Bass is foundational. A devoted speaker able to reproducing convincing bass and sub-bass not solely makes music and movies really feel extra genuine, however may even enhance the element and dynamics of the upper registers by liberating up sonic area under. So trying to jam an actual subwoofer right into a handheld speaker is on no account a loopy concept—it is simply loopy troublesome.
That’s what makes the Brane X so spectacular. Over time, I’ve heard lofty claims about low-extension “woofers” in nearly each sort of compact speaker, however the Brane X is the primary to hit all of the notes actually. It does so with a specialised RAD (Repel Appeal to Driver) that appears to carry out physics-defying magic from inside the speaker’s stout body. That is matched by a number of high-frequency drivers above for clear and surprisingly expansive efficiency throughout registers.
To land this sort of breakthrough bass in a package deal you possibly can take nearly anyplace, Brane expenses a price that can make most informal consumers spit up their drinks. But when your price range is negotiable, the Brane X is a wonderful wi-fi speaker that comes as shut as I’ve heard to placing a full residence audio system in a pint-sized field.
Surreal Sound
Do you take heed to music with percussion or drums? Bass guitar, synth, or strings? If that’s the case, you’ll profit from what the Brane X can do. What’s most notable concerning the speaker’s potent punch isn’t how a lot bass it pumps out, however the variety and high quality. That is pure, full, and unadulterated low-frequency efficiency from the supply.
{Photograph}: Ryan Waniata
As you may guess, the Brane X is most viscerally spectacular when hammering hip hop and digital grooves, the place the kick hits with clear authority properly under 50 Hz, with out overpowering the opposite devices. But, listening by way of my catalog, it turned more and more clear that the RAD subwoofer’s pointed contact is simply as spectacular when extra subtly deployed.
The haunting vocal and guitar intro in Springsteen’s “The Ghost of Tom Joad” sounds clear and ethereal, as you’d count on from a top quality transportable. Then the bass guitar kicks in, and all the things is elevated. The wealthy pure tone the Brane X reproduces provides depth and gravity to the music, bringing its full emotional poignancy to life.
I didn’t have an appropriate transportable that would stand as much as the Brane X, so I known as in a few of my favourite homebound Wi-Fi audio system, together with the Sonos Period 100 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) and Period 300 (9/10, WIRED Recommends). Even the thrilling 300, which serves up spectacular bass in its personal proper, couldn’t match the Brane within the heaviest tracks, sketching out extra of an impression of the bottom tones than the total monty.
Brane says its Repel Appeal to Driver can ship this sort of authenticity by utilizing a particular magnet and spring system to cancel the “inside air strain forces” that hinder different audio system. This ends in a claimed “tenfold improve in sub-bass sound and a hundredfold improve in sub-bass effectivity.” It appears like a lot techno mumbo jumbo on the market, however with the Brane X, you possibly can truly hear it working, and never simply from the efficiency. Tapping the facility key evokes little whirring sounds, apparently adjusting its complicated inside mechanism forward of playback.
