Betron KBS08 Bluetooth Speaker, Wireless, Portable, Mini, Black

Why did I choose the Betron KBS08?I wanted a bluetooth speaker so I can listen to internet radio while I'm in the kitchen without having to take the laptop with me, and also for a better sound than my laptop speakers for watching movies/TV. Also, I wanted one with some decent bass that can fill the room when I feel like dancing, but not pay an arm and a leg.Did I get what I wanted?It works perfectly on Bluetooth with my phone and AUX with my laptop. The bass is incredible, when you put it on a wooden surface like a table you can actually feel the floor vibrate. The sound quality is really nice and decently loud to fill the room. I carried it to every corner of our small flat and it didn't cut out even when I closed the heavy bathroom door.The light strips also make it look really cool and will be a really stylish eye catcher at any house party.Ease of use & charging:It was simple to pair (immediately connected with both my Lenovo laptop and Samsung smartphone without issues), quick to charge and worked for about 4 hours on full charge before a loud beep alerted me to its need to be fed some electricity. It comes with a 3-way cable that allows you to charge the speaker via USB. Charging was fast, I didn't time it exactly but I think it was fully charged again within 1-1.5 hours via a USB mains plug.There are only a few buttons so you can't do much wrong. You get the usual Play/Pause/Answer Phone, Forward/Louder, Backward/Quieter and Off/On, and also a Mode button that will cycle through the Bluetooth, FM and AUX functions when pressed. A nice lady tells you which mode you've gone into when the button is pressed and notifies you when the Bluetooth is connected.It has 3 cable slots for AUX, Mini-USB and MicroSDTF. In order to use the AUX function of the speaker, set the Mode to AUX, connect the Mini-USB to your speaker and plug the AUX cable into the device you want to get the sound from. I have no device that uses MicroSDTF so could not test that.The speaker starts up in the volume that you left it on when last using it, so if that was full volume don't hold your ears close to it during startup.Negative points:Overamplification:At very high volumes the low price of the speaker starts to show as it overamplifies during certain frequencies at a high volume.Bass in speech:For watching movies/TV, the bass is a bit TOO good. It's quite unnerving to have the basses in people's voice and sound effects emphasised that much.Permanent light show:While the lights are great for a party atmosphere, they do get a bit annoying when you just want some quiet background music and I have not found a way to switch them off completely.The above would make me reduce the rating to 4.5*, but it's not annoying enough to give it only 4* given the overall quality.The following oddity also happened to me that is NOT the fault of the speaker:Laptop Bluetooth Pitch Shifting:My laptop's Bluetooth settings make the speaker pitch shift and put out sound about a half tone higher than the source, resulting in everthing sounding like on helium. I managed to fix it briefly, but whenever a new song started, it would revert to pitch shifted sound again. I currently circumvent this by simply using it via the AUX cable or listening to internet radio via my phone, with which it works perfectly fine.Some research showed that this is actually a common problem, due to software drivers cutting corners on sound quality in order to produce a consistent signal. If this happens to you, it's not the speaker that's at fault but your driver and you may need to do some poking around (my fix on Windows 7: Start > Control Panel > Hardware & Sound > Manage Audio Devices > Properties > Tick "Remove All Enhancements").Verdict:The sound that the KBS08 produces is incredible for such a tiny thing and it's easy to use, a brilliant value for price ratio here! It weighs next to nothing and fits in a coat pocket, so it's ideal for travel as well - no more putting my phone in a water glass!I can't currently do all the things that I want with the speaker due to the pitch shifting, but as that is not the fault of the speaker I really can't blame it for that - the workaround with the AUX function or just using the phone works well enough for the time being. I just need an excuse to buy a laptop that has better bluetooth drivers on offer and I'll be set!

The media could not be loaded. This easily makes it into my all-time top 5 favorite purchases on Amazon.This is an incredibly cheap Bluetooth speaker so I certainly wasn't expecting much from it but I was blown away when I used it for the first time.Setup:This couldn't be easier to use. I had it switched on and paired to my iPhone in about 60 seconds.The sound:When cranked up to full volume this thing is louder than my iPhone. The sound quality at this level doesn't diminish either, the music sounds perfect.Product quality:The speaker lights up with colourful LED's which looks really good. You cannot turn the lights off, however, don't worry about the battery as LED's consume very little power so it really wouldn't make a big difference anyway. The device itself looks really well made. The casing looks premium and doesn't reflect the price paid. It looks really smart!Battery:The battery lasts a couple of hours and takes about 3 hours to charge. On a recent camping trip I used this with a powerbank that I purchased on Amazon. Because the speaker is charged via a USB cable you can charge it using most battery packs. I have no concerns with the battery life for this reason but you will want to consider this when taking it on trips away with you.Don't be put of by its cheap price tag, it's an awesome device that you will love to own. This is super cheap and the only thing that gave it away is the voice that tells you to connect to Bluetooth when you first turn it on. Her English language is really bad and you cannot make out what she is saying. This should not put you off though it more amusing than anything else.Overall I cannot recommend this highly enough. Amazing quality at such a small price.I hope that you found this review helpful! Royalty free music by Bensound.

Sound quality is good.It connects very easily to my Blu Tooth.I like the stylish design.The only drawback is that the charge life is a little short.