We often really rate Tribit's Bluetooth speakers: the titchy Tribit Stormbox Micro 2 got the full five stars in our review, and we liked the Stormbox Flow a lot too. The firm has a good line in making speakers that rival the best brands for a fraction of the price, and the newly updated Tribit Stormbox 2 is no exception. If you're thinking about a JBL Flip 6, this is well worth a look, and a listen.
Like the JBL Flip, the Stormbox 2 is a cylindrical, 360-degree speaker. The new version has Bluetooth 5.3 with a quoted range of 30m, 24-hour playtime and two full-range speakers putting out 17W of power each, and it's just $68 / £63 – the official price of the JBL Flip 6 is $129 / £129 by comparison (though you can usually find it for around $99 / £99 in practice), so this is a seriously good-value competitor to the best Bluetooth speakers.
Tribit Stormbox 2: key features and specifications
With IPX7 water resistance (splashproof rather than fully waterproof), a weight of just 580g and a relatively small size of 180 x 69 x 69mm, the Stormbox 2 is a good travel or party speaker, and the quoted 24-hour battery life from the 5,200mAh battery (tested at 60% with the Xbass booster turned off) means you won't need to worry about finding a power outlet for it; when the battery is done, it's a four-hour recharge. There's also an aux 3.5mm port for wired audio connections.
One of the key new features here is audio customization. In addition to the Xbass bass booster, there's a nine-band EQ in the companion smartphone app, and you can use the preset EQ curves or create your own. The second-generation Stormbox also supports pairing, and that pairing is cross-model, so you don't need to have identical speakers: you can pair with the Stormbox Flow or Xsound Plus 2 for stereo sound and even more volume.
We haven't reviewed this particular model yet but other Stormbox models have impressed us with their sound quality: they're usually very punchy, and the Xbass bass boost does a good job without overpowering the rest of the audio. At 48mm the drivers here are relatively large – usually a good thing, especially for lower frequencies – and while you're not going to get audiophile-grade sound at this price point, Tribit speakers are usually very enjoyable.
