Connect Electronics DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker Review @ ModSynergy.com
By: Michael Phrakaysone
It's the first week of November 2014 and it's that time again. That time every year when people all around the world start looking, hunting, shopping for that very gift that they'll give to their wife, husband, daughter, brother, uncle, family member, good friend.
One of those popular gift ideas is undoubtedly going to be the portable Bluetooth speaker. This year we'd been focusing a bit more on Bluetooth speaker systems, and for good reason; they are becoming ever increasingly popular with people who are interested in having a no wires solution. It's funny how these Bluetooth speakers still haven't penetrated the market into every home as some folks I've spoken to do not realize what Bluetooth technology is and what Bluetooth speakers can offer.
Bluetooth speakers come in many different sizes, shapes, colors, quality, price points, and with many different features and technologies embedded inside.
Part of the reason why these Bluetooth speaker solutions have been popular is because they offer wireless audio capability along with the practicality of portability allowing the ease of pick up and go. These portable Bluetooth speakers can be taken with you to the park, beach, office, inside your car, all without wires. Add into the mix that some Bluetooth speakers have integrated microphone capabilities, it offers that hands-free experience that is very attractive.
One reason for this enormous growth in Bluetooth speaker solutions have been because of the high demand of Bluetooth enabled devices such as the Apple iPad, iPod, Smartphone's, tablets and more. The cell phone industry is a hot commodity, more so than ever with the booming popularity of Smartphone's in everyone's hand. The continued rise is expected to grow even further within the next couple of years and shows no signs of slowing down. The general public have no clue that their devices, Smartphone's for example, even have Bluetooth.
Just about all cell phones on the market today come with Bluetooth technology, even the cheapies have it. It's a wireless technology and feature we all love because it allows the convenience of hands-free calls for example, which has been an ongoing problem with distracted driving.
Bluetooth can and is also used for transmission and streaming of music wirelessly to a Bluetooth speaker, in the car, in the home, in the office, even in the showers, and this is becoming an ever increasing trend as you see all sorts of wireless Bluetooth enabled headphones on the market.
This is where Bluetooth accessory makers are clamoring for your hard earned money. The iPhone and iPod were the first ones to really push the idea of a speaker dock with great success. With these speaker docks you could finally enjoy music coming from the iPod because it's being outputted through a larger speaker designed for music. The drawbacks to these speaker docks are that they are simply stationary and not portable, and they required your iPod or iPhone to be plugged into the dock, basically preventing you from freely using your device to do other stuff at the same time as playing music from your device. In this regard, we now have Bluetooth solutions that aim at solving this issue.
Today's review of the DGZHE A06 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker is made possible because of Hong Kong-based Connect Electronics.
About Connect Electronics
"A Hong Kong-based company which holds interests in electronics, Bluetooth devices, production, innovation, investment, trading and other business.
By focusing on improving people’s lives through creative innovation in the area of Consumer Lifestyle, we are dedicated to create unique living experience for all age groups.
We focus on delivering the most technologically advanced devices, as we assist our customers to reach out for the efficiency.
Also wholly-supported by the strong production partners/manufacturers in the Mainland China, Connect offers a range of flexibility, creativity which highlight the great competitive position in the market."
DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker Product Overview
"Experience superb stereo bass sound effect in a compact curvy oval shape exterior with the DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker. This portable Bluetooth speaker has a matte finish, durable shell and stereo drivers (2 x 40mm) for clearer acoustic sound. Not only can you listen to your favorite music wirelessly with the DGZHE A06, but you can also use it as a speakerphone (without microphone) to answer and hear the call more loudly. Comes in a variety of colors from gold, purple, grey, blue, and tan colors."
DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker Product Features
- Compact oval shape, superb bass stereo sound effect
- Convenient hands-free calling function
- Supports TF and microSD cards
- Line-in AUX function (3.5mm audio cable not included)
- Function Mode: Play / Pause; Volume Up / Volume Down; Last / Next
- Compatibility: All Bluetooth enabled devices
- Exquisite packing box
DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker Product Specifications
- Brand: DGZHE
- Model: A06
- Type: Bluetooth speaker
- Bluetooth Version: V3.0
- Working Range: Up to 10 m
- Voltage: DC 5V
- Charging Time: 2hours
- Working Time: More than 5 hours
- Loudspeaker Output: 6W
- S/N Ratio: ≥95dB
- Frequency Response: 280Hz-16KHz
- Net weight: 295g
- Size: 129 * 76 * 65mm
First Impressions
The DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker comes enclosed in a simple compact corrugated box. The eco friendly packaging utilizes paper instead of plastic, making recycling easier and effective than if plastic were used. We live in a plastic world, with enormous amounts of plastic filling up our landfills, and since there are many variations of plastic, not all plastic can be recycled at local recycling facilities, therefore they just sit and take up space in landfills. But with paper having a single variation, it's easier and able to recycle at any center.
Let's quickly go over the packaging. On the front of the box we find an actual product photo of the A06 Bluetooth Speaker in gold color, along with Bluetooth in big font, and symbols at the bottom mentioning the features. Unfortunately the product comes from China, therefore it contains spelling errors and grammatical errors. For example it says "Molile Bluetooth Player". The side of the box mentions that the internal rechargeable lithium polymer battery is good for more than five hours.
Opening the box reveals the contents of the DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker...
- 1 x DGZHE A06 Bass Stereo Bluetooth Speaker
- 1 x USB Charging Cable (48cm)
- 1 x User Manual
Visual Overview
The DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker being reviewed today is the Purple color version. It measures approximately 129 * 76 * 65mm or 5 x 3 x 2.56 inches. The A06 is constructed entirely out of hard plastic aside from the metal speaker grille that covers the speakers up front. Internally there are two 40mm speaker drivers that provide stereo audio at a rated wattage of 6W. The paint is not shiny but rather matte finish. The speaker comes in an oval shape with curved corners, and the overall styling is pretty nice.
On my digital scale the DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker weighs only 303 grams, making it relatively lightweight and easy to carry with you on the go.
Admittedly I've noticed some things on the body of the DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker sample I received that makes me question the type of quality control, or lack thereof, in place when making these.
The first thing that strikes your eye is the sticker of the brand logo at the very front of the speaker, I don't know if there was a better sign where things were headed than this. The silver DGZHE brand logo sticker at the bottom front of the speaker was put on slanted, like there was no care in the world while assembling the A06 Bluetooth speaker.
Second, around the metal speaker grille on the front of the speaker, as you can see in the gallery, the guys making these decided to use glue, and the wrong type at that. You can see glue residue in the corners and around the edges of the grille in various places. The glue is not a clear color, you can clearly see yellow residue.
Third, above and below the speaker grille, the top and bottom plastic pieces that sandwich the grille have chips on them. Some of the plastic has already been chipped/broken off, I suppose from assembly. I suppose from a distance you can't see these defects as the purple color masks them, however, looking closely reveals multiple defects.
The top of the DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker contains five buttons enclosed in a circular control pad dial type layout. These buttons have a brushed aluminum look to them that have been etched onto the plastic buttons. The buttons we find are the power ON/OFF button, Mode button, fast forward, rewind backwards button, play/pause/stop/accept phone call button. Below the ridge on the top panel is a bright blue LED that illuminates when the A06 is power ON and under operation.
So when you're playing music for example, the controls on the A06 allows the user to increase or decrease the volume, answer phone calls, play/pause, fast forward or reverse (track selection) using A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) support through Bluetooth. You can control everything on the A06 without needing to touch your Smartphone or Bluetooth device.
Coming to the back of the DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker we find a 3.5mm AUX IN jack, microSD card slot to use the A06 as an MP3 player, and a 5V micro USB charge port. The A06 comes bundled with a micro USB charge cable, however, does not come with a 3.5mm audio cable. A convenient thing about a micro USB charge port is that you can recharge the device using your Smartphone's own charge adapter.
The internal 1000mAh lithium polymer battery is rated to charge fully in 2 hours and offer up to 5 hours of battery life under full volume operation.
The bottom of the DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker contains two halve pieces of rubber pads that help prevent the A06 from slipping and sliding off tables and also prevent unwanted vibrations under operation. It does a good job.
Streaming Music Through Bluetooth...Some Background Info
First of all let me start off by saying that streaming music wirelessly through Bluetooth is very convenient. However, music that is streamed wirelessly always ends up compressed to a certain extent. This is more true if you have a FLAC music collection on your device, it's almost pointless in a sense as to expect the true FLAC bit-rate to be broadcasted in its entirety...it's not happening. Therefore as to talk about sound quality through Bluetooth, that's a hard thing to point into words because at the end of the day sound will be degraded to an extent over Bluetooth. I'm not sure how hardcore Audiophiles can cope with this as they are meticulously obsessed with sound quality!
This is almost (but not quite) the same thing if you've ever used an FM transmitter, where signals can leak from one frequency to the next affecting the sound quality. However, the biggest difference is that Bluetooth is digital while FM is analog, Bluetooth by nature of being digital can transmit more data. Unlike leaking frequencies in FM transmissions affecting sound quality, none of that happens (very rare) with Bluetooth because of something called SSFH or Spread-Spectrum Frequency Hopping. SSFH makes it very rare for any two Bluetooth devices to be transmitting on the same frequency channel at the same time and they are ever changing.
Don't get me wrong, music can sound excellent via Bluetooth, it's significantly and vastly improved over an FM transmitter solution in every regard. Though all I'm saying is that it depends on so many variables, for example your Bluetooth device. Cheap Smartphone's broadcasting music over Bluetooth versus good Smartphone's make a difference to the sound quality, loudness and clarity, believe it or not. I've personally experienced this using a cheap Chinese Smartphone versus a decent Samsung Galaxy Smartphone, there was a clear and noticeable difference and it was not placebo effect.
Factors such as the quality of the Bluetooth speaker and its transmitter/receiver components, other Bluetooth devices transmitting nearby that may be interfering, distances between the two BT devices, signal-to-noise ratio, these all affect the sound quality.
How to pair Smartphone with DGZHE A06
Pairing to the DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker with your Smartphone is very simple. With my Android Smartphone I was able to pair with my Bluetooth Smartphone in under 15 seconds, obviously your results will vary depending on the device used.
Some Bluetooth speakers contain an audible tone when turning on the device and pairing, the A06 on the other hand features a real life Asian voice speaking English. It's a bit amusing when he things like, "the device are ready, ready to connect" and "the device pairs successfully" and "TF card music mode". They should have just went with an audible chime tone.
With Bluetooth already enabled on your device, turn on the DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker and wait until the Asian man says "the device are ready, ready to connect". The speaker automatically goes on pairing mode if it hasn't already connected to a Bluetooth device when the man says "the device pairs successfully".
Now you simply search for BT devices on your Smartphone, the DGZHE A06 being found as the K89 for some reason instead of A06. Press OK and the unit will message off. When the process is complete, the man will say "the device pairs successfully". In the event that you are asked for a PIN, it is simply 0000. You only need to pair the first time. After that, the speaker will automatically connect each time your Smartphone's Bluetooth is enabled. The volume when the Asian man speaks is very loud, so it's a bit awkward if you're in an environment with others that could hear.
How does it sound? Any Problems?
The DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker says its rated for 6W because it contains two 40mm drivers. I think its believable because the A06 is indeed very loud in general. It's much louder than any Smartphone or integrated laptop speaker out there. This comes into handy when you use the A06 as your headset to output your phone calls.
Admittedly at the loudest volume the A06 does emit distortion and the speaker begins to vibrate, that's how loud the A06 can get. But when you get it down to a more sensible volume, the clarity is good, the vibrancy to the sound signature is good, and you really notice that the bass is in fact better than other Bluetooth speakers on the market. It has a good kick, a good punch level to the bass. But when the volume gets too high, the bass will begin to distort.
The DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker's sound quality is good, but not great. The speakers top end is a bit too shrill, the highs are just too piercing at times that it just falls off the cliff that it becomes less enjoyable, especially at the highest volumes. The low end bass is good considering the size, mid-range is also good, it does kick and punch louder than other similar size Bluetooth speakers, that's the least of the A06s problem.
The biggest problem with the DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker I was testing was whine. Right off the bat when you turn on the speaker, there's a bad high pitch whine when Bluetooth is active. Anytime Bluetooth is on, you can hear the high pitch whine noise at even when taking a few steps back, it's that noticeable. The noise is still very much noticeable under operation when the volume is even at moderate levels, the whine will subside when you turn the volume high enough that it overpowers the whine. This whine noise goes away 5 seconds after you stop the music, and or when the unit's Bluetooth module sleeps.
Please listen to the clips (.WAV format) I have recorded that showcases this annoying high pitch whine noise.
- Start-up process & high pitch
- Extended high pitch whine while music volume is 0, but Bluetooth is still operational
- Micro SD/TF Card Mode
Bluetooth devices in general have some variations of noise under operation. It's normal to hear a faint whine when you put your ear next to the Bluetooth device. However, the noise on this DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker is just too much, it's unacceptable and abnormal. It could be a sign of a cheap Bluetooth module.
The AUX-IN and TF/microSD card slot modes on the DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker exhibits no whine or high pitched noise.
Bass Rating (From 0-10, 10 being the best): 5.5/10
What's Missing?
What I feel is missing from the DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker is a manual setting dedicated for adjusting bass and treble, it would have been great if these features were added, but that was not the case. You'll just have to live with adjustments made to the sound in the software equalizer on your device.
Bluetooth Range - How Far Can It Go?
The DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker has a rated wireless range of up to 10 meters. Pretty much all Bluetooth speakers have a wireless range of 10 meters or 33 feet so this is no different.
With my Smartphone playing music in my room wirelessly to the DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker, (in the second floor of a 2-story home) I left the phone there, shut the door and headed down past the first floor and then head straight into the basement. The DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker continued to play without any change to the volume, however, there was some skipping at certain parts of the house, but generally it played without any major abnormalities only until it was when I opened the door to the cold room and stepped inside that the DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker completely stopped playing music.
Mind you the basement cold room is surrounded by super thick concrete that is essentially the foundation to a home. Cell phones don't work well in basements. I would estimate that from my room to the basement cold room was at least between 10-15 meters, which makes reception from the DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker very good.
It can definitely meet most people's wireless range requirements without much issue. Considering that the signal travelled through wood, metal, a variety of materials, that's impressive. As always your mileage may vary depending on your Bluetooth device.
Where To Buy
The DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker can be found through Connect Electronics.
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Conclusion
The DGZHE A06 Bluetooth Speaker could have been good as evidenced by the great bass and good acoustics, however, it is marred with a very noticeable high pitched whine, along with multiple defects on the body from the factory including using ugly glue that left residue in various places on the speaker.
The multiple defects along with the abnormally loud Bluetooth whine were the nails in the coffin for me.
