Nomadic speaker Xoopar XBoy Stereo: not cool the big brother

Ergonomics

The XBoy does not lose anything of the bonhommie and the sympathy which inspires its cadet, and just like the latter, does not miss an opportunity to create followers in society. We find the small prehensile arms stretched forward, the trapezoid body, the legs / feet as stuck in the unisex tunic, all overhung by a plump and disproportionate head.

The arms are still mobile, just like the head is now (horizontal axis) on this model. The feet are lined with a non-slip ring which ensures them a completely stable hold on most surfaces, even inclined.

In the back chef, there are 4 buttons: the main one, marked with the famous triangle, is used to put music in play / pause, but also to take / reject calls and to turn the speaker on / off. When the XBoy comes alive, a booming "I'M ON!" sounds, the volume of which is unfortunately not adjustable. Follow the voice instructions "LOOKING AROUND!" (pairing activation) then "I GOTCHA!" (brilliant pairing) just as brilliant - here again, the transmission volume is not adjustable.

Stereo pairing works, but not foolproof. Both speakers must be turned on, then press the Play button on the speaker three times, which will be considered the master. Once the two XBoys have almost simultaneously exclaimed "I GOTCHA!", The stereo pairing is successful. At this point only the Bluetooth smartphone / reader must connect to the master XBoy.

The main command is flanked by two buttons allowing you to adjust the volume (long press) or to go to the next / previous song (short press) ... but not to go back to the beginning of the song while listening - to do this, it you have to go back to the previous song, then go back to the next song. As for the last button, it is simply used to turn the LED on or off. There is also a micro-USB port for charging, an analog mini-jack input and a microSD card slot. The Art Toy automatically detects when one of these inputs is requested, and we navigate in the playlist on the external memory using the same navigation commands as in Bluetooth.

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Audio

If one easily forgave the Mini XBoy for its acoustic errors in view of its small size, the dimensions of the XBoy Stereo did not grant it the same leniency.

For a portable speaker of this size, this time we have the right to expect more - much more. For starters, the softness and withdrawal of the bass, the general lack of precision, the timidity of the treble and the resonance in the low mids give the overall result a particularly hollow sound. The frequency response is very tight around 500 Hz, which gives an old-fashioned "telephone EQ" side. The hypertrophy of the low-midrange, the omnipresent distortion due to the poor acoustic properties of the materials used and the shrinking treble prevent any clarity and transparency of the instruments playing in the medium / high-midrange register. Most male timbres display a swollen fundamental and truncated harmonics, while the majority of female timbres are darkened and under-mixed.

Latency in Bluetooth, exceeding 800 milliseconds, is monumental - in mono as in stereo. It induces a gap so large between a command and its execution that it even becomes annoying for only audio content.

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Conclusion

Like the Mini XBoy, the stereo XBoy will not miss an opportunity to create followers in society. "Oh, it's funny! What is it?" What it is is a decorative object, with a luminescent look and colors that do not go unnoticed. What it is also, it is a connected object, with ergonomics sometimes useful, sometimes frustrating. But what it is not is a speaker: the sound it delivers lacks too much precision, cleanliness and breadth to be able to present the XBoy Stereo as such.

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