BlueAnt X6 – Let the party begin (BT speaker audio review)

The BlueAnt X6 is a Bluetooth, luggable party speaker replete with 160W of thumping power, LED lights, guitar input, and it comes with two microphones.

BlueAnt is 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.

What is a party speaker?

The prerequisites are robust, loud, multi-inputs, LED lighting, and preferably battery-operated to be luggable. These are made to operate at maximum volume. The Catch-22 is that it needs to sound good, whether at half or full volume. Blueant X6 delivers this in spades.

Australian Review: BlueAnt X6 BT portable party speaker

Website	Product Page and Manual
Price	$579
Warranty	1-year ACL
From	BlueAnt online, Qantas Market Place, Telstra
Country of Manufacture	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 – yes, it is a party speaker – Pass+

It looks like a Party speaker! BlueAnt gear is well-made, pretty rugged, and adheres to sensible design – everything is well laid out and intuitive.

On the rear is the AC input, a switch for Off/AC/Battery and Left/Right RCA outputs. There is also a Bass port, meaning bass works best when a wall is a metre or so behind it. It can lay on either side (landscape) or stand up (portrait).

A mesh speaker grill on the front covers a wrap-around and centre LED bars. You can see the two 165mm woofers (top and bottom in portrait) and two 64mm Tweeters. Note that we did not use the term sub-woofer as these speakers work together to cover the 20Hz-20kHz frequency range.

The front display shows the speaker mode, different coloured lights depending on charging or charged modes, and a battery meter.

There is no App or special setup required.

Bluetooth – Pass

It is BT 5.0 and supports the lossy SBC codec only. We would have preferred a few more codecs.

Input Ports – Top – Pass+

The top is where all the action is; again, it is intuitive. A line of ports covering 6.3mm Guitar, 6.3mm Mic (or two mics inbox), 3-pole 3.5mm Aux, microSD (FAT 32, 32GB, MP3/WQAV/FLAC/WMA files in root) and USB-A (FAT32, 32GB – ditto).

Function buttons – Top – Pass+

• Bass Boost – switches between standard and Bass Boost EQ. It recesses treble a little as it is impossible to boost above the native frequency response – see frequency response tables later.
• Duo Mode – for stereo pairing two X6s. One becomes the master. The slave can adjust LEDs and guitar and mic controls.
• Mic Volume/Echo – 16-step volume and Echo levels.
• Guitar Volume – 16 levels of volume and can be used as a Mic (no echo)
• Loop – for USB and microSD card, play one or all songs in a loop.
• Skip Forward/Back – BT, microSD and USB function
• Play/Pause -microSD and USB

How loud?

BlueAnt claims 160 Watts of Pure Party Power (over the four speakers). Before we go on, there is a discussion about whether this is PMPO (peak music power) or RMS (the better measurement). We suspect the latter as we have compared it to 100W RMS party speakers, and it is no louder. The absence of an FCC ID registration or EAN means it is hard to check.

Whether it is PMPO or RMS, we estimate 2 x 50W (Woofers) and 2 x 30W (Tweeters). It claims 110dB SPL, but there are limits on Bluetooth at about 85dB. The 16 volume steps match most phones. AUX-In/microSD will allow you to go a little louder, and we got 87dB on Aux-in.

In any case, 85dB is very loud and will easily fill a 50-100m2 room. We detected a slight change in volume (82.5dB) on battery versus mains power.

How does it sound? Pass+

BlueAnt has one of the best native neutral sound signatures – read How to tell if you have good music (sound signature is the key. It is an example that few other BT speaker makers can match (the exception is JBL – great BT signature).

Bass starts exceptionally low at 30Hz and climbs steeply to 60Hz, where it is flat (good) 7kHz. It dips slightly to avoid harshness and then is flat to 20kHz – superb.

With Bass Boost enabled, there is a slight dip at 175-200, where there must be a crossover between the woofer and the tweeter. You don’t hear this unless you are at 100% volume.

The mono sound stage is directional, but it is room-filling. We got the best results by placing it about 1m from a wall in the centre of the room.

Our advice – leave Bass Boost off.

Mics – Pass

Two substantial-feeling microphones – cool, Karaoke or PA at no extra cost. The microphone cables are terminated with 6.3mm jacks and XLR sockets so you can switch to another dynamic microphone.

It is hard to measure mic quality, but overall, these were volume adjustable and loud enough to sing along with the music.

Battery – Pass

Testing battery life is a chore – having it flat-out needs an anechoic chamber, and we don’t have that. But fear not; we managed to sufficiently soundproof a room so as not to drive us mad.

Battery life depends on LEDs and volume. As there are 15 modes of LED on/off, it is hard to measure power consumption.

• BlueAnt claim 8 hours at 50% volume and LED at 01 (maximum L15).
• Test 70% volume LO1 – 6 hours
• Test 100% volume LO0 – 4.75 hours
• 68Wh battery recharge 0-100% about 5 hours

LEDs – for effect – Pass

All we know is that there are 15 LED modes, and it would be nice if the manual told you what they do.

IP Rating – no

It is not meant for use outdoors in wet weather.

Size

650 x 260 x 260 mm x 8.84kg luggable. There is a handle at the front of the speaker.

Issues

• We heard some speaker grill vibration at 175Hz (at full volume), but it is not enough to worry about.
• It would be nice to answer the PMPO or RMS question – not that it matters.
• An IPX4 rating would be nice.

CyberShack’s view – The BlueAnt X6 is an excellent party speaker

The BlueAnt X6 is, as we have come to expect, over nearly 20 years, an excellent party speaker. I would have liked to try a stereo pair, if only for curiosity.

It is loud, has a great neutral sound signature and gets a definite recommended ‘buy’ tick.

Competition

Sadly we don’t have the time to party or play games. Prices are RRP.

• Samsung Sound Tower range – CyberShack announcement and closest is the MX-ST40B 160W.  
• JBL PartyBox range. It is closest to the JBL PartyBox 110 AT $499 or the PartyBox 310 at $699.
• Sony range. Sony does not disclose PMPO or RMS Watts – possible competitor XP700 at $499.
• Soundboks Go 140W, but at $1099, it is not a competitor.

Rating – BlueAnt X6 – 90/100

• Features: 90 – battery/power, multiple inputs, LED lights, and two mics. Apart from IP rating, it has the lot. We only wish for additional BT codecs like AAC (Apple) and aptX or aptX HD (Qualcomm).
• Value: 90 – seems well priced, sitting between the JBL 110 ($499) and the JBL 310 ($699).
• Performance: 90 – can’t fault it. An excellent sound signature and loads of volume.
• Ease of use: 90 – intuitive controls, no App, plug and go
• Design: 90 – looks the part(y) and seems well made.