Huawei Sound Joy review: for music lovers

Huawei is a well-known brand of phones, laptops, and tablets, so it’s easy to forget that they also make speakers and headphones. Its Sound X Bluetooth speaker was a big hit before (albeit at a hefty price). Now we’ll talk about the Huawei Sound Joy, which lives up to its name by bringing a lot of joy at a good price.

It’s easier to carry around than the Huawei Sound X because it has a strap and a tough exterior that can handle a few bumps. The detachable strap makes the Huawei Sound Joy perfect for hiking, but you can also use it as a speaker on your kitchen counter at home. The Huawei Sound Joy sounds pretty good.

It was made with help from the French audio company Devialet. With strong bass and fairly clear mids, it has everything a typical user could want. With a battery life of 26 hours, it will last all day on a hike or camping trip, and you can always leave it unplugged in the bathroom for singing along in the shower.

We loved how the Huawei Sound Joy was made. The volume buttons, which have big plus and minus signs like the UE Boom 3, take up most of one side of the speaker, making it clear that it was made to be used outside. The power button, the Bluetooth button, and the USB-C port are all on the other side.

Specifications

Huawei Sound Joy review: Design and build

Is the Huawei Sound Joy the Bluetooth speaker with the coolest design? No, not really. JBL, Ultimate Ears, and others have used cylindrical shapes before. For a rugged speaker, the soft-touch plastic and fabric mesh are also standard features. But Huawei kept things classy with colours like Obsidian Black and Spruce Green that are less likely to clash with your furniture than the bright colours of the UE Boom 3.

The ring of color-changing LED lights on top adds a little drama, but other than that, it’s pretty simple. There are small Devialet logos on either end of the passive radiator grille, and most of the buttons are hidden at the back. Only the big + and – buttons for the volume are easy to see.

The wrist strap is useful, but the shape of the bag, which is like a bottle, makes it easy to hold and fits well in a bike bottle holder. When the speaker is on its side, two tiny feet keep it from rolling away, and holes near the bottom let sound out of the bass radiator when it is standing up. You can buy this speaker from its official website.

Huawei Sound Joy review: Audio performance

The Huawei Sound Joy sounds pretty good, but audiophiles who always want to hear every little detail won’t be interested in it. Still, for the average listener, it does a good job. It has a 20W full-frequency speaker, a 10W silk dome tweeter, and two passive radiators, which give it a powerful sound.

When listening to Foo Fighters’ “All My Life,” the Sound Joy sounds punchy and energetic, and when we switched to John Legend’s “All Of Me,” it was clear and had soul. When you turn up the volume on the Huawei Sound Joy, you’ll be surprised by how loud it can get.

It also has a pretty wide soundstage, so you can use it to play music at a large gathering. Bad Guy by Billie Eilish didn’t lose any of its quality when we turned it up, and the bass never got too loud. Classical pieces like Holst’s “The Planets” sounded clear enough, with each instrument’s sound coming through well and not getting muddy.

Huawei Sound Joy review: Connection

It might be a big deal that Huawei phones don’t have Google Play Services, but since the Sound Joy is a portable speaker and not a phone, this doesn’t apply to it. We have a great explainer about Google Play Services that explains why this problem doesn’t affect Huawei’s speaker itself. It’s easy to connect your Android phone to the Sound Joy speaker because it has Bluetooth 5.2 and NFC.

Huawei Sound Joy review: Features

The speaker worked right away with Bluetooth, and it’s easy to connect it to other Huawei devices, like a watch or laptop. Only one device at a time can connect to Bluetooth. You can talk to the smart assistant on your phone by pressing a button on the speaker that opens a microphone.

The Shake stereo link-up mode is kind of unique. If you shake two Sound Joys close to each other, they will work together to make a stereo pair. Unfortunately, only one Sound Joy was sent to be reviewed, so this group’s talent was never put to the test. By default, the LED light show is off.

To turn it on, use the Huawei AI Life app. With a big 8800mAh battery, the battery life is strong, and you can listen to music for up to 26 hours. If you’re in a hurry, you can also charge the speaker quickly with 40W. If you spend ten minutes at the wall, you can play for an hour.

Huawei Sound Joy review: Battery life

The HUAWEI Sound Joy’s main wireless connection method was Bluetooth, so there was no AUX port for a wired connection. It was all wireless, HUAWEI said that the Bluetooth 5.2 technology would let the speaker keep making good sound while using less power and having almost no latency.

This would make the battery last longer, increase the range of transmission, and make the signal more stable within its limits. In terms of power and battery life, this speaker could be charged very quickly, so I could use it quickly and on the spot if I needed to.

It was said that its 40 W superfast charging technology could let it play for an hour after only 10 minutes of charging. At medium to low volumes, the 8800 mAh battery could play music for 26 hours on a single charge.

Huawei Sound Joy review: Price and Availability

The real star of the show is the rich bass, which is better than every other good Bluetooth speaker that costs less than $150. This kind of full-bodied, thumping, and just plain exciting bass is impossible to find in this price range.

It sounds a lot like the Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 6 in terms of sound quality. This is a very impressive feat, since the Onyx Studio 6 is a high-end speaker that costs more than three times what the Sound Joy does.

Huawei Sound Joy review: Final words

When it comes to rugged Bluetooth speakers, we have a lot of options, but the Huawei Sound Joy still makes a strong case for itself. For the price, you get great sound quality, a battery that lasts a long time, and a look that works at home and on the go. It’s also reassuring that it can stand up to the weather.

Not everyone will like how the LEDs change colour, and you have to go through a couple of extra steps to install the app on a phone that isn’t made by Huawei, even though it’s not necessary. But those are small problems with an otherwise affordable speaker. If you have a Huawei phone, it’s almost a no-brainer.

FAQs

Is Huawei Sound Joy good?

Even though there is a wide variety of options available to us when it comes to rugged Bluetooth speakers, the Huawei Sound Joy still presents a compelling argument in its favour. You get a lot of bang for your buck in terms of audio quality, as well as a battery that lasts a long time and a design that looks good both at home and when you’re out and about.

Does Huawei sound joy work with Iphone?

The Sound Joy is compatible with Huawei’s AI Life companion app, which is offered on both Android and iOS, albeit in slightly different forms on each platform. This app is also compatible with the Sound Joy. The lack of a setting that enables you to have the LED lighting ring pulse in sync with the music that is playing is the most glaring omission in the iOS app.

Is The Huawei Sound Joy waterproof?

The HUAWEI Sound Joy is protected from damage in depths of up to one metre of water and can withstand virtually any weather condition you can throw at it. It has been certified as having water resistance to the IP67 standard.