Tribit isn’t really a name that comes to mind when we think of companies that might have JBL and Sony nervously watching their backs, but the Tribit StormBox Pro comes very close to outperforming the $179.95 JBL Charge 5 and the $149.99 Sony SRS-XB33 for the notably lower price of $119.99. And where the Charge 5 is mono and has no speakerphone or voice control, the StormBox Pro is a stereo speaker with speakerphone functionality and access to Siri. It sounds quite good, too, though at top volumes it can distort on tracks with deep bass, holding it back from top-tier status just slightly. For the price, however, it’s definitely an outdoor-friendly speaker worth considering.
Stereo Drivers
Measuring 7.0 by 3.8 by 3.8 inches (HWD), the black StormBox Pro sits vertically, with a built-in rubber handle on top. Most of its body is covered in wraparound cloth speaker grille, behind which the enclosure houses dual tweeters and a single down-firing midrange driver that combine for 40 watts and a frequency range of 60Hz to 20kHz.
Tribit describes the StormBox Pro as a 2.1 speaker. While there are technically two tweeters and one driver handling bass response, describing the latter as a subwoofer is misleading, as a speaker this size can’t reproduce lows that deep with any sense of power. So it’s really like dual stereo tweeters matched with a midrange, down-firing driver handling bass depth.
The top panel houses controls for volume up, volume down, and a central multifunction button that covers playback, track navigation (press twice for forward, three times for backward), voice assistants (press and hold for a second), and call management. There are also dedicated power and pairing buttons on this panel, as well as an XBass button we’ll discuss in the next section. Like many portable Bluetooth speakers, the StormBox Pro can be paired with another StormBox Pro to form a stereo pair, but it already delivers stereo audio, unlike some competing models in this price range.
The included USB-C-to-USB-A charging cable connects to the covered USB-C port on the back panel. There’s also a USB-A port here for charging mobile devices with the StormBox Pro’s battery.
An IP67 rating means the speaker it is fully waterproof and dust-tight. It can technically handle being submerged up to a meter for 30 minutes, though Bluetooth audio won’t survive the same test. Regardless, the StormBox Pro can handle heavy rain, poolside splashes, and being rinsed off under a faucet, as well as exposure to dirt and dust, without suffering any performance issues.
The StormBox Pro is compatible with Bluetooth 5.0, and supports SBC and AptX Bluetooth codecs, but not AAC. There’s no app for the speaker, and thus no user-adjustable EQ. Considering XBass mode can sometimes push the drivers too far at top volumes, EQ would’ve been a very helpful inclusion.
Tribit estimates the StormBox Pro’s battery life to be roughly 24 hours, but your results will vary with your volume levels.
StormBox Pro Audio Performance
As mentioned, Tribit includes an XBass button, which you’ll likely want to leave on. With the button disabled, the speaker sounds almost tinny, and too thin on certain tracks. Neither mode is going to win awards for accuracy, but with XBass enabled, the speaker simply delivers a more robust listening experience, comparable with what the JBL Charge 5 pumps out. But the more expensive Charge 5 is mono, while this speaker is stereo and projects left and right channels in opposite directions to create a sense of real separation. Our test results below are with the speaker in XBass mode.
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the StormBox Pro delivers powerful bass depth, but at top volumes, it distorts to a noticeable degree. It seems likely that in outdoor scenarios, people will use this speaker at maximum volume, and this is a problem that the DSP (digital signal processing) doesn’t do a good enough job of avoiding. At moderate volumes, the speaker doesn’t distort, and lows still sound full and robust.
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Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the StormBox Pro’s general sound signature. The drums on this track get a full, round, natural sound to them—there’s definitely boosting in the lows, but it’s not overdone. Callahan’s baritone vocals get a nice balance of rich low-mids and crisp high-mid; the acoustic strums and higher-register percussive hits are also relatively bright and crisp. This is a sculpted sound signature with XBass engaged and a thinned-out, less engaging audio experience with the feature turned off.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the kick drum loop receives an ideal high-mid presence, allowing its attack to retain it punchiness, while the sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with a decent sense of depth, but the StormBox Pro can’t quite reach down that low. This is where the Charge 5 has a bit of an edge—it delivers a little more bass thump on this track, both on the drum loop’s sustain and with the sub-bass synth hits. The vocals on this track are delivered with excellent high-mid clarity, and perhaps a hint of added sibilance. At moderate volumes, the bass response on this track sounds relatively rich, while at top volumes, it thins out—there’s no distortion as a result, but the DSP has perhaps too heavy a hand here.
Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, have a natural sound to them through the Tribit StormBox Pro—or, at least, natural for a portable Bluetooth speaker this size. The stereo tweeters help here, and while the lower-register instrumentation doesn’t receive as much bass boosting as it does on many competing models, things sound rich, full, and bright.
The speakerphone mic offers above-average intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone, we could understand every word we recorded cleanly and clearly, with barely any hint of Bluetooth distortion fuzzing up the words. And the mic signal seems relatively strong, so on a reliable mobile connection, callers shouldn’t have any issues understanding you.
Affordable Outdoor Audio
The $120 StormBox Pro comes this close to snagging an Editors’ Choice award, but we can’t dole out top honors to a speaker that has some distortion issues at top volumes. Still, when you compare it with the $180 JBL Charge 5, the StormBox Pro compares favorably in multiple ways. That said, these are speakers designed to be blasted at their top limits while enjoying the great outdoors, so the edge goes to the Charge 5, which doesn’t struggle with deep bass at top volumes. True, you can disable XBass mode and the distortion goes away, but then so too does the impressive audio performance. But if the Charge 5’s feature set seems a little light, and you want to pay a little less, there’s plenty to like about the StormBox Pro.
