The SuperTooth Disco is a 28 watt portable Bluetooth Stereo speaker retailing at $150 . Wireless Portable speakers for mobile phones are not a new thing and there are many good speaker manufacturers in the market like Creative. But the very fact that this one retails at a low price compared to the rest and also is being marketed as external speaker for Apple products interests us. Talking of bluetooth speakers, it’s about how loud music it can play with minimal distortion. Now how much power this speaker actually packs in?
Let’s take a look …
In the box:
- Portable Bluetooth Speaker
- Protective Neoprene carrying case
- 3.5 mm audio cable
- Charger
- User Manual
Design and Features:
Well to begin with lets talk about the physical aspect of the speaker. It has a very ergonomical design, with the dual 8-watt speaker in the front which is hidden by a tough mesh screen.The speaker houses 5 buttons in the front. One for switching on/off and bluetooth pairing (an led indicator here helps pairing), rewind, forward, play-pause, and the bass on button. It has a volume knob in the centre which I found very smooth to use. An internal 12-watt subwoofer is located in the back.
The back also houses the charging point alongwith the 3.5 mm audio jack and charging status led indicator. There are rubber fittings on the sides to protect and the bottom for grip purpose which is useful while using the buttons on the speaker. The speaker is quite heavy and large to carry around outdoors.
We loved the Neoprene cover for the speakers; its very convenient to use the speakers with the cover on it. Also the cover has very good padding in the front to protect from damage. The back of the cover also has convenient open slots to reveal the charging and Aux-in slots. The built of the charger looks cheap in front of the speakers and they could have provided with a longer audio cable.
Performance:
Pairing the device is fairly easy and is facilitated with the help of the led light in the front panel which turns red/blue to indicate pairing mode and turn blue to confirm pairing. It also saves upto 5 devices in its memory which helps you to swap or change devices to play your music conveniently.
Now coming to the most critical aspect and the moment of truth for us i.e the audio output quality of these speakers. The speaker was tested in two modes:
1. Connected with the cable
The audio was sufficiently loud to be heard in my house and office. The volume is also 25% louder than in the bluetooth mode. At full volume its loud enough to have your neighbor at your door complaining. More importantly quality of the music is crisp and clear; even at full volume. And personally that was amazing. The bass also lives up to expectation even at full volume. (Of course the use of the bass changes so does its performance depending on the kind/genre of music you are playing on it)
2. Wirelessly via Bluetooth
Being a portable speaker this is the more important part function of the speaker and we were going to be more critical about it. The performance of the device in the wired mode had raised our hopes.
But to our disappointment we found that the output is at only 75% of the wired mode. Thouh still loud enough to be heard in the house or your office rooms. Another let down is that the speaker distinctly starts distorting once beyond its 75% capacity in the wireless mode. (Perhaps more because A2DP Bluetooth isn’t yet capable of streaming music of high quality)
Overall performance of the SuperTooth Disco is more than satisfactory considering the outstanding sound quality output achieved in the wired mode and the decent show it managed in the bluetooth mode as well. Coupled with the innovative controls and the price factor leaves us more than impressed.
Battery life:
The charging time as claimed by the manufacturer is 3 hours. As mentioned earlier the speaker is a delight in the wired mode and this holds true even in the case of its battery life. It lasts for full four hours at full volume and around 9 hours at 50% volume.
The battery slightly underperforms in the wireless mode where the battery lasts a mere 3 hours at full volume and about 7 hours at 50%. Personally the speakers have a decent battery life compared to other brands available in the market.
Our Verdict:
In my opinion the speakers are loud enough for personal entertainment (yes they can be a very good home theater substitute as well) or good enough even for small parties. I would definitely not recommend these for outdoor parties. The innovative controls on the speaker coupled with the battery life is refreshingly surprising (and works great for us in our cluttered office space)
Being priced at $150 the Super Tooth provides you full value for every penny you invest in it.
OG rating for SuperTooth Disco is 4 out of 5 🙂 (We loved it…)
PS: The speakers were tested wirelessly with a Dell Inspiron laptop, iPhone 4 and Nokia 5310.
Visit SuperTooth Disco Homepage
