WAE BTP02 - Hercules Mobile Wireless Speaker
Lyrical preface
On the occasion, as they say "to play", got a wireless audio speaker WAE * BTP02 from Hercules or as declared by the manufacturer himself - "Mobile wireless speaker".
WAE * - Wireless Audio Experience
I myself am a supporter of classic stereo systems of the form: source - integrated stereo amplifier - passive speakers. But life does not stand still, and technology every day gives something new, so I really wanted to check something similar, and even with such declared characteristics as this model.
Technical details
All technical data can be studied on the official website of Hercules
Equipment
Bluetooth® speaker
Power adapter
Instructions for use (including Russian)
Warranty certificate (I did not get one)
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Positioning
Judging by the commercial and brief information on the Hercules website, the focus is primarily on the young and energetic generation of people. And of course, first of all, those of them who connect the entire multimedia component of their life with smartphones or tablets.
I decided to write out all the points on which the manufacturer focuses our attention, because in many information sources they also pay attention, and it will be interesting to check!
So:
• Created for everyone to whom the iPhone® (or smartphone) serves as a music player.
Forget cable connections with built-in Bluetooth® wireless technology. Stream music from your iPhone®. You can also transfer music to the speaker from other Bluetooth® enabled devices (smartphone, tablet, or computer).
• Unique design - modern and ergonomic. Using the speaker handle is convenient to transfer from room to room.
• Select WAE * in your favorite color and enjoy the Wireless Audio Audio Experience. The speaker comes in two colors: black and white.
• Exceptional battery life - up to 20 hours of non-stop music at medium volume **.
• Best-in-class Bluetooth® technology delivers amazing sound quality and a comfortable range in the home.
• Clear and crisp stereo sound — peak power up to 25 watts.
• Effects Stereo Wide (Stereo Enhanced) and Bass Boost (Bass Boost).
• Improved bass reproduction is provided by a hole in the back and two 1-liter insulated air chambers.
• One 3.5 mm mini jack line-in jack for connecting an MP3 player or any other audio device.
• Thanks to a convenient specialized application (compatible with iOS® and Android TM) it is possible to remotely control the speaker. The application offers the following features:
speaker control (volume, audio effects, on and off);
listening to stored music and free Internet radio stations presented in the application;
use equalizer to adjust music
Brief introduction
The device itself I received in a cylindrical box, which immediately caused my association with boxes for ladies' hats. By the way, a fairly good printing is applied to the box and, in general, the box looks pretty presentable, we will take this into account for the future.
There is nothing special to unpack and consider here for a long time, so the device was immediately used for verification.
Unfortunately, the built-in battery of the speaker was initially discharged, and I immediately had to use a charger, when connected to the center of the speaker, the corresponding indicator in the form of a battery lights up.
With the connection no difficulties should arise, the buttons and connectors are the minimum number, the purpose of which is understandable initially.
Brief digression
I already wrote that I have a stereo system, where the source is ... iPhone 4, which, due to the slowness of the new software, was degraded from a smartphone to an audio player with the main purpose - playing Internet radio. To create a relaxed atmosphere while working, I mostly listen to the Lounge channel.
The player itself is connected to the amplifier with a 3.5mm mini-jack cable, since no wireless sound transmission technology has been on my amplifier since birth.
Wireless testing. Start
Considering the main purpose of the speaker is a long wireless life, and also considering the inscriptions on the Made for iPOD / iPhone packaging, I follow the recommendations of the manufacturer and connect iPhone to the speaker via Bluetooth.
The connection process is quite simple and fast, compliance with the instruction is one-to-one. At that moment, when the apple smartphone saw and connected the speaker via Bluetooth, he immediately happily told me that there is a specially trained application, they say, install it - you will not regret it!
Well, it is necessary, so it is necessary - installed.
We will deal with the application a little later, I was more interested in how things are going with the music?
I turn on the Internet radio - the speaker pleases with a pleasant and surround sound. Smooth and informative middle, moderately detailed top, the bass is not deep, but well designed. However, this is just Internet radio and apparently the speaker is not very actively demonstrating its abilities while working with such a load. We need a more serious format check, say with the help of Flac.
So, we will check further! Here I will make a reservation that the iPhone as a “smartphone for music”, I use only for Internet radio. To play "technically correct" music in field conditions, I prefer a smartphone on Android. This smartphone is always with me, it is always easy to go there and from any source you can put the music I need, and it can play lossless format in the face of the aforementioned Flac!
So it's your time,
Download and install software - all without problems.
Distracted by software
Due to the fact that further testing was supposed to be long and more thorough, I decided to study in more detail what kind of additional features the software offers us. And these features are as follows:
In the main menu we are offered three main sections (Fig. 1):
1) "Dynamics Parameters"
2) "Sound parameters"
3) "Audio Player"
In the “Dynamics Parameters” section, we are offered the following features (Fig. 2):
1) Data dynamics - when you click displays information on the firmware and the name of the device itself
2) Online Services - when pressed, it is suggested to choose through which types of connection we can use these services (Wi-Fi or 3G)
3) Turn off the speaker - the ability to remotely turn off the speaker
4) Sleep mode (Fig. 5) - pressing this button, you can choose how long the speaker “falls asleep”, the maximum delay time is 240 minutes, the installation step is 30 minutes when set to 120 minutes and after 120 immediately 240 minutes
In the “Sound Parameters” section, we are offered a software timbre (Fig. 6) with one user setup and five presets from the manufacturer:
1) At the user's choice (customize yourself as you see fit)
2) Rock
3) Electro
4) Pop
5) Jazz
6) Default (flat characteristic)
The “Music Player” section opens playlists for us (Fig. 7)
I used "Albums on the device," because the rest had no time to get.
When you select a specific track for playback, a black status bar appears at the bottom with the name of this track (fig. 9), if you tap on the status bar, the full playback control interface of the track (pic. 10) opens (if you tap it again) go down. If you need additional functions, like say a voice block, tap it where the big note is shown (fig.11).
In all the previous sections, you can always click on the upper right corporate brand "W" and get (for example) on the page of the main sections (Fig. 12)
Wireless testing. Continuation
He said: “Let's go! He waved his hand.
In the software timbre block I set the default value.
I started checking the dynamics with the Irish group U2. Even at the time of the hi-fi hobby, I liked to check the acoustics with U2 tracks, some musical moments of this group can be a dead end and much stronger representatives from the world of acoustics.
Rock - U2 “Achtung baby”, the composition “One” (flac) is generally sound at the height, vocals without lies, at high frequencies there is a slight uncertainty in the form of jitter, the middle closer to the bottoms is not very confident, the clarity of sound is lost, given the status, size and the design of acoustics can be forgiven. High frequencies do not cause fatigue from excessive voicing, a bit simplified, however, they are relatively detailed for acoustics without tweeters. The middle as a whole causes the least questions. Nisa, here we are talking about the upper bass, if the acoustics and comes below, then the maximum in the upper zone of the middle bass. For the bass, however, restrictions are imposed in the form of the displacement of the acoustics and bass reflex performance, however, the bass is neat, there is no “podguzhivany” at the very bottom, there are no obvious distortions at maximum volume.
On compositions with an active tempo, the lower middle and upper bass suffer a little, light porridge is obtained, but this is all about how it should be, ideally, and higher-class acoustics.
Next on the Rap program - Slim Thug "Boss of All Boses" (flac)
Here both the drums are more measured and the tempo is clear, there should be good results.
That's right, they cope high, tsykaniya as it should be and as many like, vocals are open but slightly clarified, on the whole, everything is in its place on this material, but there is a slight confusion as before in the lower middle and at the upper middle range. deficiencies can be corrected by software timbre. The general rhythm is maintained. In general, due to the lack of a lower bass, a slightly clarified character of sound transmission is obtained.
Folk Metal - Kivimetsan Druidi "Betrayal, Justice, Revenge" (MP3, 245kBit)
Surprisingly, I did not expect that there would be such an interesting sound of such material on this dynamic. It was assumed in advance that this test would fail, but the speaker coped with a fast pace. Female vocals, to be honest, lie a little on bottoms, but again you have to take into account the size of the speaker, I was surprised by the result of this test. Frankly speaking, I liked Black (Folk) on this column, I even listened to a few things beyond the intended “program”, for personal pleasure. Pretty emotional sound and good rhythm.
Country - Cowboy Junkies "Renmin Park" , I really liked the sound of country music, apparently the lack of fast rhythms did not cause shortcomings of the edges of the middle range and due to the absolutely working middle, the vocals turned out to be a very natural and plastic, well-developed instrumental part. In general, a very pleasant impression of listening to this material on this dynamic.
Electronic - Depeche Mode “Sound of the Universe” CD1 (MP3, 245kBit) completed the test marathon, I did not hear any problems. There was also a slightly clarified character of the sound.
In conclusion, I decided to check the Internet radio and on Android, I had to use the service from Yandex Music.
Oddly enough, but the Internet radio, in particular from this service plays very well! Apparently the player from Yandex very carefully sharpened to a compressed sound.
I tried the electronic music channel. There is a lot of lows, you can say a lot, a good rhythm, a light “bubnezh” appears at the very bottom of the bass, which the speaker gives out, the middle is open, voices without much confusion in the upper part, at the top, as is customary for compressed formats - at least overall impression of a pleasant sound that you can listen to for a long time. Actually, that is what is needed from the main task of Internet radio.
I want to note that the speaker was auditioned for three days, and all three days it worked exclusively on the built-in battery!
Additionally, I would like to note the very good and stable operation of the Bluetooth connection itself, despite the anomalous features of my apartment, where even the GSM connection “falls off” by itself during the moments of moving between the rooms.
It turned out that putting the next Internet radio channel to check the sound, I automatically put the smartphone in my pocket and went to the kitchen, after a while, I noticed that the smartphone is with me, and the music still plays without interruption! And let it be only 5 meters in a straight line (and not 10 as the manufacturer claims), but these 5 meters lie through two concrete walls. Good or bad, judge for yourself. For comparison, I will say that Logitech wireless Bluetooth headphones, when I go to the kitchen, no longer hold such a connection.
Also, no problems were caused by the Bluetooth connection between the speaker and the laptop, both in terms of stability and in terms of the sound of the speaker itself.
In conclusion, the wireless part, I note that, apparently, the developers of this device seriously approached the issue of optimizing the sound quality of music when streaming via Bluetooth. And this is logical, otherwise the meaning is so “loud” to highlight on the Wireless Audio Experience box.
Wire testing
Recalling that the speaker has the possibility of a wired connection, I decided to check this feature. For verification, I returned to the iPhone, connected it with an analog 3.5mm mini jack cable, turned on the Internet radio.
I'm starting to listen ... hmmm weird, it feels like a different speaker.
The middle seems to be the same, but there were deterioration in the sound, female and male voices on the first impressions were normal. Already more lame lower middle frequency range, then we can say a clear mess.
Niza, the upper bass is slightly inflated, the middle bass is loose and further culturally trimmed "to no."
Most of the questions were caused by the high-frequency range, the very top is cut off, in the rest of the part there was sharpness and at the same time something resembling rattling.
Throwing off all the troubles on the heavily compressed mp3 format, I decided that I needed something more serious than the Internet stream through the iPhone! I had to plug in my budget CD player NAD C515 BEE, and with the words “it’s better than mp3 via iPhone”, I continued testing.
The first to put a CD with Depeche Mode. Well, yes, I hear - now the CD is working. The mids are quite self. But the situation with the lower and upper range only complicated. And if the lower range still held, the upper range was not at all good, and this was especially noticeable at fast rates.
Deciding to check this trend, I put Black Metal, on this the upper frequency range finally gave up, he just did not have time to digest such a pace.
Then I decided to put quieter rhythms, a CD from TELARC with Dave Brubeck quartet, defused the situation at a calm pace, obvious problems with the upper range are gone, but everything that was agreed upon earlier in terms of frequency characteristics is present.
Following the results of wired testing, I can say that the wired interface, to be honest, has done more “for a tick”, and it’s not worth counting on a serious sound when using it. The only justification for its presence, in my opinion, is when you really need to connect a source that does not have Bluetooth by nature.
Demobling chord
Above the supposed “program”, he decided to compare this “loner” and his “sleeping” microsystem from Pioneer in the face of X-HM20, which at one time was bought as a good value for money - sound quality - possibility. This is also interesting from the point of cost of the systems, they (as it turned out later) are approximately on the same level, Pioneer is a bit more expensive.
A CD with Depeche Mode was installed in Pioneer, and the tracks digitized to MP3 with a bit rate of 245 kbit and squeezed from the same CD were put on the smartphone.
The speakers are set at approximately the same level. And on both systems, using timbres, the sound was corrected by approximately one key.
It should be noted that the expansion of the stereo base does work noticeably for WAE, the scene turned out to be slightly wider than that of Pioneer, but more compressed in depth. When comparing, he once again emphasized the not very confident sound of the middle at the edges of the range, and the stiffer bass due to the absence of the lower component. But keep in mind that the comparison is not very honest, Pioneer has more advantages due to more full-fledged speakers and a larger displacement of each speaker, besides the source is a CD and not an MP3.
But the result of such testing completely suited me, considering all the above points.
In conclusion of this part, we can say that the sound of the wireless speaker is confidently at the level of micro or even some budget mini systems.
Debriefing
Now it would be good to consider scenarios of using this column Who, where and when will it be used?
Where and when
In principle, there are many options, they are limited by your imagination and the fact that this column is not positioned specifically for the street, as evidenced by its appearance of varnish. However, on a sunny day, no one bothers to take it on the street.
The main feature of this speaker is that it can be moved in space without wires and up to 8 devices can be connected to it!
Let's say you work in the same room, light music for the background. Then you need to move to the kitchen for cooking dumplings, move the speaker to a new destination without interrupting the connection wires. Guests came, not only that the music immediately and here, so you can also listen to new tracks on smartphones from friends and with the “full” sound quality.
I even took this speaker with me to the garage so that I could listen to music while I was busy with the car. By the way, and you can grab the cottage, but with reservations for transportation.
Who
And here the question is much more interesting! And the time has come to recall the price of the speaker. And the price on the territory of Russia, according to preliminary searches in the Internet, is about 6 thousand rubles.
It turns out rather strange, the main contingent is the youth, but the cost does not imply "poor students", to whom, by the way, this speaker would be the way!
If we recall the good quality of the packaging mentioned above and the ability to connect several devices, there is a good option - a gift to friends. Because here you can fold collectively, and the gift itself is quite substantial and relevant. Personally, I like this idea. Yes, and then you can also come to visit and share the news from the musical repertoire. A good option.
Or the option “one for all, we will not keep up with the price”, one speaker to the office space for friendly employees, the repertoire of the day “by agreement”.
Yes, and my wife apparently would be happy if I gave her such a gift for use in the kitchen. The smartphone is always nearby and, by the way, it's a remote control, Internet radio is a simple and affordable option for background music.
Undocumented features
When an incoming call, the music is paused, after the end of the conversation, the music continues to play. This also needs to be taken into account, because sometimes this fact may not be desirable if all the time you are called and there are constant pauses for guests, it’s more logical to use a portable media player or tablet.
The speaker is not square, it is not very convenient to transport it just like that in a car - it will ride. If you plan to transport the speaker from place to place, it is better to keep the native box.
There is one drawback with a wired connection, if the 3.5mm connector is long, the speaker will not rest on the back foot, but on the cable connector, here it is:
Try different software players on your smartphone, the native software does not always produce the most “best” sound, sometimes the best results were achieved when playing third-party software, especially if we are talking about Lossless audio format.
In terms of maximum volume, this speaker is enough to sound the room from 10 to 15 meters with excess, provided that the recording level of the material itself is normal. Those. it is possible to “turn on”, I am not listening to music at such a loudness in everyday life, for emotional youth, perhaps, it will be just right.
It will be more difficult to drown out a room of 20-25m in size with such a speaker, but it is quite possible to use it for not loud background music during a holiday or other feast.
Certification
Let's now go over the items that I wrote above and on which the manufacturer especially focuses attention:
• Indeed “Created for everyone to whom an iPhone® (or smartphone) serves as a music player”
• Really "Forget about cable connections"
• Really Unique Design - modern and ergonomic, easy to carry by the handle and in the truth, but there is no transportation (well, no one promised).
• Really “Exceptional battery life - up to 20 hours of music non-stop at medium volume”
• “Clean and crisp stereo sound” - yes, if we evaluate in terms of comparison with classmates. Of course there are flaws in the sound. But in general, the sound is pleasant, so we put the "offset"
• “Stereo Wide Effects (Stereo Enhanced)” is really present, which is clearly seen in comparison with entry-level stereo micro systems.
• “Thanks to a convenient specialized application (compatibility with iOS® and AndroidTM) it is possible to remotely control the speaker” - the application is really convenient.
Sentence
We can safely say that the manufacturer correctly implemented the positioning of the product on the market, namely the youth, active users of smartphones, are the target audience of this dynamics in the first place. However, in my opinion, other options are possible.
Also note that the key points voiced by the manufacturer are true.
And if you are satisfied with the pricing policy of Hercules on the Russian market, as well as the size and design of the speaker itself, then in terms of sound, you can safely recommend this speaker for purchase.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/232551/
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