Douni 25W Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker (A5) Review

If you’re looking for high quality sound without the expense of a Bose speaker, the Douni A5 is definitely a speaker you should consider. Here’s my review.

Sound Quality

The sound quality on this speaker surprised me. While I immediately noticed that it seems to emphasize highs more than mids, I was at first expecting this speaker to sound a bit “tinny”. However, once the bass kicked in on the song I was listening to, my opinion immediately changed. The bass balances out the sound very nicely for great overall sound.

This 25 watt speaker gets plenty loud at 50% volume, enough to fill a mid- to large-sized room. Go above 50% and the speaker’s sound starts to get distorted, but I believe the 50% volume is sufficient for most uses (except maybe large outdoor gatherings).

Compared to the Sony SRS XB-31, the Sony speaker tends to emphasize lows and mids more and the highs become somewhat suppressed, but would otherwise be comparable to the Douni A5. The bass of the Douni A5 speaker can further be enhanced by sitting it on a shelf or against a wall so the passive bass radiator on the back is projected forward.

When I’m close to the speaker, I do detect a slight background hiss while audio is playing. It’s less noticeable the further you are away from the speaker, but it is there.

Design

Across the top separate volume controls and track controls, as well as the power button, pairing buttons, speakerphone button and an NFC pairing area.

The buttons are also backlit and light up as your hand gets near them (without touching), which makes this speaker handy for using at night or in a dark room.

I was also surprised by how heavy this speaker was when I picked it up: it’s definitely a speaker for the home and not one to bring hiking.

The battery indicator lights up on the top as well with 3 dots to let you know when it is time to recharge. On the back is an AUX input and a standard USB port so you can use the speaker as a power bank to charge your phone in a pinch.

Battery Life

The speaker contains a 6600 mAh battery that gives you up to 12 hours of playtime on a low volume, but I found battery life to be more like 5-6 hours when using Bluetooth with the volume is cranked up. Unfortunately, this speaker’s charger uses a barrel connector. I would have preferred a more standard charging input such as Micro USB or USB-C. You’ll want to make sure not to lose the speaker’s charger as it may be difficult to find a replacement.

Bluetooth Connectivity

The Bluetooth connection works very well as I was able to walk to a different room with my phone in my pocket and still hear the music playing on the speaker. I would estimate you can get about 40-50 feet away from the speaker indoors (through walls) with minimal disruptions. If you have an Android phone with NFC, you can tap your phone on the NFC area on top of the speaker to quickly go through the pairing process. Otherwise, you would hold down the Bluetooth button until the Bluetooth LED flashes blue and red, then pair your phone to the “A5” entry.