Bluetooth speakers continue to be popular choices for mobile device owners and with good reason. As time has gone on, the choices available to buyers has grown significantly. Which means that now a consumer can pick up a Bluetooth speaker, which comes with a very good level of performance, a durable build and is priced, affordably. One of the speakers looking to tick all three of those boxes is the AOMAIS Sport II Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker. This is a portable and rugged speaker and one which is currently available to buy for only $49.99.
Specs
In terms of power, the AOMAIS Bluetooth Speaker is listed as packing 20-watts RMS, which is further defined as 10-watts per channel. The actual speakers are made up of 52 mm drivers which run at 4 ohms and offer a Signal-to-Noise ration of 70 dB. However, this speaker has the ability to connect to another unit and therefore the power can be increased by connecting to other AOMAIS Sport II Bluetooth Speakers. In terms of connections, the AOMAIS Sport II is one which makes use of Bluetooth 4.0 to establish a connection. Which does mean that you can expect reliable connections to be made and maintained up to a distance of 33 feet away from a streaming device. In addition, this is a Bluetooth speaker which has been awarded an IPX7 certification for water-resistance. Which means that it can endure submersion in water for up to 30 minutes and to a depth of 1 meter. Adding to the waterproof rating, the casing is also designed to be mud-proof, shockproof, and snowproof. In terms of the physical dimensions, the AOMAIS Sport II Bluetooth Speaker measures 7.67-inches by 1.77-inches by 2.95-inches and weighs in at 24 ounces (1.5 lbs).
In the box
Generally speaking, most of what you get when you buy the AOMAIS Sport II Bluetooth Speaker will be in line with what else is on offer with similar products. So you should expect to find in the box the actual AOMAIS Bluetooth speaker, along with a small microUSB (to USB) charging cable, a small 3.5 mm jack cable, as well as the user manual. However, one interesting inclusion that you are unlikely to find with other Bluetooth speakers is that the package also comes with an inflatable bed for the speaker to rest on – which is ideal for making use of the IPX7 waterproof certification.
Hardware & Design
The AOMAIS Sport II Bluetooth Speaker is designed to be a rugged and durable speaker and that does mean that it is one which comes with a rugged look and general appearance, The front and the back of the speaker is fairly typical and makes use of a mesh grill casing, which does allow for peaking through at the internals (when held close enough and under enough light). However, that is where the typical-speaker appearance comes to an end. The rest of the speaker is largely rubber-based which is what helps to ensure the speaker is able to maintain its IPX7 certification and protection from water. As a result, the right-hand side of the speaker is rather plain looking with just the AOMAIS branding, while the left-hand side sports a small compartment where you will find the microUSB port along with the 3.5 mm jack port. This compartment includes a typical rubber flap (which again is present to protect the speaker from water and qualify for that IPX7 rating). Although, it is worth noting that the flap on the AOMAIS Sport II Bluetooth Speaker is a very thick rubber flap. So as long as this is closed tightly and properly, there should be next to no issues with water getting through. It is a very well protected compartment.
Moving to the top of the speaker and the two outer sides of the top panel come equipped with grooves. Which while aesthetically adding to the speaker, they also act as a comfort measure when holding the speaker in one hand. The grooves do provide enough grip to be comfortable to hold, yet also safe enough to hold in one hand without being concerned about dropping the unit. Centering the top panel is a small dipped area where you will find the main controls for the speaker. Again, these are all rubber touch buttons. So although you do need to push fairly hard to make contact, they are very well protected buttons and again, further help to maintain that fully waterproof design. The controls on offer include a dedicated power button, a play/pause button (which doubles as a call answer/end button), a skip forward button (which doubles as volume up) and skip back button (which doubles as volume down). Beneath the controls, you will also notice three small LEDs which offer insight into whether the device is on, whether the battery is running low and whether the device is pairing.
The base of the speaker is identical to the top barring the absence of all the buttons. Although, in replace of those buttons you will find a ¼-inch tripod mount here, which is a nice addition.
Overall, the AOMAIS Sport II Bluetooth Speaker is 100% designed to be a durable speaker and that is what comes across when looking at the design. This is a very well protected speaker and one which largely adopts a single molded unit design, with the exception of the grills on the front and back. However, AOMAIS has looked to include some design points to ensure the speaker does appeal more to those looking for a stylish speaker and as such, many parts of the speaker sport a nice orange border, which you can see repeatedly in the gallery of images below.
Sound Quality & Performance
As to be expected, sound quality and the general performance of any speaker is always going to be one of the major causes for concern when considering purchasing a product like this. However, when it comes to the AOMAIS Sport II Bluetooth Speaker, this is not really an area that you will need to be too concerned about. First off, in terms of the sound quality, the AOMAIS Bluetooth Speaker performs extremely well. This is a speaker which ultimately is a little squeezed in the middle – which means the tops and the bass do come through a little more prominently and slightly disproportionately compared to the mids. But this is only a small criticism in the grand scheme of things, as the mids are present, they just can sometimes feel (and sound) a little overwhelmed by the tops and bass and especially at higher volumes. Which brings us neatly onto one of the AOMAIS Sport II Bluetooth Speaker’s biggest selling features – the volume.
Generally speaking, Bluetooth speakers and especially ones which are as small as the AOMAIS Sport II Bluetooth Speaker, do suffer when it comes to their upper volume limit. Which is understandable when you consider their general size and portable nature. That is not an issue that the AOMAIS Sport II Bluetooth Speaker is plagued by though, as this is one loud speaker. Even more so when you consider how small the speaker is. The volume on this thing is impressive to say the least and is easily able to fill a room without too much effort. So much so in fact, that you would be pushed to ever get to use this speaker at its highest volume. There’s just no need. If you are looking for a speaker which is small in size, but powerful in output, then you would be hard-pressed to find one as loud as this, within a form factor as small as this.
Moving on to the general performance and again, there is very little to complain about here. The AOMAIS Sport II Bluetooth Speaker is one which does perform very solidly over time and does not seem to really suffer in any performance respect. Connections are established very easily and maintained without issue. Likewise, the quality of the output was solid over the testing period. This is just a very good-performing portable Bluetooth speaker.
Battery Life & Connectivity
Battery life is typically an element which is compromised in smaller Bluetooth speakers. After all, you can only fit so much battery into a unit which is so small and especially if you want to maintain a weight that can be considered ‘portable’. In the case of the AOMAIS Sport II Bluetooth Speaker, the battery is rated at 1,800 mAh and is expected to offer in the region of 10 hours of continuous playback before needing to be recharged again. During testing, this seemed to be be a very reliable yardstick to go by. Although, the speaker was never fully ran for 10 hours continuously, it seemed very difficult to purposely drain the battery out in any one sitting. Which did greatly lead to the assumption an all-day level of usage was easily achievable with the AOMAIS Sport II Bluetooth Speaker.
In fact, the manual does note that the 10-hour marker is based on when the speaker is played at half-volume. Now, as already mentioned, this is a very loud speaker and during testing was always playing at a louder than comfortable volume (with a view to further draining the speaker as quickly as possible). Therefore, the all-day usage noted is certainly going to be increased dramatically when used at a lower volume setting and based on the test period, and probably longer than the manual suggests. After all, this is such a loud little speaker, that the average user will likely never even be hitting the volume levels needed to drain the speaker’s battery in any one sitting. Likewise, it does also need to be mentioned that there are no issues when the speaker is left off. There is little to no battery drain going on when the speaker is not in use and you can expect the speaker to maintain some level of power even when left off for a week or longer. Which is not something that can necessarily be said for other Bluetooth speakers that are currently available on the market. Not to mention that if you do forget to turn the speaker off, this is one which comes with an automatic shut-off feature – when takes effect after two minutes of inactivity.
In terms of connectivity, and already noted in the general performance section, there is very little to criticize the AOMAIS Sport II Bluetooth Speaker for. This speaker does offer a very reliable and solid Bluetooth connection and never dropped out or off during testing. As this is Bluetooth 4.0, you would expect a connection up to 33 feet away from the streaming device and this is probably one of the areas where the speaker could be improved upon as a dropped connection did become more prevalent under the suggested 33 feet distance. While not much less, it was certainly less stable at far distances, compared to other units. However, if you are within 25 feet away from the speaker, you should encounter zero issues with the connection and it is solid and reliable at close proximity. Likewise, as this is a speaker which comes with a 3.5 mm port, there is also the added ability to connect devices directly to the unit, whether the devices are Bluetooth-enabled or not. So as well as offering a reliable Bluetooth connection, it is also a speaker which is fairly versatile in the number of ways in which you can connect to it. Likewise, if you do end up picking up more than one unit, they are able to connect together to form a larger output and each speaker has the ability to adopt a channel (i.e. left or right) when used in a stereo mode.
Wrap Up
Overall, the AOMAIS Sport II Bluetooth Speaker is one which does offer very good value for money. This is not the best Bluetooth speaker in the world, but it certainly does perform effortlessly. A lot of Bluetooth speakers which adopt such a small size can suffer in terms of volume and this is not the case with the AOMAIS Sport II Bluetooth Speaker. Which does mean that if you are looking for a Bluetooth speaker which is fairly loud, performs well, offers a reliable short-distance connection and is also designed to be able to withstand the elements – then the AOMAIS Sport II Bluetooth Speaker is certainly worth checking out. Especially as it is priced at under $50 and includes a free inflatable bed for the speaker.
Buy the AOMAIS Sport II Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker