Not long ago, buying a Bluetooth speaker used to be a costly affair. Unless you spent Rs 7,000, chances are you’d end up with the music box that will just spew loud music, and that’s never pleasant for anyone.
But this is 2016 – now you can easily get a quality sound-output speaker for under Rs 3,000, which is a big improvement from audio product companies. However, every cheap product comes at a cost.
The Zook Armour is another Bluetooth speaker that draws you in with its price, and the added durability of the ‘Armour’ factor is something will find takers from all corners. Priced at Rs 3,990, the Zook Armour gets military-grade IPX 5 standard body construction. But what about the sound output? Read more...
Pros:
- Shockproof, dustproof, and waterproof
- Built-in mic offers voice calling support
- Long battery life
- Affordable for its features
Cons:
- Loud sound but severely lacks bass
- Heavy for a portable speaker
- Not compatible with Bluetooth 4.0
What’s Good?
The Zook Armour offers military-grade durability, which simply implies that the speaker is dustproof, shockproof and waterproof. We took the company’s claims seriously and much to our delight, the Armour emerges with flying colours. We dipped the speaker in water, made it fall many times, and even thew it into a wall – but still no major mishaps to write home about.
The speaker has three sound drivers that result in the Armour offering high sound output. It’s the perfect party-starter to get the ball rolling.
The speaker offer 3.5-mm audio jack so that you can connect the phone or external music device via cable. Armour also offers a built-in micrphone, which can be used to take calls – very handy for people driving most of time.
Also, the durability of Armour extends to its battery life as well. The 4400 mAh battery of the speaker manages to give you decent life.
During our time with the speaker, we were able to use the Armour for over 7 hours on Bluetooth and mixing it up with aux support, it went up to 8 hours without any compromise. For Rs 3,990, the Armour stands for strength and longevity.
What’s Bad?
However, Zook Armour fails to perform its main duty: crisp and clear sound. The loud output can be irritating most of the time and the bass quotient of the speaker is hardly worth mentioning.
The loud noise combined with the lack of bass adds up to frustration with the Armour.
We understand that you can’t ask for everything with an affordable price tag, but it can’t be hard to add some bass nous with all the sound drivers occupying the space.
Why Buy It?
If you’re a travel freak and like to carry music with you all the time, then Zook Armour is worth the buy at Rs 3,990. It offers you shockproof, dustproof and waterproof surety for not a lot of money.
But Armour disappoints on the audio front. It is really loud but the lack of bass just does not work for us. So, unless you can survive listening to loud music without really getting to the depth of it, Armour is a no-go.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)