Page 4 - Conclusion
In the quest for water resistance, I think Turcom has taken reasonable steps to bring forward a party machine like the AcoustoShock HR-903. Starting from the top, we have a solidly built speaker. It is big and has some weight to it, but the HR-903 is portable enough. It definitely feels rugged too, and our water testing proves it is capable of taking a splash or two without suffering any damage. Next, using the wireless speaker is generally quite good, with all the nice features such as NFC tap to pair, calling capabilities, and even a pop out handle to move the speaker around. In terms of connections, we have a sufficient number, including both wireless and wired audio and a USB out to charge your devices. A regular DC input seemed out of place, as I have become accustomed to everything being charged via USB, but it does mean the speakers charge in a timely fashion. Battery life is good and runs as rated. As we turn our ears to the audio performance, I would rate the Turcom AcoustoShock HR-903 as average. You might be confused, especially with the hard time I gave the HR-903 with its questionable balance and lacking clarity, but I have to say it is adequate for a party-like environment, where people like a louder sound overall. Do not get me wrong, this is not an audiophiles dream, but for the right audience, the HR-903 is quite the fun sounding speaker. Even so, there are a few things I would still change. For one, with the audio performance, it would have still been nice to see a tad less bass, as it even overpowered the treble at times. Fixing its clarity may be a hard thing to do, especially if it compromises water resistance, but if there is any way to clean it up, it would have been nice. However, the real unfortunate part of the HR-903 is the button functionality. Not only were the buttons too sensitive to touch, any water hitting the buttons made them unusable. Why would you make a water resistant speaker with buttons that do not work properly when wet? I think this is the one thing Turcom should aim to fix even above the audio quality. At a retail price of $130 USD at press time, the Turcom AcoustoShock HR-903 is definitely not cheap, but features do come at a price. In my personal opinion, a few trade offs were made in order to keep the Turcom AcoustoShock HR-903 water resistant, but the whole package needs to be executed in a better manner.
Turcom provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
APH Review Focus Summary:
6/10 means A product with its advantages, but drawbacks should not be ignored before purchasing.
5/10 means An average product with no real advantages; drawbacks and advantages just seem to cancel each other out.
-- Final APH Numeric Rating is 5.5/10
Please note that the APH Numeric Rating system is based off our proprietary guidelines in the Review Focus, and should not be compared to other sites.
The Turcom AcoustoShock HR-903's greatest strength of water resistance is also the source of its downfall, mired by functionality problems and lots of area for improvement in audio quality.
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Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware
3. Subjective Audio Analysis
4. Conclusion
