This is the Brane X, its a Durable and Portable Smart speaker with a built in battery… but what makes this speaker very special is that it has a proprietary downward firing subwoofer that allows this tiny speaker to put out a ton of bass. This little guy has more kick in its bass than either the JBL Boombox 3 or the Sony ULT field 7, which are 3 times large. So today we’re going to checkout the Brane X and we’re going to see how it compares to both the JBL Boombox 3 and the Sony ULT Field 7… cause the Brane X is genuinely super impressive for its size.
So first I want to thank Brane for sponsoring this video. Now even though Brane is sponsoring this video, they are literately letting me to do whatever I want, which is super cool of them. Now the Brane X has a retail price of $499, but they are currently running a Prime Day Special and they are offering you a 15% off discount. So if you want to pick this speaker up, it’ll be linked down below. And honestly, this is a great option if you’re looking for something with a lot of bass in a very small, durable but still surprisingly sleek package. Again click on the link down below to take advantage of that Prime Day 15% Off discount, you get a 1 year warranty and a 30 day money money back guarantee, no questions asked.
So first lets talk about what makes this speaker so spacial, and thats the RAD, the Rappel - Attract driver. Basically this is a downward firing sub woofer, but it has an array of proprietary magnets that cancels out internal air pressure forces when you’re playing music. Basically this allows this small subwoofer to move a lot more air than other similarly sized subwoofers from other brands. And the more air you manage to move, the more bass you have. and since this is a downward firing subwoofer, your bass is going to be amplified even more cause its always going to have a table to bounce off of… and I also really like that Brane added these very thick rubber feet… so even if you have the bass set to high and you’re playing at max volume… the Brane X isn’t going to be bouncing around on the table.
The Brane X also has dual frontward firing tweeters and it has dual frontward firing mid range drivers which are angled out a little bit which helps give this small speaker better room filling sound. But then we have the JBL Boombox 3 which has has a built in subwoofer, however this subwoofer is much larger and its frontward firing… it also has dual frontward firing mid range drivers with dual tweeters which are stacked on top of the drivers and it has dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. And then theres the Sony ULT Field 7 which has dual frontward firing woofers, dual frontward firing tweeters and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides, and this is a much more common speaker set up.
Now with all of these speakers you can go in and adjust their EQ to your liking, with the Brane X you can go into its app and you can adjust its 5 band EQ… but it also has a dedicated bass level. Low, medium and high… and I also like that you can cycle between these bass levels directly from the speaker itself. But now we’re going to jump into the sound test. Now we are going to be using all of these speakers while they are unplugged, the JBL Boombox 3 is playing with its stock JBL sound signature, the Sony ULT field 7 is playing while in ULT 2 which is my preferred setting and we’re going to be using the Brane X with its bass set to low and high. Now both the JBL and Sony are going to be playing at 75% volume and the Brane X is playing at 85% volume. Now for the best experience you do want to use headphones here
So first I think we need to address max volume performance, now in this sound test the Brane X was playing at 85% volume where as these other two larger speakers we’re playing at 75% volume. Now the Brane X has more kick in its bass than these other two speakers, which is genuinely very impressive, however these other two speakers do get a little louder. Nonetheless, the Brane X still gets impressively loud for its size and I feel that all of these speakers are good for a like a 15 person party. Now, even though these larger speakers get louder than the Brane X, the Brane X still does a phenomenal job of keeping up. And also, with both the JBL Boombox 3 and Sony ULT field 7, if you use these speakers while they are plugged in, they do get a performance boost, they get louder and the have a little more bass. Now with the Brane X you don't get a performance boost when its plugged in… but nonetheless the Brane X still manages to keep up very well with both the JBL Boombox 3 and Sony ULT field 7 even when they are plugged in. So long story short, the max volume performance of the Brane X is very impressive for its size, I feel that its good for like a 15 person party, and the Brane X does a phenomenal job of keeping up with both the JBL Boombox 3 and Sony ULT field 7 even though they are 3 times as big and even when they’re plugged in.
But then theres sound quality. Even though the Brane X is significantly smaller than these other two speakers, instrument separation is up there with both the JBL Boombox 3 and Sony ULT field 7. And in general the Brane X manages to sound as open as these other two speakers. But what really makes the Brane X special here is the bass. Thanks to its downward firing rad, the Brane X just has a lot more resonance and kick in its bass than these other two speakers. Now like we mentioned earlier, the JBL Boombox 3 also has a built in sub woofer, similar to the Brane X, however, the subwoofer on the Boombox 3 is larger, its doesn’t have Brane’s proprietary tech, and it isn’t downward firing. And as a result the Boombox 3’s subwoofer is only to go as low as 46.2 hrtz, and it only covers 35% of the sub bass range. Where as the Brane X is able to go as low as 27.1 hertz, and it covers 82% of the sub bass range. Which means… you feel the bass from the Brane X in your chest a lot more, and the bass from the Brane X rattles the walls and move your furniture around a lot more than the bass found on the Boombox 3 all while being a third of the size.
So simply put, the Brane X is a phenomenal speaker to consider especially if you’re a bass head. With the Brane X, you’re going to have more resonance and more kick in your bass than either the JBL Boombox 3 or Sony ULT Field 7… but in a JBL Xtreme 4 or Sony ULT Field 5 sized package. Now yes, the Brane X does lead towards a warmer sound signature cause of all of its bass… but its doesn’t sound shallow or hollow cause the Brane X still offers strong and defined mids and highs to cut through all of the bass… and its also has similar instrument separation and openness as these larger speakers. But nonetheless, I think the Brane X is super impressive cause the bass thats coming out of this speaker is starting to enter small box speaker territory like the JBL Partybox Encore 2.
But do you want to know whats crazier than one Brane X? Two Brane X’s… specifically, you can pair up to 8 Brane X’s together if they are all connected to the same wifi network and you can get them to all play in sync… or you can also get them to play in left and right stereo mode. And I personally really like that you can choose which speaker plays which channel… and hypothetically speaking you can even get a 3 channel set up cause you can have on for your center, one for your left and the other for your right. But we’re going to go ahead and jump into another sound test so that you can hear what these speakers sound like while in stereo mode.
So like you may have just heard, if you have two speakers playing together your music is going to be louder, its going to sound more open and you’re going to have more bass. But again, whats really impressive here is the bass. These two small speakers put out almost as much kick and as much resonance in their bass as lets say a small box speaker like the super popular JBL Partybox 120. So again, the bass thats coming out of the Brane X is a defining characteristic of this speaker cause it puts out so much bass in such a small package. The only thing is, if you want your Brane Speakers to play in sync or in stereo mode, they have to be connected over wifi cause this doesn’t work over bluetooth.
Now the Brane X isn’t just a great speaker for at home use, its also a great speaker to take on the go with you and you can use it either indoors or you can even take it to the lake or boat and you dont have to worry about it. The Brane X has a built in battery with an advertised battery life of 12 hours… and thats with this speaker playing at 70% volume and with its bass set to medium. And personally I think 70% volume on this speaker is a good listening volume for when you’re hanging out with 10 friends. Now obviously if you were to use this speaker at a higher volume or with the bass set to high then thats going to drain your battery life faster… or you can always extend your battery life by setting its bass to low… which compared to a lot of other speakers out there, its still a lot.
Now the Brane X does charge via a DC port and it does have an external power brick that you have to worry about. And this is one of the trade offs that you do have to make for the Brane X’s compact size. But more importantly, you can leave your Brane X plugged in all of the time while you have it at home cause this speaker will limit your charge to 90% and then shut off so this way you dont have worry about your battery getting dry if you leave it plugged in for too long… but more importantly, when you need to take your speaker on the go with you, its ready to go with a full charge.
And like ive mentioned multiple times already, the Brane X is surprisingly small for the bass it puts out… the Brane X weighs in at 7.7 pounds and it has a built in carrying handle… very similar in size to lets say the JBL Xtreme 4 or Sony ULT Field 5. Where as the JBL Boombox 3 weighs in at 14.8 pounds and the Sony ULT Field 7 weighs in at 13.9 pounds and these speakers are like 3 times as big. But just like the all of these other speakers the Brane X is very durable cause it has a mostly fabric wrapped body so bumps and scrapes aren’t an issue and this speaker is rocking an IP57 rating so its dust proof and water proof.
And finally theres connectivity, the Brane X is using Bluetooth 5.1 so it can be can be connected to 2 devices at the same time so you and a friend can both be DJ, and latency is not an issue for this speaker so it can be used to watch videos with on your phone… but also the Brane X has Airplay 2 support. So if you’re an apple user, as long as you’re connected to the same wifi network as this speaker you can stream music to it. And you can also have your Brane X play in sync with any of your other Airplay 2 speakers as long as they are all connected to the same wifi network.
The Brane X also has a 3.5 millimeter audio jack so you can use it with a wired connection… but also the Brane X has a special soundbar mode which is going lower the latency on this audio jack input so if you want you can use it as a 2.1 stereo soundbar with your tv… and the Brane X has enough bass for watching movies… or you can even plug in an instrument if you want. But in order to do this you are going to have to get some third party adaptors which Brane does have some recommendations. But seriously, the Brane X can be used as a suitable soundbar just cause of the sheer amount of bass it puts out.
And finally if you want you can also use this speaker as a smart speaker cause it has support for Alexa and it has 4 mics so that it can pick up your voice.
But with all of that being said, the Brane X is truly a very impressive speaker. Thanks to its new and proprietary Rappel-attract driver AKA RAD… the Brane X puts out a lot more bass than you’d expect or that you’d think is possible in such a small form factor. Honestly I think its a shame that I didn’t record my first reactions when I first turned this speaker on cause I was shocked. The Brane X gets almost as loud as either the JBL Boombox 3 or Sony ULT Field 7… but has more bass and its one third the size. But the Brane X isn’t just bass, its still has good instrument separation and it sounds very open. Plus its super portable cause of its small size, and light weight. And its super durable cause of its fabric body and its IP57 rating. And its advertised battery life of 12 hours is it with playing at 70% volume and with its bass set to medium… which is way more than enough for a medium sized crowd. Overall im very impressed by Brane and I cant wait to see what else they do with their RAD technology.