Maker GravaStar Mars is back with a new futuristic-looking speaker called Venus and today, we will put it through its paces to see just how good it is. First, lets have a look at the specs.
GravaStar Venus has a 1.75-inch 10 W full-range driver, Bluetooth 4.1+EDR (version 2.1), 1,500 mAh battery that provides up to 10 hours of operation on a single charge, built-in user-selectable RGB lights and finally, a mostly zinc alloy construction.
Now, here’s my take of this “extraterrestrial design” speaker.
The Packaging: Not A Spaceship
Venus a cube-like box with outer sleeve and a main box with magnetic closure. Both features a same beautiful artwork of a futuristic city. On the inside of the main box, a short comic starring Venus.
Removing the out inner box, which contains the USB-A-to-USB-C charging cable and document, reveal the Venus inside a cutout covered in suede-like material. It is snugly fitted inside which is important as you don’t want it to move about during shipping.
The Aesthetic: It Is, Well, Not From Earth!
The aesthetic is, no doubt, a key selling point. Venus defies traditional Bluetooth speaker design convention with an alien robot design. However, unlike Mars, the look is a lot less “sinister”.
It is actually pretty cute. Especially with the large Bluetooth connect button and the power on/off/play/pause button on either side. It looks like a robotic creature with a face and the buttons are its eyes.
By the virtue of the single dot and the plus sign on the respective button, it makes it looks rather comical and somehow, gave it life. Like the Mars, it is a tri-leg design, each with rubber end to absorb shocks.
Rounding up the aesthetic is a user-selectable RGB light that can be found surrounding the driver. There are 6 colors to choose from, selectable by pressing both the volume up and down button simultaneously.
The Build: Is That Alien Technology?
I’d be lying to say I wasn’t impressed. The mostly zinc alloy construction gave this little creature quite some heft – one pound to be exact. And when held on the hand, it feels solid and robust.
It felt like it is almost built to last beyond us. Seriously, you have to hold on it your hand to appreciate the build. Speaking of build, the quality is impeccable. I can’t fault it on anything. No bleeding of color, no misalignment or whatsoever. It happens but not on this little fellow.
GravaStar is marketing this as portable speaker and therefore, it does come with a tiny handle for hooking up to a lanyard.
There are a total of four buttons: Two for volume control, one for Bluetooth connectivity, and a power on/off and play/pause button. They are actual buttons that offer solid, tactile feel.
However, it lacks of the ability to fully control your music. There’s no means of skipping tracks. Other than that, I can’t find any fault in usability.
The Sound: Clear Highs and Mids, Punchy Bass
Before we talk sound. You have to know, each person hears differently. That’s fact. Not rocket science. As far as my sound holes are concerned, it is a good sound speaker. Here are the conditions of the audition:
Condition:
- No EQ adjustment or software enhancement
Source hardware:
- MacBook Air (2019)
- Samsung S20 Plus
Audio performance (movie):
Movie: Transformers Dark of the Moon
Platform: YouTube
Hardware: MacBook Air (2019)
Well, you know what? I was caught off guard… in a good way. I cranked up the volume and I assure that you’d think it was coming from some high-end soundbar if you weren’t looking. It was that good.
I wouldn’t say you can hear all the details from the highway chase scene, but was really, really explosive. As far as my ears go, I can clearly make out the dialogue, the soundtrack, the roaring engine, and explosion clearly. It was intense. It is worthy to note that, for the best effect, make sure the speaker is right smack in the middle of the screen.
Audio performance (music):
The Venus is not a 360-speaker, but it sure is more than enough to fill a room with sound. It’s loud, alright. Soundtrack like Steve Jablonsky’s Transformers sounds fantastic, while pop songs like Señorita has decent separation.
However, I do find that at times, the highs stood out quite a bit. It is safe to say that highs and mids are clear, and as for the bass, it is probably not “crazy bass”. I’d say it is punchy.
As usual, Alan Walker and Underworld were my go-to artistes for electronic genre. Born Slippy sounds particularly dynamic. No seriously, like really, really dynamic. Pretty mind blowing, if I can be honest.
I wouldn’t say you can start a party with this, though. But you probably can if you have a pair. But given its size, Venus is huge in performance.
Verdict
For:
- Clear highs and mids, punchy bass
- Solid and robust build
- Unique design with RGB light
Against:
- May not appeal to true bass heads
- Lack of music skip function on speaker
- No 3.5 mm auxiliary input
There’s one observation about the volume control. The incremental step from one volume to the next is rather huge. It is significant enough for me to take notice. But that’s not a biggie since I’d cranked up to the 11 and use the source device to fine tune the volume anyways.
Speaking of the volume control, it has a nice detail. There is beep that lets you know you have reached the max volume on the device. It is nice attention to detail.
GravaStar Venus Bluetooth Speaker was a successfully funded Indiegogo campaign in August. If you have missed it, the good news is, it can be ordered on GravaStar website and at a discounted price of US$99.95 a pop (U.P. US$129.95). At the time of this post, it is listed as out of stock, but it will be available in mid October which soon be anytime now.
Images: Mikeshouts.com.
