MobileTechTalk Listening to music is part of my daily life, and this means that a good speaker is a must. I’ve tested the Leeron Outdoor speaker before, and where that one is more on the portable side of things, this one is meant for using on your desk. I tested the Oaxis Bento for the past month, and these are my thoughts.
Oaxis provided the sample for review at MobileTechTalk, for which I’m really thankful. As always, they’ve had no influence on the editorial outcome of this review.
Output: Stereo, 5W in total (2 x 2.5W)
Input: 3.5mm jack, Close Contact Induction Audio Technology
Built-in battery: 1000mAh
Weight: 500 grams
Dimensions: 186 x 127 x 65 mm
You can clearly notice that Oaxis took their time to work on the Bento, because of its rock-solid build. All materials align nicely and the used materials are all high quality. Yeah, the red inner piece is of a shiny plastic material, but it doesn’t feel cheap at all.
During the period of a month in which I’ve been using the speaker, I haven’t noticed any scratches. That’s especially impressive as my unit seems to be a bit wobbly on its feet. While that really doesn’t matter if you’re just using the speaker, I wanted to make note of that. Also, the top part of the speaker, where the Close Contact Induction Audio Technology is located, seems to be able to move a little. It’s just a few millimetres, but you wouldn’t expect that to happen. Once again, something you won’t notice while using the speaker in general use.
The first time I saw this speaker on Amazon I knew I needed to check it out, just for the way it looks. All other speakers out there are just “look a-likes”, where this sets out a totally different direction of design. The speaker is divided into two parts, the bottom and the top part. The top part houses the regular technology where the top part houses the Close Contact Induction Audio Technology, but I’ll be coming back to that later on.
Between the two parts, Oaxis decided to make a twist in colours, and in my unit, it’s red and it mixes nicely with the black parts of the speaker. On the top part of the speaker we can find some Oaxis branding and a white line for the Close Contact Induction Audio Technology. Altogether this is a very neat package, and from a design perspective I would say that it looks better compared to other speakers in this price range. Then again I always like to say “Design is something for you to decide”.
The most important part of a review of audio products istheir performance. They may’ve the best design out there, but if they sound like absolute nonsense, nobody will want to buy them. Let’s start by saying that I’m not an audiophile, and I’ll be judging based on my previous experience with other speakers / headphones.
Well, I really, really didn’t expect such a rich audio profile coming from those speakers. We’re talking about two 40 mm drivers of 2.5W each here, totalling 5W, but it sounds way better than you may expect from these speakers. I’ve been using the speaker together with my gaming PC and my productivity laptop, and it’s great to listen to music via both of them coupled with this speaker.
This speaker originally isn’t really meant to be used just to listen to music. What’s special with this speaker is the Close Contact Induction Audio Technology. It enables you to play music on the speaker without connecting it via any of the existing technologies like NFC and Bluetooth. Instead it’ll connect via a new magnetic induction technology. Just place your phone on top of the speaker, wait one second and the sound of your phone will be magically amplified. Like they state in the literature for this speaker, it’s was designed for conference calls, listening to audiobooks and similar types of media consumption. That’s believable, because listening to music via that technology isn’t something I would recommend you do too often. Phone speakers usually lack bass and that’s something you can clearly notice when the sound gets amplified.
Finally we need to chat about the battery performance. While using the speaker via 3.5mm jack I can describe the endurance of this unit in one word; awesome. Some explanation is needed. I’ve been able to survive at least two weeks on a single charge, whilst listening to music for about 2 hours every day. That’s right, one single charge! I should give some context. Oaxis are suggesting a 6 hour playback time for the induction technology playback, and they’re about spot on. However when using the Aux cable connection, you can significantly increase the battery life, as I’ve shown. That’s about 28hrs of music playback via Aux! Excellent!
Sometimes I’m really happy after using a product, and at other times I’m find myself pushing it to the back of the cupboard, never to be seen again. This product makes me more than just a little happy. The entire experience screams “take my money”. Not only is it a generally good speaker for multiple uses, but it uses a different type of technology to that of most other units and that’s genuinely exciting. And, well for only £39.99 this is a steal, really.
If you need a speaker on your desk with a nice design, good sound and amazing battery life. Then this should be living on your desk. At least, if you can live with the fact that you need to connect it with a 3.5mm jack.
Oaxis Bento
£39.99
Pros
- Good mix of colors
- Battery life
- Sound quality
- Used materials
Cons
- Feet is a bit wobbly
