Pros & Cons
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- Loud, punchy sound
- Stereo audio
- Compact and lightweight
- Long-lasting battery
- Fun lighting
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- Distorts at high volumes
- Mediocre microphone
Tribit StormBox Mini Plus Specs
| Bluetooth | |
| Built-In Voice Assistant | None |
| Channels | Stereo |
| Physical Connections | 3.5mm |
| Physical Connections | USB-C |
| Portable | |
| Speakerphone | |
| Water-Resistant |
The $39.99 Tribit StormBox Mini+ is an affordable Bluetooth speaker that does a bang-up job considering its small size. The new model, which replaces the StormBox Mini ($29.99) in the company's lineup, adds AAC codec support, a customizable EQ, and wireless stereo pairing to a totable speaker that's about the size of a softball. Although we wish the microphone were a bit better, with surprisingly potent audio, an elegant design, and respectable battery life, the StormBox Mini+ is an excellent option and our Editors' Choice for budget-friendly portable speakers.
Design: A Squat Barrel
The StormBox Mini+ is a cute little speaker. Measuring just 4.68 by 3.58 inches (HW) and weighing only 1.22 pounds, it's as easy to hold as a softball or a water bottle. It might not fit everywhere you can stash such a bottle, but it comes with a small lanyard that can easily attach to a carabiner or other clip.
(Credit: Mark Knapp)It’s not just the size that makes the speaker cute. The lanyard protrudes from the back edge like Alfalfa's hair, and the circumference is wrapped in a nicely woven fiber that’s surprisingly soft to the touch, yet not overly tough. A passive radiator on the top vibrates in response to music and is surrounded by an RGB light ring that also reacts to audio. The speaker itself comes in black, blue, and green. I received the blue model for review.
Tribit has arranged easy-to-use controls on the front panel. You get large plus and minus buttons for controlling the volume, with a circular button in between that starts or pauses playback. Holding the circle button briefly can also activate your phone’s voice assistant, and an onboard mic facilitates talking to it or taking calls through the speaker.
(Credit: Mark Knapp)The back of the speaker features a small power button, a Bluetooth pairing button, and a lighting control button. All three buttons illuminate, which makes them easy to use in the dark. Beneath these, a small rubber gasket covers the USB-C charging port and 3.5mm audio jack. The speaker features an IPX7 rating, ensuring it is waterproof.
Underneath, the StormBox Mini+ sits on small rubber feet that help prevent rattling and keep it in place. However, the speaker won’t sit still if it’s playing bumping bass-heavy tracks at high volume. I watched it move across a table with every quarter note in The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” sliding a full six inches from where it started by the time the song had finished.
(Credit: Mark Knapp)The speaker has a pair of 48mm drivers facing outward on the left and right sides. Each is rated for 6 watts (W) to deliver a total of 12W of stereo sound. Together with a passive radiator, the drivers produce a frequency response of 80Hz to 20kHz. The speaker supports Bluetooth 5.4 and both the AAC and SBC codecs. The outgoing StormBox Mini supported only SBC.
A key upgrade of this model over its predecessor is that it can pair with a second StormBox Mini+ in what Tribit calls True Wireless Stereo mode. This is managed by holding the Bluetooth pairing button on one speaker for five seconds, waiting for an audio prompt, and then pressing the Bluetooth pairing button on the second speaker. We were unable to test this feature.
The only accessory Tribit supplies is a USB-A-to-USB-C charging cable.
Battery: Up to 12 Hours
The speaker features a 2,600mAh battery, which offers 12 hours of playback at 50% volume with the RGB lighting disabled. I found it lived up to this rating; over two hours of mixed listening only drained the battery by 10%. The speaker fully recharges in about 2.5 hours.
App Experience: At Least It Has an EQ
The StormBox Mini+ is compatible with Tribit’s mobile app (available for Android and iOS. The app doesn’t require an account to use, but it suggests you set one up anyway. It also prompts you to update the speaker's firmware—and then struggles to complete the job.
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(Credit: Tribit/PCMag)The app doesn’t provide much information. It displays the battery percentage and allows you to manage playback and volume from the main screen. There's a tab for the lighting effects with two modes that have no description. Mode 1 causes the RGB lighting ring to cycle through colors as if spinning, while Mode 2 causes the lights to flicker as they change colors. The app has several EQ presets for audiobooks and various musical genres and, thankfully, lets you create your own EQ using the 9-band sliders.
Although the EQ is welcome, the app doesn’t explain the speaker's controls or permit any customization of them. I only discovered that the circle button supported single-, double-, triple-, and long-press inputs to provide play/pause, skip forward, skip backward, and call the voice assistant, respectively, by trial and error.
Sound: Punchy and Rich
On the sound front, the Tribit StormBox Mini+ is a surprise. Despite its compact proportions, it packs a punch, with ample volume for small to medium rooms or intimate outdoor gatherings.
When listening to The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” I am impressed not only by how fully it pumps out the bass triplets that are the beating heart of the track, but also by how effectively it bumps with the deeper, sub-bass quarter notes. It manages to give the track its proper energy. It's loud enough at 75% to rattle objects in my office. Mids and upper mids are poignant, although the highest frequencies are somewhat lost in the mix.
Pushing the speaker too hard has some downsides. For example, I hear some distortion in the bass, and the digital signal processor (DSP) kicks in, reducing the dynamic range to a degree, as evidenced by pulling back and shifting the EQ. You'll notice it when playing high-energy music at volumes above 80%.
(Credit: Mark Knapp)As competently as it goes into the sub-bass territory of “Silent Shout,” the deeper reaches of the sub-bass line in Kendrick Lamar’s “Loyalty” are beyond the StormBox's abilities. The entire line is absent except for some brief hints when the higher notes in the line suddenly creep into its functional range—at which point they seem to belch out, a not uncommon problem for compact speakers. High-end clarity is somewhat lost here as well, with cymbal hits sounding a bit crunchy and compressed.
The limit in the upper registers prevents the Mini+ from having as much presence and brilliance as some music requires. This makes a largely acoustic performance, such as Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” sound less lifelike and more like a recording. The acoustic rhythm guitar, closed hi-hat hits, and fiddle just don’t have as much character in this track. Callahan’s baritone vocals come through wonderfully, though, with a full-throated oomph.
The stereo separation is not particularly impressive, and that isn't surprising given the proximity of the two drivers. However, it does play both channels separately, a feat that few compact speakers can muster. This helps on a track like "Drover" that pans the instruments from side to side, providing a more dynamic listening experience. Still, when the song builds to its climax, and the drums are pounding, there’s not quite enough separation to keep the soundstage from feeling cramped.
(Credit: Mark Knapp)The tight soundstage more or less rules the StormBox Mini+ out for orchestral music like John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary. On the one hand, it outperforms many other low-cost party speakers due to its decent balance, respectable frequency response, and stereo sound. But it’s still not up to the task of presenting such a rich palette of orchestral instruments with any sort of clarity.
The mic isn’t particularly good. At just an arm’s length, I sound faint and distant, requiring me to crank up the volume all the way to hear what I’ve said. Surprisingly, I don’t sound much worse at six feet away. If you try to hold a phone conversation using the speaker, you’ll want to keep it close by. The same goes for making requests of your phone’s smart assistant. Oddly, the speaker provides assistant responses at a terribly low volume, even when the Bluetooth volume is maxed out.