BlueAnt X5i party speaker and mics – lift the roof (AV review)
The BlueAnt X5i is undoubtedly a party speaker with flashing lights, twin mics and that industrial black front speaker mesh. Perfect for ‘lifting the roof’ on New Year’s Eve.
Now, I am not really a party animal anymore. I don’t get off on overly loud thumping, head-banging music. I am pleased to report that beneath that goth exterior beats quite a nice sound signature at volumes that are heaps for a party of 30 or so people.
In fact, that is precisely what it did on a New Year’s Eve party. Background music was soft and unobtrusive, allowing good conversation. As the booze lifted inhibitions, karaoke emerged. Then, the very loud countdown to a new year.

We support BlueAnt as an Australian-owned and based consumer electronics audio brand with a track record of innovative product design and technology firsts. BlueAnt designs and develops all products from its Melbourne-based R&D facility and employs a local team of audio professionals.
Australian Review: BlueAnt X5i party speaker and mics
Website | Product Page and Manual |
Price | $479 Black only |
Warranty | 2 years with registration |
From | BlueAnt online |
Made in | China |
Company | BlueAnt is 100% Australian, Est 2004 in Melbourne, by passionate music lovers; it designs a range of musically accurate speakers, soundbars, headphones/buds, and microphones. |
More | CyberShack BlueAnt news and reviews |
We use Fail (below expectations), Passable (meets low expectations), Pass (meets expectations), Pass+ (near Exceed but not class-leading) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. You can click on most images for an enlargement.



First Impression – Yep, it’s a party speaker
- Black acoustic grill – check
- Big integrated handle – check
- Top control panel
- BT and stereo pairable -check
- LED lights – check
- Mains or battery – check
- Aux-in and USB-A – check
- Mics – check
- Loud – check
That pretty well covers all party speakers from JBL, Sony, Soundboks and brands you have never heard of. And frankly, while it is utilitarian and rugged for party speaker use – it is boring.
It also goes against BlueAnt’s latest marketing campaign, which features beautiful people dressed in fluorescent clothes and an explosion of colour and movement.

Just saying is all! If BlueAnt truly wants to be different, then get rid of the goth black and start setting trends because it’s so easy to stand out in a sea of black.
It is a reasonably sized mono speaker at 357.3 (H) x 268.6 (W) x 282.8 (D) x 4.8kg, with a few nice features like a smartphone/tablet holder, power bank (USB-A), two mics (and integrated holders), and rubber caps for inputs (it is not IP rated, but this helps).
The bass driver is ringed by a coloured LED band, and each front side has a vertical LED band. There are seven presets.


Speakers – mono – Pass+
It is a mono speaker with three amps.
- 165mm front-firing driver
- 2 x 58mm front-firing tweeters
- Rear passive bass port
The tweeters are simple crossover at about 4-20kHz. The driver appears to cover 70Hz to 4kHz. Blueant does not provide this information so there are estimates based on our frequency response meter.
The passive bass port can provide bass reinforcement if placed correctly.
Placement – makes a difference
The worst thing you can do is place this on a table in the centre of the room. The rear bass port needs a wall to bounce off and can, under the right placement circumstances, gives from 6 to 18dB bass reinforcement.
- Centre of the room: up to 6dB
- Closer to a wall (1m): up to 12dB.
- Diagonal Corner up to 18dB.

If placed on a table or desktop, there is no bass enhancement. If you are using it outside find the right sweet spot.
It has forward-firing speakers. The sound is quite front-centric until you are a few metres away.
Speaker Power – Pass+
BlueAnt appears to be quoting 120W peak power, which looks good in marketing, but RMS Watts is a better measurement. That would be about 85W which is heaps for a party speaker (to be confirmed).
Bluetooth and stereo pair – Pass+
It has the latest BT 5.4, using one Classic Bluetooth, .125W (BR&EDR) to pair with the mics and Bluetooth BLE 1W (1Mbps&2Mbps) to pair to the phone and another stereo pairable X5i.
BT codecs include SBC and AAC and connect at 16-bit 41000 or 48000Hz (DVD quality). It takes a stereo signal and downmixes to mono unless stereo paired to another X5i.
We tried BT at 10m (line of sight), and it was fine. At 25m (not line of sight) it started to drop out.
It does not support multi-point connections meaning you have to pair each time you change the host device.
Mics – Pass
The two BT mics are effective to about 5m from the speaker. They are dynamic and reasonably omnidirectional meant for PA and Karaoke use but don’t stand in front of the speaker! They have a single echo control.
Battery life is up to 60 hours (not tested) and it will auto-off after 30 mins when connected to speaker and 10 minutes when not.
It takes about 2.5 hours to charge (can’t be used while they are charging), and you must use a standard USB-A to USB-C 5V/1A/5W PD charger. It will not charge from PPS or PPS.
Ports – Pass
USB-A acts as a power bank as well as MP3, WAV, APE and FLAC. It outputs 5V/1A/5W maximum, which means the mics can use it.
Aux-In is analogue requiring the host device to have a DAC (3.5mm socket or some smartphones have integral USB-C DACs
Battery – Pass+
It charges from 240V/.25A/60W mains power to the internal 3.6V/28A/100W battery. A full charge is over 3 hours.
BlueAnt quotes up to 6-7 hours at 100% volume on mains power and up to 30 hours at 50% volume.
The reality is that the use of bass boost and LED lights significantly reduce this. Our test at 75% volume was a tad over 3 hours with full lights and 4.5 hours with lights off.
Lights – Pass
There are seven presets, including off. All pulse in time with the music.

How does it sound? – Pass+
I would be disappointed if BlueAnt made a bad speaker, as I have not heard one yet. This speaker is a party speaker for larger areas at louder volumes and has lost a little finesse with mid and upper mids (clear voice).
It has volume from 0-16 (100%) and Bass Boost on or off. Bass starts at 20Hz, but it is just white noise and distortion that does not clear until about 70Hz.
Maximum volume on mains/battery is 85/75dB (level 16) but sounds so much better at 75dB (level 12).
It has no low bass (20-50Hz) and mid-bass (50-100Hz) settles down at 70Hz. High bass starts at 100Hz and if flat to 10kHz, followed by a slight decline then flat to 20kHz.
What the frequency response graph shows is the 1-4kHz is a little choppy just taking the fine edge off clear voice. This is all far better controlled at 75% volume.

Technically, it has a Neutral sound signature
The audiophile standard is a flat (good) response that neither adds nor subtracts from the original music! The only issue here is garbage-in, garbage-out – the better the music quality, the better it sounds.
You can read more about sound signatures and, what to look for (including test tracks) How to tell if you have good music (sound signature is the key).
Deep Bass 20-40Hz | Distortion only |
Middle Bass 40-100Hz | Distortion to 70Hz the flat to 10kHz |
High Bass 100-200Hz | Flat |
Low Mid 200-400Hz | Flat |
Mid 400-1000Hz | Flat |
High-Mid 1-2kHz | Flat with some clipping |
Low Treble 2-4kHz | Flat with some clipping |
Mid Treble 4-6kHz | Flat |
High Treble 6-10kHz | Flat |
Dog Whistle 10-20kHz | Very slight decline and flat to 20kHz |
Sound Signature type | Neutral |
Soundstage | Mono and fairly front-centric to 2m. Placement does make a difference |
Comment | Try 75% volume and bass boost off first in open spaces and adjust from there. |
Build – Pass+
It seems well made. No IP rating means you need to keep it out of the weather.
Missing – no deal breakers
- Only stereo pair with one X5i (not multiroom Wi-Fi and not meant to be)
- No balanced guitar input
- An app and EQ may add value
- microSD
CyberShack’s view: BlueAnt X5i party speaker and mics are plenty for a party
As we have come to expect, the BlueAnt X5i is an excellent party speaker. I would have liked to try a stereo pair, if only out of curiosity.
It is loud and has a great neutral sound signature
Competition
- $449 Sony SRS-XV500 – mic extra. BlueAnt X5i is smaller but has better sound and battery life.
- $449 Monster MT-F10 – IPX4 and guitar input. Mic extra. Competitive, but BlueAnt has better sound.
- $499 (on special for $444) JBL PartyBox Club 120. It is hard to beat JBL sound, and it has two woofers and two tweeters. It is IPX4, 160W RMS, 40Hz to 20kHz with BT 5.3 multi-point and AuraCast. Dual mic and guitar input. Has an app and EQ. Mics extra.
BlueAnt X5i party speaker rating
It is rated as a mono party speaker.
- Features: 80—Everything you expect of a plug-and-play BT party speaker. It lacks guitar input, an app, EQ, and an IP rating, but these are not deal-breakers.
- Value: 80 – $449 is fair and beats Sony and Monster with its two included mics. JBL presents class-leading value, but mics are extra.
- Performance: 80 – BlueAnt neutral sound signature, but it should look at the low and mid bass distortion and 1-4kHz clipping. It is not bad, but it could be better.
- Ease of Use: 80 – can’t fault it. 2-year warranty, and no app to set up.
- Design: 80 – Basic, utilitarian, boring black inherent in most party speakers.
Con
BlueAnt X5i party speaker and mics
$479Pros
- Good neutral sound signature but back off maximum volume for better sound
- Battery and mains-powered
- 2 mics included
- Plenty of volume for a large room
Cons
- Not IP rated which can limit outdoor use
- Battery life is good but depends on LEDs and bass boost levels
- Different maximum volume levels on mains and battery.
- Wattage is likely Peak (PMPO), not RMS but not a deal breaker
Brought to you by CyberShack.com.au