Reviewing The Braven 650 Bluetooth Speaker

In the wild world of Bluetooth speakers, the Braven line of products tries to tip toe the fine line of high design and affordable pricing. We had one of their mid-tier models, a Braven 650 slide across our desk, and we decided to give it a solid once over to see if it was worth cash.

The first thing everyone notices about the Braven is its looks. With its aluminum shell, it wouldn’t look out of place in even the trendiest of New York apartments. Thanks to its tiny footprint, it wouldn’t even take up that much space in said apartment. The entire enclosure is a modern chic take on the tired square profile of the speaker.

We appreciate the attention to detail, as well as the use of high-quality materials, but we would have like to see Braven think outside the box when creating the industrial design of the 650.

While the aesthetic of a tech product like this matters, the true test of the Braven 650 is its sound quality. Now like many things, this is more of a subjective thing, but I wouldn’t rate the Braven at the highest ends of the audio scale.

The speaker produces great highs without sounding too harsh, and the bass is pronounced well enough for a box if its size, but the mids are faded and muddied out. This is perfectly fine for some modern songs, but on older recordings like the Beatles, the droopy mids can make the songs sound terrible.

Overall the quality is acceptable considering the bargain price you can grab this speaker for on Amazon. The quality is not as good as the Outdoor Tech Turtle we tested a while back, but with its angular design and bright colors, the Turtle can’t match the style of the Braven.

That is ultimately what defines the Braven for me. It is a product that has chosen design over audio. I suspect that is perfectly fine for quite a lot of people, but I prefer to take the ugly duckling as long as it sounds better.

Score: 6.5/10