Tronsmart T8 Portable Outdoor Speaker Review – Kick In A Can Pop
Tronsmart T8 is a $59 USD portable bluetooth speaker with a 40W of power, 360 degrees of immersion for its sound, and up to 18 hours of playback time powered by a large battery. Today we will review the Tronsmart T 8 and see how it fits in the market, and whether the portable bluetooth speaker market has made any advancements in recent years.
Introduction
Tronsmart does not immediately seem like a popular speaker company, but they made the Tronsmart Bang Max which I still use daily as my main speaker in my car, having it strapped behind my driver seat, in the backseat. Even in this ultra weird combo, it provides a much deeper and better sound than the speaker system of my car, so I find Tronsmart to be respectable, that speaker has been running nonstop for 3 years now and it still is alive and kicking. Considering that a new bang Max costs little compared to an upgraded audio system for a car, I would say that Tronsmart has remarkable price performance compared to the market and they create reliable products, usually available on Amazon as well as other shops for electronics.
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Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/4oxq0lD
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c3ARZEFH
Build Quality And Design
Tronsmart T8 is a fun shaped portable bluetooth speaker with an LED ring at the top, and it is available in three colors. Unfortunately I got one that is black, as I now learned that there was a grey option that looked much better, but given that this is an outdoors speaker, I would still recommend going with black to avoid it getting dirty if you drop it on the grass or on the ground. You can actually see on the product bage how the speakers are arranged like, they are lateral for the mid / tweeter drivers, there are two passive woofers also on the sides, with a large woofer on the bottom of the speaker. This allows it to fill that 360 degrees of sound promise.
Tronsmart T8 is a full-size evolution from the T7 the company released a couple of years ago, and Tronsmart T8 has a much larger battery inside, 4500mAh to be price, which is more than double the battery of T7, it has 18 hours of battery life, which is an upgrade compared to the 12 hours of battery life that T7 offers, and T8 also has a much higher power, 25% higher at 40W compared to the 30W offered by T7. As an added bonus, T8 has an Aux Input, but I feel that for the most part you will be using the Bluetooth connection. I do feel a bit like those videos of lifestyle that promote the speaker are a bit too happy, because I would enjoy rap and metal with it, but actually, it paints a good picture of how you’d use this speaker, just enjoy music, maybe with a loved one, indoors and outdoors.
T8 uses a Bluetooth 5.3 connection, and it charges via a Type-C port, has an IPX7 rating and the quoted battery life is with the LED turned off and at 50% volume. You can still expect around 10 hours of playback with the LED turned on and with 80% of volume, which is not realistic as it gets quite loud quite easily. It takes 4.5 hours to fully charge it from a dead state, but for prolonging the battery life, it is best to charge it when it reaches 30%. Quoted frequency range is between 56Hz to 20 kHz, and it can play from the Bluetooth input, Aux Input or it can read TF cards.
Sound is promised to have a 360 degree surround, it features Sound Pulse, which is a rather extreme V-Shaped EQ and you can customize the EQ and Light Show via the Tronsmart app. Here is a thing I like about Tronsmart, their app does not steal data, and I can leave it installed on my phone without stress. For most of their speakers, I usually engage the EQ to maximum bass, or just plain natural, but that is because the SoundPulse can be quite extreme.
Subjective Usage And Placement
An interesting thing you can do with T8 is that you can pair two of those in wireless, for a Stereo Mode. I actually had two Tronsmart Mirtune H1 speakers that I reviewed in the past, and now whenever I review bluetooth speakers that can do this, I get two of those to test the stereo thingy. After finishing the review exploring the Mirtune H1, I didn’t really have anything to do with them as I use the larger Bang Max for my car, and my wife rocks the RubYoung R830 in her studio, plus I have a couple of better, larger portable speakers for daily listening if I go outdoors, and Mirtune H1 is not needed for future referencing.
So I gifted both Mirtune H1 to two separate friends on the same day, as in Romania we celebrate something like a day-name, where our orthodox roots and naming scheme makes it such that all romanians bear the name of an orthodox saint, and it was this saint-name anniversary of both of my friends who are both called Andrei and who live in Bucharest. One who is a student and one who is at the same age but employed and working. What surprised me was that when we got together for a party, the one who is a student, not just kept it and is using it daily as his main speaker, but they told me that when they meet up for barbeque, each brings their own speaker, they match them together on something like a cloth line suspended between two trees and they party up with stereo sound. If that ain’t the sweetest and most wholesome thing I don’t know what is. I have to admit, I use those quite a lot, but I would call this type of speaker pairing a friendship speaker, it just multiplies the fun for two people who each own one, and at this price you really cannot complain. H1 was also dirt cheap at 25 USD, but still they found daily usage for my friends, and this made me happy too.
Back to T8 now, you can do exactly the same thing with T8, it even has a lanyard so you can suspend it if you want. This is alone one of the most interesting things you can do if you get two. Otherwise, usage is very good, my phone sees only SBC and AAC protocols for the T8 and the speakers work really well for music listening both indoors and outdoors. I love the fact that the sound is actually 360 degrees, all drivers are super well protected and you can rely on the T8 to survive multiple crashes. I disabled the LED light although it is fun, and in general it works really well. I managed to get around 10 hours of playtime at higher volumes, keeping the LED light intermittently on, and turning it on and off multiple times. Turning the top volume will adjust the volume of your smartphone as T8 does not have an internal volume, and will sync its volume with the volume of your smartphone. It just works really well for what it is supposed to do.
Sound Quality
Pairings – To test the tronsmart T8 I have used mainly my Samsung S24 Ultra, my wife’s S23 Ultra and a couple of iPhones as well as other generic smartphones from friends who visited us since we received the T8 pair. All in all, this is a speaker that works well with all sources, but I don’t feel it is necessary to really use the AUX cord, as you’re getting most of it by using the bluetooth mode.
Overall Signature – TronSmart T8 sounds quite bright, sharp and you can set the sound in multiple EQ modes although the most useful ones are Default, Deep Bass and SoundPulse. I would not customize it further, as you can’t really squeeze much more from the Speaker. Default is really bright, not very deep and allows the speaker to show its true colors and sonic performance. SoundPulse is mostly an aggressive V-Shaped tone that Tronsmart prizes as their main sonic profile, and the one present on most of their speakers, doing the same thing for all of them. To get a deeper sound you can place the T8 on an empty desk. Preferably one that has a cardboard or thin construction and which will add resonance to the sound and give the T8 a fuller, deeper sound. Soundstage is a plus, but T8 at very low volumes has an audible background noise as the AMP seems to have a very audible hiss sound like I heard in entry-level Class D speakers in the past. As most people will likely listen at least at medium volumes to this type of speaker, and outdoors, they are not likely to notice this little drawback.
Bass – Starting from the deep end, TronSmart T8 has an extension down to about 60 Hz with no bass audible lower. This being said, the positon will matter a lot because if you palace it with the bottom on a wooden desk, especially low density wood, or hollow shapes, the bass will resonate and the sound will be quite warm. You can also position the speakers with the bottom firing at your face for a deeper bass. Bass extension and signaure in general does not change with using 1 or two T8, it will sound very consistent. In fact, with two the sound is a bit stronger in the midrange and voices, and a bit brighter too.
Midrange – In the middle is where the magic is for T8, as they sound really bright, open and musical, somewhat playful and engaging. T8 has a uniquely engaging signature, but the background noise acts as a damping filter or anti aliasing noise filter, because this way T8 sounds like it has detail without sounding too sharp or unnaturally digital. It is quite interesting how they handle all music styles, as T8 is quite versatile and fun, without sounding overbearing. With most sound profiles, midrange is a bit forward and a central element in music, except for Deep bass which ironically sounds the most balanced and vocally correct.
Treble – At the top, T8 can extend up to about 18 kHz, with much more treble being audible in a closed space like a closed room than an open space or outdoors. Those speakers produce a fun, crisp treble with lots of air and details, but the background noise is audible if the volume is low or if sitting too close to one of them. Treble is very detailed, and reactive to the source material, but you can hear how the Bluetooth algorithm cuts a bit of the information.
Dynamics And Textures – Dynamics are compressed both by the sound design, Sound Pulse, Bluetooth algorithm and by the size of the speakers. This compression means that all details are audible in the same volume as the lead instruments, and there’s a lot of compression going on, which is very useful if listening to the T8 outdoors, where it makes the entire sound audible and not lost in the ambient noise. All in all, it works really well for its purpose. Textures are natural, fast, but dampened over by the hissing in the background. If you know a bit of photo editing, this noise feels a bit like iso noise, gives sound less edge, and makes it more even, which is weird to say, but it works for T8 in particular.
Loudness Saturation Gradient – T8 sounds best at medium and high volumes, as it does not handle low volumes well due to the background noise of the amplifier. Maximum volume is very high, above 120 dB in a closed room, or around 100 dB at 1 meter away in an open space. They get insanely loud and two of them can be enough for a barbeque party.
Soundstage – You can hear a wide, expanded soundstage if using two T8 speakers. If using just one, the soundstage is not existent in the traditional sense, but they can produce a 360 degree of coverage with sound, so it never sounds mono or closed, but you cannot have true stereo without using two of them. All in all, two of them can sound wide and holographic, but a single speaker cannot. Also, the sound is not need regardless how many you add as there is the bass roll-off limitation.
Value and Conclusion
Tronsmart has a meager price of 59 USD per piece, and you can get a combo outdoor and indoor stereo set for just 120 USD, combo with 10 hours of battery life, 360 degrees of sound, and which is super reliable, per Tronsmart practices. I believe it is fully worth purchasing at this price, both as a single speaker and as a combo, it is just interesting and fun with a strong and vivid sound. While I was nowhere near as enthusiastic about the T7, the new Tronsmart T8 convinced me big time with its big sound and fun usability.
At the end of the day, if you’re looking for ai indoor or outdoor bluetooth speaker, and if you want a crisp, neat sound with a big bass, vivid midrange and audible treble, with really good resolution and if you want the mighty and reliable build quality of tronsmart, or if you just want something bluetooth portable and fun that is cheap enough to use daily without worry of breaking, I fully and wholeheartedly recommend Tronsmart T8, and keep in mind that while Mirtune H1 was not something I would’ve recommended as much, it ended up being the whole music world of some of my friends, so if you allow T8, it may just bring a happy, fun musical time for you and your day.
PROs
- Excellent price performance ratio
- Can pair in stereo mode so two can give you stereo sound
- Even a single speaker gives you a 360 degrees of sound and can be placed anywhere and still sound great
- Strong and punchy bass starting with 60 Hz
- Vivid midrange with excellent detail
- Natural sound without a digital glare or unnatural details
- Multiple EQ options and reliable app that can sit on your phone
- LED lights if that’s your thing
- Multiple colors available
- Great overall product
Cons
- No bass extension lower than 58 Hz
- SoundPulse is less natural than natural or bassy modes
- Limited maximum volume, and can get loud really easily because it syncs with the volume of your smartphone
- Bluetooth delay so it won’t work well for watching movies or playing games
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/4oxq0lD
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c3ARZEFH
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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