Review: 808 HEX XL Bluetooth speaker

By Corey Herscu

Pardon my cynicism, but in terms of Bluetooth speakers, once you've reviewed one or two (or three) speakers, they all begin to sound the same, regardless of what is claimed to be different under the hood.

As we at CanadianReviewer have extensively played with speakers from heavyweights such as Logitech, Bose, and Sonos, we tend to be a bit pickier and look for more than just sound quality from the products we use.

Needless to say, I have been using the 808 HEX XL extensively and have begun to absolutely adore it. Whether it be the build quality and aesthetic or sheer sound quality, it nails everything with grace and ease. Let's hop into each feature below. 

Build Quality and Usability:

Created from reinforced plastic (can definitely take a fall) and finished with a black mesh grill and mini honeycomb shaped cutouts (that allow you to see right through to the speakers), it's easy to tell that the name Hex derives from “hexagonal” and that fact that honeycombs have six sides. 808 make transporting the speaker a breeze via a comfortable hand-rivet on the back, and detachable side-laden strap. Measuring in at only 4.25” H x 10.75” W 3.25” D and weighing only 1.4lbs, makes it ultra-convenient to take with you regularly from home to the office, up to the cottage and back. Under the hood it has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that you can expect to get 10 hours at medium volume and about half of that if you have it cranked up. It takes about 2 to 3 hours to recharge. 

Now onto what you're all here for: sound quality

I'd be misleading you if I told you the exact wattage output that his baby belts, but rest-assured, whether you're into heavy bass, high treble, or just some soft listening, the Hex XL has you covered; I was actually impressed with how crisp the high's were. A really unique selling feature is the bottom-firing sub, which forces the sound to bounce off whatever the speaker is sitting on, adding a hint of extra bass to whatever is playing at the time. 

Overall:

I found the HEX XL to be unbelievably user-friendly and, more importantly, played nice with other units. Packed with A2DP (enables connectivity to virutally any product with Bluetooth) the HEX XL gives you a funky lil' beat to know it's ready to party and easily reconnects to the last device it was paired to. If you find it not connecting, a simple tap of the pair button generally solves the issue. 

You can pick-up the Hex XL from Amazon.ca