I’ve heard good things about LoudBasstard earlier this year and I tried to look around to see how it works. Fortunately, my good friend Social Media Extraordinaire Ros Juan (follow @juanxi on Twitter) lent me her LoudBasstard for review.
For those who don’t know yet, LoudBasstard is a Filipino-owned company founded in Cebu. According to their website “Loudbasstard products are made from natural materials and created with love by the hands of skilled and talented Cebuano artisans.” Cebu will not only be known as the guitar making capital of the Philippines, but also home to LoudBasstard.
No Moving Parts
As you can see in the pictures, the LoudBasstard was a carved bamboo to amplify the sound of a smartphone.
No electrical wirings, non-metal finishing, no moving parts.
I have never imagined that an environment-friendly product can be a compliment for electronic mobile devices. By the way, you can actually charge your phone while you play your music with the LoudBasstard. However, I wouldn’t recommend it with the lightning cables (or any other charging cables of the iPhones/iPod Touch) which are known to be flimsy.
How Does It Sound?
Let me set your expectations – the LoudBasstard is not a speaker. As I have mentioned earlier, it amplifies the sound of your mobile device which is inserted in the hole on top. It is best used for office cubicles or a small room of a house where the amplified sound of the LoudBasstard can be fully appreciated.
The LoudBasstard is able to amplify the music well from my iPhone 5. I noticed the difference of the sound with and without the LoudBasstard is quite significant. For me, this is the right amount of sound that I appreciate both in my home office and in my bedroom.
Here are some tests I took on video with music from Led Zeppelin, Duck Sauce, and Rage Against The Machine:
Ros told me she used her iPhone with the LoudBasstard as an alarm. Thanks to her suggestion, my iPhone 5 with the LoudBasstard effectively woke me up from dreamland everyday. Yes, it’s that loud for an alarm clock!
Contrary to the photo and videos above, I found out that my iPhone should be inserted in an upright position. It amplifies the sound a bit more than being in a slant position. Aside from the iPhone, I’ve used a Nokia Lumia 720 with the LoudBasstard and it also sounded great. Before you place a smartphone into the LoudBasstard, make sure to locate its speakers before inserting it into the slot.
Environment Friendly
The LoudBasstard may be bigger than other portable speakers to bring elsewhere like the beach, but you will not complain about it’s weight. The good thing about it is it doesn’t need electricity to power or batteries to charge. It’s easy to clean too!
BOTTOMLINE
Again, it is not a portable speaker so if you expect exceptional sound quality, then this is not for you. However, if you just want something that can simply amplify your phone without the worry of breaking it (another plus factor), then I recommend buying this bamboo-made, environment-friendly LoudBasstard. It only cost Php 995 with different colors to choose from. I found it very useful that I may have to buy one too for my Palawan trip in September. It will be a good companion with my iPhone on it, playing my beach music while I lie on the white sands.
SRP: PHP 995.00
For more information, visit http://www.loudbasstard.com
