CONCLUSION

   Vertical design enclosures have lots of potential when it comes to portable wireless speakers but so far not even the BOOM by Ultimate Ears took complete advantage of that so we didn't expect the WAV to either and we were right. Even the WAV has enough space inside to squeeze up to 4 drivers firing on all 4 sides (or two drivers and a passive bass radiator) but as you can see A.M.P decided on using just two (imagine what they could do if they had used a slightly larger enclosure like the BOOM). Unfortunately the cost for one such device is what gets in the way and so it may take long before we can see affordable solutions making the most of vertical enclosures. With that out of the way the WAV is actually pretty good and manages to produce clear mids and highs without any distortion even at full volume. Of course it's not as loud as the BOOM or the ROAR but the real issue is the lack of bass and that's something which will disappoint potential buyers who like listening to Jazz, Heavy Metal and other bass-rich music. As for the battery well A.M.P states up to 6 hours at medium volume levels but since we used the WAV almost at full we never passed the 5 hours mark (it usually ran out of batter at 4 hours and 35/45 minutes) and although we've seen worse numbers with some speakers we've also seen many more better ones. Finally the microphone used doesn't feature noise-cancelling technology (or at least not a good one) since we had a hard time answering calls in places with noise. This is not particularly bad however since we've yet to see a microphone worth mentioning used in a wireless portable speaker so we can't really blame A.M.P for not paying much attention to that detail.

   Sometimes the price of a product is what really saves it and that couldn't be more true for the WAV by Antec Mobile Products since its current price tag of USD39.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 50Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) is so low that we can actually "forgive" the apparent lack of bass and mediocre microphone used. Of course if you want a portable wireless speaker with plenty of bass or if you want to answer calls without having to worry about background noise the low price of the WAV will obviously not be enough to win you over in which case you'd be better off with the BOOM by Ultimate Ears or the ROAR by Creative Labs. If however plenty of bass and answering calls is not at the top of your priorities list the WAV represents a good bang for your buck which is why it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Overall Build Quality
- Design
- Size/Weight
- Audio Clarity
- Good Volume Levels
- NFC/aptX Support
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Battery Life
- Bass Levels
- Microphone