Live
long and... party!
One
of our most favourite things of last year was the innovative
Headbones bone-conducting headphones from Damson. We liked them so
much that we've been keeping a close eye on the tech company (who are
based in our home city of York) ever since, and recently we've delved
back in to check out something else from the team. We review the
Damson Vulcan.
Call something the Vulcan and you'll no doubt expect many (many) Spock and Star Trek puns from review journalists. So it is that we 'boldly go' into this review, to check out Damson's latest 'enterprise', after we 'Spock' to the company's PR. Okay, that enough? Right, lets move on...
The
Damson Vulcan is a small and portable Bluetooth Speaker that is
slightly chunkier and heavier than the typical 'pocket-speaker' breed
of wireless music makers, yet far lighter and palm-friendlier than
the larger, home-based units. It has a nice 'grab 'n' go' feel to the
body, but is reassuringly weighty. And there's a good reason for
that.
The
Vulcan contains four separate drivers; two facing forwards in the
traditional manner, and two more at either side. Those sideways
positioned speakers possess Damson's Wide Field Stereo processing to
spread the sound out as much as possible. Because of that it very
much feels like a 360 degree speaker, with hardly any sound
difference between the 'front' and the 'back'.
And
what cracking good sound it was. Despite very much being a portable
speaker, the quality of the audio seemed like that of a far larger
device. It sounded like a full-sized soundbar, and featured that
widely-spread rich audio that you expect from something like that.
With our eyes closed, the Damson Vulcan certainly didn't sound like a
bag-friendly Bluetooth speaker.
All
genres of music sounded good, but the Vulcan excels at anything with
deep and resonating bass. It is with bass-y and rich tunes that it
really shows off those four multi-directional drivers, although
lighter things and vocals were crisp and clear as well. Even when we
really pushed the volume levels high, there wasn't much distortion or
the crackle you'd expect from something this size; and because of
that, coupled with the near-360 capabilities, it is the perfect
summer party speaker.
On
the inside you get a rechargeable battery which is officially good
for six hours of constant playback, but after the initial charge we
left it playing for closer to seven. You also have the option to swap
out the grills to give the speaker a fresh look, with the panels
themselves easily attaching (and detaching) with the use of small
magnets. Oh, and the whole package is available in either black or
white, which is always nice to have the choice (we were sent the
white version – slick).
Just
as with the Headbones, Damson have designed a great bit of kit here;
one that performs far above it's size (and price) suggests it should.
And, you know... GO YORK!
£99.99
Visit
damsonaudio.com