An attractively styled and reasonably priced smart speaker with Alexa integration. While the VQ Hepburn Voice is a speaker you’ll enjoy for its looks, its sound is more of an issue: lacking bass, as well as detail and clarity, it’s fine for casual listeners but not the best-sounding speaker at its price.
Pros
- Attractive styling
- Alexa integration
- Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support
- Built-in battery
Cons
- EQ adjustment has little effect
- Sound lacks detail, clarity, and sharpness
Key Features
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Review Price: £89.99
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Amazon Alexa Built-in access to Amazon's smart assistant
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Battery life 8 hours of battery life when not plugged to the mains
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Wireless support Connect via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth
Introduction
Smart speakers don’t appear to be as popular as they once were, so it’s with some curiosity the VQ Hepburn Voice lands in our testing rooms.
At first, I thought the Hepburn Voice was a vintage radio given ViewQuest’s past, but it features Amazon Alexa voice control and Bluetooth streaming for the relatively low price of £89.99.
Amazon has dominated the market with its Echo speakers but VQ appears confident it can offer something different. The question is whether it has succeeded in doing so.
Design
- Five different designs
- Carry handle
- Physical inputs
Whatever angle you look at the Hepburn Voice from, it’s a handsome looking speaker. Recent smart speakers have occupied themselves with being smart and minimalist, but the Hepburn Voice flaunts its style with a range of options that brings colour to a home.
The sample I’ve received is the Joules version, which has a repeated pattern of a sausage dog. The other versions are the Cath Kidston, Emma Bridgewater, Laura Ashley designs along with a standard VQ edition.

It’ll surprise how heavy the Hepburn Voice is with a heft to it that suggests a premium product that could withstand a few bashes. Thankfully there’s a handle to carry it.
It’s attractively styled for the money. The rotary dials and buttons on the top surface all have a chrome finish and glint; and though the Hepburn Voice is mostly plastic, the use of PU leather feels sturdy and gives the impression of a higher quality than its price indicates. There’s a nice sense of feedback from the dials (with little clicks as they turn), while the buttons are tactile and avoid a spongy, cheap feel.

Those buttons include power, playback, track skipping, microphone and EQ adjustments (bass and treble, which oddly aren’t in the app). Either side of the buttons are the dials – one for source selection and another for volume control; while in the middle is an LED colour strip that shows the current source – Spotify is green, Bluetooth is blue, Alexa is cyan and so on.
Around the back are physical connections with a line out, aux input and USB port. There’s a power supply for connecting to the mains that has a reach of a metre or so.
Features
- Built-in battery
- Alexa integration
- MyVQ app support
There’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support, the former allows for Spotify Connect functionality and casting via the Amazon Music app. Sadly that’s all the Hepburn Voice has to offer on the Wi-Fi front as neither Tidal Connect nor Chromecast are available.
Amazon Alexa is built-in and to set it up you need to connect to the Wi-Fi through the MyVQ app. It took me a few attempts before the app recognised the speaker but eventually the two clicked together. The Hepburn Voice can take its time to connect to the Wi-Fi each time it’s powered on – I timed it at about 33 seconds, which feels longer than it sounds.

Alexa can hear over loud music and from a distance, the instances where I had to repeat a request or command were few, as were the number of times where I had to raise my voice. The microphones reliably honed onto my voice.
The MyVQ app is similar if you’ve used Triangle or Audio Pro products with the same layout and sections. Tucked inside are 10 presets with none on the speaker itself, a choice I think is sensible.

While there’s no Tidal Connect support, the app offers a selection of built-in streaming services, including Tidal, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, Napster, vTuner (Internet radio), and Amazon Music. That’s by no means a big selection though.
The app also offers source selection (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Line-in) access to settings (you can turn the Hepburn Voice into a personal hotspot), firmware updates, and alarm clock settings. You can view battery life and play music to multiple speakers – as long as they support the MyVQ app.

VQ rates the battery life as 8 hours, but streaming from Spotify at somewhere around 50% volume, I’d say you could eke out more. The built-in battery offers the convenience of placing the Hepburn Voice around a house or in the garden, and if it requires recharging there’s the mains power cable. You can also power another device (tablet, smartphone) through the USB port.
Sound Quality
- Stereo sound
- Bass is meagre
- Lacks detail and clarity
VQ bigs up the Hepburn Voice’s sound quality in its promotional materials, highlighting its Dual Ultra-Wide Full Range speakers, and its “innovative” digital sound processing. So it’s with some disappointment that the VQ Hepburn Voice’s audio is its weakest part.
It’s a speaker that sounds better at higher volumes than low though it’s best to avoid going full whack as the speaker trades detail for loudness. Regardless of its volume level, it’s a speaker short of detail, clarity and definition. The Hepburn Voice’s smooth output is the type of sound suited to background listening rather than anything more focused.

It features a good sense of dynamism in bounding between quiet and loud, and vocals come through clearly enough. The soundstage is as wide as the speaker itself, so there’s a decent stereo effect with songs that take advantage of it. Though it’s not the most detailed listen, as I mentioned, it’s fine for a casual session.
But given the pomp and ceremony VQ gives the Hepburn Voice, the audio quality is a missed opportunity. Bass is lacking on Rihanna’s Pon de Replay – low frequencies don’t provide much depth or power making for a tame performance. Altering the bass EQ doesn’t affect things greatly, nor does the treble button.
Treble notes sound tame in GoGo Penguin’s Raven, lacking brightness and sharpness which gives the top end of frequency range a clinical, lacklustre tone.

Vocals are given priority in tracks such as Vampire Weekend’s A-Punk or Chaka Khan’s Tell Me Something Good, but the smoothness of the Hepburn Voice’s sound results in a lack of definition, dynamism and clarity. There’s a lack of refinement here that smothers voices and instruments. Regardless of the genre, everything sounds similar.
Circumstances don’t change much on a Bluetooth connection, which sounds quieter than the Wi-Fi connection and requires raising the volume to full to get the best performance. I’d say there’s slightly more detail and definition on a Bluetooth connection, and a degree more composure about the Hepburn Voice’s sound but there’s no beating about the bush – this speaker’s sound is no more than ordinary.
Should you buy it?
Great looks
The Hepburn Voice dishes out the style with a handsome look at an affordable price.
Disappointing sound
It lacks detail, clarity and bass. The Amazon Echo 4th Gen is a smarter choice
Final Thoughts
I didn’t have big expectations for the VQ Hepburn Voice but I was rooting for it to be a good alternative to Amazon’s Alexa range. While its looks are first class and its functionality solid, the sound isn’t up to par.
It’s a better listen than the BoomBocs Studio I reviewed and if you are going for an Alexa powered speaker, the Amazon Echo 4th Gen is still available. If you’re happy losing Wi-Fi and Alexa, there are portable speakers such as the Cleer Scene, Soundcore Boom 2 and JBL Flip 6 (which we’ve not reviewed) that are similarly priced options.
Some will love the aesthetics of VQ Hepburn Voice but for me, sound is principal reason why you buy a speaker and the Hepburn Voice finds itself lacking in that department.
Trusted Score
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 for two weeks
- Tested with real world use
- Battery drain carried out
FAQs
You do need to set-up an Amazon account to get access to Alexa, otherwise you won’t be able to use it with the Hepburn Voice speaker.
Full Specs
VQ Hepburn Voice Review | |
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UK RRP | £89.99 |
AUD RRP | AU$249.99 |
Manufacturer | View Quest |
Size (Dimensions) | 314 x 94 x 166 MM |
Weight | 1.5 KG |
ASIN | B09B7VLTCB |
Release Date | 2024 |
Driver (s) | Two 2.75-inch Dual Ultra Wide speakers |
Ports | 3.5mm aux input, USB-C |
Audio (Power output) | 20 W |
Connectivity | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth |
Colours | Cath Kidston, Emma Bridgewater, Laura Ashley, Joules, VQ |
Frequency Range | 20 20000 – Hz |
Speaker Type | Wireless Speaker |
Smart assistants | No |
App Control | No |