Xiaomi Mi Portable Bluetooth Speaker 16W Review: Best Budget Bluetooth Speaker?

Mi Portable Bluetooth Speaker Design

The Mi Portable Bluetooth Speaker looks stylish and feels premium for its price. The speaker's casing is wrapped under a woven mesh that adds to the looks and also provides a good overall grip. We are testing the black color variant that looks quite subtle. If you prefer a bit sporty and vibrant design, you must check out the blue version.

There are six buttons on the top, all housed inside a black rubberized strip. I don't understand why Xiaomi went for the base color labelling for the buttons. The all-black labeling makes it difficult to identify the right controls, especially if you are operating the speaker in a dimly lit environment. Thankfully, the buttons offer good tactile feedback and the rubberized strip prevents any possible water damage to the underlying controls.

IPX7 Rated Design

The entire speaker can resist water damage as the body is IPX7 rated. Xiaomi mentions that the speaker can stay in water for 30 minutes up to a depth of 1 meter. This makes the Mi Portable Bluetooth Speaker a good travel companion on adventure trips or simply to enjoy pool parties in summers. The Mi Portable Bluetooth speaker can be kept inside a laptop bag or you can just hang it on a bag pack with the help of the side-mounted nylon lanyard loop. The right side also houses the Aux and Type-C charging port, both protected under a rubber flap.

Overall, Xiaomi has a done a good job in designing the Mi Portable Bluetooth speaker. It feels sturdy, looks premium, and scores high on durability.

Mi Portable Bluetooth Speaker Audio Performance

The Mi Portable Bluetooth Speaker punches more than its price in terms of audio delivery. The 16W (8Wx2) forward-facing driver produces clean and powerful sound. The volume level gets loud enough to create an engaging music listening experience for a house party setup; however, I noticed some loss in clarity at maximum volume.

The speaker offers two sound profiles- Normal and Deep Bass. The latter focuses more on offering thumping bass but the low-frequency response isn't very inspiring. I quite liked the sound quality with the normal mode. It ensures decent mids, rich treble, and clean vocals. This particular profile works well for most of the genres and also for podcasts.

It is worth mentioning that the Mi Portable Bluetooth speaker does not offer a 360-degree sound experience. As the speaker's placement can directly impact the sound output, you must ensure that it is placed correctly on the anti-slip paddings for the best possible sound delivery.

Support For Stereo Configuration

One feature that impressed me is the stereo configuration. If you have two of these portable speakers, you can pair them up to further amplify the music listening experience. I did not have a second speaker handy at the time of reviewing it but considering the single speaker's audio delivery, the stereo mode will simply take the listening experience to next level.

Overall, the Mi Portable Bluetooth speaker doesn't disappoint with its sound delivery; however, a 360-degree design could have offered a more immersive music listening experience.

Mi Portable Bluetooth Speaker Connectivity And Battery Life

The Mi Portable Bluetooth speaker works on Bluetooth 5.0 and offers a very stable connection. I paired the wireless speaker with multiple devices (Phones, Android TV, Windows PC, etc.) and did not experience any connection drops during the testing period. You can also use the speaker for voice calls but the microphone response isn't very good. The Mi Portable Bluetooth speaker also offers voice assistant support. Double pressing the power button activates the connected phone's voice assistant to help you execute hands-free tasks.

As far as the battery life is concerned, the Mi Portable Bluetooth speaker lasted for 10 hours on 80%-100% volume. The 2,600mAh battery can drain faster or last longer depending upon your usage. The speaker has a Type-C charging port and takes around two hours to recharge from flat to 100%.

Verdict

A good wireless portable Bluetooth speaker has become the need of most households in today's time and the Mi Portable Bluetooth Speaker serves the requirement well. Whether it's a house party or you venturing out with your squad on a weekend trip, the Mi Portable Bluetooth speaker won't disappoint you. Priced affordably at Rs. 2,499, the wireless speaker delivers on sound quality and comes packed with premium features such as stereo mode support, IPX7 rated design, Voice assistant support, and USB Type-C charging. You cannot find a better deal than the Mi Portable Bluetooth speaker at such a low price.