The KitSound BoomBar 2+ is self-described as “retro inspired design meets modern innovation”, meant to look like an 80’s boombox, personally, I think the design looks rather modern and not very retro or 80’s – it’s lacking all the knobs, defined edges and bare bone design of 80’s boombox so does this mean the sound quality is equivalent to a 30year old machine? Well, lets take a little look at some of the features before we get to the sound, one of the biggest draws it the IP66 this provides total dust ingress protection as well as high pressure water jets from any direction, this mean rain, dust, beaches, festivals or worksites it will survive.
It has an unusual horizontal design that’s slightly top heavy an has the potential to tip when not on a flat surface, if you do rock it over onto its side you get more of a directional shell. The built-in rechargeable battery takes about four hours to receive a full charge and will give you about 10 hours of play time, it connects wirelessly via Bluetooth V4.2 with a 10m range that holds true, I can wander around most of the house (we have a small house) and not lose connections through walls and ceilings. The BoomBar 2+ uses 20 Watts of power, it comes with a charging cable and optional Aux lead and is available in either Black, Gun-Metal and Rose-Gold (the ends of the speaker are black no matter which design you choose).
The silicone cover that protects the Aux and charging port is very fiddly to get out even with my combination of small fingers and long nails, we also found the sound projects in one direction and doesn’t fill the room particularly well. Now for the sound quality, KS either creates products that will either blow you away or offer you a limp handshake, sadly this falls into the category of the latter. When using the Bluetooth connection, the treble is harsh and spikey and the bass lacks energy and punch, the mid tone is the best out of the three making it good for audiobooks or TV shows. When using the Aux, the sound quality is improved with more depth and richer tones, all things considered if you were just using this for background music at a BBQ or whilst working its fine but for the big price tag you can get the same quality for a lot less. RRP £70
2.9 out of 5
Pros
Water and dust resistant (IP66)
Easy to connect and use
Included aux and charging cable
10m range is accurate
10hr playtime
Cons
Flat sound, harsh sound with Bluetooth
Lacks boom for a boombar
Expensive
Boring design
Sound doesn’t fill room
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