Rosewill R-Studio Ampbox Bluetooth Speaker Review
R-Studio Ampbox Bluetooth Pairing and First Use
When the Ampbox is turned on the first time, it automatically goes into pairing mode, however on subsequent activations, you will need to press the Bluetooth pairing button to put it into pairing mode. When the button is pressed, a loud beep and then a voice prompt alerting that the Ampbox is in pairing mode. The Ampbox comes uncharged so the first thing to do is charge it with the included charger.
Allowing it to charge for the recommended 3.5 hours, the charge light was no longer turned on, this indicates the battery is fully charged.we felt it had enough time to fully charge the battery. The Ampbox can be used at the same time as charging, however we wanted to see exactly how long the battery lasts when streaming music. Rosewill says up to 12 hours of stream time, and they weren’t kidding, I started streaming music at noon, and at 11:43PM the low battery alert started
When paring a device with the Ampbox, it will show up as AMPBOX, and has a default pin of 0000, nothing difficult here, we have all paired Bluetooth devices by now. First thing to test was streaming music as that would take the longest. The volume setting on the Ampbox is sufficient for such a small speaker. There is no indicator as to the volume setting, at minimum and maximum volume, a short double beep indicates it can go no further. One little annoyance is that the volume button must be pressed repeatedly to turn the volume up or down a few levels; you can’t hold the button in for it to continually change the volume. The volume was set at the maximum setting so the volume could be controlled on the paired device.
Now for what is most important, the sound quality; as I am not a hardcore audiophile I can only go by what I like, everybody’s taste will be different. The sound quality was crisp at most volume settings, if both the Ampbox and paired device was at maximum volume, some crackling would happen. If the paired device was turned down a few notches it would go away, this is something that I have experienced in many devices and is not surprising. Bass levels were thumping and could be felt in the desk it was sitting on. The success of adjusting the audio profile on the paired device will be determined by the specific device. On a Samsung Galaxy S3, about half of the included profiles could be used, of those that could be used, the different was obvious.
As for the call quality, the sound was just like the music quality; crystal clear. I had no issues hearing the other end of the conversation, and in a 30 minute discussion, they did not have any issues hearing my response. Speaking in a normal voice with the speaker sitting around 5 feet away, the other end said the volume was adequate. When I walked about 12 feet away, the volume of my voice was much lower and I needed to speak up, however it was not necessary to raise my voice above an uncomfortable level.
While playing music on the Ampbox, if a call comes in, the music will stop and a repeating beep comes across on the speaker. To answer the call, simply press the telephone/bluetooth button and begin speaking. To hang up, press it again; or of course use the phone. Once the call has ended, the music will automatically start playing again.
The distance that the Ampbox will receive a Bluetooth signal will vary depending on the environment; the specifications on the Ampbox state a 30foot range. While playing music, I walked 30 feet away, and had 3 walls between the phone and the speaker without any disconnects. This provides a good range so the speaker can be the center of the room and walk around or allow others to pair to the device at a social gathering.