Anker’s Soundcore Rave Neo review: This under-$100 portable party speaker sounds surprisingly good

Anker has been earning some remarkably good moveable Bluetooth speakers for $100. Not much too very long in the past I reviewed the Soundcore Motion Plus ($100), which is a small even larger than your regular compact wireless speaker, but delivers daring sound for its size with plump bass. The Rave Neo is a distinctive beast — it can be referred to as a “occasion speaker” and has a constructed-in cope with and LEDs — but it, much too, expenditures $100 and packs some good punch.

Anker describes the sound as “colossal.” I would not go rather that far, but it can perform very loud — it can be rated at fifty watts, for no matter what that spec is truly worth — and pushes out a good serving to of bass (it appears best with the BassUp bass improve method always activated). The sound isn’t really particularly refined, but the sound profile functions effectively outdoors or in a even larger house for the reason that the bass will get dispersed and loses a great deal of its bloat. In other terms, it can be a speaker that appears superior if you are not standing appropriate next to it. A little bit of length is superior. That mentioned, Anker does have an Indoor listening method in the speaker’s companion application alongside with other EQ options, so you can perform all around a little bit with the sound.

This is a mono speaker with a 4-inch woofer, 2-inch tweeter and a passive bass port. It weighs 7.7 lbs and is effortless to lug all around, thanks to its built-in cope with. With a IPX7 h2o-resistance rating, it can be water-proof and can be entirely submerged for a quick time in shallow h2o (in situation you come about to fall it in the pool). Battery everyday living is rated at up to 18 hours at moderate quantity stages. That selection will fall significantly must you crank items up.

If you are so inclined, you can hyperlink with up to 100 other Rave Neo or Soundcore Flare ($forty five) speakers and sync the audio as effectively as the lights to produce a clubby ambiance. The LEDs can be programmed from a companion application for iOS and Android and you will find also a button on the speaker itself for tweaking the lighting. An audio enter and USB demand-out are hidden under a gasket and the speaker rates by using USB-C. It’s outfitted with Bluetooth five., and I had no problems pairing and re-pairing with the speaker.

Anker has unveiled other lighted moveable occasion speakers, which include the Soundcore Trance ($one hundred fifty). There was meant to be a version of this speaker devoid of lights (not everyone likes or needs them) referred to as the Trance Go, but that model appears to be shelved and likely will never appear out. You can switch the lights Rave Neo’s lights off if you do locate them irritating.

Other companies make “occasion” speakers with LEDs, and I’ve tested some from JBL and Sony. They have a tendency to be extra costly than this model and really don’t sound any superior. I have not tested Sony’s new SRS-XB43, which is an Additional Bass model that retails for $250, but the notion isn’t really so distinctive from this: major sound in a fairly compact package deal with an emphasis on bass and the inclusion of flashy lights. The Sony might be constructed superior — and quite possibly maintain up superior about time — but it can be definitely a great deal extra costly.

The very long and quick of it is that the Soundcore Rave Neo is an superb worth if you are looking for an economical speaker that you can use on the patio, get to the seaside or tailgate with. It also functions just good inside of, but, as I mentioned, its sound profile is a small extra geared to out of doors use.