BIG ON BASS

COMPARED to the new breed of Bluetooth speakers, the X-mini SUPA at 960g weighs on the higher side. But the design and the sound output easily make up for that. SUPA comes with an elegant, straight-line design that blends well with any interior, be it home or office. It has a solid front grill, a swivel dial on top and a power button at the rear. In fact, X-mini has managed to do away with all unnecessary buttons as the swivel dial does it all. You can press it to pause or play music, rotate it to jump to the next track or rotate it and hold it a bit longer to control volume.

Long pressing the power button at the rear turns the speaker on/off while a simple press switches between the two audio modes – voice and bass. It can be connected via Bluetooth or by using an auxiliary cable. There is a memory card slot at the rear and SUPA can play songs straight from the microSD card. I tested it with a few tracks and the audio output was impressive. Along with clear vocals, SUPA offered deep bass and balanced highs. Although the speaker has only two preset options, I was able to adjust the bass and the treble using the X-mini mobile application. The app is still in beta (unreleased) but acts as a remote control as I have been able to control the volume from a distance. However, the sound distorted at higher volumes. In all, the 20W sound output was good enough for a small house party or even an outdoor picnic. Using the dial button, I was able to answer incoming calls, which were loud and clear on both the sides. SUPA has a 2,200 mAh battery that takes close to three hours to charge but lasts over seven hours of music playback at 70 per cent volume over Bluetooth connectivity. Sold at

` 8,990, it is one of the best-looking speakers offering superb sound.