Gadgets Philippines – May 2017

(Romina) #1

24 MAY 2017 http://www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph


DESIGN

The Nyne TT is a rather large curvy box done in
red and black, with a rubbery matte finish. The
insides of the devices is kept safe by a metal
speaker grille, while the top has raised buttons
for volume, track control, a call button and a main
power button, all hidden under a rubber strip,
and very tactile. There’s also a Bluetooth indicator
light, and a pretty illuminated “nyne” in case you
forget what brand of speaker you’re using.

The sides are done in a silvery metallic plastic, and
the back has a large protected channel, which
presumably houses the back of the driver unit.
It conveniently has an integrated kickstand for
keeping the device vertical, as well as serving to
hide the charging port, USB out port, and a 3.5
mm input. The kickstand also has a large cut-out
that seems to be intended to keep the cables
(should you want to use them for whatever
reason) in check. This is a nice touch, and the
designer who thought to include it deserves a
raise.

The plastic appears to be simple, un-reinforced
ABS, and while that’s reasonably tough, don’t go
treating this like a power tool—she won’t suffer it.

HARDWARE

While we couldn’t find the size of the driver, it
seems to run perhaps three-quarters the width of
the unit, offers 2.0 stereo surround, and, of course
Bluetooth 4.0 wireless connectivity. You also get
an internal 2200 mAh battery, which is great,
because the speaker also doubles as a powerbank.
Should your device support it, the TT allows
you to pair the device via NFC. It totally wasn’t
necessary, but hey, we’ll take it.

Should you have a non-Bluetooth source, the
TT takes a 3.5 mm connection at the rear of the
device, so more or less universal compatibility is
not an issue.

USER EXPERIENCE

The first test we ran was a quick check of the TT’s
ability to reproduce bass. I queued up James
Blake’s cover of Limit to your Love to see how it
responds to quick fast bass. The result: not as
well as I had hoped. For a hefty speaker with
enough internal volume to push a lot of air, the
bass was very shallow and weak. The track does
make it hard to do bass well, as it’s an extremely
fast bass pulsing, but we could barely hear it over
the vocals. Mids though, were quite pleasant,
with Lana Del Rey’s Video Games coming out
clear, if just a touch cloudy on the higher notes.
This was also the case for a Cello instrumental,
where the TT was able to play the sweet sound of
the instrument quite nicely.

Pairing the speaker was completely painless, as
was expected. Switch it on, find it on your phone
and you’re set. A quick tap on the side of the
speaker with an NFC-enabled device manages
the same thing easily.

Battery life is a bit less than the rated 10
hours, though I do suspect that’s keeping the
connection good between the source and the
speaker. Using it as a powerbank will of course
reduce the juice it has to power itself, but it’s a
nice backup to have, just in case.

A small problem for some is that it uses a
standard 12 V input for power, so there’s no
charging it from a powerbank—you’ll need a wall
outlet to top up.

VALUE

The Nyne TT comes at a sticker price of about
PHP 9,500, though it is generally on sale at this
point. It’s a good-looking device, with decent
ability. But if you’re a bass-head, you might want
to look elsewhere. Still, it’s a reliable brand, and
has a few extra features. In the end, it’s not a
bad deal.

BottomLINE


Keep it in one place in your room and
use it forever, with some light duty
outdoors now and again. Not bad.

Reviewed by Ren Alcantara

SPECIfICAtIoNS:
Wireless Inputs: Bluetooth, NFC
Bluetooth Version: 4.0
Bluetooth Wireless Range: 33 feet
3.5 mm input
Battery: 2,200 mAh
USB charging output

What’s Hot:


  • Great design

  • Extra features

  • Clear sound


What’s Not:


  • Soft-sounding bass

  • Charges via a non-USB adapter


Music is life, but wires will be
the death of all of us. Have you
looked inside that drawer under
the TV recently? It’s a rat’s nest of
tangled wires and dust. Fortunately,
we live in 2017, and that means
accomplishing what once required
the vinyl embrace of a cable is
now wireless. Today, we take a look
at the Nyne TT, Bluetooth speaker,
and find out if it’s up to the task of
enlivening your next party.

Nyne TT

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