[General Accessories] vectron:
This is a review of MOCREO Mosound Bar wireless Bluetooth water-resistant speaker. http://mocreo.com/portable-bluetoot...e-built-in-battery-tf-card-supported-197.html available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/MOCREO-Water-resistant-Bluetooth-Rechargable-Supported/dp/B00JF0D8SC/

Recently I reviewed a number of headphones which I referred to as "giant killers", a term I use for budget headphones that surpass in quality and sound other brand names that cost 2x-3x as much. Today, I would like to present to you a budget wireless speaker that can go head-to-head with a number of popular brand names that cost at least 5x as much. I have reviewed and shared with you about a lot of wireless speakers, but this one quickly got elevated to the top of my list because it has every single feature you can possible want, and it actually sounds as good as another very popular brand name model which you are going to see a lot of exterior resemblance to, all that for under $40. Here is what I found.

Arrived in an environmentally friendly packaging (no unnecessary plastic), it had minimalistic graphics and a very accurate description of the product features. With outside sleeve removed, I was actually pleased to see a very sturdy carton box that can be re-used for storage. Inside, you will find Mosound Bar speaker, usb to micro-usb charging cable, and a basic 3.5mm male to male audio cable. I do have to admit, a somewhat skewed-square cylindrical shape and big +/- rubbery buttons on the top reminded me of UE Boom, $200 wireless speaker which I have reviewed in the past and found to be very impressive in sound performance, though lacking in features and controls. With that similarity, in my mind the whole review was based on comparing Mosound Bar to Boom where I found Mocreo completely destroying Logitech/Ultimate Ears speaker in every aspect.

Starting with a design, it's waterproof and rated to be IPX54. It doesn't mean you should submerge it under the water, but the design has a serious water splash protection and a very durable build. Either if you want to place it by pool, or take it to the beach, or keep it outside of a steamy shower, or keep it in the kitchen next to the sink - it should be safe from damage. And speaking of kitchen sink, it has every feature but the "kitchen sink" integrated in its design. I already mentioned water splash resistant exterior with a mesh metal grill front cover for the dual stereo speakers (3.5W each) and the rear bass port cover, as well as soft touch rubber sides, silicone rubber non-slip stand bottom and the same material top with integrated +/- buttons and pinhole microphone. Also, it has 1400 mAh rechargeable battery supporting up to 6 hours of continuous playback.

This beautiful design is complemented by a list of many useful controls and features. Starting from the top, you have "+" and "-" multifunction buttons that control skip next/prev with a short press and volume up/down with a long press. Such playback control is very rare with other speakers. On the left side, you have Play/Pause/Call button to control playback of the song and also to pickup a call since this speaker also pairs up as a speakerphone. A power button is next to Play button and beside power on/off it's also used to start Bluetooth pair up. Below that, there is a rubber cover for micro usb charging port, audio input port (to connect to other audio sources without bluetooth connection), and microSD slot. YES, you can use this speaker as a standalone boombox by inserting microSD card (up to 16GB in capacity) with your own tunes which you can control with Mosound Bar playback controls.

But if you prefer to use it as a wireless speaker, what it was originally intended by design, the pair up is very easy and fast. Assisted with a voice guidance, I was paired up within a minute and connected both to phone and media audio. Wireless range was a typical 30ft before transmission starts to get choppy. The switching between music play and call pick up was seamless, and sound quality of the call was pretty good! But what impressed me the most was the actual sound quality of the speaker. It was loud, clear, and not distorted at high volumes. The sound was warm, with a full body (not your typical thin wireless speaker sound), and had a decent amount of bass punch. Since I started my review with a mentioning of UE Boom, the only advantage Boom has is a little deeper bass, but in everything else Mosound Bar matched or exceeded its sound characteristics. Of course, when it comes to a list of features, it's not even a fair match since UE Boom only offers volume up/down and that's it.

Overall, it's always exciting to see how different manufacturers trying to push the envelope with new features, new design elements, new functionality additions, and sound quality improvements. I think Mocreo just pushed the envelope further to set a new high bar in what you can achieve with a product for under $40 which destroys a number of $100-$300 wireless speakers in comparison. I'm not suggesting it will be better in sound quality in comparison to Bose SoundLink series, but Bose can't match all the features including compact size and water-splash design, not to mention Mosound Bar cost a fraction of the price. In my opinion, this speaker has among the best price/performance ratio, even surpassing my previous favorite Bolse 12W portable wireless speaker. Definitely gets my high recommendation!

Here are the pictures.