REVIEW – I am an audiophile who is favorably biased towards contemporary and smooth jazz as my best appreciated musical genre, followed by classical and easy listening. I do listen to several other genres including reggae, soca, calypso, funk, etc, but I do not consider those genres when I am yearning for an audiophile experience. Apart from my main stereo that can be classified as a piece or pieces of expensive sophisticated furniture, I love smaller components that can provide an audiophile-like experience and are either mobile or can be utilized on-demand in various desired physical locations. The treVolo 2 by BenQ, claims to be an exact fit. Let’s see!!
What is it?
The treVolo 2 by BenQ is a Hi-End Bluetooth audio speaker with built-in electrostatic diaphragm technology. It offers dynamic volume and all-around acoustic clarity. It features optimized acoustic modes all in a very mobile form.
What’s in the box
1 x treVolo 2
1 x AC Power Adapter
1 x Warranty card and Quick Start Guide
1 x treVolo Stand (In separate packaging)
Design and features
Specifications
Frequency Response: 60 Hz – 20 kHz
Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 4.2
aptX Support: Yes
NFC: No
Input Types: 3.5 mm stereo input ; USB audio (DAC)
Duo mode: Yes (Stereo / Party mode)
Sound Mode: Pure/Warm/Vivid
Playing Time: Approx. 12 hours
Key Definition: Power Key, BT Pairing Key, Volume Key (+-), Sound Mode Key (End call), Play / Pause (Talk)
LED Indicators: Red LED x 1 ; Blue LED x 1; Green LED x 1
Microphone: Yes (For speakerphone function)
Battery: Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery
IO Ports: Micro USB x1 ; Line-in x1 ; Line-out x1 , Power Jack x1
Input Power Rating: DC 12V 2A
Temperature Range for Use: 0~40º C
Dimensions: 78.5×174.6×134.6 mm (Closed)
Weight: 1.2 kg
The treVolo 2 uses the same electrostatic technology that is typically reserved for high-end speaker systems. It was created to reduce harmonic distortion from 10% to less than 1%, to produce a clean, crisp and beautiful sound. “As an improvement over its predecessor the treVolo, the treVolo 2 electrostatic panels have a re-designed grid structure to further reduce the slightest level of vibration, providing a 50% reduction in distortion.” This speaker also features TrueSound technology that is designed to help to improve sound quality on highly compressed legacy audio files. “If the speaker’s DSP chip detects the loss of higher frequency data due to a low bit rate recording or high compression levels, TrueSound will improve the detail in the higher ranges of the audio spectrum.”
Using the Duo Mode, treVolo 2 is equipped to support a pairing of two units to offer flexibility to create different musical experiences.
On top of the treVolo2, there is a cluster of 4 control buttons and a stand-alone power button. As pictured below, the 4 buttons from left to right starting with the top row are, the volume up button, the volume down button, the sound mode/phone hang up button and the play/pause/phone answer button. The large button below them is the power button which has a LED indicator around it that lights blue when the built-in battery power is 81% or more, green when the power is in the range of 80% ~ 31% and red when there is 30% or less power remaining.
At the top of the back of the speaker, there is a relatively large Bluetooth button that allows you reconnect/re-establish your Bluetooth connection.
On the bottom of the back of the speaker, there are 4 ports. From left to right there is the power port, the line out jack, the line in jack and the micro USB port.
The speakers are located on the left and right sides of the treVolo 2, and there is an electrostatic panel on each side that opens outwards to engage the benefits of the electrostatic technology.
The picture below shows how te treVolo2 looks once both electrostatic panels are extended, and the speaker is on the stand.
BenQ also included the stand for the treVolo 2 Speaker. As you can see below, it is an attractive stand. It is well built with a wooden platform base and a nice speaker base with a lip to securely hold the speaker.
Performance
The treVolo 2 Speaker arrived fully assembled, with the battery fully charged and ready to go. I turned it on and it showed up in the Bluetooth device list on my phone and once I selected it, it was ready to go. To be quite honest, there is not much more to it. The speaker is well built with a nice weight to it, and for audiophile listening does quite a good job. The built-in battery lasted almost 10 hours before I noticed that the LED indicator had turned to green and therefore the battery would need charging after a couple more hours of use. In my opinion, this speaker is designed for listening to genres like Jazz, and Classical and easy listening. It provides and really nice balance and separation of the lows, mids, and highs, and the electrostatic panels have a really nice effect that is somewhat hard to put into words. The music reproduction is detailed and clean. Since I wanted to test this speaker with more genres, I connected a powered subwoofer via the line out jack and tested some reggae which sounded ok but not similar to how a boombox would sound, which I think is the preferred way to listen to a genre like Reggae. Again, this is just my personal opinion.
Like most of the Bluetooth speakers that I have tested, the phone function works well and calls are clear for both parties on each end of the line.
What I like
- The sleek and attractive look
- The build quality
- The connectivity options
- The sound reproduction
- The clear phone call capability
- The built-in rechargeable battery
- The basic EQ options
What can be improved
- The use of drivers that can handle a bit more of the low frequency and with very little distortion
Final thoughts
The BenQ TreVolo 2 speaker is well designed, well built, sleek, sexy and attractive, and pairs easily and works wonderfully right out of the box for genres like smooth jazz and classical music, as well as easy listening. If the need is to use it to listen to music that inherently includes deep and pronounced bass, then I would suggest using the line out jack to a subwoofer and then tweaking the subwoofer to match. I love the way this speaker sounds and it just oozes BenQ quality. While much of my perspective is based on personal taste and perspective, I do believe that many others will enjoy it immensely if they use it in the way it is designed to be used. I give BenQ another well done and two thumbs up!!
Price: $299 (The optional stand can be purchased from BenQ for $49.99)
Where to buy: BenQ
Sample: The sample for this review was provided by BenQ.
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Thank you for your review of the BenQ treVolo 2 Bluetooth speaker.
I have been searching for a review by someone with similar music tastes to my own, primarily very cool jazz, classical and for my part opera (not mentioned in your review.)