Waterproof Bluetooth speakers are becoming ever-popular, maybe because it’s now holiday season in Britain, or the fact that people want to turn their mundane boring shower times into a nightclub fest. They come in all shapes and sizes, with some only being splashproof, others like the Monster SuperStar BackFloat is one that can be fully submerged into H2O.
The SuperStar is a small portable Bluetooth speaker wrapped in a silicone housing to give it a full seal from any kind of damage from liquids. The reason it claimed its BackFloat name is pretty self explanatory. It floats… on its back… in water. Clever right? Well this is the thing. Monster has included on the base, two feet, which according to Monster create the optimum sound when it’s standing up. However, when it’s in water, the speaker has been designed to float on its back, hence the name BackFloat.
The design apart from this confusing section is pretty plain and neat looking. You’ll find a row of standard function buttons on top: volume up and down, power, Bluetooth connectivity, that kind of thing. The buttons have a noticeable click to them which makes button presses easier. There are indicator LEDs on top too to give different status updates. The front of the speaker is covered with a mesh with a large front-firing radiator in the middle. It’s a stylish looking speaker all round. The side flap covers the microUSB charging port and 3.5mm aux input. Be warned, you must have these closed before submerging it in water.
Sound coming from the speaker is pretty loud, thanks to that radiator and two tweeters. Although we did find that Monster has focused on mid-frequencies here. We would have liked to have seen some more bass and treble coming through the mix. Although we cannot fault the sound too much, the main issue we found was at higher volumes. The speaker tended to distort the music. We also found that too much water on the front-firing radiator really affected the sound. It made it terribly muddy which wasn’t too impressive for a waterproof speaker. It’s an easy thing to fix though, let everything dry out and you’re good to go again.
The Monster BackFloat has a seven hour battery life, which is alright if you’re going to be close to a wall socket to charge it. There are other speakers on the market that can push 10+ hours however around the same sort of price as the BackFloat which makes it hard for us to recommend it to someone who likes to travel around for example.
Inside the box is a handy USB cable for charging purposes and a neoprene carrying case for when you want to transport the speaker around with you.
Despite its faults, the Monster BackFloat is a decent speaker, although price wise it’s a little on the expensive side. Though the sound is good and the waterproof feature are definitely pluses, I can’t help but think Monster has missed an opportunity with the sound quality. For more information you can visit the Monster website.
