Some audio nuts insist Bluetooth speakers are nothing more than a bunch of cheap speaker drivers shoved into flimsy plastic boxes. They’re mostly right.
But a few companies have been trying to elevate the sound of the Bluetooth speaker to real hi-fi quality. One of them is ADX, a group of U.S.-based engineers working in conjunction with Chinese mega-manufacturer Wistron. They've created a new brand named Riva, and the $349 Turbo X is their first product.
The Turbo X looks like a variation on the Jawbone Big Jambox, but it’s much more than that.
The plain-looking box holds seven speaker drivers: three for midrange and treble and four just for the bass. (That’s five more drivers than you’d usually get.)
These speakers combine with the company’s proprietary Trillium surround processing to produce a more spacious sound. The top-mounted controls automatically illuminate when your hand’s nearby. The rechargeable battery is rated for 26 hours of play time, and the Turbo X is billed as weather-resistant; you can pull a rubber cover off the bottom and snap it over the input jacks to keep water out.
A free iOS/Android app lets you control all the Turbo X’s functions. But the only thing you can do with the app that you can’t do on the Turbo X itself is switch between voice and tone prompts.
Turbo-charged sound
The “Turbo” part of Turbo X refers to a feature that boosts the volume by about six decibels (dB), which is just about exactly the amount you’d probably want to crank up your stereo when your favorite tune comes on. The battery won’t last as long in this mode, though. When you activate Turbo mode, the Turbo X makes a sound like an engine revving up. Cool? Cheesy? You decide. Fortunately, you can switch the sound effect off if you don’t like it.
Put on Father John Misty’s “Chateau Lobby #4” (from I Love You Honeybear) and you can hear right away what’s special about the Turbo X. The vocal sounds way, way cleaner and more natural than it does through any other portable Bluetooth speaker I can think of. The rest sounds great, too; there’s a decent amount of bass for such a little box, and the percussion and orchestra parts sound exceptionally clear.
What’s missing? There’s not a ton of bass, of course, and there’s still a subtle, occasional coarseness to the upper range of vocals. But with any other portable Bluetooth speaker I’ve tried, I’d have a lot more to complain about.
Plays loud
True to its name, the Turbo X plays really loud. By my measurements, in Turbo mode, it’s 4 to 6 dBs louder than the Infinity One, which is one of the Turbo X’s best competitors. That’s the difference between background music and really filling a room with sound.
The coolest thing, though, is that the Turbo X plays so loud without ever sounding strained or distorted, something few other portable Bluetooth speakers can do.
The Trillium surround mode adds just a little extra spaciousness without messing up the sound. So it won’t blow you away, but it’s the kind of feature you can leave on all the time.
The main thing I don’t like that much about the Turbo X is the touch-sensitive controls; sometimes it’s hard to tell if pressing a button actually worked. Also, there’s a button on the back that deactivates the battery, which prevents the Turbo X from accidentally turning on when you’re carrying it in, say, a suitcase or backpack. That’s fine, but you have to remember to push the button in when you’re charging the unit, otherwise it won’t charge.
There’s no denying that the Turbo X is expensive, and there are a couple of things I don’t dig about the design. But it’s the best portable Bluetooth speaker I’ve heard to date, and probably the only one I’d recommend for a serious music lover who doesn’t want to mess with a full-size sound system.