Braven 850 Bluetooth Speaker Review

Introduction

Humble beginnings is where we saw speaker maker Braven start off its journey a couple of years ago, when we first checked out the Braven 600 Portable Bluetooth Speaker. Since then, they’ve gone off to deliver other quality Bluetooth speakers that popularized the segment of speakers that double as mobile phone chargers as well – so now, there’s only one last place for them to establish their presence. Targeting the serious audiophile that wants to take things on the road, the Braven 850 is banking on delivering the goods by giving the people a serious contender that’s still portable.

The package contains:

• Owners guide
• Wall charger
• Universal plug adapters
• Auxiliary cable

Design

Using the same distinct design language of speakers past, the Braven 850 is a substantial upgrade with its sturdy construction and premium materials.

In line to the design language it’s known for with its line of speakers, the Braven 850 follows in suit with its solid industrial design – one that’s on the boxy side with some hard lines. We can say that its appearance isn’t all that new, since it’s been something they kind of recycled. Nevertheless, we can’t argue the obvious that it’s exquisitely gorgeous with its premium touch!

Most of the casing is comprised out of aircraft grade aluminum, which of course, gives it a very profound sturdy construction. Don’t let its size fool you because there’s a fair amount of weight in tow with the speaker, making it a formidable object that can knock someone out. Thanks to the aluminum body, it maintains a very clean appearance that’s resilient to getting dirtied by smudges or fingerprints.

Along the top of the speaker, we find its set of physical buttons, which are a little bit on the flush side – albeit, they have a sufficient amount of feedback when pressed. They include the power, volume up & down, pause/play, and pickup/end phone call buttons. Looking at the right side of the speaker, we have both the power and auxiliary ports perched next to one another.

Continuing to be a staple of Braven, the speaker features a built-in 8800 mAh battery that can be used to charge devices on the go. In order to tap into this feature, we’re required to connect our device’s charging cable to the full-sized USB port on the speaker. Even though there’s a physical button that lights up corresponding LEDs to indicate the battery’s charge, all we need to do to initiate the charging process is to connect our cable to the USB port.

Needless to say, its industrial design is undeniably eye catching to the point that some might forget what lies within this beast of a speaker. Braven didn’t spare anything with the audio tech in this, seeing that it’s able to achieve 20 watts of power, driving its extended-range aluminum cone drivers and dual passive radiators. Furthermore, it should be noted that the Braven 850 features DTS Audio’s SRS WOW technology, Bluetooth v3.0 with EDR, aptX audio codec support, and a ‘True Wireless’ functionality that allows two Braven 850 speakers to pair with a device for a left and right channel stereo experience.

Performance

Connecting a device to the Braven 850 is a simple process that’s hassle-free, mainly because it automatically places itself into pairing mode when it’s powered on for the first time. In fact, we’re able to connect an iPhone 5s and Samsung Galaxy S4 to it. Once the connection is established, we’re able to see how much battery is left in the speaker by looking at the icon that pops up in the status bar of the iPhone 5s.

Most people would probably dismiss the speaker as an adequate rival to some of those full-sized, in-home speaker solutions, but don’t let its smaller package fool you for one bit. To our own amazement, we’re thoroughly surprised by the blaring tones it’s able to pump out at the loudest setting – it’s by far room encompassing to tell you the truth. However, we realize that there’s some crackling evident that sours its punch by just a little bit.

By default, the unit’s SRS WOW technology is disabled, and its audio quality sounds rather flat in tone. Pressing down on the volume up & down simultaneously for a few seconds, the feature is enabled – and boy do we notice a substantial difference! Now transformed, audio coming out of the Braven 850 have a bolder and rich tone to them and its bass thumps accordingly to the beat as well.

Battery Life

Rated to provide 20 hours of continuous wireless playtime, we’re actually able to exceed that tally, but we’re only able to achieve it by setting its volume to the middle setting. Of course, higher settings will drain the battery faster, but regardless of that, we get better than average battery life out of it.

Conclusion

Good things come in small packages too. That’s exactly what you’ll find in the Braven 850 Portable Bluetooth Speaker. Sure, it might push the boundaries of what some people might consider as being portable, but nevertheless, it’s something that can still be taken with you on the road whenever you have an urge to jam out spontaneously. Heck, it’s something that can also charge our devices as well – giving it a 2-for-1 kind of function.

Despite all of the excellent offerings dished up by it, there’s just going to be some pushback by those who are on a budget. Stickered with a $300 retail price, it’s undoubtedly a costly little thing that will do a considerable amount of damage to your wallet. Before completely looking at another speaker, you’ll need to bear in mind that its price tag is warranted – plus, it’s something that Braven was targeting with this particular model.