XtremeMac Soma BT Review

By Dominick Arena

I have had the chance to purchase and explore the XtremeMac Soma Bluetooth portable speaker. With a MSRP of $129.99, I was NOT even considering this device for purchase. I was able to find it on sale at a local Staples for $69.99. This is a much better price point for this particular device. At first when I opened up that packaging and felt the unit in my hand I was much impressed about the build quality. It was hefty and felt well built, but it was the build quality that later made this device a HUGE disappointment. I'll explain that here in a moment.

Let's talk about the good! The features is what drew me to it. LED battery indicator to visually show you how much battery is left. The ability to take calls on the device with its built in microphone, and the USB out for charging your cell phone directly off the unit. The sound quality was surprisingly good too for its compact size. The unit has 2 mini full range drivers and a downward firing passive radiator. Bass is present but don't expect it to rock the house! No distortion was heard even at full volume. I did have to finesse the EQ settings on my phone to get a good all around sound otherwise certain songs the bass would cause the unit to have a boomy stressed sound. After some EQ tweaking the Soma sounded pretty sweet! Bluetooth range was about 30 feet before losing signal and start cutting sound. Max volume on The Soma is not the greatest. It gets plenty loud if your sitting in front of it while its playing on your desk. If your trying to fill a room with sound for a dance party then this is not the device for you.

Battery life is kinda disappointing. XTMac claims 5 hours of continues use. This is true if you keep the volume at 60% or less. I came to average about 3.5 hours at full volume before requiring a full charge.

Here's my beef with the product. After about 10 hours of use I developed a faint buzz at all volumes. At first I thought the amp was clipping but this did continue at lower volumes. I ended up returning the unit for exchange of a brand new one. After opening the brand new Soma I quickly charged it and started playing some tunes on it. Again tweaking with some EQ settings to find that sweet spot. After about 2 hours of play time this unit started with the same buzzing. It ended up being that the power button becomes loose inside the device and rattles from vibration of the sounds it produces. To most people this may or may not bother them, but was unacceptable to my ears! I ended up returning it to Staples for a full refund. Staples was great and gave me my money back NO questions asked. I am still in the market for a portable Bluetooth speaker and have had the chance to play around with a ton of them! I haven't pulled the trigger on one yet for myself but can gladly answer any questions anyone may have on a certain one since I have had the chance to explore them. Thanks for taking the time to read this review and please feel free to comment below or ask any questions.