I listened to the Huawei Sound Joy portable speaker: review

I have been testing the Huawei Sound Joy portable speaker for several weeks. The device was created with the participation of the French audio brand Devialet. The column pleased with high-quality sound, good autonomy and some design solutions. And now about everything in order and with details.

What’s in the box

The Huawei Sound Joy bundle is quite familiar to all devices from the portable audio category. In a box made of thick white cardboard, in addition to the speaker itself, a USB-C cable for charging and documentation.

A black gadget came to my review. Huawei also has a similar model available, but in green coloring – a great option for those who want to merge with nature as much as possible on vacation.

Huawei Sound Joy received a classic cylinder silhouette. At its top in a horizontal arrangement are two large buttons for adjusting the volume level. They are very well tactilely “read”, so it will be difficult to confuse them even in the dark. On the conditionally lower surface there are a couple of rubber feet. They are needed so that the column does not roll on a flat surface.

At the ends of Huawei Sound Joy are two passive emitters. Behind the column housed a number of functional details. Let’s list from right to left: USB-C port for charging, charge level indicator, Bluetooh button, stereo pairing key, playback control, voice assistant call and power button. There is also a loop for the strap – a trifle, but convenient. For example, you can attach the speaker to your backpack with a carabiner.

The design of passive radiators is slightly different. One received a small recess with slots in the form of a stand. So the manufacturer designated the bottom end. On the top there is a backlight ring that changes color to the beat of the music. This solution looks very interesting, especially in the dark.

The case of Huawei Sound Joy is covered with a special mesh fabric, which provides additional protection without compromising sound quality. The column is protected from dust and moisture according to the IP67 standard. In general, due to the black color, the device looks concise, and the colored backlight perfectly complements the familiar design.

What’s the sound

For the sound in Huawei Sound Joy, a two-way speaker system is responsible, which, as mentioned above, was created jointly with Devialet. It included:

• 10 W silk membrane tweeter with frequency support up to 20 kHz. According to the manufacturer, the volume can reach 79 dBA at a distance of up to 2 m.
• Main speaker 20 watts.

The column can work in a horizontal and vertical position. As it seemed to me during testing, in the second case, the sound becomes more interesting and is revealed due to the return to a hard and stable surface.

The total declared power of Huawei Sound Joy is 30 watts. It seemed to me that this is quite sufficient for a device of this form factor. The headroom is enough for a variety of indoor and outdoor usage scenarios. The speaker retains clear sound even at peak loads.

Speaking about the sound in general, I note that the Huawei Sound Joy has a fairly wide stage. The device demonstrates a pleasant sound throughout the entire frequency spectrum. In other words, I liked her sound equally in electronic and instrumental genres. While listening, you can feel the good work of the manufacturer with low frequencies – they are bright and well detailed. At the same time, Huawei and Devialet did not score on medium and high. Everything is fine with these frequencies. I tested it traditionally on my playlist Bass Test.

How is the functionality

In terms of functionality, there is one caveat – on the Huawei Sound Joy page it is indicated that it does not support connection to the proprietary AI Life application on iOS. Nevertheless, I performed the first test run using an iPhone and the speaker connected without problems. After creating a pair, an update immediately arrived and installed. Perhaps the work of all the functions of the application with the iPhone has not been fully tested, so the manufacturer decided to indicate the lack of support.

When launched for the first time, the Huawei AI Life app prompts you to select a device location. The main column displays the charge level. It is possible to adjust the volume, set up a Bluetooth connection with other gadgets, update the firmware and set a scheduled shutdown time. Huawei AI Life also allows you to adjust the bass level and choose from three available audio effects: Hi-Fi, Voice, and Devialet Mode.

Speakers Huawei Sound Joy can be combined into a stereo pair automatically. To do this, shake two identical models at a distance of no more than 3 meters from each other. A successful connection will be indicated by a light indicator and a corresponding sound signal.

For owners of Huawei smartphones, there is an interesting feature in the operation of Sound Joy. We turn on the music and bring the smart to the speaker, just in case, a special mark is applied to it for this. After that, the operating system will offer to automatically create a pair. The Quick Connect feature uses NFC. It doesn’t work with an iPhone, and I didn’t have other Android smartphones at hand to check.

What about autonomy

The autonomy of Huawei Sound Joy is provided by a built-in 8800 mAh battery. According to the manufacturer, a 100 percent charge lasts up to 26 hours of playback. This figure is highly dependent on volume. During my testing, mainly at an average volume level, the column works for about 27-28 hours.

There is support for 40W fast charging. With this adapter, the column is charged from 0 to 100% in about 3 hours. It is also worth noting that approximately 10 minutes of charge provides about an hour of playback.

Specifications

• Battery: 8800 mAh
• Dimensions: 202 x 73mm
• The weight: 608 g
• Number of microphones: 3 (Support gravity sensor to switch between two microphones of horizontal and vertical audio capture)
• Bluetooth: 5.2 (wired USB-C available)
• frequency range: 50 Hz to 20 kHz (-10 dB)
• NFC: Yes
• Codecs: AAC and SBC

We take?

The cost of Huawei Sound Joy in the official online store right now is 6990 rubles, and when buying two devices at the same time, you can get a discount of 1000 rubles. Based on the results of testing, I can conclude that in terms of the ratio of cost, functionality and sound quality, JBL gadgets have a worthy competitor.

Among the advantages of the column, I note rich sound, a good margin of autonomy, an interesting backlit solution and decent functionality. As for the downsides, I would like to get a more visual battery level indicator, and someone can point out the lack of support for the aptX codec. The last claim, in my opinion, is redundant for devices from this category. Otherwise, Huawei and Devialet have an interesting product.