Wavemaster Mobi Speakers review

1. Introduction2. Wavemaster Mobi3. Testing and Performance4. Closing Thoughts5. View All Pages

Every now and then, we get something cool and funky into the KitGuru offices. Sometimes the timing of the new arrival is out and sometimes the timing is spot on. With the current heatwave, the arrival of a pair of Wavemaster Mobi speakers could not have been better timed. 

Not only could they be useful for a day out in the park in the UK, but there's also the long distance travel possibilities – music on the beach and/or besides the hotel pool.

Even that small introduction sets the scene perfectly, because the way we use speakers defines what they need to deliver.

With something like the Wavemaster Mobi speaker, we're talking about :-

1. Styling: Do you want to be seen with them?
2. Battery Life: Will one of these speakers last long enough to satisfy your need for music on the move?
3. Volume: Can a Mobi will your airwaves when you're out and about?
4. Durability: Will a Wavemaster Mobi survive being battered around in your luggage?

With a UK street price that tends to be just over £18, most of the Wavemaster Mobi speakers you will see in the UK are Black or White, although Pink and Green are also listed on Wavemaster's site.

The basic specification looks like this:-

• Speaker driver: 3,8 cm full range
• Amplifier: Class-D, integrated
• Output power (RMS): 1 x 3,8 W
• Frequency response: 80 – 20000 Hz
• Controls/display: On/Off, LED indicator for ON/OFF and charging status
• Battery: Li-Ion 3,7 V, 500 mAh
• Charging Voltage: USB 5 V
• Connectors: 3,5 mm stereo / Micro-USB-connector for charging
• Dimensions: ø 80 mm x 50 mm
• Weight: 90g

Around the time that Wavemaster sent over some Mobi speakers, we happened to have Vanessa Agyemang in the KitGuru studios. When she is not winning awards for modelling, Vanessa is an architecture graduate with a lifelong interest in style and design. In fact, she's in the process of setting up her own product design company, so we we thought we'd ask her to give the speakers a unique showcase environment for photography:-

With some mobile speakers available for a lot less than £10, Wavemaster's decision to move up market and position Mobi closer to £20 means that the packaging needs to look and feel right. This is something that they have nailed. Although only slightly bigger than the speaker itself, the hard shell looks like it will take quite a beating before your Mobi suffers and transit damage.

While the speaker is supplied with a simple pouch, most people will be throwing these speakers around their luggage etc, so the build quality of the Mobi is a definite plus-point. Specifically, it would take a significant accident to damage the speaker itself through the metal grill.

For transport, you can ‘click' the control section (which houses the power button and USB charging port) inside the speaker unit itself. When ‘open', the pop-up design increases the internal volume of the speaker unit, which Wavemaster claims increases audio quality and depth.

The claimed charge life for the Mobi's integrated Li-Ion battery unit is 10 hours.

The charging cable is the standard Micro-USB connector that everyone would get with a Samsung, Blackberry or Nokia phone – so the chances of being able to ‘charge on the go' are hugely increased. If you are out and about a lot, there's a good chance that you will have a USB charging cable that plugs into a mains plug interface, or maybe you ride a bike. We shot each Mobi next to these items, to give you an idea of scale.

Overall, the look and feel – from packaging to controls and the multi-function light – is great. It is not the smallest mobile speaker on the market, but it will slip into your pocket/luggage and the larger size should, in theory, mean better audio quality.

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For the purposes of this test, we decided to match the Wavemaster Mobi up against a similarly priced X-mini II unit (i.e. also sub-£20).

In terms of overall size etc, these chaps are well balanced. The Mobi offers a 3.8cm full range speaker, while the X-mini comes in at just over 4cm. So how do they match up technically?

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On paper, it is very close in almost every department.

We ran both speakers through a standard set of songs and a game test (which you can read more about here) and considered 3 things:-

1. In absolute terms, what is the audio quality like?
2. If you were in a hotel room or by a swimming pool on holiday, would there be enough volume to carry the songs?
3. Living with the units – how are they in terms of ergonomics and battery life?

This is what we found:-

Audio Quality
Both units perform very well indeed.

Way better than the kind of speakers you get on an average laptop from Toshiba or Hewlett Packard and way better than the microscopic speakers that KitGuru has in our much loved Sony Z-Series laptop.

While the X-mini offered more ‘punch' toward the bass end of the audio spectrum on songs like Song 2 from Blur or Woo Boost from Rusko, the Mobi seemed to ‘fill the room' better overall with the Love Theme from Bladerunner and Muwookie’s Memories. Pretty much a tie on music – depending on individual taste.

For gaming, we feel the X-mini has the edge because there is a little more distortion toward the low end. For music purists, this will sound wrong on an audio track, but when you're blasting away with a machine gun, it's a little more satisfying with the X-mini II.

Filling the Room
We actually tried this by the side of a pool and in the very large KitGuru studios. Indoor tests showed both speakers performance in a very similar way, but it's much harder to be heard in a genuine realworld environment.

Compared to a laptop or phone with nothing attached, both of these speaker units leave built-in speakers way behind. However, they were close to a dead heat against each other. We feel that the Wavemaster Mobi performed slightly better in the studio, while the X-mini II has the edge pool side.

Living with the Units
Recharging cycles for both units were similar. We followed the kind of practice that a normal person would do if they were going to be moving around a lot, we left them on charge overnight, then set them to play music continuously the next day.

We split the audio in so both would be playing exactly the same tracks at the same time. We found that the X-mini II actually stopped first, but it was very close (less than 30 minutes difference) so, technically, they both happily blasted out all day.
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Overall, the minor wins and loses for both speakers seemed to balance out.

We are fond of saying ‘You get what you pay for' at KitGuru, but when it comes to these mini speakers, you really do seem to get more value than almost anywhere else. One feature that the X-mini II has that is missing on the Mobi is the audio in that lets you daisychain speakers with your mates. Sure, this is more of a gimmick than anything else, but we like it.

Modern phones, like the Nokia 920, come with a selection of music channels built in – and accessing apps for more is very simple – which is fine if you're alone, using headphones. When you want to share your music with a small group at the beach, by the pool or even in an office environment, you need more volume – and the X-mini II and Wavemaster Mobi both deliver perfectly in this area.

Battery life on the Mobi is great. Sure, it did an all-day session in one go but after the next full charge we used it ‘normally'. Turning it on and off several times during the day and it went from Monday morning to Wednesday evening before we needed to give it more juice.

Depending on how you charge, the physical environment in which you are using it, the volume you play music at, the kind of music you are choosing and – let's be honest – how lucky you are with your individual unit's battery, you are likely to get anywhere from 10 to 13 hours on a single charge. In a world where mobile phones struggle to last a single day, this is fine.

On price, performance, styling and all round usability, the Wavemaster Mobi is a great little product and a fine addition to your smartphone/laptop when you want more volume on the move. It can't challenge a £20 pair of headphones, but that's a different market, so it doesn't have to.

At the time of writing, Wavemaster Mobi speakers were in stock at Overclockers.co.uk for less than £20.

Pros

• Styling.
• Audio quality.
• Battery life.
• Standard USB connectivity.

Cons

• No daisychain.
• No Bluetooth.

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KitGuru says: While the Wavemaster Mobi doesn't stand head and shoulders above the opposition, it is certainly playing near the top of the table in the premier league. We like the packaging and the way it collapses almost flat for transport is very cool.

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