Verdict
The Anker Soundcore X600 is pitched as a super high fidelity wireless utterer . This plays out better in the technical school than the factual audio , but those willing to monkey in the app can pick off the audio recording quite significantly .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The Anker Soundcore X600 feels like a leaving for Anker . It has grown to be one of the most authentic public figure in low - toll sound accessories including , yep , the humbleBluetooth talker .
This is a much higher - close model , though . It ’s larger than the Anker Soundcore speakers I ’ve recommend to budget buyers in the past , and at £ 200 it has to be able-bodied to vie with some super - solid competition from steel likeJBL , Ultimate Earsand evenSonos .
Its special trick is an upwards - firing driver . This , with a small help from some ingenious digital sign processing , is design to emulate the sorting of talkative spatial magic of a Dolby Atmos speaker regalia .
prissy conception , but the Anker Soundcore X600 ’s often sterile - sounding mids show that when it comes to medicine , the basic principle of tuning and tone matter more than the show - off stuff .
Design
If you rent the classic boombox design and tried to give it a style of its own , one with a more grown - up expression , you might terminate up with something like the Anker Soundcore X600 .
Its entire body is silver or dark gray , tones I usually see used in the casings of ultraportable laptops .
This expression lease the Soundcore X600 face less out of seat in the middling 2023 dwelling than something like theJBL Xtreme 3 – a verbaliser I have a draw of affection for , but would I want it in my living elbow room 24/7 ? Maybe not .
The Anker approach makes you question how tough this thing actually is , though . The front half of the body and the hold are coat aluminium . Its back half is plastic , as is the undersurface . The control panel up top is plastic with what feel like a softly rubber control surface .
This is a dense , respectable speaker that weigh just under 2 kg , or 1947 g according to my scales . I do finger less confident cast away this thing around than the nylon weave - overstep speakers from JBL orUltimate Ears , though . unvoiced aerofoil mean the threat of a scratched anodize finish or , even worse , cracked plastic , loom in the background a little .
However , permit ’s get tangible . Most of us are more likely to take the Soundcore X600 to a park field day or a BBQ than up a mountain . It also has excellentIPX7 piss resistance , meaning it is made to take a full underwater dunking . Just verify the rear pencil eraser interface connexion is in berth . This protect the USB - nose candy charging socket and the 3.5 millimeter aux comment .
Features
Anker ’s Soundcore X600 has a companion phone app , but you only need to use if it you want to get at the utterer ’s EQ presets or produce your own . The rest of your key pick are available powerful there on the speaker ’s top open .
This does not rely on capacitive touch surfaces . There are actual clicky actuators under those icon on the top denture , and they illuminate up when the speaker is active .
That specked circle in the eye ? This is n’t a clit , it ’s where the Soundcore X600 ’s upward - fire driver lives .
While positioned as a more ripe Bluetooth speaker unit than most , this is mostly a pretty low - fuss , simple unit . And Anker claims its battery lasts an ok 12 minute at restrained volume , between the 11 time of day of theSonos Moveor the 15 hours of the JBL Xtreme 3 , but they are n’t in entirely dissimilar stamen universes . I chance the stamina was a little blue than this when propagate over a few sessions , but not dramatically so .
Sound Quality
Anker calls the Soundcore X600 the world ’s first portable mellow - fidelity speaker . The justification ? It hasLDAC financial backing , which uses high bit - rate than the standard SBC Bluetooth codec .
Its “ spacial ” audio is more interesting . This has been a tech buzzword term for a while now , but the Soundcore X600 ’s take on it is jolly mere . There ’s an upwardly - firing driver on the top , and some software manipulation is used to further extend how “ big ” the speaker fathom .
Alongside the top driver , the Soundcore X600 has two comparatively small front - debase woofers , two tweeters and an oblong inactive radiator on the back , which Anker does n’t come out to advert on its web site .
The Anker Soundcore X600 can vocalise good . It can go loud and it has , thanks to that peaceful radiator , good bass depth for a speaker of this size . However , my main reaction to the X600 is one of frustration as I do n’t think Anker has done a particularly expert job on some aspects of its tuning .
You have two key controls on the Soundcore X600 itself , Bass Up and the Spatial audio frequency button . Each makes quite a profound difference to the speech sound , and I have to wonder whether their impingement has been deliberately emphasised , by somewhat neutering the X600 when they are both off .
work off the Bass Up mode seems to do the equivalent of all but turning off the passive radiator , reducing low bass to quite a severe extent . I advocate keeping it switched on most of the time , but it ’s not useless . require to run music while other people in the business firm are kip ? call on off Bass Up mean you ’ll actually be able to have the volume higher without disturbing anyone .
The Spatial mode I have some more of a job with , because of the effect on the tonal proportionality of the Soundcore X600 . When switch off , the X600 sounds much more boxy . Its soundfield is smaller and there ’s not a huge amount of spark to the audio .
spacial mood act like a shaft of adrenaline . It spread up the sound noticeably , and adds a good deal more energy to the treble and upper mids .
Your first notion will be “ this is more like it . ” The Soundcore X600 appears to take form to life . It has a problem , though . In this modality the mids seem skew and outflank , with all of the projection coming from the upper - mids .
It pass on vocal lines with little of the military unit of delivery they should have , pushing them into the desktop . Songwriter - lead music is robbed of its sentience of musicalness and I observe the mids vocalize quite sterile or celluloid as a result .
I tried fiddling around with the Soundcore app ’s EQ presets to meliorate matters , but did n’t have much luck . That enjoin , you may want to climb up off the default Soundcore Signature way and flip to Balanced if you will listen at higher volumes as the boost deep bass of the Signature mod makes affair turn stick-in-the-mud when pushed .
you’re able to have more of an encroachment on the mids if you produce your own custom EQ program . I was able-bodied to convey back the lost projection of those mid - weighed down vocal lines by carving out the sort of midriff muffin top frequency curve I do n’t cogitate I ’ve ever made before . However , it works . The custom EQ tools are muscular , but how many X600 owner are actually going to use them ?
I do n’t believe everyone is fit to be bothered by the Soundcore X600 audio in the way I was . The veridical endeavour at delivering sub - freshwater bass , the neat spatial audio frequency conception and the respectable maximum loudness – all capital . Maybe decently sound mids are for boomers now , but I would n’t recommend this speaker too powerfully if you listen to more vocal - led music than thoroughgoing electronic stuff .
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Should you buy it?
The Anker looks smarter than some larger Bluetooth speakers in this class , making it a good for at dwelling house economic consumption with the casual misstep out of doors — which is is sure as shooting ready for thanks to IPX7 water resistance . It also has good bass part depth .
There ’s a sense Anker has focused more on the sound tech than the factual speech sound here . The lead mode robs the mids of their office , push vocals into the ground too much .
Final Thoughts
The Anker Soundcore X600 is one of Anker ’s high - quality loudspeaker to engagement . It has an upward - firing number one wood for more expansive strait , and a special mode to make the estimable use of it . There ’s LDAC too , a in high spirits - quality wireless codec .
I think Anker has the capacity to make a sound all - round loudspeaker system of this type in future , though .
When in its top speech sound modality the mid - image loses all its marrow , making vocal lines seem debile and , in some case , synthetic . you could take control of this using Anker ’s software , but not without some effort .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every wireless talker we go over exhaustively over an extended period of time . We practice diligence standard tests to compare features properly . We ’ll always enjoin you what we find . We never , ever , take money to retrospect a intersection .
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FAQs
It has IPx7 water resistance , meaning it can be fully submerge in water .
This is a Bluetooth - only speaker . It does not have Wi - Fi .
It does not support aptX but it does offer LDAC , a in high spirits - quality codec supported by most Android phones .
