CONCLUSION

   As clearly stated in the introduction page the new Aiwa is not in any way connected to the old one and although that did strike all of us as a bit odd at first it's certainly worth pointing out that ownership change is not something new in the electronics industry (and it's always good to keep a popular brand name from being gone for good). With that out of the way the "new" Aiwa may be far from what the Aiwa we all knew was (at least in terms of size and available products) but if they continue to design, manufacture and release products like the EXOS-9 their future seems quite bright. You see the Exos-9 may not be the best all-around portable wireless speaker since it does lack certain features we'd like to see (such as a built-in micro SD/USB MP3/WMA/FLAC player, audio tags displayed on the front LCD screen and why not even RGB lighting - although to be fair back in late 2015 when the pre-orders of the Exos-9 were delivered there were almost no products with RGB lighting in the market) but thanks to its massive power output, clear and accurate mids and highs, enough bass to throw a small party (although if you want the best possible sound stage two Exos-9 would be ideal), adjustable EQ and a removable battery pack (one of its strongest selling points if i might add – we never were able to hit the advertised 9 hours however / best result we got was almost 7) it's certainly quite unique. Another thing we liked about the Exos-9 and the new Aiwa are the extra available accessories like the IPX4 carrying bag, the remote control and the higher capacity removable battery pack. Granted we didn’t have the chance to check those out and it’s a safe bet that some of you would like to see them included in the package (regardless of extra cost) but the fact of the matter is that we don’t see something similar by other manufacturers. Unfortunately although we do realize that Aiwa had to make some compromises to keep the weight of the Exos-9 in check (still even 5.8Kg is not exactly easy to carry around with one hand) the almost entirely plastic enclosure doesn’t feel very robust and thus hurts the overall image of the product.

   Just like with its immediate competition the Exos-9 Portable Bluetooth Speaker by Aiwa isn’t exactly what we’d call affordable and so it currently retails for USD329.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 299Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de). Still even at this price you will have a very hard time finding a portable speaker that can go up against the Exos-9 in terms of raw power and on top of that the easily replaced battery is a lot harder to come by than what wed’ expect. At the end of the day the 2015 Exos-9 Portable Bluetooth Speaker by Aiwa may have begun to show its age but there’s no doubt that it’s still an impressive product worth our Golden Award.

PROS

- 2.1 Speaker System (5 Speakers In Total)
- Two Class-D Amplifiers (200WRMS)
- Bluetooth & 3.5mm Connectivity (NFC Supported)
- Battery & Wall Power Operation
- Removable Battery Pack (Up To 9 Hours)
- 5 Band Adjustable EQ With 4 Presets
- Touch Panel
- TWS Link (Can Pair Two Exos 9 Speakers)
- USB Charging Port
- Micro SD Firmware Update Port
- Available Accessories (IPX4 Carrying Bag / Remote Control / 4400mAh Battery Pack)
- Price (Compared To Similar Models)

CONS

- Size/Weight
- Plastic Enclosure
- No Micro SD / SD / USB Audio Player
- Price (For Some)