Performance

AUDIOCASE markets their speaker towards people who need more power than what you can get out of a smaller, more regular portable speaker. Their package is physically bigger and in fact right at the limit of what I would consider a portable device due to its weight and handling. The super-sized portable speaker does have its advantages as you do get a battery that will power the device at outdoor listening levels for a long time, and the size of the enclosure enables AUDIOCASE to run larger drivers with room for decent rear volume, which makes getting good bass response easier.


Volume-wise, the AUDIOCASE is beyond anything we have ever tested that has been self-powered. Battery-powered speakers are nothing new, but AUDIOCASE takes it to the next level in terms of play time and volume. On a full charge, you can run the speaker at its maximum volume for 12+ hours! We did not have time or enough friendly neighbors to test this claim, but it has been running for 13 hours since the last charge, and we still have not killed it.

The handle on top is convenient when walking, but the cabinet's dimensions mean you need a big backpack. If you plan on biking with it, you could probably install some shoulder straps without too much of a hassle. Since the design is just like that of a standard flight case, one could probably have a lot of fun modding it! This could be an easy and relatively affordable way to build a custom system for portable use.

Testing such a speaker has proven difficult. I mean, how do you judge it? And more importantly, where? The AUDIOCASE is intended for portable use, which means it could be used both in-doors and out. The AUDIOCASE sounds quite bass heavy when you place it close to a wall inside a normal-sized living room. We did an in-door test with it standing on top of a 75 cm high solid case. As far as references go, we are a bit lost, but did pull out the UE MEGABOOM and BOOM 2 to represent wireless speakers and our Dynaudio XEO 2s (close to ideally positioned) as the reference.

For in-door listening where the UE MEGABOOM is not capped by power or bass output, I found the MEGABOOM to be slightly clearer in the midrange, but the bass was far less entertaining. The AUDIOCASE's midrange is slightly warmer with more low midrange coloration that is not over the top. The midrange is not perfect on either of these devices, but the AUDIOCASE does have a tendency to over-exaggerate the reverb in tracks, making it sound as if the room it is placed in is bigger than it actually is.

Treble-wise, it is a toss-up between the two. Sometimes, the AUDIOCASE had some more issues with cymbals, but it was far from noticeable across the board. Getting the high-end right on portable speakers seems to be very difficult as none provide the resolution you can usually get from a similar-sized enclosure, but most non-portable speakers are, again, not as compromised in terms of cabinet design and driver placement.

Tuning-wise, AUDIOCASE has gone for a bass response that can start a party. Even without EQing, this speaker will deliver a lot below 200 Hz, and the extension is good for at least 40 Hz below where the MEGABOOM dares to go.

The bass performance and less strained drivers mean that the AUDIOCASE sounds less compromised when you take it outside or place it in a larger room. The MEGABOOM does very well for its size, but there are limits to equalizers and DSPs. The sheer size and number of drivers in the AUDIOCASE make it much more capable for outdoor use and larger rooms. Even compared to two paired MEGABOOMs, the AUDIOCASE is clearly a better match for powering an outdoor party, even with the MEGABOOMs strategically placed and the bass EQed up.

The AUDIOCASE provides enough volume and bass to be a good outdoor speaker. Where the MEGABOOM drowns in ambient noise, the AUDIOCASE powers through. Volume-wise, the bigger speaker provides enough to host a loud party outside, while the MEGABOOM has enough power for a smaller crowd with OK sound quality. Since you can run it for 12 hours at full power (which is insanely loud), you could easily see the AUDIOCASE becoming a good single-speaker-part system.