Treblab HD Max Review
A middling outdoor speaker with a higher price tag
Verdict
The Treblab HD Max is an okay wireless outdoor speaker with middling audio quality that lacks refinement or energy, although is serviceable for large crowds. The speaker’s chassis is at least sturdy, while the RGB lighting adds some flair, and its 6600mAh battery offers decent life and doubles up as a power bank. You can do better for the asking price, though.
Pros
- Sturdy plastic frame
- Useful power bank function
- Large capacity internal battery
Cons
- Imprecise, narrow audio
- Battery life and codec support not as strong as the competition
Key Features
- 60W of power:The HD Max is a reasonably powerful speaker that can get quite loud.
- Up to 20 hours of battery life:It also offers some decent endurance, and doubles up as a power bank.
Introduction
The Treblab HD Max is the brand’s most powerful portable speaker, with 60W of power packed into a big, cylindrical outdoor speaker.
A £185 / $199 price tag puts it well in the mix against the likes of the Loewe We Hear Pro and the Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 2nd Gen, with a host of similar features including IPX6 water resistance, a large 6600mAh battery and booming audio, which makes it a reasonably compelling choice.
I’ve been testing the HD Max for the last couple of weeks to see if it makes for an excellent Bluetooth speaker – let’s take a closer look.
Design
- Solid construction
- Reasonably tasteful RGB lighting
- Simple and effective controls
It’s fair to say that the HD Max is a large speaker, measuring in at 310mm wide, as well as weighing 2.29kg. That’s in line with Loewe’s option, and gives the HD Max a high-quality finish from the outset.
The all-black colour scheme isn’t as funky as Loewe’s speaker and in part, the HD Max lacks a certain style against options from those more premium brands. Although, being entirely black means the speaker is at least a bit more egalitarian in terms of its design.
There is some additional flair when the speaker is turned on though, as the HD Max features some reasonably tasteful RGB lighting on its ends, which give off more of a party atmosphere.
Controls are all on the top side of the HD Max, and are big, bold, and easy to use. There are a total of six buttons here – from left to right is volume down, pairing, lighting control, play/pause, power and volume up. Between the lighting control and play/pause button are also some white LEDs which act as a battery indicator.
Holding the volume buttons can help to seek tracks, while holding the pairing button for a few secons allows you to choose between the speaker’s three sound modes: Balanced, Bass Boost and Treble Boost. You can also toggle a voice assistant by holding the lighting button and enable the speaker’s power bank feature by double tapping the power button.
The top side of the HD Max also has two slots, one on either side, for threading the speaker’s included nylon strap through. The back side of it also features a rubberised port cover under which is a 3.5mm jack for wired inputs, a USB-C for charging/power delivery and a USB-A port for playing music off a storage device.
Features
- Basic codec support
- Large capacity battery
- Decent water resistance
As with other Bluetooth speakers I’ve tested, the HD Max offers Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity, and can also connect in a stereo pair with another HD Max when used with a Bluetooth 5.0-capable device.
Codec support is only with the basic SBC,. The lack of any aptX or LDAC is a bit of a shame, considering more affordable speakers such as the Soundcore Motion 300 have it.
The large 6600mAh battery powers the HD Max to up to 20 hours of runtime, albeit when used at only 10 percent volume. Whack it up to the max, and you’ll only get six hours of use. At least the HD Max can be used as a power bank if you are caught short with a connected device, in the same way as Loewe’s We Hear Pro.
The HD Max is IPX7 water resistant, offering protection against submersion up to a metre in water for 30 minutes. This is perfectly fine for most people, although if you’re going for a more rugged speaker, the JBL Charge 5 Wi-Fi has an IP67 rating.
Sound Quality
- Powerful audio with lots of volume
- Lacks precision at times
- Mid-range feels lacking
The HD Max features up to 60W of power that makes for some rather potent audio in its default Balanced mode. There’s a fair amount of low-end presence on the likes of The Barry Williams Shows from Peter Gabriel and Earth, Wind & Fire’s Let’s Groove. There seems to be some precision and extension lacking from the bass here against the We Hear Pro, though.
It’s much the same story with Marillion’s The Invisible Man with its dark and brooding opening couple of minutes. The HD Max lacks a certain impact with its low end, while Steve Hogarth’s vocals appear to be pushed back in the mix against both Ian Mosley’s cymbal rides or Steve Rothery’s guitar drives.
Turning on the speaker’s Bass Boost mode didn’t help matters either, offering simply more bass at the expense of, well, everything else. The speaker’s Treble Boost mode also sacrifices low-end and mid-range accuracy in favour of simply serving up more treble.
With James Taylor’s Walking Man, his vocals and acoustic guitar were further forwards in the mix, but felt a little hollow without too much warmth and crispness. There was more of the same with Mac McAnally’s The City, although this too threw up the narrower soundstage the HD Max offers against the We Hear Pro.
The introduction of Steely Dan’s Do It Again is always a go-to test for me when it comes to testing a speaker’s treble, and it wasn’t as spacious or neat as with other speakers in its price range. It’s perfectly fine, although at times, the HD Max’s treble lacked finesse.
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Should you buy it?
Buy if you want a big, sturdy speaker
The HD Max offers some excellent build quality for a speaker even at its higher price, with a sturdy weight and solid plastics used in its construction.
Don’t buy if you want more precise audio
The HD Max isn’t as strong sonically as the likes of Loewe’s speaker, lacking precision and finesse across the frequency range.
Final Thoughts
The Treblad HD Max is an okay wireless outdoor speaker with middling audio quality that lacks refinement or energy, although is serviceable for large crowds. The speaker’s chassis is at least sturdy, while the RGB lighting adds some flair, and its 6600mAh battery offers decent life and doubles up as a power bank.
You can do better for the asking price, though, such as the Loewe We Hear Pro for better audio across the board and funkier looks, even if it’s a bit more expensive.
How we test
We test every wireless speaker we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Tested across two weeks
Tested with real world use
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FAQs
No, the Treblab HD Max only supports the SBC codec.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
