If you’ve been looking for a portable wireless speaker, you’ve certainly got a lot of options to choose from. The problem is, it’s difficult to find one that sounds great, but can also put up with constant use. The build-quality needs to impress, the features should be plentiful, and most importantly, it should sound great. Right?
We’ve recently discovered a speaker that meets these requirements, and we’re here to share it with you. Known as the DOSS SoundBox Touch, it’s a portable speaker with Bluetooth connectivity, and some pretty neat features. We’ll be taking a closer, but critical look at it, to see if it really does meet our standards. We’ll look into the build quality, sound, battery life, durability and try out its features. Let’s get started!
First Look
Upon opening the box, we were immediately impressed with the feel and look of the SoundBox Touch. Measuring in at 6.6 x 2.9 x 2.7 inches, it isn’t necessarily the most compact speaker we’ve ever seen, but it feels really “solid” in your hands. Along with the speaker they’ve included a micro USB charging cable, male to male audio adapter, and a 3.5mm aux cable. In addition, there’s a durable storage bag that gives you a great place to store it when you’re not using it.
Pairing
Although the DOSS SoundBox Touch is a wireless speaker, you can use it “wired” by utilizing the included auxiliary cable. However, if you’re like most, you probably want to take advantage of its Bluetooth capabilities. Supported by virtually every modern smartphone and tablet, Bluetooth needs to be “paired” in order to wirelessly communicated with your device. To complete the pairing process, simply make sure that your smartphone or tablet has Bluetooth turned on and enabled. Next, press and hold the play button. The ring on the top will begin to blink alternating colors. At this time, you should see the “DOSS Soundbox” on the list of available Bluetooth connections. Select it and you’re good to go. The great part is, you only need to complete this process one time per device.
Touch Control
Located on the top is the capacitive touch control. It’s a small interface that lets you play, pause or skip tracks. In the center is a small dial that offers a unique way to adjust the volume. Simply swipe your finger in a clockwise motion to turn up the volume, and counter-clockwise to turn down the volume. It’s a pretty cool and innovative design, especially for such an inexpensive speaker. We found the functionality to work well and we didn’t have any problems adjusting our music with it.
Sound
Arguably the most important and critical feature of any speaker is the sound. With the DOSS SoundBox Touch, we weren’t expecting that great of audio quality, especially considering the budget-friendly price tag it has. To our surprise, the sound was quite good – MUCH better than we originally expected. Now it isn’t studio quality or “audiophile grade”, but we truly think it’s something special for what it is.
We tested the speaker on a variety of genres and couldn’t necessarily say it performed better for one than the other. All kinds of music sounded equally well, with clear tones and a decent but not too overpowering bass. In fact, the bass was probably our favorite part. While it’s not adjustable, it seems to have a very nice “thump” to it. Best of all, the speaker is made solid so there isn’t any rattling or distortion, even when the volume was cranked up near the limit.
Another thing. It’s quite loud! We found that it really has a lot of power for its size. Inside are two 6 watt drivers that seem to work perfectly together. The manufacturer, DOSS, didn’t try to fit too little of power into it. 6 watt drivers may not sound like a whole lot, but they definitely provide ample performance in our opinion. Audio is a bit tricky to convey, especially over text, but we truly feel that the overall sound performance could easily match speakers that cost over twice as much.
Durability
The durability of the DOSS SoundBox Touch needs to be clarified since it’s currently rated as the number one outdoor speaker on Amazon. We feel that this is a little bit deceptive because our assumption is that every “outdoor” speaker should be at least water resistant. Unfortunately, the SoundBox Touch isn’t rated for any amount of water resistance, so we wouldn’t recommend it for any environment that could be exposed to water or splashing. We wouldn’t classify it as a rugged speaker, but you could definitely use it outdoors. Fair weather would be the key – you’re going to want to make sure it won’t rain since. Possibly a perfect pick for sunny days.
However, as we’ve explained earlier, the overall build quality seems great. It feels “solid” and built well. There aren’t any rattly or loose buttons or finicky parts that we could forsee becoming an issue. One quirk that we noticed is that the top panel may be easily scratched. It’s a bit shiny and slicker than the exterior surrounding the body of it.
Battery Life
Inside the speaker is a 2200 mAh lithium ion battery that seems to do a great job keeping it powered and running for a long time. Although it came partially charged when it was delivered, it’ll achieve a fully charged status after roughly three hours. Charging is a simple process. Just plug in the included micro USB cable and let it sit for a few hours.
Once you’ve fully charged it, DOSS says that you can expect 12 hours of battery life. We found this to be a little bit generous as we found 9-10 hours to be a little more realistic. A lot of different factors can affect the battery life, so everyone may experience a slight difference than this.
Disadvantages
Although the SoundBox Touch has a lot of great things going for it, there are a few things we found that could be considered disadvantages. First, we don’t think that it should be classified as an outdoor speaker. It sounds awesome and it’s built well, but we wouldn’t ever think about using it in the rain or any poor weather. Save it for the sunny days or keep it as an indoor speaker.
Another quirk that we noticed were how obnoxious and sometimes annoying the voice prompts can be. When you’re pairing it or while the battery is low, you may be bombarded with an annoying voice. It’s really not that big of deal, but DOSS should have given it a bit more of a pleasing voice.
Lastly, although the touch interface on the top of the speaker is really unique and cool, it wouldn’t hold up well to scratches. We highly recommend keeping it within the included protective case when you’re not using it. While it won’t protect it from drops or forceful trauma, the bag seems burly and is able to shed a light amount of water if you happen to expose it to some rain for a short period.
Final Thoughts
Overall we were very pleased with the DOSS SoundBox Touch. It’s a solid, efficient and fully wireless speaker that sounds great and boasts a sleek and attractive appearance. Available in four different colors and at a budget-friendly price point, it’s easy to see why a lot of indiviudals are gravitating towards it. The popularity seems to be continuing and it’s a speaker that does well with all genres of tunes.
If you’re looking for a speaker that can hold up to the outdoor environment, we recommend checking out the SoundPEATS P2. Although it doesn’t sound quite as nice as the SoundBox Touch, it’s less expensive and built with IP65 waterproofing, so it can surely hold up to the elements without a problem.
I’ve been very curious and searched through just about every item there is on the soundbox but I cannot find the millimeter size for the drivers if you can help me with this please let me know it’s important me. The industry standard for a small Bluetooth speaker is 40 millimeters per driver please let me know if you have this information or where to get it. Thanks,Timothy Creps !!!
the 2 drivers are about 2″ inch each.
I really like the speaker. My only beef is with the default volume when turning it on. I always have to turn the volume down once it connects. I wish that there was a way to set the default volume setting.
I just bought this speaker and I am already loving it. It seems the company has listened to customers and there are no longer voice prompts for pairing, just short tones and chimes on power up, power down and pairing.
The review here didn’t mention that the speakers will also play from a micro SD card as well. The micro SD slot is also important because if you want to enable / disable features (like voice prompts or the fifteen minute auto sleep) you can contact the company and they will send you a script to drop onto a card that will do those things for yup when it is inserted.
The only issue I have with playing music from the micro SD Is that it seems to default to random play order and there doesn’t seem to be a way to change that (unless the company can produce a script for that… I haven’t asked them yet.)
Are your tracks numbered? I’ve had better luck keeping my songs in order with speakers like this when my tracks have numbers before their names.
Yours plays random? Mine only plays in the order the music is on the card. Want to swap speakers? LOL I wish mine played random. It doesn’t and that sucks. I thought I could eliminate a piece of hardware (my mp3 player) apparently, not.
I believe there is firmware file available from the manufacturer that can be placed on a SD an then the speaker is rebooted to install the random feature. After installing the firmware upgrade, you then remove the SD card with the”firmware” upgrade and then install your SD card with music and the speaker will now play songs randomly…however, it no longer plays songs sequentially.
I purchased the Doss to be used with my desk top Dell computer since the speakers that cane with the computer no longer work. I have not been able to pair the speaker with my computer. I am using a Windows 7 OS. Yes I know that’s pretty outdated but it still works great?
Any suggestions to get it to pair.
how to pair speakers with doss on my Samsung on sound light blinking blue
I have a question. I use an electric bike to help on hills, I am 84 yrs. with that I don’t have to run the battery down I can keep it connected after each journey by recharging whether or not I’ve used much. The battery has a good memory. Is this so with the DOSS battery?
Additional comments: There doesn’t appear to be a “sleep mode” and it turns off automatically after a short period of time – even when plugged into a power source. Also, when you do turn it on the sound it makes when powering on is quite loud and obnoxious and to be honest, it’s a bit unnecessary when you have the volume light come on when powered on. I agree with the review in the article and for the price I am happy with it but these few things, I think, would be easily solved for even in the price point.
I’m extremely happy with this device. I have it connected via Bluetooth to my echo dot and it works perfectly. It’s not overload but the sound sure does carry. It’s got a great balance of bass and treble and isn’t at all tinny. It handles speech and music of all types well, producing a crisp and clear sound. Where it really excels is as a booster speaker for my fire tv. Highly recommended.
How connect using bluetooth to two different soundboxes, using two different iphones?
I want to plug in my DOSS bluetooth speaker so it is always powered and charging. I don’t want to connect the USB power cord to my computer. I want to plug it directly into a 120V adapter plug. What kind of adapter plug should I buy? or better yet – is there a “Y’ connector that would go into my Echo Dot 120V plug so I can power both my Echo Dot and DOSS speaker at the same time?
When moving through the Mode section I found music that I really like and I don’t know where it is coming from. Can someone please tell me how I can find the music that is playing? It is a great selection of tunes.
I received the DOSS speaker as gift, and I really like it and use it often.
My only problem with speaker is it doesn’t stayed paired. I turn on the DOSS speaker, then using an I-Phone I select the DOSS speaker. Each time the connection fails. So I go through the process of ‘forget’ this device’, and then repair it.
Any suggestions on why it doesn’t stayed paired?
I’ve had this same problem with iPhone. It used to connect but then stopped recognizing out of the blue.
For good sound and loudness while driving would you recommand this one or the AOMAIS sport ii speaker? or another one under $50,-
Nice speaker. Like it better than Oontz Angle 3 Ultra that I have purchased. Solid sound. Some distortion at highest volume but clear below that. Decent bass. Good value!
I have had my Doss speaker about a week and out of the box it worked great after speaker battery needed charging it seems to only work for about a minute then goes dead. When on charge the green light glows. Am I doing something incorrect while charging?
Can I use any USB cable to charge it?
I bought this speaker not even 2 weeks ago. The first time I started using it it seems to switch songs every 30 seconds or less. It will never play through a whole song. Anyone else having this issue?
Wondering how far can I walk away with phone before drop out
Around 10 meters or 33 feet.
How do I connect two DOSS Soundbox speakers to my iPhone 6?
I have it paired with my Echo Dot. For the first 2 months, I could take the speaker into another room no problem, now as I start walking away from the Dot, the music starts to what sounds like it’s skipping. It’s fully charged and works perfectly right next to the Dot. Any suggestions?
Hi. I have a Huawei p20 pro, and bought a sound box used. It connected when I tried when I tried it. Then at work, I guess I went to far out of range. And I lost the connection. I have asked my friends to try and connect to it, but it won’t connect. I have tried everything possible. Any suggestions.
Thank you
Has anyone else had problems with spoken word broadcast on this speaker? I find when listening to audio books that the speaker’s voice is interrupted at the beginning of a sentence after a pause in the speech pattern. This causes the first couple syllables to be missed and is very disruptive to the listening experience.
I’ve had trouble with some spoken word recordings but not others. It seems that if a recording has been heavily edited, like a foreign language instruction course where it’s constantly switching between different voices, the DOSS Box clips the beginning of each little piece of audio. If it’s raw audio like a news summary podcast where one person takes a minute or two to read the news and then they put the podcast online immediately without editing, the DOSS Box doesn’t clip anything. It’s as though the DOSS Box is sensing when there is complete silence in the recording, even if for only a fraction of a second, and it clips whatever follows the silence.
I’d like to use our doss speaker for a speech at an event. How can I just have them use my phone to talk and their voice come from speaker, or do I have to buy a wireless mic? Thanks fir the help!