Jabra Solemate Max - Bringing Big Sound to the Great Outdoors

The Biggest Solemate Yet

When the Jabra Solemate first debuted in 2012, it was one of the first portable Bluetooth wireless speakers to be purpose built for the great outdoors. The Solemates were dust proof, splash proof, sweat resistant, and came with a durable sand and rain-resistant bag which kept the elements out without muffling the sound. This was followed by the pocket-sized Solemate Mini in late 2013, and the focus of our review - the Solemate Max that was just released in late February 2014.

Jabra presents the Solemate Max as a "boombox speaker that’s perfect for parties" and to this effect, the Max is built with twin 15W tweeters for the high notes, and twin 30W woofers for "deep lows". Cranking up the volume and filling a room with loud tunes is certainly not an issue with this speaker. Aside from the size though, the features pretty much stay the same across the series, with the exception that the Solemate Max offers the ability to charge your devices via its large internal battery.

Design and Features

As the name implies, the Solemate Max is the big brother of Jabra's wireless speaker series, and while it too is meant to be a 'portable', at 30.2 x 10.2 x 13.8cm (L x W x H) in size and 3.27kg in weight, we’d use that term fairly lightly. The Solemate Max is a beast, and no doubt the audio hardware it packs within add to its weight.

Sticking with the sneaker design shared by the Solemate and Solemate Mini, the Solemate Max comes in just one color scheme - blue-grey silicon contrasted by the all-steel front grill with slight accents of yellow. The shoe tread design on the base once again holds an audio cable with 3.5mm audio jack input and works to keep your Solemate Max from moving about on your table. While it doesn’t come with a protective bag this time, the Solemate Max remains dust, dirt and splash proof. The inclusion of a fairly large carrying handle is a nice touch though, because it makes for an easy way to pick up the Solemate Max, even if your hands are wet.

The base of the Solemate Max is actually angled slightly upwards, which is a nice touch as that means the speaker isn’t directing sound straight to the floor (or your knees if you place it on a low table) when you place it flat on the ground or a surface.

Charging the internal battery of the Solemate Max requires plugging it into a wall socket, though that’s probably due to the size of the internal battery, which is listed as giving up to 14 hours of listening time on a full charge. The internal three-cell battery is rated at 2200mAh, but Jabra says the Solemate Max runs at 11.1V and so produces 24.97Wh,enough to recharge most modern smartphones three times as they only run at an output of about 3V.

Controls

All the controls for the Solemate Max are on the right side. Regular playback (pause/play, forward, back) and volume controls are grouped together on the top, while the power/pairing switch is on the side. You’ll also find the NFC pairing point, the aforementioned USB port for charging other devices, as well as your regular 3.5mm audio jack and micro-USB port for direct audio input from your mobile device, laptop or computer. This last aspect is useful to side-step the weak audio subsystem you generally get from notebooks and computers and output your tunes using the large Solemate Max instead. For wireless audio connectivity with your mobile devices, fortunately the pairing process is a simple affair through Bluetooth or NFC, with the Solemate Max guiding you through the process with audio cues.

Also found on the top panel of the speaker is a talk button, which allows you to take calls using the built-in microphone. This same button also doubles up to report on the unit's battery life - just hold the button down and the Solemate Max will tell you the amount of battery life remaining out loud. 

Performance

The Solemate Max supports Jabra’s free Jabra-Sound app, which offers Dolby sound processing, a digital equalizer, and a Social Jukebox feature, which allows users to create playlists and share them with their guests through a Facebook events page. We personally felt the Dolby processing was a little overcooked - volume level was most certainly a notch higher, but it sounded a bit bloated and didn't really represent the way it was meant to be heard. On the other hand, the digital equalizer option may appeal to those who like to fine-tuning their audio via presets.

Given the size and bulk of the Solemate Max, we doubt you’ll be using it for movies or gaming, and that’s not what it was built for anyway - loud pumping music for parties seems to be the order of the day. Thus, we moved straight to our MP3 test suite to get a better sense of how well the speakers perform.

We started with Adele’s Melt My Heart to Stone, and found that her vocals were pleasantly smooth and clear. Never were her vocals overwhelmed by the accompanying instruments, and it seemed like the Solemate Max placed Adele right front and center of the performance, though perhaps at the expense of the backing instruments.

Moving on to The Eagles’ Hotel California though, revealed the big weakness in the Solemate Max. The bass line felt dry throughout, making the track feel lean overall, which is a real shame given how the play of the bass guitars and the bongo drums really color the song.

Next, Tiesto’s Elements of Life. This bassy track was a mixed bag, as despite a lack of impact in the bass line, the Solemate Max actually kept up with the pace pretty well, matching the attack and the dynamics of the piece.

Finally, we moved to Buckethead’s Sail on Soothsayer, and this track pretty much reinforced our overall impression. The speakers keep up with the fast guitar sections decently well, but doesn’t quite resolve the distort nicely at the lower registers - they feel a little muddied.

It seems the Solemate Max performs best on tracks where the emphasis is on the vocals. The speakers seem to slightly subdue instrumental pieces; with bass notes coming out a bit lean sounding. On the whole, this is one speaker set that probably does best playing pop/rock - party music in general - which pretty much fits the ideal use of the Solemate Max.

Conclusion

The Solemate Max is meant to be a modern day boombox equivalent. On that note, it’s certainly capable of producing enough sound to fill your living room (and possibly get you in trouble with your neighbors), and the great battery life and weather protection means it should be a welcome addition to barbeques or poolside parties. The problem lies in the fact that it’s priced at S$438, and for that price point we expect a bit better in terms of audio quality. While it handles most genres of music decently, it seems to lack that extra bit of sparkle and oomph to make you really sit up and listen to it.

For this, we’d point you to the smaller Creative Roar, which retails at just S$199 and certainly provides excellent audio quality even at high volume levels. Otherwise, you could also consider Yamaha’s NX-P100 which we reviewed here. It’s smaller and more portable, but also allows pairing by both Bluetooth and NFC. It’s also splash proof (IPX-4 rated, which means it’s protected against splashing water from all angles), and offers an 8-hour battery life with the option of using it to charge your smartphone.

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