Samsung Level Box Review

By John Velasco

Updated: Aug 06, 2014, 10:53 PM

5comments

Introduction

Samsung’s presence is felt in every facet of the consumer electronics space, there’s just no denying the reality of that. From its firm grip in the smartphone market, to other specialized areas like music streaming, Sammy is all about delivering quality consumer electronics products and services that help to enhance our daily lives. Very recently, they’ve entered the lucrative mobile optimized audio accessories market, where its new Level series is aiming to give hardened brands a good run for their money. We’ve already put the Samsung Level In headphones through its paces, so now it’s time to divert our attention on its portable Bluetooth speaker solution – the Samsung Level Box.

The package contains:

User guide
Travel charger
3.5mm auxiliary cable
microUSB cable

Design

It’s almost shocking that this is something crafted by Samsung, since it’s graced with premium materials that combine to give it one solid construction.

Looking around at its current line of smartphones, it’s almost hard to believe that the Level Box is designed and produced by the company, since it’s sporting a design that employs premium materials. Graced with a slick metal chassis, where it’s available in black or white, the Samsung Level Box screams sophistication and sturdiness that we rarely see in Samsung’s work with its smartphones. Indeed, this portable Bluetooth speaker tips the scales at a hefty 600 grams, but it’s something we don’t mind because it merely gives the speaker a solid feel in the hand.

At first glance, it appears as though it’s sporting a uniform metal body, but upon closer inspection, the speaker grill seems to be comprised out of plastic – the sturdy variety, that is. Wrapping around the entire speaker, it safely hides away the speaker’s internal components. Around the rear, however, we’re presented with its power switch, Bluetooth button, 3.5mm auxiliary port, and microUSB port for charging.

Meanwhile, the top surface of the speaker is home to its other physical buttons – the pause/play, volume down, volume up, and the multi-function “talk” button. Lastly, it’s tough to see from the front, but there’s an LED light hidden behind the speaker grill.

In keeping up with the times, the Samsung Level Box features NFC connectivity, which his tough to miss because of the prevalent NFC logo positioned onto one of its sides. This is where its NFC chip is located, where we’re able to quickly and easily pair it to NFC-enabled smartphones – such as the Samsung Galaxy S5 in our case.

The design language is an absolute surprise to us, since it shows that Samsung is more than capable of delivering modern designs that have a premium touch to their constructions. Even though it doesn’t break the mold when it comes to speaker designs, we’re nonetheless agreeable to the direction they’ve gone with this model – it has that balance of sophistication and solidness to make it a pleasant offering.

Performance

3D SoundAlive balances out its audio output, where it delivers a pleasant emphasis to lows, mids, and highs.

Using a Samsung Galaxy S5, we’re able to quickly pair it with the Level Box, thanks in part to its NFC connection. In contrast, there’s more time in connecting an iPhone 5s to it via the usual Bluetooth process, but at least there’s no issue in getting it done. Once connected, we’re able to stream songs to the speaker. In fact, we’re able to maintain a solid connection to the speaker up to 35 feet away before it begins to cut in and out.

In terms of audio quality, there’s no shortage of ample volume and bass with the Samsung Level Box at its loudest volume setting, which is able to encompass large spaces with enough resonance. In our time using it, the audio quality never sounded too strained or shrill – so it’s comforting that it’s easy on the ears.

Without question, though, lows definitely have more emphasis when its 3D SoundAlive feature is off. Turning on the feature, which is done by pressing down on the multi-function “talk” key while a song is playing, it brings a more balanced quality to the speaker’s output. Certainly, we prefer the quality with 3D SoundAlive activated, seeing that lows, mids, and highs are represented evenly.

Battery Life

12 hours of mixed usage is pretty good in our opinion, but it would’ve been nice to see it having the ability to charge our mobile devices as well.

Rated for 15 hours of playback on a single charge, we’re able to pull through 12 hours of mixed usage in our experience – that’s with the volume usually set to its maximum level, so we’re aware that it might have contributed to the lower output. As much as we’re content with the result, it would’ve been nice for the speaker to offer charging to other devices as well via a USB port, which has become a feature with many portable speakers of late.

Conclusion

Although Samsung’s entrance to the mobile accessories audio market might be considered low-key, in comparison to the influence they have in the smartphone market, it’s certainly a great start for them after checking out the Samsung Level Box. Again, we keep coming around to the premium nature of this portable Bluetooth speaker – something that’s rarely seen in its smartphone designs. Quite simply, it’s a refreshing thing to see, and something we hope to see extended to its smartphones.

So far, it meets our criteria when it comes to audio quality and design, but it lacks secondary features to compete against some other models. Sure, we appreciate its NFC connectivity, but it’s missing out on other things, such as mobile charging and the ability to daisy chain to another speaker, that have become almost standard with other portable Bluetooth speakers.

Finally, as we look at its $200 cost, it’s undoubtedly on the steep side. Still, having excellent audio quality and a premium design gives it enough justification for some people to pick it up over other options.