Audio firm Riva is hoping to with its Riva Audio Turbo X bluetooth speaker. It is a mission statement for founder Rikki Farr, a person who’s a part of rock’n’roll history: a record producer who additionally constructed industry-leading concert audio systems for bands like the Metallica and Who. For him, the Riva Audio Turbo X goes to bring authenticity back to music, to bring back a time when sounds were analog and clear—not compressed and overdriven.
The Riva Audio Turbo X system itself is compact: it is about as huge as a one-liter water bottle and has an old-school iPod appearance. It outputs 45 watts RMS, claims a powerful 26 hours of battery life, and might get Bluetooth signals from up to 33 feet away. Set up is a snap, taking lower than a minute to sync to your iPhone 6. On 1st listen, the Riva Audio Turbo X delivers some massive sound; this system highlights surprising sonic details that typically get buried. For EDM enthusiasts and people chasing big bass, the speaker lacks a bit low-end rumble. However, inline with Farr’s mission, classic rock and funk feels clear and warm as does music that leans heavily on acoustic guitar.
To gain extra technical insight, Dichoso has a ton of film and main label credits to his name and is a self-professed geek in terms of Bluetooth speaker systems. We begin with the Riva Audio Turbo X mode turned on to boost sound output to its 100 dB maximum and play an uncompressed, technical, trendy rock track. Simply seconds into the song, Dean comments that the speaker doesn’t “overhype the highest end… and does not crumble under low-end transients” and has good amplitude on the decrease end of the spectrum too.
Dichoso notes that the unit limits the sound to guard its electronics. The re’s a “pillow” between 6-8 kHz, plus just a few little issues within the 250-400 Hz range, which he feels muddies the sound a little bit. On to some extra-geeky frequency testing: the TURBO X can not fairly hit 30 Hz—that subwoofer rumble that punches you within the chest. Above that, things sound great, with the RIVA accurately hitting frequencies that many other Bluetooth speakers have trouble matching. Particularly impressive was its efficiency at 63 Hz (bass) and 1 kHz (mid-range).
The Riva seems like music coming from a speaker; you are not going to really feel like you are at a live performance. But, “Some of the impressive qualities of the Riva Audio Turbo X is its ability to create clarity within the low end in ways you wouldn’t expect a ‘plastic box’ to do,” Dichoso says. Whereas EDM is not good on the TURBO X, listening to classic tunes—especially music recorded and mastered on previous analog gear—is ideal.
The Riva Audio Turbo X is a solid Bluetooth sound system, and it’s 1 that’s winning accolades over the technology and music industries. Since there is no way to fine-tune the sound to your personal liking—and it depends upon the kinds of music you plan to be blasting—it is recommended that you attempt before you purchase. The Riva Audio Turbo X retails for on-line in black or white.
Pros
- Truly amazing sound
- Lots of useful features
- Long battery life
Cons
- Expensive
- Touch-sensitive controls can be confusing