Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Audio / Video
  3. Videos

Think $50 can’t buy great sound from a Bluetooth speaker? Think again.

Philip Chung
By
A lot of new companies have entered the consumer tech market in recent years with the ever increasing popularity of wearable and mobile technology. While Inateck’s a relative newcomer on the scene, this German based company already has quite an extensive line of mobile products, including audio accessories like headphones and Bluetooth speakers, in its portfolio. Inateck released several models of compact dual-driver Bluetooth speakers in 2015 including the MarsBox: a retro-style, rectangular block shaped speaker with a minimalist design and affordable price tag that has audio quality that’s actually pretty good. The speaker comes bundled with braided nylon microUSB and 3.5mm audio cables that follow the speaker’s black and red color scheme. Not only do the cables feel more durable than your typical black rubber ones, but they also demonstrate the company’s attention to aesthetic and quality.
Recommended Videos

The speaker has two 40mm, 5-watt drivers that get pretty loud and put out enough sound to fill a room: perfect for parties and outdoor gatherings. The plastic body is wrapped in a matte rubber that’s soft and silky to the touch but scratch-resistant, although it also tends to pick up fingerprints pretty readily. Overall, the unit feels durable, is lightweight, and travels well.

Related

The speaker has standard features like a 3.5mm Aux input, microphone for hands-free phone calls, and rechargeable battery that’ll last you 9-15 hours of playback time thanks to its use of the power efficient Bluetooth 4.0 protocol. As a nice bonus feature, it also has a built-in FM receiver, so even if you don’t have another device handy, you can still listen to your favorite music stations or tune into a game. Since the speaker doesn’t have an antenna, you’ll need to be in an area with good reception for a clear FM signal, and unfortunately there isn’t an LCD display to show you what channel you’re on. However, the radio mode has an auto-scan function that will pick up any stations around you and save them to memory, so you can quickly cycle through them later using the skip track keys.

The sound on this speaker is accurate and leans towards the brighter side with a bit of extension in the upper midrange which helps provide better clarity and finer detail than what you’d expect find with a speaker in the $50 price range. The bass is present but not particularly heavy which may not suit some listeners. If you want fuller sound, it helps to sit the speaker on a hard, flat surface for better resonance. As technology continues to improve, we’ll likely see a lot more speakers like this one delivering good sound quality at affordable prices in the future. For now, though, if you want to carry your party music around with you for a very reasonable price, the MarsBox might just be what you’re looking for.

Buy on Amazon

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Philip Chung
Philip Chung
Video Contributor
Philip is an industrial engineer who truly enjoys writing and exploring new tech products. He started writing reviews in 2010…
Best Paramount Plus deals: Get your first month free
Paramount Plus logo on an Apple TV.

Paramount Plus isn’t as big as some of the best live TV streaming services, but it has a lot of content people constantly want to binge or check in on. It’s home to the Yellowstone universe of shows, and every month what’s new on Paramount Plus includes a large variety of movies. Paramount Plus is a great standalone streaming service to turn to if you’re looking for something to watch. It comes in at a more affordable monthly price than most streaming services, costing just $6 per month or $12 per month when bundled with Showtime. But there are still ways to save on a Paramount Plus subscription, with several Paramount Plus deals to consider. Below you’ll find everything you need to know.
How to sign up to Paramount Plus for free for a week
The best way to go about watching Paramount Plus for free is by utilizing the Paramount Plus free trial. This is a pretty easy free week of access to claim, as all you have to do is sign up for a Paramount Plus account. The free trial is good for seven days, and it will give you full access to either the Paramount Plus Essential plan, which is regularly $6 per month, or the Paramount Plus with Showtime plan, which regularly costs $12 per month. Utilizing the Paramount Plus free trial is a great way to watch a particular sports event without having to commit to a monthly subscription, or to simply explore the Paramount Plus library to ensure there’s enough you’d like to watch before subscribing.

How to get a discount on a Paramount Plus subscription
If you're a student you can enjoy 25% off a Paramount Plus Essential monthly subscription. To do so, you simply need to verify your student credentials. You'll need to be a college or university student currently enrolled at an accredited, Title IV higher education institution to qualify.
How to save on your Paramount Plus annual subscription
An annual Paramount Plus subscription is a valid option if you're in it for the long term, as extended subscription will grant you some savings. Anyone who signs up for the Paramount Plus Essential plan for a year pays just $50 while the Premium plan costs $100. It works out as cheaper than subscribing on a monthly basis.

Read more
HD to 4K: these home theater projectors are up to $2,000 off
The Optoma UHD55 projector.

While TVs are great, if you want to have a large screen TV that goes over 80 inches, you're liable to spend thousands of dollars, and if you want to go over 100 inches, you may not even find any options at all, especially at the consumer level. Luckily, there are a lot of great projectors that can not only hit those targets but exceed them and do it at a much cheaper cost than a regular TV. Even better, there is quite a big sale right now at Crutchfield on home theater projectors, with everything from budget-friendly options to top-of-the-range stuff.

What you should buy in Crutchfield's projector sale
Not all projectors have to be incredibly expensive, and you can grab a great project for a good price with the Optoma HZ40HDR, which is , saving you a solid $450 in the process. It's an FHD projector, although it can handle 4k and HDR sources,  and the bulb has a 30,000-hour life span, which is pretty great for a budget-oriented projector. On the other hand, if you want 4k, Optomo has a good budget option for that too, the Optoma UHD35STx, which is a 4k short-throw projector with HDR10 and HLG HDR going , which isn't a massive discount on the usual $1,549, but it's still pretty good.

Read more
Best AirPods Max deals: New and refurbished for $440
A woman wearing the Apple AirPods Max.

Shopping the best headphone deals will turn up a number of options from a wide variety of headphone brands, but if you’re interested in what Apple has to offer in terms of premium audio, the Apple AirPods Max are where you’ll want to turn. The AirPods Max are Apple’s top-of-the-line headphones, and while they churn out some impressive audio experiences, they also churn out a hefty price point. With the rumors of AirPods Max 2 going on you’ll be able to find some decent AirPods Max deals out there. We’ve done that hefty lifting for you, however, and have laid out the best AirPods Max deals below. You’ll find deals on both new and refurbished AirPods Max, but click quickly if one of these deals works for you, as Apple deals can be unpredictable and we don’t know how long these will last.
AirPods Max -- $519, were $549

The AirPods Max are Apple's first attempt at a set of over-the-ear headphones. They got a lot of things right. We love these headphones, even when compared against some audiophile options that prioritize sound quality. The AirPods Max have awesome noise cancelling. Everything Apple learned with the earbud-style AirPods works even better with the cup style of the AirPods Max. Along with great ANC comes a great transparency mode. With a twist of the Max's massive knob, you'll go from complete silence to feeling like you're not wearing headphones at all. The audio on phone calls is great as well, and they pair better with the iPhone than any non-Apple headphones could ever hope to.

Read more