Bauhn LED Bluetooth Speaker
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Sound technology comes in two broad flavors: portable and permanent. When I think of permanent, I think of a standard stereo system or perhaps a soundbar. Portable, to me, conjures up everything from earbuds to car stereos to even smartphone speakers.
Some options are designed to maybe blur the lines a little. A boombox is a great example. Boomboxes were introduced in the late 1970s but are associated mostly with the 1980s. They were a status symbol if you had one and could be found in films of the day, even in films you might not expect. A quality boombox could put out enough sound to be a permanent fixture in a room, but it could also be hauled out for a party on the beach.
I would make the case that portable Bluetooth speakers are a spiritual successor to the classic boombox. The compact speakers can stream from other devices, such as tablets, laptops, or, most often, smartphones. If you want big sound for an outdoor gathering, a portable Bluetooth speaker might be able to get you there.
Aldi sells various flavors of Bluetooth speakers as the year goes on. Just in time for the Christmas season, Aldi is selling one of its most (literally) colorful ones. We picked one up to review.
The Bauhn LED Bluetooth Speaker (Product Code: 712775) is an Aldi Find. Each store gets one shipment, and once the shipment is gone, that’s the end of it. If you can’t find any in your local stores, you’re out of luck since Aldi doesn’t ship products through the mail.
In 2024, Aldi charged $9.99 for this speaker. That’s far less than anything I can find on Amazon. We picked one up for review, which we paid for with our own money. We also spent some time with it before writing this up.
About the Speaker:
According to Aldi, the speaker’s features include:
- Bluetooth 5.0
- Color change light FX
- Deep digital base
- FM radio
- “Superior sound”
- Long-lasting battery
- USB rechargeable
The product comes out of the box with the following:
- The speaker
- A USB cord
- Manual
- Warranty card
The warranty is good for one year and is serviced by Migear International Group, a consumer electronics company.
The cord measures less than 20 inches, or under a foot and a half, which is short given where the charging output is on the top. There’s also no charging plug for sockets, so we had to use our own cord and socket charger to get this thing charged.
Build and Feel:
One of the first things I noticed pulling it out of the box is that it’s light. I’ve used other Bluetooth speakers over the years that feel more substantial. This one is not. There doesn’t feel like there’s much inside. Make of that what you will.
A second thing I noticed is that mine didn’t sit entirely flush on a table. The seams in the plastic molding on the base are a hair off, with the effect that the speaker will tilt a little forward and back while upright. It didn’t fall over, but it also didn’t feel as stable as I would like it to be.
The speaker has four buttons on the face: one marked MODE as well as three other buttons. The buttons have different operations depending on what mode you’re in, and the buttons frequently have different operations depending on whether it’s a short press or long press. Volume control, for instance, requires a long press on different buttons. The manual is really important for understanding all that, so you’ll want to consult it as you familiarize yourself with the speaker.
On top, there are four inputs: a USB slot for connecting music storage, a TF card input, the DC power input (micro USB), and an auxiliary port for input to the speaker using a 3.5 mm cable. The on / off switch is also on top.
When I first flipped it on, I was greeted by an obnoxiously loud male voice telling me: “POWER ON,” followed by an announcement that “THE BLUETOOTH DEVICE IS READY TO PAIR.” There is no way to turn down the volume of this voice, and my family quickly got aggravated with me each time I turned it on. (I resorted to putting the speaker face-down on the couch when I went to use it.)
Operations:
The speaker has three modes: Bluetooth, MP3, and FM radio.
Bluetooth is the main event on this speaker, and I found it to be painless. When I turned on the speaker, I was able to pair it to my phone without trouble, and once it was paired, turning it off and back on caused it to reconnect to my phone automatically. I had no hiccups playing things from my phone to the speaker, with volume control available either through long-pressing the backward and forward buttons on the speaker or through the volume rockers on my phone.
Sound was good, if not great. Highs and mids were decent enough. The bass won’t win any awards, a contrast to other higher-level Bluetooth speakers I’ve used. That’s what you get for $10, I suppose.
The glowing light was a cute addition, if mostly window dressing. It looks cool and you can cycle through some light styles by short-pressing the mode button. I’m not sure it really syncs with the music or anything cool like that; it just makes cool cycling light patterns while it’s on. You can also turn it off if you want.
As for the rest of the modes? I did not test the card mode, which I imagine is probably the mode most users will use the least. I did test the auxiliary port, the USB port, and the FM radio.
The auxiliary port works. When I plugged in a phone using a 3.5 mm cable, it declared “AUXILIARY INPUT MODE” and at that point I could play through that port.
I could not get the USB port to work. I tried two different USB thumb drives with MP3s in the root folder of each and I couldn’t get either of them to play music. One of them flashed briefly, then winked out; the other flashed like it was on. Neither of them made sound. I also plugged my phone to the speaker via USB, but like the drives I couldn’t get music through it.
The FM radio was, to put it politely, a mess. When I reached that mode the speaker (loudly) declared “RADIO MODE,” but I found it frustrating to cycle through. I was only able to get it to pull up a couple of stations despite being in a metro area with dozens of them. It doesn’t help that there is no display, so you don’t know where the tuner is even searching.
The Verdict:
The Bauhn LED Bluetooth Speaker has a few things going for it. It does Bluetooth and a 3.5 mm auxiliary port well enough. The sound is adequate. And the light part is cute. For $10, that might be all you need, especially with a 1-year warranty in play.
However, some of the other listed features just don’t work. I couldn’t get the USB port to work with two different thumb drives or a phone. I couldn’t get the FM radio to work properly. And it has some other annoyances, including a slightly wobbly base and voice announcements that are loud and grating.
Whether this is worth buying will depend on what features matter to you, and how you feel about the imperfections. With this price tag, it will depend on the shopper.
I stumbled across two extremely similar products elsewhere:
https://iliveelectronics.com/speakers/ilive-wireless-tailgate-speaker-isb199b.html
https://tzumi.com/product/okko-soundboost/
The Aldi speaker is less than half as much as the least expensive of the two similar (nearly identical) speakers.
Anyway, I picked up a pair of the Aldi speakers, because you can supposedly use them in tandem and get real stereo. They’re charging, but appear to lack any indicator to tell when they are fully charged, so I haven’t tried using them yet.
On their top, they have a female USB-A port (apparently it can play mp3s off a thumb drive, not sure), a TF card slot (I think this is the same as MicroSD), a usb charging port (it’s either mini or micro, I can’t tell them apart just by looking at them), an audio-in jack (1/8″, I think), and an on/off switch.
It came with a very short “manual” and a charging cable – male USB-A to male USB mini or micro.
I guess I’m right about the charging indicator. It doesn’t have it lol
You can try it without fully charging it.
How do I get the deep digital bass? To me it sounds normal without any bass.
Thanks
OK, I’ve used these a few times, and they are better than the price would suggest.
Sound quality is fine, not exceptional. I’ve listened to a podcast and to music, these are significantly better than my laptop’s built in speakers (low bar, I know), which is what I hoped for. I kept the volume at 10%-15%, and it was loud enough for my use. I tried going louder, and at 50% it was too loud to tolerate.
You can use them in tandem and get actual stereo. Turn on first speaker and pair it with the host device, then turn on the second speaker and press the play/pause/scan button on the second speaker twice. This is not what the instructions say to do, btw.
When you first turn them on, they yell at you: “POWER ON,” at max volume. Not ideal. So, expect that to happen.
When they are paired, changing the light pattern on one speaker also changes the light pattern on the other speaker.
Anyway, I think I’ve got $20 worth of entertainment out of them already.
Also, I don’t know about the ‘deep digital bass,’ I suspect this is merely a marketing phrase rather than an actual feature. I haven’t found a setting for enhancing bass on the speaker itself. If you use VLC to play files, you can use its internal equalizer to alter the sound characteristics (boost bass, whatever) – might be your best bet.
Purchased my speaker about a month ago. It was working great till today when the speaker kept crackling then would go out then come back with static. Still trying to get it working.
I guess I wasn’t lucky with this purchase. Can’t return it either!
Why can’t you return it?
Already threw out the box and receipt.
Throwing away the box maybe makes it harder, but Aldi is good about taking returns without a receipt, especially if you tell them it stopped working. They typically give you store credit. https://www.aldireviewer.com/can-you-return-a-product-to-aldi-without-a-receipt/
Also, remember that this comes with a one-year warranty. If you contact the warranty provider, they may refund you. Unfortunately, you usually need to hang on to your receipt to show proof of purchase. I usually keep my receipts in a file for a little while just in case.