Bluetooth speakers are a dime a dozen these days, but finding a good one can be quite a task, especially if you’re looking at the more affordable Bluetooth speaker segment. There are too many choices to consider, each with its own pros and cons, and it’s easy to get lost in the brand names as well. So when Hammer sent me their Boom 30W Bluetooth Speaker (Rs. 2,499), I decided to test it out, and let you guys know whether it beats the competition, and whether it’s worth your money.
What’s in the Box?
The Hammer Boom 30 comes in a straightforward box, with not too many things inside it. Here’s everything you’ll find when you first unbox this speaker:
- The Boom 30W Speaker (duh)
- AUX cable
- Type-C charging cable
That’s it. There isn’t even a manual in the box; and for that I am grateful, because no one really reads the manual to a Bluetooth speaker, and it’s better to save paper than to give me one extra thing I have to throw away without ever perusing.
Design and Build Quality
Coming to the speaker itself, it is built very well. There’s soft-touch, rubberized plastics all around which gives it an almost Sony-esque feel, and the mesh grilles add to the playful vibe for which this speaker is clearly going.
The big buttons up front are unmissable, but they are also misleading (more on that later), and there is also a small control panel up top, almost hidden by the massive handle, which contains the power button, play/pause button, lighting controls, and a mode button.
There are also bass diaphragm on both sides of the speaker which, by the way, looks insane when it’s playing a bass-heavy track.
It’s a clearly well-built speaker, and that just means I felt much more comfortable using it all the time and in a lot of different settings because I knew it could take a beating, and still come out of it looking extremely good.
Sound Quality
Of course, the most important aspect of any speaker (Bluetooth or otherwise) is the sound quality it has to offer. After all, you wouldn’t buy a speaker with terrible sound output even if it looked good. Maybe some would, but if you’re reading a review, you’re probably not in that camp.
The good news is that the Hammer Boom 30 sounds spectacular for its price. It has really impressive output in the highs, mids, and the lows, and while it does justice to bass heavy tracks, if you’re into overpowering bass, this won’t do it out of the box.
You can play around with the EQ settings on the music streaming app of your choice, and if you do opt for a “More Bass” type of an EQ setting, the speaker can really push the bass to a mighty impressive level.
It’s also really loud, and it can easily be your primary house party speaker without any issues. What’s more, there aren’t any distortions or clipping of music at max volumes, which is something a lot of speakers struggle with, and it’s definitely a point in the Hammer Boom 30’s favour.
Connectivity
When it comes to connectivity, the Hammer Boom 30 doesn’t do much more than you’d expect, and it doesn’t do any less than you’d expect either. You get all the things you may need to play your music. There’s Bluetooth, obviously, and there’s support for AUX input, USB sticks, and even memory cards, so your old playlists can easily be played on this speaker.
The Bluetooth connection is also fairly stable, and in my usage I didn’t have the speaker dropping connection with my iPhone even if I went to a different room. That’s great, especially for people who tend to wander around while their phone is connected to speakers.
The Buttons
Look, normally I wouldn’t dedicate a separate section to buttons in a review for a Bluetooth speaker. After all, most Bluetooth speakers have a set of buttons and they just do the job. They can be tactile, they can be a bit mushy, but that’s pretty much it.
However, the Hammer Boom 30 isn’t like “most Bluetooth speakers”. Well, in fairness, it ALMOST is like most Bluetooth speakers.
Remember the big buttons that I said were misleading? Yeah, if I see a button that looks like a giant plus sign, right alongside a button that looks like a giant minus sign, I am going to assume that those two buttons will adjust the volume.
However, with the Hammer Boom 30, pressing those buttons will skip tracks forward or back. But that’s not all, if you LONG PRESS on these buttons, they will indeed adjust the volume. Except, because you’re long-pressing them, the volume adjustment will take you by surprise and will either get too loud or barely audible prompting you to do some ninja-level long-presses and releases to get the volume at the level you want.
So yes, I think Hammer royally messed up these two buttons in what is otherwise such a wonderful Bluetooth speaker that I would recommend it to anyone who’s looking for something in this price range. And that is precisely why I just had to have a separate section for the buttons in this review.
Battery Life
Enough of my ranting about the volume/skip buttons on this speaker, let’s come back to the long list of positives that it has to offer; case in point: battery life.
Hammer claims 30 hours of battery backup on a charge, and though I didn’t run it for 30 hours straight, I can confirm it easily lasts over a day, with a mix of full volume, and medium volume listening. Of course, I kept the RGB lights on as well, and if I were to turn those off, one can expect it to last for around 30 hours I suppose.
However, it lasts very long, and in my normal usage of this speaker, I always ended up giving in and charging it well before I actually needed to charge it.
Is it Worth the Money?
You can get the Hammer Boom 30 for anywhere between Rs. 2,499 to Rs. 2,999, and at either of those price points, I think this is a value for money option.
The sound quality is really good, especially when you factor in the price. The design and build are great, and the battery life is more than what anyone would normally need. The silly big-button drama notwithstanding, I have no qualms in recommending the Hammer Boom 30 as a speaker to get under Rs. 3000.
It does everything you would want your Bluetooth speaker to do, and it does them well. So if you’re in the market for something that looks good, and sounds good, definitely check this out.
Buy the Hammer Boom 30 from Amazon (Rs. 2,499)
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