One of the standout accessory products that we saw at this years Mobile World Congress was the gargantuan Monster SuperStar Blaster speaker. We were pretty impressed by its demo over that the booth so naturally, we asked for a sample of our own.
When it arrived in the office, we actually forgot how big the thing was. Monster modelled the speaker on the Boombox systems that were popular in the 80’s and there’s definitely a bit of familiarity here. Despite its overall size, we wouldn’t call it ugly. In fact, we’d compare it to a small briefcase nuke or something straight out of Fallout. At 17.5” x 6.5” by our estimate, you won’t be able to throw it in a rucksack and forget about it. It’s also pretty damn heavy, meaning you probably won’t want to be carrying it for long-haul trips either. Constructed in a durable metal finish, it feels like an absolute tank to hold. Still, for the amount of speaker they’ve managed to cram into this unit, it’s no surprise that they had to make it so bulky.
No official speaker dimensions were given but we managed to work out that it has two pairs of 2” cones that supply treble and mids, with a 5” subwoofer on the bottom. The sub is also flanked by a pair of passive radiators that allow the bass to extend a bit further. Trying it out with some bass heavy music, it became clear that the Monster SuperStar Blaster was designed with one thing in mind. This thing hits hard and even though it can’t quite emphasize the really deep bass tones, it’s still the most beefy sound we’ve ever heard from a Bluetooth speaker thus far. Clarity is top notch and each element shines through in the mix, though a disco smile is very evident in the EQ tuning. Mids can feel a little scooped in some tracks but it’s hardly relevant when this is a bass orientated speaker. Equally, the max volume on this thing is absurd, filling our entire office and then some.
Connectivity is vast on the Monster SuperStar Blaster, with Bluetooth, NFC and various specialist ports usually reserved for more professional equipment. You’ll get a 3.5 AUX jack for directly hooking up an audio source plus an additional 3.5 microphone in socket for using the Blaster as a dedicated Public Address system (PA). There’s also a charging port for your phone and dedicated equaliser settings for indoor and outdoor, though in testing it was hard to tell if the latter made much of a real-world difference.
If you’re after a true boombox speaker with serious power and plenty of connectivity, the SuperStar Blaster is well worth a look. At £349.99, it’s admittedly a lot to cough up and eclipses even the most expensive offerings from superstars such as Libratone. That said, if you want something that’s made for dance and hip-hop tracks, you’ll be very pleased here.
An excellent party speaker that is definitely made for bass music. It can go really loud and still maintain clarity, while the overall sound is very good.
