Divoom Bluetune-Solo review

Portable Bluetooth speakers are a dime a dozen, but unless you’re prepared to spend upwards of £100 there’s a risk that you’ll end up with a tinny sound that’s barely any better than the tiny speaker built into your phone. The Divoom Bluetune-Solo, which comes with X-Bass branding stamped across its speaker grille, is an attempt to buck this trend.

The Bluetune is barely larger than a tennis ball, and is surprisingly hefty for such a small speaker. The blue lights that shine out of its base may divide opinion, but the cylindrical design is otherwise easy on the eye. Once you flick the power switch the speaker automatically enters pairing mode, letting you quickly connect whatever Bluetooth gadget you store your music on.

The speaker points upwards rather than outwards, which means you should listen from above to get the best effect. Our test tracks certainly bore this out, revealing a somewhat tinny sound that improves slightly if you’re sitting right above the speaker’s driver. Bass is admittedly marginally better than other entry-level speakers, but only just and only when the speaker is at around half volume. Crank the speaker up to 3/4s or beyond and the entire sound quickly distorts.

When you aren’t listening to music, or if someone calls while you’re rocking out, the Bluetune can also act as a speaker phone. The Bluetooth pairing button on the top of the speaker will accept an incoming call. In a quiet room, we had no trouble making ourselves heard clearly from several feet away, and our caller’s voice was also loud enough. The built-in battery charges over Micro USB and lasted for around five and quarter hours in our continuous playback test.