Audio - Music

Audio - MUSIC

Overall the Wavemaster CUBE mini will surprise you with the fact that it has a rather dynamic and detailed sound, perhaps a little flat sometimes. Home cinema wise you will miss LFE from a SUB, but overall for a stereo kit at this price it sounds reasonably pure and authentic, while at the same time a little tonally moist. Again, bass output is also not the deepest when we talk LFE levels at 20Hz, but was far more dynamic and enjoyable than you would expect from a kit like this.

Today's audio palette:

• Hello - Adele
• What do you mean? - Justin Bieber
• Lush Life - Zara Larsson
• Can't feel my face - The Weeknd
• Hideaway - Kiesza
• Runnin' (lose it all) - Naughy Boy ft Beyonce & Arrow Benjamin

Hello - Adele - 4:55  We start off with the number one hit in Q4 2015, Adele is making a supah-dupah marketed comeback with her new album and hit song 'Hello'. We can't help wondering... what would Lionel Richie think, eh? The song starts very nice with crispy sharp piano that actually sounds warm. When Adele starts singing "Hello it's me", nothing, I repeat nothing could be improved. It's full and pontifically sounding. Once drum and bass kicks in again that full audio spectrum remains impressive. The bass is dynamic and flexible enough to fill the soundstage properly. This kind of sound for a relatively cheap 2.0 kit its not at all disappointing Sir - not at all.

Justin Bieber - What do you mean? - 3:27  Good lord, yes I am adding the beeeebmeister into the mix of reference tunes. How on earth did he evolve from cheesy songs for female children (and likely a few y-chromosome ones as well) to a respected singer? Let's call it what it is, his last album is good, really good and as such I will respect the man for what he has become, an icon in the music industry. We start 'What do you mean'. The clockety-clack sound the song starts with sounds a bit flat, but... really is it the recording? Once the lyrics kick in and my soulmate Justin starts singing, the beat and bass kick in as well, "pom-pom-pom-pom". The sound is good and if you keep things at normal volume levels, really good even. One problem with the CUBE mini is that with a song like my bro Justin here offers, you need to go loud, really loud. And that is the one quirk with this kit. Don't get me wrong, it offers plenty of volume, but if you wanna go loud and bring the house down - the bass will start to distort. Keep it in line at more normalized neighbour friendly levels and you will notice the somewhat more dynamic quality, wider sound-stage the speakers offer. But it doesn’t thump quite as deep as with a proper subwoofer, of course. But it's good, pretty darn good. Yep Justin, that's what I meant.

Zara Larsson - Lush life - 3:21  'Lush life' starts a little flat, but then again I am the kind of guy with a 1400 Watt - 5.1 surround kit backing me up audio wise. With this song we can hear a good sounding and powerful bass-line, but it lacked a little bit of harmonic richness with the vocals. It’s hard to describe, but also understand I am really nitpicking here. Well, let's just move on to Michael Jackson, ehm... The Weeknd I mean.

The Weeknd - Can't feel my face - 3:36  The most funky tune of the summer has got to be the weekend with "I can't feel my face... no moooooohoooooooor", ahem. Can we all just agree that it is a superb song that mandatorily and involuntarily will move your feet and hips? But can we also agree the guy mimics Michael Jackson from A to Z (or ABC easy as 123 if you prefer). The rhythm, the bass-lines, the high pitched synced voices up-to the dance moves... EVERYTHING breathes and reminds me of the King of Pop really. And that bothers me, Michael is still my bro yo? You know, even in the video when the man lights himself on fire, who else was thinking hey... Michael Jackson and the Pepsi commercial where his hair got caught on fire? Come on... you know it right? Anyway, respect where respect is due - what a terrific song it is and what a hit. 'Can't feel my face' starts with an overdriven distortion that caught me off guard, for speakers to emulate distortion over a bass line is difficult. It sounds good, then when the singer starts singing he sounds good, rich voice detail, the stereo sound feels a little flat though, I assume it is the actual recording. Once the "Ooooh, I can't feel my face when I'm with you" bass-line thumps in, it sounds OK yet could use a little more clarity. The bass-line will certainly not rattle your rectum, but you can certainly feel something down there moving with this song as that funky tune is making me wanna move.

Kiesza - Hideaway - 4:13  This retro chick had the biggest hit of 2014/2015, the razor sharp voice combined with the most dysfunctional clothing I have ever seen in a clip still baffles me. Next to a name I cannot for the life of me pronounce properly, I love Kiesza (no, seriously I really do love her). 'Hideaway' starts with that submarine PING which will get your attention, it draws you immediately to the song, psychologically speaking that was brilliant from the producer. Then the 80íes bassline and WAHWAH synth kicks in and, as lame as it is, it sounds like it was made on a Commodore 64, but true that - it just sounds terrific. Kiesza (who I really love) starts singing, taking me higher than I've ever been before... oooh Kiesza, girl you don't say that stuff like that to the Hilmeister... gawd I just realized what this song is really about. Anyway, let me hideaway this song as I just remembered we are still reviewing speakers here. Much like other dance tunes it is all to be found along the same vein, once "mash it" kicks into the song lyrics the ultimate bass kicks in, it's full, rich and oozes gory detail. I ain’t complaining but then again, it's Kiesza... (who I really love).

Naughy Boy ft Beyonce & Arrow Benjamin - Runnin' (lose it all) - 3:26  Pianos kick in nice and full, and then there's the voice of an angel, yep Beyonce is in da house. When she sings compelling rhyme you will get goosebumps. The intro just sounds fantastic, then the rhythm kicks in... and it sounds like it's playing at a lower bit-rate, the sound started losing some detail somehow. Overall the sound is good, the music enjoyable but the sound lacks a notch of clarity. It's hard to describe but it is massive sounding-with less dynamic room detail in the audio envelope all around. I'll call this one average.

Adam Lambert - Ghost Town - 3:39  We just have to close with my man Adam. 'Ghost Town' is one of these songs that starts in a classic western feel but evolves into a dance freak-fest, I like it. The song starts off with guitar which sounds OK, could be a little more clear sounding I guess. When good ol' Adam starts singing his voice is again clear with a raw edge, just the way you expect it to be. At 0:44 the song transforms into dance, the synth kicks in and it sounds wicked. At 0.53 the bass-drum kicks in. It is followed by a deep dynamic sounding bass, and that is what impresses me with the CUBE mini, the overall sound clarity combined with a Bass that you would just not expect from a kit like this.

Let’s move onto gaming!