Mohu BeBox – Portable Android Wireless Audio System
Mohu, makers of some of our favorite terrestrial TV antennas , recently introduced the Mohu BeBox , a wireless audio system that’s small enough to walk with you, loud enough to sound at a party, flexible enough to be a Bluetooth-controlled streaming stereo or boombox, and much more – all on the built-in Android tablet.
Update 04/2016: Mohu released a review for all Bebox devices after it found they could cause overheating and / or fire. If you own a Bebox, disconnect it from the power source and stop using it immediately. You can get more information, a prepaid shipping container and label, and a full refund for your device on the Mohu website here .
Let’s deal with this first: the Mohu Bebox is expensive . Mohu sells it directly for $ 500 and you can only get it directly. Mohu sent us a BeBox to test, and when we asked about wider availability, they said they plan to release it to retail next year, but now they only sell it through their website. In short, don’t expect discounts and make sure you really really like the item before you invest your money in it.
However, there is a lot to love! The BeBox sounds great, is customizable (thanks to its built-in Android tablet) and streams holiday tunes through Pandora as I write this. And for all the countless features it offers and what it can do (and the devices it can replace), it can come at such an hefty price tag. At the same time, he – and Mohu – are not perfect, and we need to talk about that. Let’s reduce the count and you can decide if it’s worth half the heap to you.
How BeBox works
The Mohu Bebox is a versatile stereo with a 7 ” Android tablet (powered by an ARM Cortex-A7 quad-core processor running Android 4.4 Kit Kat) embedded in the top. It connects to your home network via Wi-Fi (802.11 b / g / n), can connect to other devices via Bluetooth or 3.5mm auxiliary input, and also has a massive internal battery so you can turn it off and take it with you anywhere. It weighs about 15 pounds, just over a foot high, about two feet wide, and only five inches deep. It even has a nice carry handle on the back. All in all, it’s definitely portable (although a little heavy, we’ll write it off to the battery).
Setting up is easy enough and streaming is even easier. Connect BeBox to Wi-Fi, log into Google Play and download Pandora, Spotify, Google Play Music or whatever you want to stream. Then turn it on and listen through the BeBox’s internal speakers. Stereo system with instant Internet access in any room of the house. But it’s not over yet. Connecting the BeBox to an external device is easy (optional 3.5mm cable included), and switching inputs is as easy as pressing the touch button at the top. This thing even has a microSD card slot and a USB port for music stored on your hard drive, your phone, or any other local files you want to play. Unplug the power, take it and put it wherever you want. You will have ample listening time before you need to go back and plug it in.
Where is it best
First, the BeBox sounds great. It has one 6.5 “woofer, two soft dome tweeters and two 3” midrange drivers. Don’t get us wrong, the BeBox doesn’t sound very good (more on that later). But it does sound good, and it gets loud enough to reproduce a medium-sized space clearly without distortion. It will definitely be loud enough for a backyard party, or quiet and clear enough to play background music while you hang out with your friends. The bass is deep and heavy, the highs are crisp and clear. There are several sound modes you can toggle, but avoid them – the default sounds best.
Moreover, the BeBox is rated for at least eight hours, but in my tests it ran even longer without batting an eye. I could fire up the BeBox at 9 am and listen to Pandora all day with occasional pauses until at least 8 or 9 pm and then stop the music to make sure it still had a decent charge. The only time I managed to almost completely drain it was when I listened to it all day and left it unplugged (but on standby) overnight. I woke up to 15% the next day, and while it took hours to recharge, I’ve seen similar durability since then.
So the sound is good, the Android with the stereo is great, and the battery life is exceptional. There’s also a built-in HDMI output, so you can play audio through the BeBox and send videos to the big screen, sort of like turning the BeBox into a kind of soundbar. I can’t imagine many people would use it this way (especially since video output would be limited to a tablet), but it’s a good option. The BeBox is all the best about a Bluetooth speaker, paired with a bookshelf system, paired with an internet-connected wireless audio system, and it’s flexible enough to mix them all well.
Where it fails
As we said, the BeBox sound is an advantage, but it is also a disadvantage. Sure, it sounds great and can get quite loud, and the cabinet is beautifully built. But despite the BeBox’s massive bass and impressive volume, the soundstage and mids are pretty confusing. It probably won’t matter to someone using it for party scoring or streaming while on the job, but if you really like your music, you might be disappointed. For the price, I was hoping the BeBox would be able to withstand discrete bookshelf speakers, but it isn’t. Again, this is n’t sounding bad , just if you think you’re getting Sonos quality wireless sound, think again. However, it is much better than any bluetooth speaker I’ve tried, so keep that in mind. Oh, and there’s no remote here, so you’ll have to control playback from the BeBox itself unless you’re using an app that supports remote control (like Spotify) or Bluetooth streaming.
Plus, Mohu has a penchant for building devices, putting Android on them and walking away. The Mohu Channels, which we really liked , did it too, and as soon as the core of Android began to show , weaknesses would emerge. MicroSD card slot? Limited to 32 GB. USB port? 64 GB, no more. This is all more about a built-in tablet than anything else, but it’s still worth keeping in mind before you plug in a 2TB drive filled with lossless FLAC files and sit on the couch. If the app freezes or the touch controls on the front of the BeBox stop working (as with me, but only once), be prepared to restart your device (power button on the back).
Finally, don’t expect the BeBox to have its own interface or even walk you through its own customization. Basically, you get a brand new Android tablet and you go through Google setup, sign in to your Google account, and go to Google Play to download your apps. The BeBox does include its own demo app and another as a “user guide”, but that’s all you need. Even worse, a BeBox without any customization suffers from something that annoyed me about channels: you are happily streaming Spotify or Pandora when all of a sudden your speaker starts beeping because you received a Hangouts message. Or because you received an email. Or because you have a calendar appointment. Pay attention to my warning: once you’re signed in, go to Settings> Accounts and turn off syncing, then go to Settings> Apps and turn off Hangouts. Nobody needs their hangouts, emails, or other notifications on the audio system. Alternatively, create a new Google account for the BeBox only.
Bottom line: reliable system, but hold on tight if price scares you
In the end, I really like the Mohu BeBox. Sounds great, perfect for a party or second room where you don’t have a larger entertainment system like a bedroom or even a dorm room. However, its price makes me think. $ 500 is a lot to spend on this device, even if it’s good.
Once Mohu ships them out to retailers and they start competing with each other for your business, then it might be time for the more frugal folks to pounce on them. However, if you have money to buy and a compact Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-enabled stereo system running Android, a loud bass versatile stereo sounds amazing to you, then the BeBox won’t disappoint you. …
Update 04/2016: Mohu released a review for all Bebox devices after it found they could cause overheating and / or fire. If you own a Bebox, disconnect it from the power source and stop using it immediately. You can get more information, a prepaid shipping container and label, and a full refund for your device on the Mohu website here .