Soundbug2 review [UPDATED]

Portable speaker solutions. It’s a war not yet won by any manufacturer, typically coming in one of two varieties: tinny & cheap or cumbersome & expensive. Enter Feonic’s “Soundbug 2″, described on the box as “the portable wireless speaker system”. So is it the device to own or simply another to avoid? Read on.

Out of the box

Unzipping the protective case that the Bugs come with reveals, as you can see above, a stereo set of Soundbug devices and a set of short USB cables to charge them via your computer. Getting the device in hand really hammers home just how well the device is made, weighty and solid feeling they truly do inspire confidence.

On the design front, they’re as space as you’d like with nothing on the top of the device except 3 status LED’s and a small dent which works as a connect/disconnect/on/off button. Elsewhere you’ll fine a mini-USB port, a reset button on one side and a set of volume up/down buttons. Size wise, they’re a little smaller than the palm of your hand.

Setting it up/hearing them

Set up is very easy, providing you don’t wish to use them as a stereo pair. Now, here at Technology Blogged tower, we like to consider ourselves rather tech savvy, but nobody could work out how to get any of our test devices (a couple of Win7 laptops, a Cowon X7) to pair with the both of them. In fact, even the company’s online instructions give strange and vauge instructions on how to make it happen. I’m sure this functionality is possible, but I’ll be damned if I could work out how to get it going. If you’re going for a single unit though, simply hold down the button for 5 seconds and connect it to your chosen device.

So how do they sound? In a word, abysmal. Sadly enough we couldn’t find a single surface that would give the Bug it’s promised sound quality. Bass is muddy, mids are missing in action and highs are simply terrible. Even the non audiophiles we presented them to kindly asked us to turn them off to save their ears the pain.

Price

Of course, if the price is right people can put up with anything. Which leads us to the pricing for our review set. So how much do these well built ear attackers set you back? A cool £150. That’s frankly far, far, far too much. £30? £40? Maybe. But £150? Not a chance in hell.

Wrap up

I couldn’t possibly recommend the Soundbug2 to anyone, which is a painful thing to say especially knowing that somewhere along the line people were excited about this and its creators were proud of their achievement. For £150 it’s the definition of one to avoid, more than that though I’m not entirely sure the concept of vibrating a surface as a means to amplify the sound could ever produce anything even resembling well rounded sound quality.

Rating: (2/10)

UPDATE: Having spoken to the MD of Feonic, here are a couple of notes.

1) The device being unique in the market is priced quite highly at the moment, but as with all products and the technology utilized within them they will come down in price.

2) Because of the bluetooth radio they use, some devices will not work properly (laptops, certain PMPs), although Apple, Android & Nokia mobile devices should and (now that I’ve been told how to do it) do work in the proper stereo output.

3) The product and website will now be updated with better instructions on how to get them to pair in the correct stereo fashion, it is a little tricky at first.

4) With two of them paired, sound quality of vastly improved and much more balanced, though I’d hesitate to call them great quality, they’re more than acceptable.

With the instructions updated, I’ll re-evaluate the rating I gave this review. For the time being though, I’d recommend holding off on any purchase until everything gets finalized. Here’s some PR in response to the review.

Soundbug2  from Feonic is currently the only product which combines wireless, Bluetooth, true stereo in such a tiny package. This makes them great portable speakers. The patented technology and the foot on the bottom of each speaker uses the resonant surface they are sat on to create a unique sound which has gone down really well with those customers who have bought to date. Feonic is a small company which cares about all of its customers getting the best sound from any of its products and Sarah at Feonic is happy to help customers who have had problems with set up they cannot solve themselves. That said most customers have found it relatively simple, we have asked everyone about their experience and what they thought of the quality, the quotes on the website are from customers who have bought Soundbug2 over the last few months.

We are looking again at the quick start guide and instructions, although the Soundbugs are compatible with all smart phones and mainstream tablets your review has highlighted that we need to add more guidance on this. If anyone is interested in buying a pair of Soundbugs and wants to get more idea of how they work and what they work with there is information and videos available onwww.soundbug2.com.