Today we’re looking at a new iClever speaker, the BTS06, which boasts 10W of total power, IPX5 water resistance and 8 hours of battery life. They’re reasonable specs, but the numbers don’t give you the whole picture. Here’s our review.
iClever BTS06 deals
Features & Specifications
- Crystal clear sound from two 5W drivers
- IPX5 water resistance
- Bluetooth 4.2 and 3.5mm aux-in port
- Built-in microphone for hands-free calls
- 8 hours battery life
- Optional carabiner clip for easy hanging
- Portable design with no sharp edges
- 159 x 76 x 46mm
- 0.4 kilograms
Design
The BTS06 is an attractive albeit boxy speaker with a black-and-red colour scheme. The black periphery of the speaker contains its controls and buttons and is constructed from a rubbery material, while the metal speaker grilles on either side are coloured in red.
The top of the speaker has buttons for previous and next track, which pull double duty as the volume adjustment buttons, and a multi-function button for pairing and the like. On the right hand side, there’s a sealed flap that opens to reveal an auxiliary 3.5mm input, a Micro USB port for charging and a power switch.
The overall look is reasonable, but hardly original – a logical but boring design, livened up only by the red-on-black colour scheme. Let’s move onto testing.
Testing
The first thing you’ll notice is that despite its appearance, the BTS06 is a directional Bluetooth speaker, with a much clearer and louder sound from the speaker grille with the iClever logo. That makes it best used off to one side of a room, rather than in the centre of a group of listeners. The sound produced is none too loud, but enough to fill a small or medium-sized room without distortion.
The BTS06 lacks oomph in the lower registers, making it a poor choice for bass-heavy genres. However, mids and highs are relatively clear and distinct; we enjoyed listening to acoustic guitar songs, classical numbers and K-Pop on the speaker.
The speaker’s Bluetooth connection is nothing to write home about; perfectly fine if you’re in the same room, but dropping out momentarily if you’re close its maximum 10 metre range — particularly if human bodies are in between the speaker and its audio source. However, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack if you’d prefer to dispense with Bluetooth on occasion.
Wrapping up
The BTS06 speaker is a slightly better than average Bluetooth speaker overall, thanks to its water resistance, rugged design and good clarity in its audio reproduction. Although bass response is lacking, the BTS06 is still a reasonable choice at this price range — although the more elegant BTS07 might be a better one!
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