Braven BRV-XXL2

amazon Braven BRV-XXL2 reviews

Braven’s BRV-XXL/2 speakers deliver thunderous sonic performance from a large, outdoor-friendly construction with a powerful subwoofer and built-in bottle opener.

Not everyone needs a portable Bluetooth speaker with a powerful subwoofer and a built-in bottle opener, but Braven has you covered for those. The BRV-XXL/2 is simply a giant—it gets super loud and delivers some serious rumble, certainly enough to power an outdoor party. Its waterproof design and built-in handle are both useful features for great outdoor activities. Use the speakerphone function and the bass/treble adjustable EQ, and you’ll get plenty of speakers for the list price of $399.99.

Design

The BRV-XXL/2 is truly portable, but it’s in the class of large, tank-like portable loudspeakers designed for serious sonic fire. Measuring 9 x 22 x 9 inches (HWD), the speaker weighs 17.4 pounds. Its IPX5-rated exterior can withstand a low-pressure water jet, so light rain and splashes won’t affect it but don’t try to float it in the pool or spray it. Inside, four full-range 15-watt drivers (in pairs, front and rear), one down-firing 40-watt subwoofer, and dual passive radiators deliver the sound.

There’s a sturdy built-in handle at the top of the speaker, and it comes with a detachable shoulder strap that connects at the ends of the handle. The bottle opener has a folding lid on the left panel surrounded by rubber stoppers for power, pairing, linking (with another BRV-XXL/2 speaker), volume/track gain / reduce and play / pause / manage calls. There are three buttons labeled Volume, Bass, and Treble, and choosing one lets you adjust the EQ or volume—the white LED tells you which button you’re adjusting. That’s a good thing, as the buttons themselves can be a little hard to see on an all-black design.

Unfortunately, Braven chose to combine volume controls with track navigation controls — press and hold to skip a track, tap to adjust the volume. It’s all too easy to accidentally skip a track when you want to adjust the volume level.

On the right panel, there’s a battery status LED and a covered connection panel that includes a 3.5mm microphone input for singing along, a 3.5mm support input, and a USB port for mobile device charging by the speaker’s battery — no cables are included for these connections, however. There is also a pinhole reset button and connection for the included power supply. The speaker supports Bluetooth 5.0 and the AAC/SBC codec but does not support AptX.

Braven estimates battery life at around 18 hours, but your results will vary with your volume level.

Performance

While bass and treble can be adjusted, the descriptions below are with neutral default settings. On tracks with powerful bass content, such as The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the BRV-XXL/2 delivers a thunderous low-frequency response. At absolute max volume, the lows on this track can start to cause a bit of distortion – not ideal at this price point – but turning the volume back up even fixes that a bit. That and the speakers start very loud, so we wouldn’t consider this a deal-breaker. At moderate to high volumes, the bass here is punchy but doesn’t blend in with the whole mix — there’s also a presence of high frequencies here.

Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a track with less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better feel for the overall sound character of the BRV-XXL/2. The drums on this track pack some serious bass amplifier, giving them much more bass depth than usual. Callahan’s baritone also has plenty of mids and lows, but at least there’s a presence of high frequencies – mids and highs that balance the sound. While it may be balanced, the mids are bounced back, and this is a catchy sound before you manipulate the bass or treble parameters.

In Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the kick drum ring gets enough of a high-midrange presence that its attack retains its smallness, but it enhances the bass more than what we’re used to hearing, so the punch is less noticeable than the heavy bass. The staccato sub-bass synthesizer hits are delightfully delivered, but the drum ring itself seems to pack the lowest frequency sound, which isn’t always the case with this track. Vocal performances are presented with solid mid-high clarity and perhaps a bit of extra sound, but they still hold their own against a seriously enhanced bass background.

Like the opening scene in John Adams’ Other Gospel According to Our Lady, Orchestral music sounds surprisingly good through BRV-XXL/2. Sure, this isn’t a tonal notation. The sound is accurate, but the basses are rich and powerful without being overly boosted in sound, while the higher registers, strings, and vocals are bright and clear. It’s a sculpted dialed sound, but it gives the mix a bit of excitement without exaggerating any frequency range too dramatically — this is mainly because this type of recording lacks powerful bass that we hear in a lot of modern pop/electronic music.

The speakerphone’s microphone provides average clarity. We could understand every word we said, and the microphone signal itself was strong, but there was some typical fuzzy Bluetooth distortion that messed things up a bit. Regardless, it should be fine for quick calls, just maybe not for business conference calls.

Conclusion

Braven BRV-XXL/2 is a beast. If you need punchy bass in a big, powerful construction that can wet, this speaker won’t let you down. But there are plenty of other good options out there, including the $300 JBL PartyBox, which delivers a light show with a big sound, and the $400 Ultimate Ears Hyperboom, another huge, pumped-up option. For boombox-shaped speakers with handles like this, the $500 JBL Boombox is the winner. Between the two, it’s hard to say for sure which one is better than the other — both offer sculptural acoustic signature, both loud and outdoor-friendly, but only the Braven has a bottle opener.

Advantages

Powerful audio output with adjustable bass and treble

Built-in bottle opener

Disadvantage

Expensive

Booming, bass-boosting sound signs aren’t for everyone.

where can you get a Braven BRV-XXL2 online

BRAVEN BRV-XXL/2 Large Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker [Waterproof][Outdoor] Built-in 15, 600mAh Power Bank USB Charger – Black: Buy it now