While many fine Bluetooth speakers are out there, most are just for personal use. Or, at best, for providing background music for a small gathering. The Soundcore Motion X600 is in the minority of Bluetooth offerings insofar as it has the power to keep the music going for a pool party, backyard BBQ, or a gathering of a similar size.
There are some limitations with the Soundcore Motion X600, but it can still give many of thebest portable Bluetooth speakersa run for their money. I’ll dig in a little deeper on why that is, but if you wanted a Bluetooth boombox version, this speaker made by Soundcore (well, really Anker, who owns the brand) is as good as any in filling that niche.
Soundcore Motion X600
The Soundcore Motion X600 is a very good boombox-style portable Bluetooth speaker. Not only does it have enough volume for a decent-sized party, it has a fun spatial audio feature that gives everything extra dimensionality. There’s a lot of EQ customization via the app, though the app has some frustrating limitations. Overall, this durable 50-watt speaker with its mostly quality audio is worth the price of admission.
Price and availability
No matter if you get the Soundcore Motion X600 in Polar Gray, Lunar Blue, or Aurora Green, you’ll have to pay $199.99 to get one. Though you can find cheaper portable Bluetooth speakers that fit the boombox form factor, such as Anker’s own Soundcore Motion Boom, plenty also cost more, particularly from brands like JBL. So, a $200 price tag is not an outrageous asking price for 50 watts of portable music.
Now that Anker has established itself as a go-to brand for gadgets, you can find the Soundcore Motion X600 at most major retailers.
Design and hardware
The Soundcore Motion X600 is clearly built in that boombox mold, yet it’s not a retro design. It’s more cylindrical than boxy and made of premium materials (mostly metal with some hard plastic). It comes with an IPX7 rating, so you can use it in most conditions without worry of it breaking. The seven in the IP rating means it can stay submerged in up to a meter of water for 30 minutes without damage. Essentially, it is pool party approved if that aluminum carrying handle didn’t give that away.
The Soundcore Motion X600 does look a little different from other contemporary portable speakers in one particular way. Its curved grille hiding two drivers has a sleek, modern look. But what really stands out is the small grill centered on the top of the unit. I’ll discuss this later, but this is an extra driver pointing up. When I discuss spatial audio for this speaker, it’s not an algorithm or some virtual processing (though there’s probably some of that going on). It’s the effect you hear from this particular driver mixed in with the ones oriented forward.
Flanking that upward-facing grille on either side are all the physical controls, including power, Bluetooth, spatial audio, bass boost, volume down, play/pause, and volume up. Anker decided to make it easy to see what’s engaged so the buttons light up when engaged. Since this speaker is waterproof, you won’t see actual buttons but indentations in the smooth rubberized plastic that covers the speaker’s top.
Port-wise, there’s just a USB-C for charging and Auxiliary input, so you can connect physically and via Bluetooth.
Features and app
The Soundcore Motion X600 has three features of note to discuss. The first and probably the most interesting is spatial audio. Using that upward-facing speaker mentioned before doesn’t turn your audio from stereo into 5.1 or 7.1. Instead, it works the same way as Dolby Atmos does by sending audio up and out, giving what you’re listening to a sense of height or dimension that’s hard to pin down but makes your hearing more immersive. While I usually consider spatial audio to often be a gimmick, it works well here and ends up being a feature I keep on.
The bass boost is another togglable feature, though it’s a bit more straightforward, doing exactly as expected and boosting the low-end. When engaged, you get a sense of rumble from a speaker that might be big for something portable but still small when you compare it to a usual speaker setup with a lot of bass.
Lastly, the Soundcore Motion X600 does have an accompanying app, the Soundcore app, also used for Anker’s other audio offerings. The functionality of the app for this speaker is a bit limited. you may adjust the volume, something you can do just by using the controls on your Bluetooth source and changing EQ settings.
It comes with four presets and the ability to create custom ones using a nine-band EQ. The EQ not only lets you boost or cut up to eight dB, but you can click on the individual EQ points and change which frequencies to boost or cut.
But that’s about it for the app. You can’t use it to toggle the spatial audio feature. And, though there’s an icon for the battery, it won’t give you specifics of how much battery life is left. While I don’t expect much more out of the app, those two things are quite the oversight that hopefully will get fixed with future iterations of this speaker.
Performance and audio quality
Overall, the Soundcore Motion X600 sounds very good. There’s quite a bit of bass, even some low-end rumble with the bass boost on, that you don’t get with many portable speakers. The highs are clear and detailed enough that you won’t feel like anything is missing.
The one place where the audio is a little underwhelming is in the mids. In the grand scheme of speakers, the Soundcore Motion X600 isn’t that large. And, the larger the driver, the more mids and low-end you’ll get. Therefore, this speaker prioritizes the low-end and high-end while the mid-range is neglected. While not hollow sounding like many speakers that have issues with mids, it’s not quite as rich and full as I would like — the audio can sound a bit thin even when there’s big bass, particularly with mid-range-leaning music like rock.
Using the spatial audio feature somewhat makes up for the lack of mids. The mids aren’t magically filled in when spatial audio is on, but the immersive quality you experience is a nice consolation prize. With spatial audio on, everything sounds more immersive. Since the speaker responsible for that is pointed up, there’s more vertical dimensionality to what you hear without changing the soundstage. You’ll probably want to keep this feature turned on.
Battery and charging
The battery life on the Soundcore Motion X600 is decent, with 12 hours of use before requiring a charge. While alternatives like the LG XBOOM Go have double the battery life, plenty of others, like the Anker Soundcore Flare 2, also have 12 hours.
When using the Soundcore Motion X600, I got a good 18 hours of use on low volume before charging, so you’re able to certainly get plenty of mileage depending on how you use it. Unfortunately, there’s no fast charging, and getting from 0 to 100% over USB-C will take six hours.
The competition
The only real consideration for alternatives is the $200 price tag if you’re in the market for a boombox-style portable Bluetooth speaker. The LG XBOOM Go, which gets 24 hours of battery life, is only $129.48. While cheaper, it doesn’t have that upward-facing driver, so you’re missing out on that spatial audio effect.
If you want to splurge, theBeosound A1 2nd Genmay not be of the boombox variety, but it can still pump out 30 watts of audio. So, while it won’t get quite as loud (and it’s only in mono unless you get a second one to pair with), it sounds great and can provide music for a small gathering.
Should you buy it?
If you want a good-sounding portable Bluetooth speaker with lots of volume, then the Soundcore Motion X600 is ideal. The spatial audio feature is a nice bonus, and it’s the kind of thing you’ll probably keep on the entire time.
This is not audiophile quality, but you won’t spend $200 on a portable speaker and get that. The main drawback sound-wise is the slightly weak mid-range. Otherwise, there’s really not that much to complain about audio-wise. The other issues are just some missing features in the app. At least there’s a powerful EQ section there.
Considering its durable construction and solid IPX7 rating, it can handle most wear and tear, especially if you have it at the side of a pool during a gathering. If you want a good, portable audio solution for parties and decent-sized gatherings, you’ll probably be satisfied with the Soundcore Motion X600.
