[section_title title=”Performance and Testing”]
Performance and Testing
It has taken me a long time to write this review, with a lot more testing than I would usually do… This is often down to two completely opposite reasons either I really like a product and continue playing around with it longer than I really need to, or I don’t like it and I spend ages trying to find it’s good points (if any).
The Gear4 Soundwave’s testing period was unfortunately prolonged due to the second reason, it does have it’s good points but it also has numerous problems. Let’s start with the good before moving on to the bad and the ugly.
The look and feel of the speaker are quite appealing. It is well made and the plastic casing feels soft to the touch which is great not only when you handle the speaker but also making it almost completely fingerprint-proof. It is also fairly large and has some serious weight to it which again gives the impression of good quality components being used, not always the case in reality of course, but there’s a voice in the back of my head that shouts “Weight equals quality,” and I’m not alone in that. You are not going to get this in your jeans pocket or even want to carry it from room to room very often, but planted in place without having to attach it to a permanent stereo it looks good. With the amount of internal volume (capacity, not sound level) that the Soundwave has, Gear4 could have filled this with awesome drivers allowing for the full range of audio to be perfectly performed, but that is not what happened here – after all it is an entry level product.
Another good point is that the volume buttons are separate from the track controls. The number of times I’ve changed track when actually trying to turn it up is beyond counting but here it is a thing of the past and that is something that I think other manufacturers should take note of and include in their products. Multi-function is great and all that, but not if it affects performance. Also connectivity was flawless, both Bluetooth to my phone and PC and AUX to the TV connected without any problems at all.
The bad, well that’s covered in three simple words: Six Hour Battery. What were they thinking, when a lightweight speaker utilizing Bluetooth 4.0 can give up to 20 hours and more depending on the drivers used and total battery capacity, releasing this with just six hours worth of playback is ridiculous. The weight of the Gear4 Soundwave makes you think it’s all battery and magnetic goodness, but I can only assume it’s been fitted with the tiniest battery that they could find at the back of a warehouse. I’m sure you know where this is going next, and sadly the rest of the weight isn’t made up from magnificent drivers, I can only assume it’s concrete.
The ugly. It is after all a budget bluetooth speaker, £40 being more or less the entry point unless you just want a single driver and little to no chance of any bass. Yet I have had a fair amount of experience with budget speakers of late and I can say without a shadow of doubt none have performed this badly when it comes to the sound produced. I have gone through weeks of Youtube music videos as well as my own music library of around 20,000 tracks ranging from AC/DC to ZZ Top, Adam Ant to Weezer, and through all the bands in between repeating the process at different volume levels to try to find the sweet spot. Frankly they almost all sounded terrible. The only exceptions seemed to be the likes of Enya, Sadé and the occasional acoustic or choral track from random artists. This is because not only does the Gear4 produce almost no bass it also gives a hollow, haunting, ghostly rendition of whatever you are trying to play through it. This works great for ‘a capella’ songs and spoken word and I’ve had it plugged into my TV for a few weeks of the extended testing which worked rather well, but if music is your thing and you want not only the bass but also the band to be heard then this is not the speaker for you. Sadly, even as a TV speaker the Soundwave falls flat because of its 6 hour battery. In a busy house where the telly is almost permanently in use, having to charge the speaker twice a day was frustrating to say the least unless you can leave it plugged in to charge permanently.
