By: iPadfanzz staff on March 14, 2013
Sony's Bluetooth Wireless Mobile Speaker SRS-BTV5 is a small egg-shaped cleverly designed Bluetooth speaker which is powerful enough to fill your bedroom or kitchen with impressive sound for its size. The cost of this pool ball-sized speaker is $69.99. Although speaker looks cute enough, it can’t deliver really loud music – or even close to it. For that, there are other Bluetooth speakers that are still portable at twice the size and sound much louder, such as Logitech UE Mobile Boombox$99.95 at Apple Store.
Design and build quality
The ball measures 2.6 inches in diameter and stands 2.8 inches tall, making it only slightly larger than a pool ball. It weighs 500 g and is available in black, white, and pink colours. Such a small size means that you can place anywhere in the living room like on the coffee table, above the drawer or television. Although the plastic used in the speakers are lightweight they are not at all cheap. On the top of the device there are three buttons: a bass-boost function, one to pair your Bluetooth device and one to select the auxiliary input, as well as volume and power buttons. On the back there is a power socket and a 3.5mm auxiliary input for connecting any devices using the headphone jack rather than Bluetooth. There’s also a USB socket, which can be used for charging.
The speakers can be set using the Bluetooth connection which is just like any other device and takes only few seconds. The speaker offers what Sony calls '360 degree circle sound' which means the sound is fired out in all directions, rather than straight out in front like normal speakers.
The flat base of the speaker holds a sliding switch that powers the speaker on, allows users to disable NFC pairing, and forces manual pairing. A blue light near the switch indicates it's paired while an orange light indicates when the speaker is charging. Sony claims that speaker can last for five hours of constant music playing before it needs to be charged.
Performance
The BTV25 is a little chap and can’t be compared to the likes of the Jabra Solemate$139.99 at Amazon Marketplace or Logitech UE Mobile Boombox in terms of power. You need to remember that the device can’t produce much louder than a decent clock-radio either. You can put is near your bed, but can’t expect it to fill a room with music. Sound quality is another issue. Bass response is nonexistent, and treble can sound tinny.
Overall, the speaker is appealing for its size and price, but sound quality is not too impressive. It doesn't get very loud and suffers from lightweight bass that distorts easily and tinny treble response. It's a nice little speaker to leave on your nightstand.
