BlueAnt Soundblade: My desk is pumping and the whole house can hear it

For those who love to listen to music on their laptop or desktop, this really loud soundbar from BlueAnt might have legs.

BlueAnt's newest soundbar for desktops, the Soundblade.

When I first began reviewing soundbars I really struggled to understand who would buy one.

Today I own three. Well, 2½ depending on what you’d call the BlueAnt Soundblade.

The new soundbar is the Melbourne-based company’s bid to enter the home study with a speaker that will leave your desktop for dead.

But we are still curious as to whether this one will rightfully take its place under a monitor or end up elsewhere in the house, as this one did for us.

This device arrives with two 15W speakers and a 30W subwoofer. It’s 2.1 channel sound.

The Soundblade has three input modes; Bluetooth (5.3), auxiliary and USB-C. And it has three modes: music, gaming and movies.

To our ears there wasn’t a great deal of difference other than heavier base, especially in gaming mode.

BlueAnt’s Soundblade retails at $299.

The Soundblade has hit the shelves with a retail price of $299, and that might seem pricey, but people are willing to fork out big for their home office.

There were two reasons for my prior assessment: one, I am yet to own or live in a house with a home cinema and two, I still thought the home stereo had legs. How wrong was I?

Spotify is now by far the most popular application used with Samsung soundbars, and it’s likely other manufacturers would see the same result.

The metre-long devices, typically wall-mounted or sitting on a TV cabinet, have replaced the old-fashioned home stereo and the basketball-sized speakers that went with them.

What’s in the box? A power cable, a USB-C to USB-C cable, a USB-C to USB-A cable and a remote control. On the back is an auxiliary port and a USB-C port.

As for the cons, BlueAnt is great at top volume but doesn’t seem to have a great range of audio, especially at lower levels. This is something we found with both the Soundblade and the X1.

The Soundblade comes in a varity of colours.

I’m also part of a generation that feels it is absolutely necessary to have at least two things going at all times.

When I go to the gym I listen to music, when I work often the news is on the TV in the background and even when I shower, there’s a bluetooth speaker to play what’s typically my song of the week.

And with that comes an entirely different set of troubles, one being that BlueAnt has pretty distinct ways of letting you know it’s in use.

When it starts up a didgeridoo plays before it tells you whether the Bluetooth is connected, which is fine. However, when you turn it off, in a deep voice it will say “powering down” in a voice that’s enough to creep you out.

The verdict? We think it makes a great home stereo with quality sound, one that’s loud enough to entertain a small house gathering. While we wouldn’t buy it purely to improve audio in the home study, we would as a home stereo.