PEAQ Portable Bluetooth Speaker

[NIC ROBERTOOO]

Now, I'm no 'audiophile'. My audio experience until this point includes my Sennheiser 438's, and my home entertainment system which includes a Denon Amplifier and PSB Speakers in a 5.1 setup.

Portable bluetooth speakers too, are by no means audiophile quality, at least the majority of them. But after my Aunty and Uncle returned home from Europe I received a PEAQ Portable Bluetooth Speaker (PPA20BT-B/SL) as a gift, bought from a store called 'Saturn' for 22.99 Euros.
I won't give too much background on PEAQ, but they are a German company which mostly sell small speakers and docks for phones and MP3 players. According to their website: 

Perfect sound on the go. The new portable speakers PPA20 of PEAQ provides mobile sound that gets under your skin. Pristine, crystal clear acoustics combined with a modern design provide always new and exceptional musical experiences. No matter when, no matter where.

The speaker comes in two different colours, silver aluminium (polished stainless steel-esque) and a gunmetal aluminium.

Tech Specs:

• 1 2W speaker
• Dimensions (H x W x D): 57mm x 63mm x 63mm
• Weight: 0.22 kg
• Aluminium construction with plastic ends
• Auxiliary and bluetooth input
• Rechargeable battery
• Up to 2 hours battery life 
• 24 month warranty

Model tested: Gunmetal Aluminium

 

Images

 

 

The top of the speaker. The plastic itself feels nice and solid, no flex across the cone.

 

 

USB-A in, for charging and for Auxiliary input, and a 3.5mm jack for 'connecting headphones or loudspeakers'.

 

Buttons. Duh. (L-R) Mode (changes from BT to AUX input), Play/Pause, Volume Up/Down (press and hold, tap once to change tracks in bluetooth mode)

 

 

Off/On

 

Included cable for charging and AUX input.

Please note: a small LED indicates selected Mode (See below) (Image not included). Excuse the image quality please

 

So let's get into it!

Initial Impressions

The construction of this speaker is very nice: the machined aluminium gives the speaker a quality feeling in the hand, and the heft that the aluminium gives makes the speaker feel solid. The plastic on top of the speaker that partially covers the cone is a 'soft touch' matte plastic, similar to Bitfenix's finish. See the above images for I/O placement.
The bottom of the speaker includes a round rubber pad to prevent to the speaker sliding around. The speaker is definately small enough to be portable, but is somewhat heavy. However, the aluminium will provide a degree of ruggedness.

Ease of Use

Turn the speaker on, hit the Mode button to turn it into AUX mode, and hit play on your MP3. It's that easy. An LED, located between the aluminium and plastic join above the I/O, shines red when in AUX mode, and blue in BT mode.

My experience with BT was just as easy; the speaker always defaults to BT Mode upon turning it on, and the LED flashes blue when the speaker is ready to connect. I have not attempted to connect via BT on my S3, but my sister had no issues with her IPhone 5, a very easy process.
The buttons for changing volume and track are simple and logical. The battery seems to last quite some time; I received the product early January, and it had it's first recharge on the 17/2. The majority of use was in AUX mode, but I would imagine BT would decrease that significantly.
All in all, pretty great, no real issues.

Audio Quality
This is the important bit; it's a speaker. 
PEAQ promises crystal clear audio quality, and funnily enough, it provides. On both AUX and BT mode, the audio quality is very crisp for a 2W speaker: no discernible difference between the two modes. Upon placing it on a table and playing it a medium volume, you can feel the vibrations through the table, which may be down to the aluminium construction, which would provide minimal dampening and transfer it to the table.
The majority of music I listen to are most ranges of rock, nothing too hardcore. Listening to tracks from Two Door Cinema Club provides high tones and interesting basslines and the PEAQ speaker defines between the highs and lows with suprising clarity. Two Door songs can often sound mushy when played through mediocre speakers, usually because of the guitar riffs I find, but the speaker handles such songs with gusto. There is no real emphasis between high, mid and low with these speakers, it's all relatively even.

I often use portable speakers to listen to music whilst I shower, so they need to be played a bit louder than usual. There is minimal distortion when music is played at quite loud volumes, yet do not need to cranked all the way up. However, more heavier songs (what I would call 'regular' rock), seem to distort a little more. After listening to 'Rope' by the Foo Fighters, this became apparent; I was listening for the high toned Ride cymbal to crack through the mid's of the guitar through the chorus, but was not quite pleased. Softer songs like tracks from City and Color, some Coldplay songs and the intro to 'Radioactive' by Imagine Dragons are quite enjoyable however.
I am not willing to deduct marks for this however, as it is only a small speaker.

 

In conclusion, this an awesome little speaker, the construction quality is very nice and aesthetically pleasing, and the audio quality is exceptional; a great product.

Pros

• Construction
• Audio Quality
• Easy to use
• Price

Cons

• Slight heft

NB: I could only hear the left-hand audio when using my iPod Nano. However, this is because of it being a 3rd Gen Nano, and it is a consistent problem.

Links:

http://www.peaq-online.com/produkte/hifi-mp3-zubehoer/peaq/ppa100bt-w.html

 

http://www.saturn.de/mcs/product/PEAQ-PPA20BT-B-schwarz,48352,476174,1075679.html?langId=-3

 

Thank you for viewing! Questions and comments are welcomed and appreciated, as this is my first review on LTT