Five years have passed since this reporter wrote here on Cyberlayman about Anker Pocket, the smallest speaker of the company which was a huge success due to the high power delivered in relation to the small size.
Despite the massive consumer interest that boosted its sales for several months – thanks in part to our repeated collaborations with the company that resulted in code discounts for our readers – this speaker went out of production and to date there had not yet been a his valid heir.
Let's talk about the past because the company has finally reopened its doors to this special product category with Anker Soundcore Ace A0, a concrete evolution of its predecessor both in terms of design and overall quality.
As did
Sold as per Anker tradition inside a compact illustrated cardboard box together with the short user manual, the wrist strap and the charging cable, Ace A0 follows the Soundcore line to which it belongs in the materials and design.
The shell is made of black satin polycarbonate and the lines are strongly rounded which is very important on a product of this type that will most likely be carried most of the time by slipping it inside a pocket.
If in fact the old Anker Pocket was a small cube with rather prominent corners, Ace A0 is its opposite thanks to the cylindrical shape that makes it much more comfortable to hold in the hand or in a pocket. The base is flat and accompanied by a thick rubber pad that acts as a single non-slip foot.
Below it, centrally, there is a key – the only one in the whole speaker – that allows you to turn the speaker on and off or to pause and restart music playback.
On the bottom there are also two holes to which the wrist strap can be hooked and nearby is the microUSB socket for recharging the internal battery. Considering that the case can also be hung, we believe that the company should rethink the positioning of this socket as in this way it is more subject to the accumulation of dust or to the risk that a drop of rain could compromise its operation. . If the engineering of the internal components does not allow it, then it would be enough to accompany it with a nice silicone cap (a solution that has already been adopted for years on many of its other products in the catalog).
The upper surface is concave and perforated: below this is the small but powerful driver that will amplify the sounds of the device connected to the speaker via Bluetooth.
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Comparison with Anker Pocket
Like the old Anker Pocket, here too there are no buttons to adjust the volume or jump between the various tracks of the playlist being played, operations that must therefore necessarily be managed via the audio source connected via wireless.
However, there are two evident differences in comparison with its predecessor. First of all, the microUSB port can only be used for battery charging while with Anker Pocket, thanks to a special cable in the package, it was also possible to use it for connecting via 3.5mm audio jack cable to other audio sources that do not use Bluetooth.
They are also completely different also from the point of view of autonomy: Anker Pocket promised up to 20 hours of continuous playback while with Ace A0 you do not exceed five hours with the volume at the maximum level available.
The lack of a wired audio connection immediately gets used to it, on the other hand almost all multimedia devices are now equipped with Bluetooth. Even with regard to autonomy, the 4 hours guaranteed are still enough for the audio entertainment of the day. These malus, on the other hand, are well balanced by a constructive care and above all by an overall higher audio quality than its predecessor.
How are you
Anker Soundcore Ace A0 sounds very strong: the company does not say how many Watts it delivers the built-in driver so we can try to make you understand how it sounds by saying that if you compare it with the speaker of the iPhone 6 (the only smartphone available to us for the test) there is no 'is a comparison both in the maximum volume level allowed and in the overall yield.
The audio is not only powerful but it is clear and crystal clear, with an excellent presence of low frequencies. At maximum volume level it does not distort and in this condition can easily fill a small room. It is very convenient if you are watching a video in a park or on the edge of a busy road, i.e. conditions in which the speaker of a smartphone would struggle to be heard.
Conclusions
Those who buy Anker Soundcore Ace A0 do so because they are looking for a small but powerful speaker. It is clear that for a superior audio quality or a high level maximum volume it is necessary to turn to products physically larger and positioned in a necessarily higher price range.
Pro
Cons
Retail price The beauty of this speaker, with all its flaws and gaps compared to the model it replaces, is in fact also in the quality / price ratio: it costs only 21.99 euros and at these figures it is really difficult to find a valid replacement.
