INTRODUCTION

   With Christmas just around the corner and with everyone scrambling to find the perfect present i decided to scout the internet and find some of the "hottest" bluetooth speakers. Of course, "hottest" doesn’t quite help when looking for a bluetooth speaker, you also have to set other search terms such as price, design and of course audio quality, power output and battery life. This however is where things get a bit dicey since the best speakers almost always cost quite a bit and are certainly not what most of you reading these lines would call affordable. Still if you dig deeper you can always find that special "gem" and one such model is the Venus Wireless Speaker by Gravastar which is what today's review's all about.

   The story of Gravastar has begun with some of sketches. Gravastar team includes engineers, designers, craftsmen, cartoonists, game lovers, music fans, explorers and etc., who worked together to create Gravastar. We are tired of with the similar design of the products in the market. We wanted to be different and create something crazy, cool and interesting for the global trendy players. We hope people can feel and experience totally different products. Gravastar Mars is our first products. When we released Gravastar Mars in Indiegogo, we got a lot of supports from the backers in the world. They liked our design very much, shared our project with their friends and left very positive comments on the review. The crowdfunding was ended very successfully. We were so touched by the result and it inspired us continue to walk the path of innovation no matter how difficult it is.

   The Venus is currently available in 4 colors (shadow black, dawn white, flare red and aurora green) and is the 2nd bluetooth wireless speaker by Gravastar following the huge success of its larger brother the Mars released just over a year ago. Now as Gravastar states the Mars was designed for desks and bookshelves whereas the Venus was designed to be portable so that alone reveals that the Venus is a "cut-down" version of the Mars. Both speakers however resemble robots and are aimed towards consumers who enjoy playing games (like Borderlands and Cyberpunk 2077) and why not even watching anime (Gundam and Macross come to mind) so they are unlike anything else in the market today. In terms of specifications the Venus features a body made out of zinc alloy (according to Gravastar that adds stability) which houses a 1.75inch (45mm) 10W speaker (complete with a bass reflect port), Qualcomm Bluetooth v4.2 chip (v2.1+EDR - 15 meters range), 6 RGB LEDs and a 1500mAh Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery pack (up to 8-10 hours of playback). Gravastar also allows you to pair a Venus with a second one for stereo sound (10 meters range) and has recently made available a dedicated charging base (sold extra) which looks really cool (intro picture).

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Gravastar ships the Venus inside a very small box that has a product picture both at the front and rear.

The technical specifications along with the contents of the bundle are listed at the base.

As you can see the front opens up as a book to reveal both the product compartment and some product sketches.

Along with the Venus you're only getting a USB-C charging cable and the user manual.

THE VENUS

The 455g heavy zinc alloy body of the Venus is indeed compact and measures 71.1mm in height, 60.1mm in length and 81mm in width.

It so happens that i have a Mars speaker here so i thought it would be great to see just how the Venus compares to it in terms of size.

As expected, the main feature of the Venus is its 1.75" (45mm) speaker.

The yellow button on top of the left side can be used to turn on/off the device and play/pause tracks whereas the button just over it is the volume decrease button.

Moving to the right side the yellow button can be used to pair the speaker with your phone and/or another Venus whereas the button just over it is the volume increase button (press the two volume buttons to change the color of the LEDs).

At the top center we see two activity LEDs (right next to the lighting and bluetooth drawings/icons) and a small handle.

Detail is quite impressive, too bad the Venus is a compact speaker (would look even better if it was the size of the Mars).

The three feet can be retracted inwards to further reduce the size of the Venus.

Moving at the rear we see the bass reflex port (the level of detail is still impressive).

The USB-C charging port is located at the center of the base as you can see from the above picture.

Of course, Gravastar send a second Venus over for a more complete experience.

Would be nice if the 6 RGB LEDs were addressable (thus each could have a different color) but regardless they look nice.

CONCLUSION

   It's been quite a while since i had bluetooth speakers in the lab mainly because I reached a point where I felt nothing new was getting introduced in the market (in that segment). Does that mean the Venus by Gravastar is something new? Yes and no. Yes, because thanks to its design and its zinc alloy body it doesn’t look and feel anything like a speaker and no because you can find similar audio performance by other speakers (larger in size for the most part). And this is where the Venus shines, it looks great, it’s tiny and yet it packs quite a punch, especially if you pair it with a second one. Audio performance is also very good, not saying its audiophile grade (it’s not) but it’s a lot better than I could ever hope to expect from such a tiny speaker. As for battery life Gravastar claims you can hit 8 hours at 65% volume and for the most part I have to agree with them since during my tests and volume set well over 80%, I was easily able to surpass 6 hours (still do keep in mind that you may need to charge the device a few times before the battery reaches optimal performance).

   With just 1 full week left before Christmas 2020 the Venus Wireless Bluetooth Speaker by Gravastar retails for USD79 (Gravastar.com) a price tag which is identical to what the Venus retailed while in their highly successful Indiegogo campaign. This however means you need to spend USD158 for 2 Venus speakers and that just might be much for some people, especially when you can find the much larger (and impressive) Mars for the same amount. Still, it’s definitely worth it if you’d like to have stereo sound and since just like the Mars the Venus is a special little wireless bluetooth speaker it gets the Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (Zinc Alloy)
- Compact Size
- Futuristic Design (6 RGB LEDs)
- Power Output (10W)
- Battery Life (Up To 8 Hours)
- TWS Support (Two Venus Speakers)
- Available In 4 Colors (Shadow Black/Dawn White/Flare Red/Aurora Green)

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Lack Of Support For Hi-Res Codecs