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Tribit StormBox Blast Speaker Review

Tested using Methodology v0.8
Reviewed Jun 29, 2023 at 11:57 am
Latest change: Writing modified Sep 05, 2023 at 12:45 pm
Tribit StormBox Blast Picture
7.2
Music
6.4
Videos/Movies
7.8
Podcasts
2.9
Voice Assistant
7.7
Outdoors

The Tribit StormBox Blast is a portable Bluetooth speaker with built-in RGB lights to add to the ambiance at your next party. With a built-in carrying handle, this speaker is easy to transport from room to room, and its IPX7 rating even protects it from the elements if you want to take it to your backyard. It floats in water, so it's a handy choice for your next pool party. Use its XBass feature to add to the boom in the bass for an even more exciting sound.

Our Verdict

7.2 Music

The Tribit StormBox Blast is decent for music. This speaker has a slightly u-shaped sound profile out of the box, meaning there's a little extra boom in the bass and sparkle in the treble. It's ideal for listening to the highs and lows in rock and pop. You can customize the speaker using the graphic EQ and presets in the Tribit app if you want a different sound. It doesn't bring as much thump in the low-bass as larger devices.

Pros
  • Gets loud.
  • Graphic EQ and presets available.
Cons
  • Some compression at max volume.
  • Lacks deep low-bass.
6.4 Videos/Movies

The Tribit StormBox Blast is acceptable for watching videos and movies, even if it isn't designed with this use in mind. For example, if you want to stream videos on your phone while listening to the speaker, it can get the job done. Dialogue is pretty clearly reproduced, and the speaker's loud enough to fill your living room with sound. That said, it doesn't bring the deep rumble in the low-bass like larger speakers designed for this use.

Pros
  • Gets loud.
  • Graphic EQ and presets available.
Cons
  • Some compression at max volume.
  • Lacks deep low-bass.
7.8 Podcasts

The Tribit StormBox Blast is good for podcasts. Voices reproduce fairly clearly, so you can easily follow the conversation. Its portable design is also handy for bringing your podcasts wherever you go, so you can move the speaker from room to room during longer episodes. It also gets loud, which is handy for listening in larger rooms.

Pros
  • Gets loud.
  • Graphic EQ and presets available.
Cons
  • Some compression at max volume.
2.9 Voice Assistant

This speaker doesn't support voice assistants.

7.7 Outdoors

The Tribit StormBox Blast is very good for outdoor use. It has a sturdy build that can hold up against the elements, especially since it's rated IPX7 for water resistance. It can float in water, too, which is ideal for listening to music at your next pool party. Plus, the speaker gets plenty loud, so it has no trouble filling up your backyard with sound, and it lasts for well over 30 hours off a single charge.

Pros
  • Gets loud.
  • IPX7 rating for water resistance.
  • Floats in water.
Cons
  • Not impact resistant.
  • 7.2 Music
  • 6.4 Videos/Movies
  • 7.8 Podcasts
  • 2.9 Voice Assistant
  • 7.7 Outdoors
  1. Updated Sep 05, 2023: Added market comparison with the Anker Soundcore Motion Boom Plus to the Voice Assistants box.
  2. Updated Jul 24, 2023: Retested the speaker's sound with the XBass preset turned on. It slightly improves the Frequency Response Accuracy and Soundstage scores. However, the Dynamics score isn't as good as with it turned off.
  3. Updated Jun 29, 2023: Review published.
  4. Updated Jun 23, 2023: Early access published.
  5. Updated Jun 20, 2023: Our testers have started testing this product.
  6. Updated Jun 01, 2023: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
  7. Updated May 29, 2023: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
  8. Updated May 12, 2023: The product has won our suggestion poll, so we'll buy and test it soon.

Differences Between Sizes And Variants

The Tribit StormBox Blast is only available in one color: 'Black'; you can see our tested model's label here.

Let us know in the forums if you encounter another version of this speaker, and we'll update our review accordingly.

Compared To Other Speakers

The Tribit StormBox Blast is a portable Bluetooth speaker with a similar design to the Anker Soundcore Motion Boom. Unlike many other speakers of its size, it comes with integrated RGB lights that you can customize in different colors and patterns. It's quite customizable, too, with a graphic EQ and presets available in the app. It performs well for its size, though it doesn't bring as much rumble in the bass as larger party speakers like the JBL PartyBox 310.

You can also check out our recommendations for the best Bluetooth speakers, the best party speakers, and the best Bluetooth speakers for bass.

JBL Boombox 3

The JBL Boombox 3 is a better speaker than the Tribit StormBox Blast. They're both very portable Bluetooth speakers with lots of customization features. However, the JBL's low-frequency extension is better, which is great for bass lovers. It also has less compression when you push it to max volume, and its materials feel a bit more solid. It doesn't have RGB lights like the Tribit, though.

Anker Soundcore Motion Boom Plus

The Tribit StormBox Blast and the Anker Soundcore Motion Boom Plus are similar speakers, each with strengths. The Tribit is larger, and it comes with customizable RGB lights. It's able to reproduce a touch more low-bass, too. However, only the Anker lets you use voice assistants through a paired smartphone. Its unique PartyCast mode is a cool touch if you already own Soundcore speakers since it lets you pair them all together to amplify sound through the same room.

JBL Xtreme 3

The Tribit StormBox Blast is better than the JBL Xtreme 3. They're both good speakers, but the Tribit has a few more features on hand. For example, it comes with customizable RGB lights and floats in water. It has a longer-lasting battery life, too. Plus, it gets louder with less compression at max volume.

JBL PartyBox Encore Essential

The JBL PartyBox Encore Essential is better than the Tribit StormBox Blast. They're both portable Bluetooth speakers designed with parties in mind, as they have integrated RGB lights to set the mood. However, the JBL has even more party-centric features like mic and guitar inputs. Plus, it has a better low-frequency extension, so you enjoy more rumble in the low-bass.

Anker Soundcore Motion Boom

The Tribit StormBox Blast is better than the Anker Soundcore Motion Boom. The Tribit has a better build quality, and its customizable RGB lights are a nice touch. It gets louder with less compression at max volume, too. It offers a more even sound out of the box, though both speakers have many customization tools to adjust their performance. That said, only the Anker allows for voice assistant support through a paired smartphone.

EarFun UBOOM L

The Tribit StormBox Blast is a more premium alternative to the EarFun UBOOM L. The Tribit comes with a lot of extra features, such as RGB lights and a graphic EQ to customize its sound. It also gets louder than the EarFun, and its battery life is longer-lasting. That said, it doesn't support voice assistants like the EarFun.

Klipsch Groove XXL

The Tribit StormBox Blast is better than the Klipsch Groove XXL. The Tribit is a slightly larger speaker with built-in RGB lights, which you can customize in their companion app. Unlike the Klipsch, the Tribit's sound is customizable, too, thanks to its graphic EQ and presets. It has a longer-lasting battery life as well.

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Test Results

perceptual testing image
Design
Design
Style
RGB Lights Yes

The Tribit StormBox Blast boasts a boombox-like design with a built-in handle for easy transport. RGB lights around the ends of the speaker help you set the mood when listening to your favorite tunes, and you can adjust them using the Tribit app.

8.6
Design
Portability
Volume
807 in³ (13,223 cm³)
Weight
11.9 lbs (5.4 kg)
Power Source
AC & Battery
One-Hand Carry
Yes

This speaker has excellent portability. Thanks to the built-in handle, its boombox-like design makes it easy to carry. Since it's battery-powered, too, you can take it with you wherever you go, and you can listen to music without having to plug it into a power source.

7.3
Design
Build Quality
Material Quality
Good
Water Resistance
Submersible (IPx7)
Dust Resistance
Unspecified
Impact Resistance
No
Floats In Water
Yes

The Tribit StormBox Blast is made of good materials and feels solid overall. The metal grilles in the front and back of the speaker help to protect the drivers inside, which is a nice touch. Plus, the rear flap cover seals easily to guard the connection ports in the back. It's even rated IPX7 for water resistance, and in our tests, we found that the speaker can float in water. That said, the manufacturer warns against placing it anywhere where it's likely to fall since it isn't rated for impact resistance.

7.0
Design
Controls
Ease Of Use
Great
Feedback
Great
Music Play/Pause
Yes (Physical)
Call Answer/End
No
Volume Up/Down
Yes (Physical)
Track Next/Previous
Yes (Physical)
Microphone On/Off
No
Additional Controls
Yes

A series of manual controls are available on the top of the speaker. They're really easy to use, and there's some feedback to help you keep track of the speaker's status, which is handy. For example, you hear an audio chime when the speaker's turning on and off, and various lights show the speaker's status, battery level, and volume, as well as whether certain features like XBass are turned on.

  • Power button Press once to turn on/off
  • Bluetooth button Press once to enter pairing mode, or hold to enter stereo pairing mode if you have a second unit
  • Volume buttons Press to adjust the volume
  • Multifunction button Press once to play/pause your audio, press twice to skip to the next track, and press three times to return to the previous track
  • Light button Press once to turn on the lighting effect
  • XBass button Press once to turn on this EQ preset

Design
In The Box

  • User manual
  • Power cord (1.5m / 4.9 ft)
  • Speaker

Sound
7.3
Sound
Frequency Response Accuracy
Slope
-0.22
Std. Err.
2.86 dB
Low-Frequency Extension
49.7 Hz
High-Frequency Extension
18.5 kHz

The Tribit StormBox Blast's frequency response accuracy is decent. The overall sound profile is slightly U-shaped, with extra emphasis in the high-bass and high-treble ranges. Some of the emphasis in the bass trails into the lower mid-range, muddying vocals and lead instruments a touch. This sound profile is ideal for the highs and lows in genres like rock and pop. If you want a different sound, you can customize this speaker more to your liking using the graphic EQ and presets in the Tribit app. Note that we tested the speaker's sound with the XBass preset on, which improves its low-frequency extension a touch for more low-bass.

Sound
Raw Frequency Response
Binaural Recording @ 1m
Binaural Recording @ 2m
7.2
Sound
Soundstage
Directivity Index
5.27 dB
Stereo
Yes

This speaker's soundstage is decent. It's a stereo device, so you get good separation between the left and right channels when listening to your music. That said, its directivity isn't the best, meaning that the soundstage is perceived to be more narrow and directional than 360-degree design speakers.

7.0
Sound
Dynamics
SPL @ Max Volume
96.7 dB SPL
DRC @ Max Volume
3.89 dB

This speaker gets loud, so it's a great choice for listening to music in larger, more open spaces. Some compression is present when you push it to max volume, though, impacting the overall clarity of audio reproduction. You can reduce the compression a touch by turning off the XBass preset, though.

Active Features
8.6
Active Features
Battery
Battery Life
32.1 hrs
Charge Time
3.8 hrs
Power Saving
Yes
Charging Port
AC
Battery Powered
Yes

The manufacturer advertises the speaker to last for 30 hours off a single charge, and in our tests, it performed a touch better, with a total battery life of over 32 hours. If you want to conserve battery, you can choose between two power-saving modes: Auto Shutdown and Auto Hibernate. The first option shuts down the speaker if there's no connection for five minutes and no audio for fifteen minutes. Auto Hibernate lets you manually set how much time passes before the speaker shuts down, and you can access it through the Tribit app.

0
Active Features
Voice Assistant
Alexa
No
Google Assistant
No
Speakerphone
No
Siri
No
Voice Assistant
No
Voice Activation
No
Microphone Mute
No
Far-Field Performance
No Microphone
Ambient Noise Performance
No Microphone

The Anker Soundcore Motion Boom Plus is a good alternative for a similar speaker with voice assistant support.

4.7
Active Features
App
App Name
Tribit
iOS
Yes
Android
Yes
EQ
Graphic + Presets
Stereo Pair Mode
No
Party Mode
No
Multi-Room
No

The Tribit app is really easy to use, giving you access to many cool features. For example, you can customize the speaker's sound using the graphic EQ and various preset modes, such as Music, XBass, Audiobook, Classical, Jazz, Party, and Rock. You can control the various light effects, too. See a tour of the app here. While you can't stereo pair the speaker in the app, you can still do so manually by holding down the speaker's Bluetooth button.

Connectivity
Connectivity
Wired
Aux Input
Yes
USB Audio
No
Other Ports
Yes

The AUX port lets you wire audio devices to the speaker for audio playback. You can also charge other devices using the speaker's USB-C output.

8.7
Connectivity
Bluetooth
Bluetooth
Yes
Bluetooth Version
5.3
Bluetooth iOS Latency
143 ms
Bluetooth Android Latency
56 ms
Bluetooth Range
334.6 ft (102.0 m)
Multi-Device Pairing
2 Devices

This speaker has excellent Bluetooth performance. It's easy to stream audio from your mobile devices to the speaker, and since it supports multi-device pairing, you can quickly switch from one source to the next. There's a bit of latency, especially over an iOS connection, but some apps compensate for this differently.

0
Connectivity
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi Version
No Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi Frequency Band
No Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
No
Apple AirPlay
No
AirPlay Latency
N/A
Google Chromecast
No
Chromecast Latency
N/A