People familiar with high-end luxurious audio gear might know about the AIWA. A Japanese brand famous for its high-performance speakers. Today we bring to you yet another product from them, the AIWA SB-X350A their compact high-Performance Desk Speaker in for review.
From the looks of it, this speaker is up there in the high league with big names like Bose and Harman Kardon. It’s got a total 40W output, gets support for AptX HD, and more. All this is being offered at a sticker price of INR 15,900, should you invest in this speaker? Let’s find out in our full review.
Technical Specifications
- Output Power: 40W
- Battery Size: 8,000mAh
- Weight: 1.12Kg
- Connectivity: Bluetooth, 3.5mm Jack
- Bluetooth Version: 4.2
- Working Range: 10m
Box Contents
- AIWA SB-X350A Bluetooth speaker
- AUX Cable
- USB Cable
- Charging brick
- User Manual
Build & Design
The build quality is top-notch here and totally justifies the asking price. AIWA has not cut corners and has used a combination of metals throughout the speaker. While the design can be subjective and we felt it to be a little too bland. The SB-X350A is a small unit meant to be placed on a desk and follows curves on both sides.
We get the AIWA branding upfront on the grill that stretches both the length and width of the speaker. There are buttons for virtually every operation. The six-button row is placed on the top with the on/off button first, followed by the Mode selector, play/pause, call, and volume rockers. On the back lies the USB charging port, along with the 3.5mm jack that supports both in and out.
The total gross weight of the speaker is a little over 1Kg which seems a bit high given the sheer size of the speaker. But it is mainly due to the all-metal construction here. Apart from this, there are heft rubber feet on the bottom which make sure the speaker doesn’t move on soft surfaces.
Connectivity & Setup
There are a lot of connectivity options on the SB-X350A which ranges from Wireless connectivity to 3.5mm AUX wired ones. There is a USB Type-C port on the back, that is primarily used to charge the 8,000mAh cell on the speaker. Apart from this, we get support for Bluetooth 5.0 and an AUX port. We would have appreciated some options like a microSD card slot & NFC pairing.
Setting up the Bluetooth speaker is quite easy and straightforward- simply tap and hold the power button for three seconds, and it’ll go into the pairing mode. Now, pull off your phone and scan for Bluetooth devices to proceed with the pairing. Once paired, the speaker will connect automatically the next time you turn on Bluetooth on your device.
Performance & Battery Life
As stated above, the AIWA SB-X350A packs a set of dynamic drivers which are coupled with passive radiators totaling an output of 40W. This is a bit too much given the purpose and size of the speaker. When it comes to the sound quality, the vocals, as well as the bass, feel quite balanced.
The soundstage is clean with enough separation between frequencies. You will have a pleasant experience while listening to vocals-heavy stuff including Podcasts here. The speaker gets adequately loud and has a slight focus on mid-tones. The bass is ample and tight thanks to the passive radiators. The highlight here is the support for aptX HD which offers the ability to listen to CD-quality tracks at 24Bit.
Then there is the TWS Multi-Link Technology from AIWA that lets you pair multiple SB-X350J & SB-X350A speakers for a true surround sound experience. Since we have just a single unit of the X350A with us for review, we couldn’t really test this Multi-Link functionality. But apart from this, everything else worked as advertised on the package.
As for the battery, the speaker lasted a little over 4 hours on playback with varying volume levels between 40-60%. With the supplied charger brick, the speaker took close to 4 hours to get the 8,000mAh built-in battery topped up.
