Oluv's interactive speaker database

Non-car discussion, now for everyone
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Oluv's interactive speaker database

Post by kevm14 »

Returned the second Motion+. The EQ inconsistency was even more annoying and cumbersome in dual mode. Plus the range is pretty bad in dual mode. It sounded decent though. But I think I'm happier with one for $80 than two for $160.

In other news, Oluv compared the new JBL Partybox 100 to the now 4 year old Aiwa Exos-9 indoors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EElNYJ-58fM

It is what I expected. The Aiwa is more refined and more detailed. Basically more HiFi. The JBL is made to crank dance and hip-hop outdoors and it certainly does a good job at that. So after all of that I think I STILL want the Aiwa. Listen with good headphones and it is very easy to see how these sound because it is recorded with a high quality binaural mic on a fake head.

Oh and he showed the frequency response of the JBL. Not terrible but the fatal flaw is up in the 10k-12k range. It is just weird and you can see the peaks and valleys which makes it sound metallic, as Oluv put it. Outside when cranked, who cares. Inside when you care more about sound quality (or perhaps at non-blasting volumes) I think the Aiwa is still better. Still hard to believe it came out in 2015. It is a good speaker. No EQ issues. No range issues (even in dual mode they'll go like 100 feet apart which is pretty crazy)....yeah.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Oluv's interactive speaker database

Post by kevm14 »

Interesting.
I have two Exos-9's paired together. They are three years old. They have been through 6 bike wrecks and still sound like they are right out of the box. I have lots of extra batteries to go all weekend on camping outings along highway 1. The search for the perfect speaker finally ended for me the day I bought these and I bought shitloads of portable speakers since 2006. The Exos 9's pair purchase was the best money I ever spent in my life. Anyone that buys these will not be sorry. You really will be blown away with the quality of the sound that is also block party loud. One Exos-9 is amazing on it's own. But when you pair two together there is no going back! And they are way tougher then they look because mine have been to hell and back.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Oluv's interactive speaker database

Post by kevm14 »

New firmware for my Motion+. 33.35 seems to have solved my EQ issue. I can now wholeheartedly recommend this speaker for the $80 sale and even still at $100. If you want more sound than this, you will absolutely need to spend more money. And you can pay more for quieter, worse sounding speakers also, according to all of my research.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Oluv's interactive speaker database

Post by kevm14 »

After using it the rest of vacation, I wanted to sort of post my thoughts on extended use in a variety of environments.

Because I haven't separated the threads, the speaker to which I am referring is the Anker Soundcore Motion+. Long name...

Overall I am still very impressed and happy with this speaker. I am glad I got it. It pretty much replaces my old TDK with louder volumes and more bass (and deeper bass) plus a battery that actually lasts. Perfect speaker, imo, to throw in a suitcase on vacation to have portable tunes. I used it in some obvious locations:
- In the cottage where it sounded quite strong in a small wooden house
- Outside the cottage while grilling and stuff, and again, I could not turn it up all the way without being obnoxious to other folks around (Jamie was pretty much always making me turn it down) so despite the size it is plenty loud for many situations
- At the beach.
- On the paddle boat with Ian out on Conway Lake

Some more specific commentary:
- The new firmware update has been working perfectly with regard to the EQ settings and everything else. Very pleased.
- Being an acoustic device, and being small, it does matter where you place it from a bass perspective. It works better on the ground or similar hard surface or like close to something for the rear port to fire off of. At the lake beach there was a 3 foot retaining wall before the sand. I placed the speaker on the edge of the ground before the wall and it actually sounded very impressive 10 feet away or so. I noted some surprising bass notes that are hard to believe this thing can reproduce.
- I will say I do find the range a little on the short side. I have done no research but I wonder if the aptX protocol has less range being a higher bandwidth lossless codec
- The amplification is very clean, notably so. Like, you can hear how clean it sounds if that makes sense...
- I don't know what the magic sauce is. It is probably just a combination of the following:
- high density/efficiency/power class D bi-amplification (separate amp channels for tweeters)
- Some actual R&D on the enclosure/porting/passive radiator
- Quality drivers now available at this price point
- Good DSP
- I guess I should mention aptX bluetooth which helps with the distortion-free sound reproduction

At the $80 price point I continue to be impressed.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Oluv's interactive speaker database

Post by kevm14 »

I just wanted to update. I continue to love this speaker. I use only the custom EQ settings I got from the subject Youtube channel and it just sounds great. It's got high end, low end, and quality/smooth midrange. It's just impressive. Battery is doing well. Had a firmware update or two but not sure what it did. The issues I had originally were fixed a while back and never reappeared.

The signal range is not impressive but I still can't figure out where to place the blame. My phone? The speaker? A byproduct of the lossless BT aptX codec stuff? If it's the latter, it's 100% worth it because it sounds absolutely great, as opposed to BT streaming before this.

Still stand by not keeping both. Stereo is cool but juggling two speakers is not cool.

Placement is key to bass response. Certain environments suck the bass out of it but guess what - that's just acoustics/physics. But a lot of the time it is pretty easy to place it to get good sound and even placed in the middle of a room it still pounds out some impressive audio levels.

I have no real desire/need for anything more than this at this time. It is sitting at $99.99 on Amazon, however there is a 15% coupon so $85. Highly recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Soundcore- ... 522&sr=8-2

Here are the settings I've stuck with. I don't use anything else.
Screenshot_20200124-142851.png
My description of what I see visually (i.e. why it works) is that there is some boominess at mid-bass which the lower levels reduce, but then low bass has to be boosted back up. Sort of a similar thing in mid-treble. Too much brightness (might call it the JBL sound), but then have to boost the top end to get some sparkle/detail back. Mid range also needs a tweak because of lowering on either side, to get that back flat. I think that's about right. At close range you can just hear the quality. It is immediately recognizable.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Oluv's interactive speaker database

Post by kevm14 »

kevm14 wrote: Sat Jul 27, 2019 8:40 pm Returned the second Motion+. The EQ inconsistency was even more annoying and cumbersome in dual mode. Plus the range is pretty bad in dual mode. It sounded decent though. But I think I'm happier with one for $80 than two for $160.

In other news, Oluv compared the new JBL Partybox 100 to the now 4 year old Aiwa Exos-9 indoors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EElNYJ-58fM

It is what I expected. The Aiwa is more refined and more detailed. Basically more HiFi. The JBL is made to crank dance and hip-hop outdoors and it certainly does a good job at that. So after all of that I think I STILL want the Aiwa. Listen with good headphones and it is very easy to see how these sound because it is recorded with a high quality binaural mic on a fake head.

Oh and he showed the frequency response of the JBL. Not terrible but the fatal flaw is up in the 10k-12k range. It is just weird and you can see the peaks and valleys which makes it sound metallic, as Oluv put it. Outside when cranked, who cares. Inside when you care more about sound quality (or perhaps at non-blasting volumes) I think the Aiwa is still better. Still hard to believe it came out in 2015. It is a good speaker. No EQ issues. No range issues (even in dual mode they'll go like 100 feet apart which is pretty crazy)....yeah.
Remember that time? Well I just impulse bought the JBL Partybox 100. Why? Because the price dropped to $200 2 days ago (from $250 and higher before that). That was enough for me. I did another round of youtube reviews and it is definitely leading the competition for outside sound at the $200 price point. Not the greatest inside but I don't really need it inside.

My Soundcore Motion+ is still fantastic and even though the output is impressive, it doesn't exactly fill the outdoors with full range sound, though I think it's enough for a deck or something. Also I guess the Aiwa is better inside but I don't really need anything for that.

At the $100 price point for an outside speaker, I do recommend the Anker Soundcore Rave Neo/Trance Go (marketing differences). It's a decent unit. However the bigger Anker Soundcores are not good, unfortunately.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Oluv's interactive speaker database

Post by kevm14 »

Sold out on JBL.com.

May still be available from other sources: https://slickdeals.net/f/14573335-jbl-p ... e-shipping
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Oluv's interactive speaker database

Post by kevm14 »

I got my JBL Partybox 100 today. It came with like 4/5 bars of battery so good to use immediately.

I played with it inside for a while but placement in my square room is hard (as it is for any speaker) because of standing waves and stuff (acoustics are acoustics). Then I went outside. That's when it really got impressive. It definitely retained some actual bass outside. Obviously the sound thins as you walk away but you can hear actual bass notes outside, especially when placed off a wall like my house. Two of these would be pretty amazing but unneeded 95% of the time, so not worth the extra expense and hassle.

There is some bass limiting when it gets toward max and at max. No clipping. These modern Class D amplifiers are pretty nifty. Very efficient. Class D: not just for subs anymore. A lot has changed in 20 years. That's how it plays for 12 hours at like 50% volume on just 4 18650 cells.

The range outside is quite good if you are holding the phone. I'd say probably 100 feet is possible even though the spec is only 33 ft. With the phone in my pocket, range decreased, especially when putting my body between my phone and the speaker. This is normal but range was still probably 2-4x what it is on the Motion+ so overall much better there. Plus the sound. It's a big sound and sort of reminds me of a PA/sound reinforcement type sound. Not super refined (compared to like high end HiFi equipment) but full and loud nonetheless. I mean it's got bass, mids and treble. You could do a LOT worse. And at the $200 price point, everything is worse, period. It is probably the best even at $300, for outside environments, in terms of filling an outside space with full range sound. I feel like it probably went down to 50 Hz or so which is pretty impressive. Actually I have the spec here: 45hz to 18 khz at -6dB. -6dB is cheating so it would be narrower at a standard -3dB drop. But probably still in the 50s if I had to guess based on the way it sounds. The high end rolls off by spec and some curves I've seen, but my ~40 year old ears really didn't seem to care for what this is. Doesn't sound muffled in the slightest. In fact treble is generally a bit boosted and clear so no issues there.

Then I brought it back inside, placed it differently, closer to a wall, and plugged it in. Wow. Definitely gains another 2-3 dB plugged in, you can hear it immediately. Also there is less bass limiting. The extra wattage is noticeable. When cranked up it filled my 24x24 great room with enough audio power that you'd have to shout to hear someone or otherwise be extremely close. There was even bass carried outside of the room. Very impressive. Bass boost on some songs was too much. So sometimes I liked it better with no boost. Other kinds of music I'd turn it back on. It has a second bass boost mode that adds mid-bass but I'd say that would be good for older recordings like old classic rock and stuff. For more modern music, the first mode boosts lower bass but as I said can be too much depending on your taste and the track (and the room situation).

Anyway this thing is no joke and I'm very happy with it so far. For general outside use while doing stuff, at way less than max volume, it is exactly what I wanted and will more than suffice. Good buy.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Oluv's interactive speaker database

Post by kevm14 »

I guess I take back what I said about not using inside. Turns out it sounds good inside even at lower volumes. I stashed it sort of behind the tree and it effortlessly fills the house with good sound, and with bass boost on, makes it seem like there may even be a hidden sub somewhere. Nice.
20201128_153738.jpg
Very happy with purchase.

I also demo'd for Bill at his house. I think he was impressed. He tried his guitar on it as well. Not too bad. The gain knobs for mic and guitar are actually absolute volume knobs. They are completely independent from the main volume and even bass boost.

Hopefully he picks one up and we can try pairing them outside. Should be pretty awesome.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Oluv's interactive speaker database

Post by kevm14 »

Just a quick note as I have been using the PB100 inside. Sitting close to it, it can reach unbearable volumes and really pounds out some bass. It's cool to be able to bring this kind of audio power to any room. However at lower volumes it still does a good job. They may have done a loudness curve here because it seems to be a full sound even at lower volumes. Awesome.

I also went back to my Motion+ for a bit. First impressions: where'd the bass go?! It just can't muster the kind of low end punch that the JBL can and that should be no surprise. It's got a lot less power and, maybe more importantly, size. However, and perhaps because they give you an EQ with the app, I still find the sound (aside from the low end) to be smoother and more refined. It really packs some impressive sound quality and can still get pretty loud. It just can't fill a room with bass you can feel. But it is a HELL of a lot more portable, AND water proof. It has its place still.
Post Reply