Review – Elysium Iron Mini Bluetooth Speaker
4 min read
Elysium Iron Mini
RM 299
Pros
- Great built quality
- Excellent design
- Well thought LED placement
- Good quality leather strap
- Great sound quality
Cons
- Flimsy front grill
- Leather strap installation method could be improved
Bluetooth speakers are great for portability and offer better audio quality than your smartphone without relying on the troublesome cables. In the market, unless they are made by reliable brands, you will usually find a lot of other cheaply made ones with a fancy look on it. Today what we have in our labs is the Elysium Iron Mini which promises a great looking speaker without compromising the audio quality. Let us have a look.
Elysium Iron Mini Specifications
Unboxing
In the box:
- Elysium Iron Mini
- Micro USB cable
- 3.5mm AUX cable
- Leather Strap & screws
- User manual
It goes without saying, the micro USB cable is for charging the Elysium Iron Mini. Meanwhile, the 3.5mm AUX cable enables you to connect the speaker to a device without Bluetooth connection.
Build Quality & Design
The design is clearly inspired by the vintage FM radio from around 1950s. It looks classy and stands out from the rest of the boringly designed Bluetooth speakers. It is an exquisite looking piece of home decor which actually works. The one I have here is the black version and Elysium has a couple more colours choices available.
Looks aside, the material used by Elysium Lab on the Iron Mini is a bit disappointing. From the design and the name – “Elysium Iron Mini”, that combination fooled me into believing that the speaker would be made of metal parts. The moment I lay my fingers on the speaker, that little hype within me went off. I had high expectations hence lead to a disappointment when I realised the truth.
Nonetheless, I don’t mean that the build quality is bad. The plastic chassis of the speaker felt robust and the overall construction is way cleaner than what you would expect.
If you pay closer attention to the speaker, you will notice the FM frequency bar at the front with a dim LED backlight indicator.
Elysium Lab brilliantly hides the LED indicator at the top of the speaker. They even went to the extent of chroming the transparent plastic to blend into the rest of the knobs and buttons. When I say knob, yes, that is an actual knob for adjusting the FM channel frequency ala old-school-style.
The buttons are alright, which you can use for:
- Change Mode + On/Off (hold 3 seconds)
- Play/Pause + Enable/Disable Bluetooth (hold 3 seconds)
- Volume down
- Volume up
I would really happy if they used a knob for volume control instead of the buttons.
That is a system bass reflex system at the back.
The 3.5mm AUX jack and micro USB charging port at the side.
The soft rubber feet reduce the vibration impact from the speaker.
Leather Strap
By the way, the package also includes a leather strap which requires self-installation. It looks kind of awkward at first but it is useful for carrying the speaker as the front grill is flimsy and the bass reflex system at the back of the speaker is fragile.
Do keep in mind the installation of the strap is a bit of hassle.
User Experience
The design is superlative, but what about the audio quality? Turns out, it sounds really good and I am impressed. There are two 52mm drivers in the speaker for stereo audio. The overall sound signature of the speaker is leaning towards bass heavy. The bass is strong and solid which makes the speaker vibrates a lot.
The mids are very pronounced and that’s a great thing for vocals and especially FM radios. The weak point probably lies on the treble with sounds muffled. In spite of that, the whole music listening experience is great with the volume kept below 80%.
Battery Life
The package stated the 2000 mAh battery in the speaker can last 6 hours of non-stop playback at 80% volume. I don’t have the privilege of blasting music at 80% volume for 6 hours because my neighbour would probably call the apartment security on me before I could complete my test. Nonetheless, I’ve been using the speaker at 30% volume about 1 hour daily for a week now and there are still no signs of low battery, so that’s a good sign.
Final Words
The Elysium Iron Mini is a wonderful piece of Bluetooth speaker. It has a magnificent vintage design and produces great sound over the modern Bluetooth connectivity. The Elysium Iron Mini retails for RM 299 on Elysium’s official Lazada store. While it may seem a bit pricey, but if you’re looking for a good sounding wireless speaker that still looks great, this is it.
