“Did anybody bring a speaker?” is a question my friends and I constantly ask each other when we hang out. Cookouts, tailgates, house parties, golf outings, and everything in between are improved with a high-quality, portable speaker to jam with. It wasn’t until recently that I realized: I’m never the friend with the speaker.
Determined to change my destiny, I looked for a new Bluetooth speaker to try. During my search, the HiFuture Ripple caught my eye. The HiFuture Ripple is a portable Bluetooth speaker comparable in size to a can of Arizona iced tea. My USB-C charging speaker is a deep blue, weighs no more than five pounds, and has a loop of paracord on the end to be tied to a backpack or belt loop.
Sound Quality
The most important quality of any speaker, in my opinion, is how good it sounds. Connecting the HiFuture Ripple to my phone and playing a song for the first time, I was pleased to hear the clean, high-quality sound that I expected.
The songs I listen to generally tend to lean a little top-heavy, and I am satisfied that the tweeter in this speaker doesn’t seem to lose quality in its upper range.
After a couple of songs from my own playlist cycled through I queued up Starboy by The Weeknd to try something with some more bass. Listeners who love to listen to their music with a lot of bass may not be able to get quite as much oomph from the low end of this speaker as they may prefer, but this speaker met my expectations by keeping its balanced mix while maintaining a quality sound even for bass-heavy songs.
Battery Life
The HiFuture Ripple comes out of the box with a charge, which is satisfying. The claim is that the battery on this speaker will last 12 hours of listening, and I have no reason to believe anything different. I didn’t listen to music for 12 hours straight, but after listening to music for one hour, 12 times, the HiFuture Ripple still had battery charge left.
One thing I did notice was that the speaker did take a long time to charge once the battery was almost gone. This was more inconvenient than it was a problem, and I was happy to charge it for a long time considering how long the battery lasted.
Design
Sometimes the look of a speaker is almost as important as it sounds. Especially for a portable speaker, I would much rather be carrying around a sleek, nice-looking speaker than something thick and clunky. I am happy to say that the HiFuture Ripple has a nice look refined enough to fit in at a house party, but the mesh on the exterior means it also won’t feel out of place at an outdoor BBQ.
Although its mostly round, the speaker has a ridge and two small rubber feet to keep it sitting properly and prevent it from rolling around. The buttons are the same color as the speaker so they are only visible up close, and I am a big fan of the heavily vibrating woofers on the sides. No lights or any gadgets to this speaker, which I think keeps it from looking tacky.
Conclusion
Overall, the HiFuture Ripple speaker met all my expectations. It looks nice, sounds great, and can play music all day. If there was one thing to complain about, I suppose I wish that it charged faster. With my HiFuture Ripple in tow, I am excited to start being my new self as the guy who brings the speaker to the party.