I got my first bluetooth speaker back in 2013 – It was a G-Project, G-Zip Mini which claimed to get 15 hours of playback time…but actually, it got nowhere near that. More like a third of that time, but for its size, it packed a decent punch.
A year later, I got the “Sound Blaster Roar” by Creative. This thing was packed with features. A Lithium ion 6,000mah battery which claimed 10 hours of battery life…but not sure if I ever got that…it was more like 6 to 7 hours.
Other features of the Sound Blaster Roar are…
a voice recorder
an alarm
It had a built in mp3 player
as well as AAC, SBC, aptx support
NFC
a usb input
a 3.5mm stereo input
usb type A output
usb power output
a micro SDHC
Dimensions are 7.9” W – 2.2 H – and 4.5” deep
and it weighs in at 3.9 pounds
Enough with the specs – this speaker is impressive!! It has a 5-driver system, which truly made it fill up a room with sound like you wouldn’t believe! My wife liked it so much that she took it to her studio and never brought it back to our house. Honestly, I would’ve bought another one, so I could try out the “mega-stereo” feature, but it has been discontinued. It’s now been replaced by the “iRoar Go”. The only other person I know who owns a Sound Blaster Roar is my fellow audiophile & best friend and that’s because I bought it for his 40th birthday.
I have owned a plethora of speakers in my life. Didn’t really get into the loud car stereos with amplifiers and sub woofers but I always had an appreciation for a clear & pleasant sounding home, car and portable audio systems. I briefly had a pair of “Sonos One” speakers and returned them, simply because they didn’t hold a candle to the Creative Sound Blaster Roar. So, I will say it right here and right now that I’ll put the Creative SBR up against ANY bluetooth speaker on the market today, EVEN the ultimate ears speakers which I’ll get into a little more in a bit.
Anyway, on to the Anker Soundcore – It’s not fair to compare its sound to the speaker I just previously mentioned but I was expecting more than what I got sound wise. I did notice that this speaker sounded better after receiving a full charge. I actually have yet to kill the battery on this speaker and I’ve only fully charged it once since receiving it on July 19th. F.Y.I. As I am finishing this post, today’s date is September 19th 2020. So, with that said, it definitely gets the 24 hours of playback time it claims and then some!
This little box comes with 2 speakers inside – The louder you turn it up, the better it actually sounds. Like the other bluetooth speakers mentioned in this review, it comes with a Mic, USB Power port and an Auxiliary Input. It’s very basic.
As time goes on with the Anker Sound Core, its sound has grown on me like a fungus…and I keep telling myself, “a 20 to 23-dollar splashproof bluetooth speaker with what seems to have infinite battery life is hard to beat!!”
Recently, I took it over to another house of friends for their backyard dinner. They had the Ultimate Ears MegaBoom, so we put the two speakers up against each other. As you can imagine, the UE MegaBoom won the sound challenge, hands down, but it was completely dead after 2 hours. The “Little Anker that could” supplied us with our favorite 80s tunes on through late until the night, and I still have yet to recharge it since August 2nd!! Our friends were actually impressed with the sound of the Anker, especially considering its small form factor.
So, here are my final thoughts and I’ll keep it simple.
The Anker SoundCore is the best bluetooth speaker in the $20 price range that I’ve heard to date. It’s very compact and has excellent range and I’ll mention the battery life one last time…it’s ridiculous!!