This speaker is a blast from the past – no pun intended – so much so that when I took it to my parents over the holidays, they laughed and asked me where the tape deck was. This is because the TRIBIT Storm Box Blast 2 speaker resembles those stereos that people carried around in the 80s on their shoulders. Even TRIBIT have acknowledged this fact and included an image of someone carrying it around on their shoulders at the beach! We’ve gone full 360 people… just without tape decks. Let’s get into it.

The TRIBIT Storm Box Blast 2 is a beast. It’s so heavy that carrying it around with you will start to become a burden on your shoulder. Even carrying it from the car to where you’re going to sit for the day at the beach could be a bit troublesome. It does have a chonky carry handle though so that makes it easier. Don’t pair it in the same hand as your beach bag though. It has an IP67 rating so it’s fully protected from water damage, and that’s where this speaker really fits into the world. It’s for beaches, camping trips, and holidays around the pool. It’s your action-adventure speaker, albeit super heavy.

Around back you’ve got a rubber door that covers the IO. And this is where it gets interesting because you’ve got your standard figure-eight power input, a USB Type-A port for charging devices, and a 3.5mm aux input for audio sources and a USB Type-C input for power too. But you’ve also got two 1/4-inch microphone inputs for karaoke so if you fancy doing a bit of singing, then you’ve got the option there, both with individual gain settings in case one of you sounds awful. Just turn them down! It does connect to mobiles using the newer Bluetooth 5.4 connection which aids with range of which TRIBIT are quoting just under 170 feet which is insanely huge.

Across the top are rubber tactile buttons, and from left to right you’ve got your power button, your Bluetooth sync, volume and pause buttons, lighting effect cycles, X-3D activation which enhances the bass frequencies to push out further on from the side, and finally a randomise button. They’re nice to press. They feel nice and tactile and finally, there is a battery level on the left-hand side which is symbolised as dots.

It’s got 200 watts total output when it’s mains powered, though does dip to 180 watts when on battery power, and either power method, this speaker is incredibly loud. It’s got 15-watt silk dome tweeters at the top, 45-watt mid-range drivers on the left and right and an 80-watt subwoofer with diamond-shaped reinforcing ribs in the centre. As I said, it’s loud, but that’s not always a great thing. Running this through my Spotify, once it passed that midpoint volume, I did experience a varying amount of distortion depending on what was being listened to. More bass-heavy tracks and the distortion almost made this speaker really hard to listen to. But at a mid-volume, there’s a really nice separation in music, and your bass and treble frequencies sound nice and independent. Mids do get a little jumbled, and vocals can get lost due to the power of the bass, but that’s to be expected I think. Turn off X-3D, and get your bass frequencies lowered just slightly in the app and you’ll be on to a winner. Just check out some examples.

There’s a 30-hour battery built into the Storm Box Blast 2 which is a really nice amount of time, especially if you’re going to be out and about on a trip. You’ve also got a TWS feature too in case you’ve got two Blast speakers sitting around, and then you can have wireless stereo audio. Finally, there is an app where you can change the RGB effects that you’ve been watching throughout this video. It’s a nice touch, again one that screams outdoors and adventure.

And in terms of pricing, it’s an expensive speaker. It’s currently online from reputable sources like Amazon for around £280 but there have been instances where I’ve seen it for £235 through the likes of AliExpress, do your own research though before buying. And I must say you’ve really got to have a use for it. Because of its size and intense weight, makes it cumbersome to carry with you to the beach or even on holiday because there’s no way it’s going in the hand luggage. It sounds decent though which is needed for a speaker that is aiming to be the centre of attention at parties. It’s just so damn heavy though.