by Jayden Leggett, Editor

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, let me start this off this review by simply saying “Prepare to be dazzled”, because that is exactly what happened to me during my encounter with the astonishing Braven 710 Speaker. Let me also begin my explaining that while the Braven 710 is indeed a speaker, I will soon be revealing to you how it is so, so much more.

As you are most likely finding incredibly evident from that opening paragraph, yes, I obviously think that the Braven 710 is an amazing device, but let’s start at the ground level and work our way up its tower of functions, shall we? Upon first opening the packaging (which, may I just add, is probably the best product packaging I have ever encountered, ever), I was greeted with some deceptively simple looking contents which consisted of a micro USB cable, an auxiliary cable, a quick start guide and the speaker itself.

Setting up this device is an extremely straight forward affair, thanks to the easy to follow quick start guide (the Braven website also had a great three and a half minute video tutorial for those who are too lazy to read instructions). Simply switch it on by holding the power button (duh), activate the Bluetooth by holding the play button, and use your personal device to complete the pairing process. That’s it, you are now ready to start blasting out your jams wherever the hell you like. And may I just say, the Braven 710 Speaker is definitely no slouch in the sound department. During my product testing I played a mixture of genres, and not only was I thoroughly impressed with the crisp clarity on my favourite metal tracks and the heavy bass thumps of my chosen hip hop tunes, but boy oh boy was I stoked with the power that this little beauty puts out. I mean, this thing can get loud, and without any sacrifice in sound quality. Hell, at one stage I was blasting out some System of a Down when a friend dropped by, and they could not believe that the deafening noises they were experiencing were coming from a tiny little portable speaker, and not a “proper” home stereo system. In short, the Braven 710 delivers in all aspects of audio quality. Bonus tip: audio freaks who choose to purchase a second Braven 710 are spoiled with the ability to link the two units together for a true stereo experience. Yeah, boi!

According to the box, this speaker will deliver twelve hours of wireless play time, and from my personal experience, I definitely believe it. For hour after hour I was wirelessly moving all around my house with this device, and it seemed that I could hardly cause the battery to even batter an eyelid. In fact, when I first received my review copy (which had obviously been previously used by somebody else), I was able to use it straight away without even having to recharge it, and this was after it had been sitting in a box for at least two weeks. Incredibly impressive, and what’s more, this long lasting battery life can be utilised to even further effect as the Braven 710 Speaker doubles as a portable charging unit for your smartphone. Admittedly, it didn’t seem to like my Sony Xperia Z1 all that much, but I had no troubles at all recharging my iPhone and iPad whenever the heck I desired. The practical capabilities of this portable device charging feature are practically endless.

Believe it or not, the features don’t stop there! Say you want to easily play you extensive library of iPod music on your home stereo, but the stereo doesn’t have Bluetooth, and you want to be able to move around the whole house and change the songs as you please without having to return to the living room every three minutes. What do you do? Well, if you have a Braven 710 Speaker, you would simply hook that baby up to your stereo via the included auxiliary cable, creating a “Bluetooth bridge” so that your tunes can wirelessly transmitted from your iPod or smartphone to your home stereo. Is that hi-tech or what?

With a feature set as heavy as this, you can rest assured that the Braven 710 Speaker is definitely worth every single penny. Hell, there are even more features that I was too lazy to mention in detail before, like the fact that it is IPX5 water resistant, or that it can be used as a noise-cancelling speaker for phone calls and comes complete with a microphone on top! Simply put, if you have been looking for the ultimate way to play your music on the go, but would also like to be spoiled with more features than “it just plays music”, I implore you to race out and purchase the Braven 710 Speaker now. Now! NOW!

Rating:

ComicsOnline gives the Braven 710 Speaker 5 out of 5 feature-packed hi-tech stars.

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