Huawei Sound Joy review: Open up a can of bass

(Pocket-lint) - Like the Huawei Sound and Sound X speakers that we've reviewed previously, the Huawei Sound Joy is co-engineered with Devialet, a renowned French audio manufacturer. This time, though, it comes successful a useful portable form-factor that's conscionable a tad taller than a modular tin of beer.

Huawei's erstwhile speakers were a small unusual, being wired location speakers but offering small successful the mode of astute features. The Sound Joy, however, makes a batch much consciousness with its built-in battery, but tin it present Devialet dependable prime connected the go?

Design & Features

• Dimensions: 202mm (H) x 73mm (D) / Weight: 680g
• Finishes: Obsidian Black, Spruce Green
• IP67 certified particulate and water-resistant

The signifier of the Sound Joy means it tin easy beryllium slipped into a vessel pouch connected a backpack oregon adjacent a bicycle's vessel holder. It's not particularly dense either, but it has capable wide to springiness the talker a feeling of prime without becoming cumbersome to question with. The attached strap tin beryllium secured astir your wrist oregon clipped onto a container with easiness and is simply a bully inclusion.

The talker is IP67 certified, truthful it won't beryllium fazed by harsh upwind and tin withstand submersion successful up to a metre of water. Huawei says the woven cloth outer provides "robust, rugged protection" - but this is thing we're not truthful definite about. The cloth looks large and feels beauteous connected the hand, but it doesn't shriek 'durability' to america and we tin ideate it becoming frayed with hard use.

• Best Bluetooth speakers: Top portable speakers for each budget

The talker has passive radiators connected the apical and bottommost (or some sides, depending connected the orientation) that springiness a satisfying and pronounced wobble on with immoderate bass line. These look fantastic, too.

Up top, astir the rim, is simply a colourful LED ring. This tin glow on to the euphony - which is simply a chill effect - but it's functional too, arsenic the ringing displays the measurement level, artillery complaint level and adjacent the advancement during a firmware update.

The Sound Joy features ample rubberised measurement power buttons that springiness a reasonably satisfying click erstwhile pressed. The NFC spot is located by a tiny logo of the aforesaid rubbery material. A soft-touch integrative portion on the backmost of the instrumentality is location to the bulk of the buttons and the speakers' azygous USB-C port.

The buttons are backlit with achromatic LEDs, making the talker casual to usage successful low-light conditions. The aforesaid can't beryllium said for the measurement controls, but their size and prominence mean you'll beryllium precise improbable to conflict with locating them.

If you person 2 Huawei Sound Joy speakers past they tin beryllium paired successful stereo with a dedicated button, oregon by physically shaking the devices. We lone had 1 talker successful for testing, so, unfortunately, weren't capable to effort this out. It's a bully thought though, particularly that carnal pairing action.

The talker tin beryllium utilized successful either horizontal oregon vertical orientation. It has tiny rubber feet that bash a amazingly bully occupation of preventing it from rolling erstwhile placed connected its broadside - adjacent erstwhile there's large bass thumping out.

Sound Quality & User Experience

• Speakers: 20W 50mm x 75mm racetrack-shaped full-frequency speaker; 10W 19mm tweeter; 2x passive radiators
• 3x microphones (uses G-sensor to power betwixt 2 horizontal and vertical dependable pickup mics)
• Battery capacity: 8800mAh - up to 26 hours playback
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.2, NFC

When archetypal turning connected the Huawei Sound Joy, you are greeted with a chime followed by a heavy bass sweep. We were instantly struck by the low-frequency capabilities of specified a tiny speaker. This happening tin truly rumble. The passive radiators springiness a satisfying wobble too, the exaggerated question being a dainty to not lone perceive and consciousness - but look astatine too.

Pairing is incredibly casual acknowledgment to automatic discovery. After turning the instrumentality on, our Windows 10 PC automatically pinged a notification that a adjacent instrumentality was disposable for pairing and aft 1 click we were acceptable to crank the tunes. The process was conscionable arsenic casual with our Google Pixel 5, which we conscionable tapped connected the NFC logo for instant switching.

The Sound Joy tin beryllium configured successful Huawei's AI Life app, this was comparatively casual connected the Pixel but progressive immoderate antithetic side-loading malarkey. Essentially, you download the app arsenic mean from the Play Store - but erstwhile you unfastened it the app requires an update successful the signifier of a abstracted app from Huawei's servers. It's thing hard but adds an other furniture of faff that you won't find from competitors.

Unfortunately, iPhone users are retired of luck and person nary supported app. It's not the extremity of the satellite arsenic there's not a immense magnitude going connected successful the app, but it does mean that Apple users won't get to bask the afloat functionality of the speaker's LED ringing - arsenic the euphony reactive lighting effects are disabled by default.

The Huawei Sound Joy has a precise pleasing dependable signature that sounds similar it should beryllium coming from a talker doubly the size. There is simply a bias toward the low-end, giving a lukewarm punchy dependable whilst retaining tons of item successful the highs.

Interestingly, we recovered that astatine precise precocious volumes the vocals became unpleasantly sharp, but astatine mean listening volumes they dependable conscionable great. So don't crank that dial excessively hard, different things tin go shrill.

We besides noticed that the aboveground the talker is placed connected has rather a pronounced effect connected the audio quality, particularly erstwhile utilized successful a vertical orientation. This is astir apt owed to the downward-firing passive radiator and however bass volition past resonate from surrounding surfaces. We recovered the dependable to beryllium astir pleasing connected a dense aboveground similar a room countertop.

This happening tin get absurdly large too, truthful it's an perfect companion for outdoor gatherings oregon a time astatine the beach. At home, you'll seldom find yourself going past that halfway people connected the measurement dial.

Battery beingness is large too, acknowledgment to its built-in 8800mAh cell. Huawei advertises up to 26 hours of playback - and that seems beauteous close successful our experience. The Sound Joy supports fast-charging too, truthful with the close charger you tin get an hr of playback from conscionable a 10-minute complaint (note: there's nary plug included successful the box, conscionable the cable).

Writing by Luke Baker. Editing by Mike Lowe. Originally published connected 31 December 2021.