Like my old Sony dual-cassette - Tronsmart Bang SE test

Portable boombox with big sound and bright lights.

Watch our unboxing video!

Introductory

I've had quite a lot of Tronsmart stuff in recent years, and I've mostly liked them. Tronsmart makes good stuff for those who can't or don't want to pay the famous competitors, but they wouldn't give up on quality either.

Their in-ears and headphones follow this principle, and so do their many different Bluetooth speakers or boomboxes.

In the last year and a half, Tronsmart also got on the retro train. Perhaps the Tronsmart Studio was the first in this line, it mostly resembled an old speakerphone, then came the Bang, which evoked the shape of the old Sony double-cassette tape recorder.

Honestly, I like the retro line, especially when combined with the quality of Tronsmart.

The subject of this test, the Tronsmart Bang SE, is already the third Bang in the company's range, and as the name suggests (SE), it is the cheapest and least capable version. You can find out whether this knowledge meets today's needs in this article!

Packaging, accessories and exterior

At Tronsmart, there is one thing no one can complain about, and that is the packaging of their products. For the larger ones, like the Bang SE, only the quality of the graphics and cardboard is worth highlighting, but the boxes with magnetic closures used for the smaller speakers and earphones carry everything.

The box of the Tronsmart Bang SE is also attractive, inside there is proper shock protection. The speaker is hidden in the usual antistatic bag, with the accessories in a box next to it. The number of these is not significant, we only get the usual minimum.

There is a jack-jack cable, we get a Type-C charging cable, a description, and most importantly, a shoulder strap, because a boombox is only real if you can hang it on your shoulder.

Tronsmart SE brings the quality that can already be expected from the manufacturer. The quality of the plastic is good, and the wall thickness is also perfect. We don't feel that it crumbles to dust in our hands, it doesn't crack, it doesn't crackle, it can't be pushed in.

Under the large tab are the control buttons, which are physical switches under a thick and soft rubber cover. Below the buttons, behind the flashy metal grille, are the two active speakers. There is a large passive membrane on both sides of the structure, just as we get RGB lights around the speakers. At the back, under a large rubber cover, we find a USB connector (A), a second USB (Type-C), an AUX connector (3,5 mm jack) and a memory card reader.

The exterior, as I wrote above, received a bit of a retro touch. The large ear, the rounded shapes, the large hook for the shoulder strap, all evoke the world of the 108s. Of course, at that time the two-cassette design was still cool, and the FM radio, which could be dialed up to XNUMX Mhz, and we could listen to music in stereo on the URH transmitter. Even when music was playing.

So, the Bang SE, like the other members of the Bang family, reinforces the retro line, which I think is good, it gives the speakers a pleasing style.

Paper form

I mentioned above that the Bang SE has two active and two passive radiators. The two active speakers face forward, so here we don't get the usual round speaker design for thermos-shaped speakers.

According to the description, the sound that comes out of the product is stereo, but this will not be very effective due to the speakers sitting nearby. It is fortunate that the passive diaphragms that play the role of the woofer were located at both ends of the structure, perhaps they give a little depth and space to the sound.

The manufacturer specified 40 watts for the output power, which may even be realistic given the size of the diaphragms. The frequency range is from 60 Hz to 20 kHz, which is a bit narrower than what we are used to. Of course, in the past, everything was written 20 Hz-20 kHz, if they knew it, if they didn't.

I already wrote about the connectors, but not about the fact that the Bang SE received a battery with a capacity of 8000 mAh, which, according to the factory data, provides 24 hours of operation time. This drops to 16 hours using LED mode, but even that seems long enough for such a large battery.

As an interesting point, I can mention that for the wireless connection we get the latest Bluetooth 5.3, with which the slipping is almost imperceptible, so it is perfect for playing games and watching movies. Another interesting thing is the IPX6 water resistance, which means that you can take it to the beach, although I wouldn't go swimming with it anyway.

Since this is the SE version, a lot of things have been left out. No app control. There is no TuneConn, which does not make it possible to connect up to 100 identical speakers (in my opinion, a completely unnecessary function, only good for the manufacturer to flash with it), but there is TWS, so we can connect two speakers to get 80 watts of output power and finally a normal stereo effect. Compared to the TuneConn function, TWS is really useful!

Experiences

I'll start with the ugly part, the Tronsmart Bang SE is the worst Tronsmart thing I've owned lately. Fortunately, this is not a tragedy (told in song, to stick to the style), because the SE doesn't sound bad anyway.

Unfortunately, the high tones are almost completely absent, the middle is enough and the passive diaphragms responsible for the bass also work properly. Having said that, I can say that the SE is not only similar to my old Sony tape recorder in terms of shape, but also in terms of sound. The only difference is that at Sony I stuffed the speaker box with cotton wool to eliminate the box sound, luckily there is no need here.

In the sound image, the middle and high bands are not really separated, which of course is understandable, there is no separate radiator for them. Regardless, the music sounds nice, especially if there are a lot of electronic instruments and fewer acoustic instruments.

At the same time, the SE's greatest weakness is perhaps the reproduction of vocals, but not in all styles. In the case of music where the vocal is in the foreground, the result is quite good, whether it is a female or a male voice, but where the music and the vocal are balanced, or the music is more pronounced, the vocal is distorted a lot.

What's okay is the volume. I won't say it blows my mind, but the volume they got out of this little thing deserves a tip of the hat. What should be mentioned separately is that even at high volume the box does not want to fall apart, it sounds quite clear even there, although we can already detect a little distortion.

What I can recommend is to try turning on SoundPulse, which gives you an active bass boost in real time. It doesn't improve all music, but when it does, it does a lot. So it's worth a try.

Summary

Tronsmart Bang SE, as the name suggests, is a cheap solution, we have to measure its performance against this. Compared to that, it's not bad at all. Lately I've been spoiled with some really good earphones, and even the more expensive ones from Tronsmart were turned around for a short test, compared to them, the Bang SE really doesn't perform well.

However, this thing was not even designed to transmit music in Hi-Fi quality. Much more to sling it over your shoulder (it weighs just under 2 kilos) and take it with you to the beach, camping, next to the campfire, and even listen to it for a whole day without an outlet.

So, all in all, the Bang SE has turned out to be a particularly well-made device for its size and price, which I dare to recommend for purchase. Use the NNNTSBSE coupon code, you can buy it from the Hungarian warehouse with a discount of approximately HUF 6000, for HUF 20. Click the link below to purchase.

Tronsmart Bang SE Bluetooth speaker

Description