutdown the speaker, or return it to manufacturing unit settings.

Sound and efficiency

To check the sound readability of the StormBox Blast 2, I went forward and fired up Spotify because it’s the place I do most of my listening today. I bounced round from blues tunes from the likes of ZZ Ward, to arduous rock from Disturbed, after which tossed in some selection with Epic! The Musical, the Arcane soundtrack, together with a number of nation songs, and a few rap to even issues out a bit.

The StormBox Blast 2 delivers crisp attractive sound at each the decrease finish of spectrum (round 30%) for listening indoors, and at increased volumes (80% to 100%) after I used it to interchange the unhappy excuse for audio system my 2013 Smartcar has. Even at decrease volumes, and with out the XBass turned on, the sound was fierce, delivering clear guitar solos and a bass that thumped because it performed. Simply the best way I prefer it. At increased volumes the StormBox Blast 2 was greater than able to overpowering my automobile stereo, even with the home windows down on the freeway.

That bass solely will get higher as soon as XBass is turned on, delivering massive, daring, stunning sound. Nevertheless, I positively couldn’t flip all of it the best way up at residence until I needed to upset the neighbors and provides myself a headache. In songs with heavier bass at louder volumes it was virtually overwhelming, which is ok exterior at a celebration, however much less unbelievable in small rooms or residences. It evens out should you flip the XBass characteristic again off, however you can too simply … flip down the amount.

I toted the speaker round with me for a couple of week — in every single place from at residence in my workplace whereas engaged on my subsequent novel to within the automobile on a street journey out to Delaware. The battery didn’t fairly hit that 30-hour mark, however I used to be listening to it loud and I stored the LED lights pumping, which did attribute to a bigger battery loss. Even so, I made it about 20 hours earlier than topping up the battery, and even then it wasn’t dangerously low. It was additionally straightforward to recharge, even by simply utilizing a conveyable energy pack, which meant even after I practically ran out of energy within the automobile I might plug it in and guarantee my music didn’t die earlier than I reached my vacation spot.

The underside line

The Tribit StormBox Blast 2 delivers massive sound, and at $300 you actually are getting what you pay for. Explosive, clear sound at increased volumes, shiny colours from the LEDs, and a battery that goes and goes all come collectively to ship an incredible bundle. Its $300 price ticket may be a bit pricy for some people, particularly in terms of the identical value as extra premium Bluetooth audio system just like the Marshall Middleton (at its common value) and much more costly than the superb $250 Soundcore Increase 2 Plus. However what neither of these audio system has is the Blast 2’s big 200 watts of energy, and that counts for lots should you’re available in the market for quantity.

The Storm 2’s beefy body, gigantic capability for noise, and its waterproof score make it a superb choice for weekends within the woods, partying on the seaside or by the pool, or establishing tunes within the yard. It’s received wonderful sound, choices for tweaking because of XBass and EQ customization choices, and enjoyable, shiny LED lighting, delivering the true bundle in terms of Bluetooth growth bins.