Denon Envaya DSB-250BT Review - The Rugged Portable Speaker to Beat?
Beyond Innovations Inc. recently made the Denon Envaya DSB-250BT available for the Philippine market.
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| The rugged portable speaker to beat? |
The Envaya DSB-250BT is a premium ruggedized HiFi portable speaker crafted by Denon. In case you are not familiar, Denon is a maker of high-fidelity professional and consumer audio equipment from Japan.
Anyway, the Denon Envaya DSB-250BT is designed to provide legit high quality tunes in a portable and ruggedized body.
Here's our review!
Envaya DSB-250BT Specs
Drivers: 2x 40 mm Full-range w/ 1x 53 x 135 mm passive radiator and 2x 13.5W amplifier
Battery: Up to 13 hours
Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.1 w/ aptX, 3.5 mm aux port
Others: Microphone, IP67 water and dust resistance, Colors: black, grey
Dimensions: 209 x 74 x 77 mm
Weight: 750 g
Price: PHP 11,500
Disclaimer: This is a borrowed unit from Beyond Innovations Inc.
Inside the box, you'll find the Envaya itself together with the micro USB charging cable with flat design, shoe tie-like cloth strap, and the paper documents. It has carrying cloth or bag included though.
The Envaya is like a tank, a beautiful tank! The speaker is made out of rubberized material, plastic, and metal combined. All of the corners are protected by the rubberized materials to make it survive even high and hard drops.
This speaker even has IP67 water and dust resistance. It means that this speaker is fully protected from dust and can survive being submerged in 1 meter high of water for up to 30 minutes.
Design-wise, it looks sturdy and minimalist at the same time. We like its macho looking dark greyish black color in a rounded rectangle type of body.
The Envaya is considered as a portable speaker too. It isn't that big and thick at 209 x 74 x 77 mm or heavy at 750 g. It also has rubber stoppers at the bottom to make the speaker stand still and avoid slippage.
All its buttons and ports are found on strategic locations. On the right side,
The Envaya also has a slot for a carabiner or strap found below.
The Envaya has all the basic controls found on most portable Bluetooth powered speakers. It goes with the power button, Bluetooth pairing key, answer and decline, and the usual volume up and down buttons. It also has a battery indicator on the side.
All you need to do is hold the power button and and press the Bluetooth key and pair your favorite smartphone and other capable Bluetooth players. It is compatible with your PC, iOS, and Android devices.
Bluetooth connectivity is mostly stable. There are very few times where we experienced signal loss. It has an operational distance of up to 30 meters, up to 8 multi-paring, and simultaneous playback of up to 2 units.
If you are not a fan of Bluetooth, it has a 3.5 mm aux port. You may just connect your favorite music player using an OFC 3.5 mm to 3.5 mm aux cable to enjoy better sounding tunes than Bluetooth.
You may also use this speaker for calls. Surprisingly its microphone is great for calls.
It has no other features like FM Radio, microSD card or USB 2.0 or 3.0 playback though.
Charging time is a bit slow though. We clocked almost 4 hours of charging time from 0 to 100 percent.
Pros - Beautiful design, sturdy build, water and dust resistance, amazing audio quality
Cons - No 3.5 to 3.5 mm cable in the package, no FM Radio, slow charging time
The PHP 11,500 might deter most people from buying it on first look. But, if you have the cash, this speaker is more than worth it!
You may purchase the Denon Envaya DSB-250BT at A.Refinery UPTC, A.Refinery Cebu, and Egghead Audio Hub Shangri-La Plaza.
Build / Design - 4.5
Features - 3.5
Battery Life - 4.25
Sound - 4.5
Average - 4.185 / 5
Disclaimer: This is a borrowed unit from Beyond Innovations Inc.
Unboxing / Accessories
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| Everything inside |
Inside the box, you'll find the Envaya itself together with the micro USB charging cable with flat design, shoe tie-like cloth strap, and the paper documents. It has carrying cloth or bag included though.
Build Quality / Design
 |
| Rubber stopper below |
The Envaya is like a tank, a beautiful tank! The speaker is made out of rubberized material, plastic, and metal combined. All of the corners are protected by the rubberized materials to make it survive even high and hard drops.
Water resistance!
This speaker even has IP67 water and dust resistance. It means that this speaker is fully protected from dust and can survive being submerged in 1 meter high of water for up to 30 minutes.
 |
| Headphone jack and micro USB slots |
 |
| Carabiner slot |
Design-wise, it looks sturdy and minimalist at the same time. We like its macho looking dark greyish black color in a rounded rectangle type of body.
The Envaya is considered as a portable speaker too. It isn't that big and thick at 209 x 74 x 77 mm or heavy at 750 g. It also has rubber stoppers at the bottom to make the speaker stand still and avoid slippage.
All its buttons and ports are found on strategic locations. On the right side,
The Envaya also has a slot for a carabiner or strap found below.
Features
 |
| The controls |
The Envaya has all the basic controls found on most portable Bluetooth powered speakers. It goes with the power button, Bluetooth pairing key, answer and decline, and the usual volume up and down buttons. It also has a battery indicator on the side.
All you need to do is hold the power button and and press the Bluetooth key and pair your favorite smartphone and other capable Bluetooth players. It is compatible with your PC, iOS, and Android devices.
Bluetooth connectivity is mostly stable. There are very few times where we experienced signal loss. It has an operational distance of up to 30 meters, up to 8 multi-paring, and simultaneous playback of up to 2 units.
If you are not a fan of Bluetooth, it has a 3.5 mm aux port. You may just connect your favorite music player using an OFC 3.5 mm to 3.5 mm aux cable to enjoy better sounding tunes than Bluetooth.
You may also use this speaker for calls. Surprisingly its microphone is great for calls.
It has no other features like FM Radio, microSD card or USB 2.0 or 3.0 playback though.
Battery Life
Battery life is GREAT! Denon failed to include the exact battery capacity of this unit but it lasted for a total of 11.5 hours. It is a bit lesser than the 13 hours listed time, but that is still great for a portable speaker.Charging time is a bit slow though. We clocked almost 4 hours of charging time from 0 to 100 percent.
Sound Quality
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| Awesome sound for the size! |
The Denon Envaya DSB-250BT is one of the best sounding wireless portable speaker we tested. It has crazy good bass response with heavy signature, nice sub-bass, and bass decay.
Interestingly, even if its bass is big, the control is good. It isn't overpowering at all. Mids are still clean sounding and well detailed. Layering and separation are outstanding for a small Bluetooth speaker. Vocals are mostly clean. Hissing is not that present too.
If you have a HiFi grade aux cable, the sound would be even better. Even at max volume, distortion is very minimal. That's rare for a Bluetooth portable speaker.
Highs is decent, but it could have been better. It doesn't have the sparkle found on the bigger speaker.
But that's okay, for its size, finding a 2x 40 mm full range speaker with passive radiator and 2x 13.5W amplifier is quite hard.
As a result, soundstage is considered as wide for a speaker this small!
Awesome sound for the size!
Interestingly, even if its bass is big, the control is good. It isn't overpowering at all. Mids are still clean sounding and well detailed. Layering and separation are outstanding for a small Bluetooth speaker. Vocals are mostly clean. Hissing is not that present too.
If you have a HiFi grade aux cable, the sound would be even better. Even at max volume, distortion is very minimal. That's rare for a Bluetooth portable speaker.
Highs is decent, but it could have been better. It doesn't have the sparkle found on the bigger speaker.
But that's okay, for its size, finding a 2x 40 mm full range speaker with passive radiator and 2x 13.5W amplifier is quite hard.
As a result, soundstage is considered as wide for a speaker this small!
Pros - Beautiful design, sturdy build, water and dust resistance, amazing audio quality
Cons - No 3.5 to 3.5 mm cable in the package, no FM Radio, slow charging time
Verdict
Easily, the Denon Envaya DSB-250BT one of the best portable speaker that's readily available in the country today. Sound is audiophile grade (even if its wireless), battery life is crazy long, and it goes with an easy to carry ruggedized design.The PHP 11,500 might deter most people from buying it on first look. But, if you have the cash, this speaker is more than worth it!
You may purchase the Denon Envaya DSB-250BT at A.Refinery UPTC, A.Refinery Cebu, and Egghead Audio Hub Shangri-La Plaza.
Build / Design - 4.5
Features - 3.5
Battery Life - 4.25
Sound - 4.5
Average - 4.185 / 5
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