Soul S-Storm Max Bluetooth speaker: A lifestyle speaker that gets the job done

This portable, splash-proof music maker delivers a lot of volume for such a small device.

JAMES BARBER

Since Soul Nation launched a decade ago with a line of Chris “Ludacris” Bridges–branded headphones, it’s a been an unapologetically lifestyle brand that makes some pretty good audio products. The $90 Soul S-Storm Max Bluetooth 5.0 speaker fits squarely into that tradition.

The S-Storm Max is a solid speaker with some interesting features that might interest more serious listeners, plus a couple that are just for fun.

IN THE BOX

The speaker is an 8-inch-wide by 3-inch deep cylinder that weighs 1.5 pounds. A USB-A-to-USB-C charging cable and a 3.5mm aux cable are provided in the box, and the manufacturer throws in a lanyard attached to the speaker with a serial number sticker wrapped around the string. Take a photo of that serial before you take the speaker out of the house; it’s not going to survive for long. There’s also a Soulbranded carabiner

FEATURES

Soul hypes the IP66 dust and waterproof rating. That means the speaker is impervious to harmful dust ingress and can survive getting sprayed with a jet of water, but it’s not meant to be fully submerged. Don’t take it out on a pool float unless you’re highly confident that you’ll never drop it. You can read all about IP codes in this other story (fave. co/3BmKhkC).

Each end of the cylinder features a LED mood light ring. The lights can be set to turn on and off to the beat of the music. They can also shine in red, violet, blue, teal, green, or cool green. You can turn the lights off altogether or have them rotate through all the colors.

Soul promises excellent battery life: 15 hours of music playback on a charge. A full charge takes approximately four hours.

AUDIO PERFORMANCE