Wavemaster Cube review
The Wavemaster Cube sounds great and is simple and easy to use
The Wavemaster Cube look like a typical pair of bookshelf speakers, with a somewhat utilitarian black design; some might complain they verge on the dull side, but we were actually fond of their understated looks. The name is also something of a misnomer, as the speakers are more cuboid than Cube, but they more than make up for a lack of visual flair with excellent sound quality.
Each acoustically dampened MDF cabinet holds a 25mm silk dome tweeter and a 13cm mid-range/woofer driver, with power coming from a built-in amplifier. The power/volume and source selection dials on the front of the right speaker protrude quite a long way and aren’t particularly attractive, which detract from the otherwise clean and uncluttered design.
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The speakers connect to each other with conventional speaker wire and push pin terminals, meaning you can swap out the included cable for a longer spool if it isn’t long enough for your particular setup. The bundled cable is more than long enough for a desk or bookshelf, however. You only need to connect the right speaker to the mains, rather than both, and thankfully the system will go into standby after a short period where no music is detected. Likewise, it will turn on automatically once a wired signal is received.
There’s also a pair of RCA phono connectors and a 3.5mm auxiliary input on the back of the right speaker for connecting wired devices like a PC or laptop, but the Cube’s party piece is Bluetooth. It uses the rather out-dated Bluetooth 2.1 standard, rather than the newer version 4.0, and omits support for the less-lossy aptX audio codec or Apple’s AAC in favour of the basic SBC codec. This means it can only stream audio at a maximum 328 kbps bitrate at a sampling rate of 44.1kHz, so you’ll be sacrificing sound quality if your music collection includes better than MP3-quality files. There’s also no NFC quick pairing, which would have been a real bonus.
The difference in sound quality between devices connected through Bluetooth and those wired directly into the speakers thankfully wasn’t very pronounced when listening to low-bitrate MP3s or streaming audio, but there was a subtle improvement using Line In when switching to a higher quality source.
Sound quality in general felt supremely transparent, with plenty of detail in the mids and treble in particular. Certain tracks benefit from a slightly higher treble, but thankfully Wavemaster has added treble and bass adjustment dials on the back of the right speaker – it only took a little bit of adjustment to improve playback.
Disappointingly, pushing the Cube to its maximum volume resulted in a lot of bass distortion and made for uncomfortable listening. They sounded fantastic when keeping each speaker within its comfort range, which was around 90% of full volume. Above 90% and we found the bass distorted slightly, introducing distracting reverberation of the chassis. Treble also became bright. 90% volume is still enough to fill a medium to large-sized room comfortably, however.
It’s a minor complaint for what is otherwise a great sounding pair of speakers that are supremely easy to use, whether as Bluetooth wireless bookshelf speakers or an upgrade for your PC or hi-fi speakers if you have space.
Hardware | |
---|---|
Speakers | 2 |
RMS power output | 25W |
Audio inputs | 3.5mm stereo, 2x phono RCA |
Audio outputs | None |
Dock connector | None |
Wireless | Bluetooth (A2DP) |
NFC | No |
App support | None |
Battery capacity | None |
Dimensions | 175x200x245mm |
Weight | 5kg |
Buying information | |
Price including VAT | £118 |
Warranty | One-year RTB |
Supplier | www.eclipsecomputers.com |
Details | www.wavemaster.eu |
Part code | SPW-THECUBE |