Bugani M83 Portable Bluetooth Speaker

 As I mentioned in my Monster Adventurer Max post a week or so ago is that two of my favorite things are music and technology. When those two things come together, it's like red beans a rice, salt and pepper, peanut butter and jelly, etc. So, when I got the opportunity to review that speaker, I jumped on it.

Here, a week later, I had the opportunity to review another one, this time from a company I hadn't ever heard of before. For some, this might not be a positive, but for me, it's excellent because I like being pleasantly surprised when I discover something. Along came Bugani.

I was sent a sample of the M83 portable bluetooth speaker by Bugani for me to take a listen to. Hot on the heels of the review of the Monster, I had a huge bias coming into the review, to be honest. This speaker really didn't disappoint.

It has more of an industrial, or retro sci-fi look about it, and that's not a bad thing. I love retro sci-fi. It has a nice smooth finish that's a bit hard to describe. It's soft and smooth, yet yielding, like a hard foam rubber. It's waterproof, so that makes sense. It's light. The Amazon website says that it weighs just over 7lbs, which I would argue. I think that weight is likely the product and the box, which I am comparing to the Monster, which is quite heavy. 

The specs say that this unit can give you a 40 hour playback time at 50% volume. That's hard to believe, although I havent' tested that part yet. As light as it is, it can't have a huge battery bank inside. It also says that it's 50 watts, which I would think would kill a small battery pack much faster than that. Further testing is required.

One of the main things I don't like about it are the locations of the controls. They're on the side of the unit, making them hard to get to without picking the unit up. If you're sitting on the beach, the last thing you want to do is have to pick up your radio to turn the volume up or down. It would have made more sense to me to put them on the top, which is where most of the other speakers I've looked at locate theirs. A minor thing I don't like about it is the overall volume level. I wish it were louder. Realistically, though, since my tests were done indoors and were just basic initial impression tests, I can't say if it really isn't loud enough yet. I'll do some further tests and see how I feel afterward.

The things I like about it are the overall look, the weight, the texture, and the fact that it uses microUSB instead of USB-C. I didn't have a USB-C charger to charge my other speaker, so this was nice to see. I also like that it has a microSD card slot so that you don't have to use the bluetooth connection at all when out at the beach, camping, etc. You don't have to worry about pairing your phone to it, making it a standalone player.

The things I like best about this unit are the cost, $60 on Amazon, and the sound quality. For the price, this thing sounds superb. It's not super loud, but even at 100% volume, it's crystal clear with no distortion. The bass response is actually quite good for a portable speaker this small. If I were in the market for a decently-priced waterproof portable speaker, I would definitely give this a look. Like I said, when I find a company that I've never heard of and learn that they make a really high quality product for a good price, it totally makes my day!

Get one yourself here at Amazon.com:

https://www.amazon.com/BUGANI-Bluetooth-Portable-Speakers-Gatherings/dp/B08D6791WY?th=1

Monster Adventurer Max Portable Bluetooth Speaker

A couple of things I really like are technology and music. The two sort of go hand-in-hand if you think about it. Reel-to-reel, 8-track, Cassette, CD, MP3, it's all based in technology, although the first couple of those are quite dated. Any form of audio preservation requires technology, which is continually evolving. The latest craze, aside from your cell phone and a pair of headphones or earbuds is the portable bluetooth speaker. I built a 'monster' portable speaker a few years ago out of a massive steel ammo can, but alas, it's gone. So, when I was contacted by Monster (yes, THE Monster) to do a review of their offering, I jumped at the change.

A bit of history. I'm old. Really old. I grew up in the 80's, and booming sound systems were what all the guys had, or wanted in their cars - the louder and bassier (if that's a word), the better. Anyone who built sound systems for their cars wanted Monster cables for their builds. They were considered the best in the world, for those who could afford them. I was dirt-poor, so I went to Radio Shack (yes, there was a place called that) and got the cheap cables, but the brand-recognition never went away.

Anyway, when I saw that Monster had this speaker, The Adventurer Max, and wanted me to review it, I tripped all over myself to get one. The brand name implied to me that it was going to be good quality, and it did not disappoint, not to spoil the review.

The speaker is roughly 15" across, so this isn't something the ladies are going to just toss in their purse and carry around with them. This is more aimed at heading to the beach, sitting out on the deck, or taking out on a boat. It's big. And pretty heavy, weighing in at around 7lbs.

It has a really nice look to it, and a comfortable handle, for those long walks from the parking lot to your little patch of sand at the beach. It also comes with a carrying strap, which attaches to a pair of gold pins in the handle. I would have liked a bit thicker or more padded strap, but I'm not too fussed.

The top controls are simple. Power on/off, Bluetooth connect, volume down, play/pause, and volume up, and when I say volume up, I mean WAY up. This speaker boasts 60 watts of power, and a huge 24 hour playback time, so it can get quite loud.

The back panel has a sealed IPX7 water-resistant cover, behind which are the USB-C charging port, a 3.5mm AUX port, a microphone port (to connect the included microphone), a USB port for using USB flash drives containing music files, and a micro-SD card, also for playing music files.

Of course, with anything that says blah, blah, blah, speaker, the proof is in the pudding, Pudding being the sound quality. As a playback test, I put through it some good heavy rock, some rock ballads, some John Mayer (whatever genre that is), and some classical. It played all of them very well. There was a fairly good bass response, which is something I always look for (remember my 80's bass-head history, after all). Bass is something I always seem to want more of, and could have used a little more from this, but for something that is going to be outside most of its life, you're going to lose the bass if you walk a few feet away from it anyway, simply due to physics. It's the mids that fall off next, then the highs, the further away from the speaker you get. The highs and mids, by the way, were all crystal clear. 

The unit came with everything I would have wanted, with 2 minor exceptions. For one, I hate it when you buy a product and it comes with a charging cable, but no wall wart (the charger that plugs into the wall). This one lists 5v 2A, which is 5volts (standard USB charger output), with 2 Amps. 2 Amps is a little high, so you'll spend a few dollars more for a charger that puts out 2 Amps. Cheap chargers usually put out 1 Amp, sometimes even less.

The other thing I would have liked to have seen on this is a removable panel for replacing the battery pack when it stops holding a charge, which it invariably will. Most electronics these days use a standard 18650 lithium ion cell, which looks a bit like an oversized AA battery. These are very common, and are potentially user-replaceable. This is one reason I have still stayed away from cordless tools, with the exception of a cordless drill/screwdriver. I do have Popeye forearms, but if I'm putting in a lot of screws, I'm using a cordless. It always seems that any time I've owned a cordless tool, I get 1-2 years out of the battery pack before it has to be replaced, and for something that costs as much as this speaker, oh yeah, it's pricey, I hope to get more years out of it than that. When the warranty is expired, I might crack it open to see what's inside, and see if I can replace the batteries without having to buy a whole new one. 

Other than those two minor things, I absolutely LOVE this speaker. Because of the cost, if Monster hadn't provided me with a sample unit for review, I would likely never have gotten a chance to hear one, and my life would have been poorer because of it. :)

This speaker is available on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B095YCX27F

My unboxing and initial thoughts video is available here.