Tribit Stormbox Lava Review | Trusted Reviews

Introduction

The Tribit Stormbox Lava gives the power and potency of a big, boombox-style speaker without an equally large price tag.

At £129.99/ $129.99, it undercuts rivals such as the Treblab HD Max and the Loewe We Hear Pro in Tribit’s bid to offer great value Bluetooth speakers as seen with the likes of the Stormbox Blast 2 and the Stormbox Micro 2.

For its more modest price tag, you get a formidable spec sheet with 80W of amplification, IP67 water resistance and up to 24 hours of battery life.

I’ve been testing it with the nice weather that dear old Blighty has been experiencing recently to see if the Stormbox Lava has the potential to become one of the best Bluetooth speakers.

Design

• Solid all-black chassis
• Chunky on-board controls
• Handy rear ports

You might describe the Stormbox Lava as being inoffensive with its looks, given it lacks the bright colours of its competition. Instead, this speaker from Tribit sticks with their tried-and-tested means of function than form.

The all-black fabric cover looks and feels solid – an almost identical size and shape to Treblab’s HD Max. In addition, its size isn’t so large you won’t find somewhere to place it, while it also comes with an attachable carry strap to sling over your shoulder when on your travels.

On-board controls on the top are big and chunky buttons that are easy to operate. There are a total of seven buttons for power, Bluetooth pairing, media playback, enabling the speaker’s XBass mode and a dedicated option for adding another Stormbox Lava to create a formidable stereo pair.

The middle button for media playback has multiple functions, with a single press either playing or pausing your music, while a double press skips to the next track, and a triple press goes back to the previous track.

The rear ports are covered by a cover to aid this speaker’s water resistance. Here you’ve got a USB-C for charging the speaker, a USB-A output for charging another device, as well as a 3.5mm jack for wired input.

Features

• Basic codec support
• Excellent battery life and water resistance
• App offers more controls

The Stormbox Lava’s connectivity is handled either by the aforementioned 3.5mm jack or over Bluetooth 5.4 for wireless operation, and supports the basic AAC and SBC wireless codecs. The lack of any aptX or LDAC is a bit of a shame, considering less expensive speakers such as the Soundcore Motion 300 have it.

The fabric covering ensures the Stormbox Lava benefits from IP67 water resistance rating, which helps this be a party-proof outdoor speaker. The rating means this speaker can survive a dip into water of up to three feet, so will be fine by a pool or beach or if you’re the kind of sadist who listens to their tunes in the rain.

Battery life is rated for 24 hours, which means it’ll be good for several parties’ worth of listening, and means this Tribit speaker matches the more expensive Loewe We Hear Pro. 

There is also a dedicated app for the Stormbox Lava that offers basic configuration such as for controlling any music that’s playing, as well as with an EQ for balancing the audio to your taste, and handling firmware updates.

Sound Quality

• Gets decently loud with some low-end thump
• Smooth vocals and crisper top-end
• Soundstage can be quite narrow for a larger speaker

The Stormbox Lava isn’t designed to be an audiophile-grade option for critical listening, as such it’s a party-style speaker that’ll work well in outdoor gatherings.

The 80W of amplification means it can get plenty loud, while the presence of the XBass mode gives you more in the way of pounding ‘oomph’.

It gives funkier tracks such as George Michael’s Fastlove and its pounding synth bass an atmospheric edge, as well as granting the song solid extension; although with it on, it can encroach into the mids a tad.

Weirdly enough, this became most noticeable with mellow singer-songwriter tracks such as Mac McAnally’s All The Way Around or Livingston Taylor’s Boatman.

This speaker handles vocals reasonably well, with decent clarity on everything from Jimmy Buffett’s Tonight I Just Need My Guitar to busier, full-band choices such as That’s All from Genesis, while there is some decent crispness at the top end with the hi-hat work on both The Doobie Brothers’ Here To Love You and Wind of Change by the Bee Gees.

The Stormbox Lava’s soundstage isn’t the widest, though, with some sense of immersion lost in the soaring soundscapes of Impossible Tightrope or Objects Outlive Us from Steven Wilson. The bongos from Earth, Wind & Fire were also a little lost in the mix in September when they should have occupied their own space.

Should you buy it?