Amber Neely
POW Audio gave us a chance to take a look at their brand new Una X, an expandable, omnidirectional Bluetooth speaker designed to fit comfortably in a bag so you can take the party with you.
Whether you're a frequent camper, hiker, skater, or just looking for a great backyard or poolside speaker, POW has got you covered with the Una X.This unique speaker features a WaveBloom chamber that you pull to expand, providing a resizeable resonating chamber to help fill out a room with sound. When it's time to leave, collapse it back down, toss it in your bag, and take the party with you.
Audio quality
As far as sound goes, the Una X is surprisingly decent for something that seemed like a gimmick at first blush. It's one of the best portable speakers we've seen, and its mid-range price point makes it a relatively safe buy for someone looking for a portable speaker.
The Una X folds down to about the size of a thick frisbee. We could see this being used at bonfires, picnics, and poolsides. Opening up the WaveBloom air chamber volume is simple, and just takes a tug.
POW Audio says that Una X is an omnidirectional speaker, which is mostly true. You'll get the better sound from the front of the speaker, but thanks to that expanding WaveBloom air chamber, it does seem to radiate from the entire device. But, the WaveBloom chamber effectiveness is situational.
It was hard to tell if that air volume made much impact at lower listening volumes. But, if you crank it up, it makes a giant difference. Because of this, the high quality at loud volume makes the Una X a great outdoor speaker.
Of course, pairing two of them together makes it even better. Because the speakers are wireless, you can spread them out across an area for maximum coverage. If you're looking for a portable sound setup to go from the poolside to the campsite, this might be the speaker for you. Well, maybe two of them are the speakers for you.
Controls and performance
The controls on the Una X are conveniently located at the top of the speaker. They feature a power, Bluetooth, and volume up/down button. The buttons are raised up and quite tactile, so once you get an idea of their positioning, you can quickly and accurately press them without looking.
At no point during our test did we have any problem connecting the Una X to any of the iPhones, iPads, Macs, or PCs we tested. Pairing the speakers together was a simple task. It involves pressing and holding the Bluetooth button on the first Una X and short pressing the Bluetooth button on the second. We had no issues with random disconnects, either.
Battery life
What's good is an ultraportable speaker if it can't go all day? When we tested the Una X, we were capable of getting just under 18 hours of playtime while listening at a "regular" volume. At louder volumes, this decreases a lot, but the manufacturer-provided 16 hours is still a reasonable estimate based on our testing.
Charging is done via the included USB-C cable and takes about two hours to complete a full charge. Once fully charged, the power light on the Una X turns off, letting you know that you're ready to go.
Overall
The Una X is a great portable speaker. While we initially thought the expandable WaveBloom chamber was a gimmick, we've come around on it.
- Pros
- All day battery life
- Folds down for travel or storage
- Expandable chamber improves volume quality
- Cons
- Effect not as noticeable at lower volumes
- Still a bit bulky
Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
Andrew Orr
William Gallagher
2 Comments
Good review. Poolside is great, but please consider your neighbors if you are camping. We’ve seen a trend over the past few years in the USA Pacific Northwest where loud music from adjacent sites spoil the joy of nature’s beautiful sounds. Many RV manufacturers these days contribute to it with outdoor speakers mounted on the sidewall of trailers, vans, and motorhomes. These outward facing, high up on these vehicles, projecting out into camp rather than pointed down to the campsite. The persons using them have to crank up the volume for them to be heard and often don’t realize (or care?) that it carries across the entire campground. I would love to see manufacturers include parabolic directional speakers that project the sound down from RV awnings or the like so that those in the site enjoy the music or movie while minimizing the sound carrying beyond the site. Many museums have what I describe here.
It’s been said that one person’s rights end where another’s begin. The adjacent campers who wants to enjoy nature sounds already in the environment should be able to do so. Somehow hearing the laughter of a child, talking of adults, crackling of a campfire, or the like is different from unwelcome, constant speaker-projected music that invades one’s campsite. If we are listening to music while camping (admittedly rare) we make sure to check our surroundings first and avoid the sound carrying beyond our site.
If you’re on your own or well away from others, blast to your heart’s content.
Yeah as both an electronic music enthusiast and a lifelong camper/outdoor enthusiast, portable outdoor speakers aren’t a category I enjoy. I don’t see the need to bring our lifestyle outside with us wherever we go...whether it’s the beach or the woods or the lake, there is a beautiful soundtrack already playing.