Belkin SoundForm Elite Hi-Fi Smart Speaker + Wireless Charger with Alexa, Airplay2 – Black
Original price was: $199.99.$169.99Current price is: $169.99.
Last updated on August 23, 2024 4:40 am Details
Specification: Belkin SoundForm Elite Hi-Fi Smart Speaker + Wireless Charger with Alexa, Airplay2 – Black
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Photos: Belkin SoundForm Elite Hi-Fi Smart Speaker + Wireless Charger with Alexa, Airplay2 – Black
8 reviews for Belkin SoundForm Elite Hi-Fi Smart Speaker + Wireless Charger with Alexa, Airplay2 – Black
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Belkin SoundForm Elite Hi-Fi Smart Speaker + Wireless Charger with Alexa, Airplay2 – Black
Original price was: $199.99.$169.99Current price is: $169.99.
Tore –
I received this product today for free for being a Belkin product reviewer. Setting it up was easy, the bass abd sound of the speakers is amazing. I only had the volume on like 40 percent of its potential and it was loud and sounded great. The charging og my phone wasnt as fast as the super fast charging i get with my charger that came with my phone but it was still decent. I love the look of it and size. I had a google home mini but this will definitely replace it!
RCampbell –
This product has excellent audio at all volume levels that I have tested, at no time did I experience an issue where the music was not clear. I tested the distance of my cell from multiple rooms and the connection remained stable. The setup process was easy and it is nice that you can label the device based on the room you have it located.
The charge process is slow; this is the only thing I saw as an issue.
I know that you have voice recognition available a nice remote would be good if you have your phone charging as you listen to music.
I recommend this product as it would be great for regular use in the home, family gatherings, and parties for music entertaining.
Linksys –
First and foremost this little speaker will surprise you! The sound is really good, I was most surprised by the bass though. It’s obviously not the hard hitting bass, it’s the adds to the music kinda bass. It gives you the since of depth from the music that some small speakers lack. The speaker has Bluetooth 5.0, so you should have a solid and stable connection. Setup is a simple process through the app or you can just go the standard Bluetooth route if you’re not interested in the other features. If you are and you setup through the Belkin app, you can Use Alexa, have multi room support with other speakers and update the speakers firmware. There’s no sound profiles or eq controls in the app though. Alexa works as I would expect, but I only use Alexa for simple stuff like what’s the weather, play music and sometimes news. I like that it’s a simple touch to turn Alexa off and the lights stay lit red when it’s disabled. Having wireless charging built in (up to 10 watts) sets the speaker apart from other smart speakers.
My one knock would be the price, I think the speaker sounds great and I love the wireless charging, but feel it would be a better buy if it was a little less. But, if you like simplicity or want something that will take up less space, then this is it. The Belkin SoundForm Elite is a small little powerhouse of a speaker & phone charger, perfect for a desk, nightstand or heck a tiny home sound system!
Coleycole –
I am so totally impressed with this Speaker/wireless charger. The sound is crisp, beautiful and pretty blown away by the amount of Bass this thing produces. The set up process was easy as could be and quick, which is great for a techy like me…because, I wanna get to playing with the gadgets ASAP! So impressed with the sound. The wireless charging is also great. If anybody has ever used a wireless charger before, they know most times, positioning your phone on the wireless charger is a must because if its not on there right, it wont charge. This speaker doesn’t have that issue. Charges every time without feeling like I’m being OCD with the placement of my phone.
I’m so in love with this speaker, I’m probably going to buy these for holiday gifts for family and friends. Great piece!
CKent –
I’m not sure if this is a smart speaker with a built-in phone charger, or a phone charger with a built-in smart speaker. I mean that in a good way. Normally when you think Belkin, you think connectivity and chargers, not speakers. So usually when a company decides to take something they specialize in and integrate something that they don’t, the latter is usually found wanting. That’s absolutely not the case here.
That may be attributable to the fact that Belkin decided to partner with a company that does specialize in audio. Personally, I’ve never heard of Devialet before, but after looking them up, it seems they’re known for producing great bass. And after hearing this speaker, I believe it. If you were to walk into a room unsuspectedly with one of these playing music, you would never guess that the low frequencies and bass were actually coming out of this small speaker. It’s not going to match a huge surround sound system, but it will definitely amaze you. In fact, I had a quality soundbar with separate subwoofer I used in my office and this actually keeps right up with it and is replacing it.
To say I’m impressed with the sound is an understatement, but that’s not all this speaker does. Being a Belkin, it’s a wireless phone charger too. I have a Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, which is about as big of a phone as you can get, and while it does stick out quite a bit past the back of the speaker, more than enough of it sits on the pad to make it stable, and the wireless charging starts up immediately. My phone is encased in a thick Samsung Rugged case, and the wireless charging still worked right through it. But not just regular charging, my galaxy showed that it was ‘Fast-Charging’.
Finally, it’s smart, meaning it has Amazon Alexa built right into it. When setting this speaker up, I had to download the Belkin Soundform app to get it connected to wi-fi. During the setup process I was able to put in my Amazon credentials. Went into the Alexa app, which I already had for an echo dot in my house, and was able to see the Belkin device right away. After yelling ‘ALEXA’ a bunch of times and thinking it wasn’t working, I found out the microphone for some reason wasn’t on by default, and after turning it on started working just as good as my echo dot.
And that’s what I meant earlier, this smart speaker does all these different things so well, you’d never guess that it’s primarily made by a company best known for chargers and cables.
All that said, there is one big negative I have. And by big I mean the size of the power block. It’s huge and actually the same size as the block for my laptop. I’m guessing it had to be bigger to allow for fast charging and keeping the speaker smaller by having those parts separately in the cord, but it makes it quite unsightly if you want to place it somewhere like a kitchen counter where the outlet is on the backsplash.
One last thing, bluetooth works great too. The sound I heard that I’m still amazed by was coming from Spotify on my phone while connected to the speaker via bluetooth. Of course you can just play music through Alexa too.
MrLowNotes –
First things first. The premium part of this device is its sound quality and that’s what I’m going to start with. Pros, Cons, Comments and Conclusion last.
Sound wise: Nice tight clean low bass and pretty clear high end when at low to about 80% volume level. After that it will start to break up and distort the louder you push it. The device will also start to attenuate the low frequencies once the volume level starts to exceed a certain limit at higher volumes. This helps but it can still break up a little and the mids and high mids start sounding a bit “harsh”. It’s plenty loud enough to fill the average bedroom or kitchen operating within the limits I stated and you will get nice clean audio. Note that this device is Mono and not Stereo. Lacks an analog audio input.
Comparing sound quality to other similar audio equipment I have:
Bose Wave Radio IV: Overall the Bose soundly beats it in my opinion. It gets louder before it starts to break up and it just sounds better. Never harsh and the very high end sounds cleaner to me. You can add an Alexa Dot and have that feature too. It won’t charge your phone but will play a CD, AM radio and FM Stereo. Has an analog audio input the Belkin lacks.
Amazon Alexa Show 8: These things Rock! No kidding. Before I bought a couple of them last year I read reviews and listened in person to one. For the price and value I think it Beats the Belkin. They will get louder before breaking up and sound “about as good”. The bass is the strongest feature of the Belkin sound wise in my opinion. Value wise the Show 8 will do much more but won’t charge your phone.
How I tested. I used my Galaxy Note 10+ with an OEM Samsung dongle to run analog audio to the Bose Wave Radio. I then played music by Alan Parsons, Steel Dan, Donald Fagen, Pink Floyd, ELO, Dire Straits, Heart, Pat Benatar, AC/DC, Alabama, Patsy Cline, Kraftwerk, Jean Michele Jarre, Yello… A little of everything but Rap. I then played the same songs on the Belkin via Bluetooth and went back and forth between the two. I did the same with the Alexa Show 8. EQ setting was flat for all devices.
I also played music in a similar vein from SiriusXM and Amazon Music on all the devices with similar results. Do keep in mind that streaming music online can vary in quality due to the source’s bit rate and EQ settings.
Upon unboxing it has a quick start guide that will tell you to download the app. When you run the app it will tell you what to do to set the device up. It’s pretty easy and I had no problems.
Amazon Alexa features work like they should.
Device feels solid and well made. Power adapter is a little bulky.
It charged up my Note 10+ and wife’s Note 9 pretty fast as expected. However, if you have a case on your phone you may have to remove it for the wireless charging to work. We had to. I do not consider this a negative as it’s the same thing with any other wireless chargers we have used.
Pros: Nice tight bass and clean highs at reasonable volume levels. Gets loud enough to fill a bedroom or kitchen. Works well as a wireless phone charger. Alexa works well. Well made. Easy to set up with its app. RGB / Multicolor LED indicators are easy to see. WiFi and Bluetooth connect without problems.
Cons: Writing on the buttons is hard to impossible to read in dim light or when light is reflected off of the controls at a certain angle. See photos. Volume control is a bit course in the number of steps. Only 4 LEDs to show volume. No EQ presets or way to set EQ manually with the app. No analog audio input.
Comments: Buttons should be illuminated for the price. Bluetooth could use an “in use” indicator. Speaker has rubber pads on the bottom for stability and vibration dampening. Single tweeter fires forward. Speaker is mono and not stereo. Base of the speaker is always warm to the touch even when not playing music or charging a phone. Looks cool.
Conclusion: From a value point of view the Belkin Soundform Elite falls short. $300 is too much for what you get. I really expected better. As I write this review it’s on sale for $200 and that’s more in line. But if I had to choose between it and the Alexa Show 8, which retails at $130 (now at $65), on sound quality and price alone, it’s no contest. Alexa wins. Sound quality wise Bose beats them both. Price wise, Alexa Show 8.
JKinSYR –
Belkin knocks it out of the park with the form and function of this Smart Speaker. Excellent for home or office usage in my opinion.
I’ve got it paired up with my Amazon Alexa and I also have it connected to my iPhone XR via Bluetooth. Both of these initial set ups took very minimal work to get up and running. I really like the dark look of the fabric around the speaker and illuminated 4 dot lights in the front of the speaker which let me know Alexa has heard my commands. My iPhone XR charges upwith QI charging while sitting on the top and stays within view so I can easily read my phone notifications while it charges.
So far I have really been impressed with the deep sound quality and the bass this produces. The smart speaker can really fill the room with some nice quality sound, and plays more on the heavy bass side of things. I like how nice this looks sitting on my table in the home office and it looks upscale. Resembles the Homepod, but has it’s own unique look to it.
Regarding sound quality I wish it would have a way to customize some treble and get some more high notes out of it. I also wish this had some LED illumination behind the touch controls for volume and play buttons. They can be difficult to see in a low lit room or setting.
PRO:
High quality sound
Smart features for streaming
QI charging for applicable phones
CON:
Lack of lit up displays for volume control panel
Mitch –
Well the concept is awesome. Bass and sound is extraordinary until you start pushing it over 50% and then the bass starts falling off rapidly. For the size, I thought it would weigh more but it’s relatively light weight and that makes it feel cheap in my opinion. The mesh is nice, the device looks clean and simple but $299 for this is a bit of a rip off.
The Apple HomePod Mini for $99 is a way better deal. That speaker has much stronger sound for its more compact size and cheaper price. If you want something simple for your desk or nightstand, get a a HomePod Mini or two and save $100-$200. This Belkin product isn’t bad, the price just doesn’t fit.
The charging pad and Alexa integration is really nice (also ha Spotify) and make the device very practical but for how quiet it has to be to perform, it is coming up short. Gen II of this will be better. This product should be under $150, I will likely return it but I’ll give it a few more days. I got this on the deal of the day for $179+ tax but that still seems like too much for the product.
Low volume sounds full, rich and packs a punch but that quickly fades as the volume increases. Also not a fan of the app, it works but I just don’t like it. If you have money to blow then give this a shot. If money is an issue, HomePod Mini will be a better purchase and will have a lot of compatibility with other devices (Apple, Sonos, etc.). If you need integrated charging, this is one of the better package options but don’t expect concert level volumes to fill the room.