The Tribit Stormbox Blast Bluetooth speaker sold out quickly after its release last year and was unavailable for a while. rightly so! Because in the test it beats both the Soundcore Motion Plus and the JBL Xtreme 3 at a similar price – amazing!
Tribit Stormbox Blast Review, Specs & Price
- Tribit Stormbox Blast
- at Amazon for €179.99 (activate €50 discount voucher)
- Design – Mixture of Tronsmart Bang & Soundcore Motion Boom
Similar to the Tronsmart Bang and the Soundcore Motion Boom Plus, the Tribit Stormbox Blast is also equipped with a carrying handle that is more practical than beautiful. The speaker has the dimensions of 40.4 x 16.3 x 22.6 cm and is therefore even slightly larger than the Soundcore Motion Boom Plus and with a weight of almost 5.5 kg it is twice as heavy. When you first pick up the Tribit Stormbox Blast and then the Soundcore Motion Boom Plus, it really does feel like a toy.
In addition, the design is a bit boxy, whether you like it or not is ultimately a matter of taste. In any case, the built-in LEDs to the left and right of the speakers and indirect lighting of the midrange/woofers are striking.
In terms of material, Tribit relies largely on plastic here, similar to the Soundcore in the Motion Boom and Boom Plus. The speaker is equipped with IPX7 certification. In other words, it is protected against the ingress of water, JBL Xtreme 3 and Soundcore Motion Boom Plus are also protected against dust, the Stormbox Blast lacks this protection.
In terms of processing, the Tribit Stormbox Blast is comparable to the Soundcore Motion Boom and Boom Plus. I couldn’t find any flaws. In comparison, the JBL Xtreme 3 with its textile cover looks a bit more robust.
Sound with plenty of power
When it comes to speakers, Tribit aims to outperform the Soundcore Motion Boom Plus. This is how you install two 15 watt tweeters and two 30 watt mid/bass drivers. The speaker has a total output of 90 watts. According to the manufacturer, the Soundcore Motion Boom Plus has an output of 80 watts. Both loudspeakers offer two additional passive radiators on the short sides of the housing, similar to what we know from many JBL loudspeakers.
The more power on paper comes about with the Tribit Stormbox Blast through slightly more powerful tweeters . In the test, however, it is primarily the woofers that deliver noticeably more power. The Tribit Stormbox Blast leaves both the JBL Xtreme 3 and the Soundcore Motion Boom Plus out in the rain with a rich and voluminous bass and sub-bass. The punch of the Tribit Speaker is so powerful that it is probably a category above the JBL Xtreme 3 and Soundcore Motion Boom Plus.
The Tribit Stormbox Blast is a lot of fun, especially with electronic or generally bass-heavy music! With more rocky sounds, the midrange is a bit too muffled in my opinion and minor equalizer adjustments are required in the app. The treble is clear and precise, the dedicated tweeters do their job, the Soundcore Motion Boom Plus and the JBL Xtreme 3 do a comparable job here.
I can only confirm here what other test reports already state. With the Tribit Stormbox Blast, the Chinese manufacturer has put all the other loudspeakers in their price range of around €200 in their place. Especially in the bass, Tribit offers such a powerful sound that is not actually found in this price range. From a sound point of view, it definitely offers the best price-performance ratio and is our new recommendation!
Connectivity & Operation
The Tribit Stormbox Blast is equipped with a Bluetooth 5.3 chip, which enables a solid range of around 15 meters in open spaces in the test. It is possible to pair the Tribit speaker with up to 8 playback devices, in order for another device to take over playback, the current device must interrupt playback. Stereo pairing with two Tribit Stormbox Blast is also possible.
In addition, behind the rubber cap on the back there is a 3.5 mm jack input for wired use, a C7 cold device input for charging, and a USB-C output. However, this can only be used to charge the cell phone, for example, not for playback.
Furthermore, Tribit has also integrated the Strombox Blast into the Tribit mobile app. However, the range of functions is relatively small. On the one hand, software updates can be installed here, on the other hand, the equalizer can be adjusted. In addition to some presets, user-defined presets can also be created, which I like. Although the functions of the app work without any problems, it is not properly translated into German. It’s okay, but it’s not nice. In addition, there are only functions that can also be executed using the buttons on the speaker itself, such as play/pause or volume adjustment.
A total of seven buttons are integrated on the top of the speaker. This allows the following functions to be performed:
- Turn on/off
- Activate Bluetooth pairing
- Increase/decrease volume
- play/pause
- Next/Previous track
- Switch LED modes/on-off
- Enable/disable XBass mode
Battery Life
Tribit has given the Blast power box a large battery that, according to the manufacturer, has a capacity of 71.28 Wh . In comparison to JBL Xtreme 3 and Soundcore Motion Boom Plus, charging is not via USB-C, but with a C7 IEC connector. The charging time is about 4 hours in the test . In addition, I was able to achieve a runtime of around 27 hours at medium volume. The running time depends above all on the volume. If you consistently listen to music at 80-100% volume, the battery level will of course drop faster, at a low volume of 20-30% you will exceed my measured value.
Conclusion – Tribit delivers the price-performance winner for €200
While models like the Tribit Stormbox or Tribit XSound Go are really good speakers for the money, there have also been Tribit products in the recent past that didn’t quite convince me in terms of sound or price-performance. In addition, they tried out in-ear headphones, which were not particularly successful either.
With the Tribit Stormbox Blast, the manufacturer can build on old successes again and the sub-bass of the Stormbox Blast simply blows away the Soundcore Motion Boom Plus and the JBL Xtreme 3. Although it is comparable in price to the Soundcore Motion Boom Plus and JBL Xtreme 3, it plays in a higher league in terms of sound, which makes it the undisputed new price/performance winner for me. With a weight of 5.5 kg, it can also be considered to be of limited portability, but you also get a sound equivalent.
Pros
- Best sound for 200€
- mobile app
- stereo pairing
- jack input
Cons
- App translation
- Weight
The mobile app is also something to criticize. It’s nice that it exists at all, but the range of functions is quite narrow and the German translation is anything but perfect. But: the possibility of wirelessly installing updates and equalizer adjustments are real added value that I wouldn’t want to miss. From me there is a clear buy recommendation!
