WOW Audio is an emerging electronics brand in the Philippines, offering a range of sound solutions that balance performance and affordability. While the brand may be new, the team behind it, AV Solutions Corporation (AVSC), are industry veterans. Established in 1999, their videoke brands WOW! Fiesta and Grand Videoke are staples of electronics stores and malls nationwide.
Their latest release, the WOW Audio Jive, is a portable party speaker designed for casual events, outdoor gatherings, and personal entertainment. With features like Bluetooth 5.0, True Wireless Stereo (TWS) pairing, IPX4 water resistance, and dynamic LED lights, the JIVE promises a fun and immersive audio experience at a reasonable price point of ₱9,990 in the Philippines.
Build Quality and Design
The WOW Audio Jive sports a rugged design with a durable hard plastic body that’s both lightweight (4 kg) and portable. The front is protected by a sturdy metal grill, while the top section houses control buttons and connectivity ports. Despite its simple aesthetic, the Jive incorporates a black matte finish with glossy accents around the control area, providing a sleek yet functional look.
One of the notable features is the speaker’s IPX4 splash-proof rating, making it resistant to light rain and splashes—ideal for outdoor use at pool parties or beach outings. The rear of the speaker has a convenient hole for easy portability, compensating for the lack of a traditional handle.
While the placement of the ports (two mic inputs, AUX, USB, and SD card slots) on the top may be convenient for some, we feel it would be more practical if they were located on the back for a cleaner look.
Also, since the JIVE was meant to be used at parties, a clean top console would leave space for mobile phones and tablets
Audio Quality
For its compact size, the WOW Audio Jive delivers impressive sound quality, pumping out up to 55W of power at its peak. It’s equipped with an 8-inch woofer and two 1.5-inch tweeters, providing a well-rounded sound profile with punchy bass. The mids and highs could be better – understandably, the JIVE is designed to cater to a wide range of audio playback – including music, movies, vocals, guitars, and even gaming.
The speaker’s bass reflex cabinet layout enhances low-end response, making it perfect for music genres with deep bass, action-heavy shows and movies, and gaming. You can really feel the vibrations, even at low volume. We find it comfortable enough for small rooms around 10-15 sqare meters at 20-30% loundess. Oher rooms start shaking at around 50%.
WATCH: WOW! Audio JIVE TWS test
When we tried tuning it up to 100% during our TWS test, two of our neighbors went out to stare at us with puzzled looks. We know, it’s loud. We had to test it, we’re sorry. Hit play to watch our TWS test video below.
When we auditioned the JIVE, we immediately noticed the difference in quality between wired and wireless mode. Connecting it via 3.5mm audio jack sounded like lifing a veil off the JIVE. Its mids and highs sounded more refined, suggesting that the drivers were actually capable of putting out better dynamic range, but it was just being held back by the lower bandwidth afforded by Bluetooth.
Wireless performance is still satisfying, as long as you don’t think too much about it – ignorance is bliss, they say. Its signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of ≥80dB ensures minimal distortion, even at higher volumes, though we could not help but notice a small amount noise with volume at 0. This tells us that perhaps electricity is never competely cut off at zero.
One of the JIVE’s standout features is the ability to pair two speakers via TWS for a stereo sound experience, offering enhanced immersion when watching movies or enjoying karaoke. According to WOW Audio, the two speakers can be seprated by up to 10 meters, or roughly 32.8 feet apart.
This checks out in our own TWS test, where we it continued to play all the way to 100 feet apart.
Features
The WOW Audio Jive boasts an array of features that cater to different use cases:
- True Wireless Stereo (TWS): Allows pairing of two Jive speakers for a true left-right stereo experience, ideal for larger events or home entertainment setups.
- Dynamic LED Party Lights: The speaker comes with four color-changing LED light modes, adding a visual flair to any event. The lights can be turned off to extend battery life.
- Multiple Connectivity Options: In addition to Bluetooth 5.0, the Jive supports AUX, USB, SD cards, and FM radio, making it highly versatile. However, wired data communication via USB-A or USB-C is not supported.
- Splash-proof Rating (IPX4): Provides protection from splashes and light rain, making it suitable for outdoor use.
The combination of portability and IPX4 ingress protection expands the JIVE’s utility to include outdoor playback near water or even rough weather. In a tropical country like the Philippines, this provides an extra layer of security, especially during the monsoon. Imagine a situation where it is being used as PA speakers and it starts to rain.
Being able to use it beside the pool or by the beachfront should be a given, but in the process of doing this review, it shocked us that there are party speakers out there with no IPS rating.
Battery Life
The speaker is powered by a 7.4V / 5400mAh lithium battery, providing up to 10 hours of playtime at mid-volume with the lights off, or 6.5 hours with the dynamic party lights on. This is sufficient for most events, and the 5-6 hour charging time is reasonable given the battery capacity.
We tested this ourselves and discovered that for daily use as desktop or TV speakers, it can go up to two or even three days on a single charge. This is because of two things: first, we found it sufficient to keep the speakers at 20-30% volume, so it’s very power efficient.
WATCH: WOW! Audio JIVE battery life test
Second, it actually has a built-in power management system, where it automatically powers off when not in use, conserving battery life. This is another notable feature that sould be highlighted more, but we did not find it being talked about anywhere, even on the official product page.
So we’re not exactly sure how it works, all we know is that it automatically turns off when there’s nothing playing after a minute or two.
Officially, the JIVE supposedly at 5V though we were unable to find any information about its ampereage, so we went ahead and used an intelligent charger like the UGREEN NEXODE RG to findo ut that it normally charges at 1A for roughly 5W of charging speed.
Sure, you can always carry a powerbank, but at this rate, it takes roughly 5-6 hours to fully charge the WOW! Audio JIVE from zero, which honestly feels way too long. We do not want to wait half a day to charge this, so we went ahead and tried a fast charger like the realme SuperDART charger.
We were pleasantly surprised to discover that it can actually go all over 2A, for charging speeds of up to 11-12W.
We have charged our units this way several tims with no issues. However, since fast charging is not officially supported, we would not recomend doing this unless absolutely necessary.
Takeaway
The WOW! Audio Jive is a well-rounded, portable speaker that delivers powerful sound indoors and outdoors.
Because it is so well-rounded, you can use it for almost any situation imaginable: as desktop speakers, as part of a home theater system, for house parties and videoke, pool parties, as PA speakers during events, or as a guitar or instrument pick-up when playing gigs.
We even discovered during the course of doing this review that it might be viable as car speakers or as sound system for your bike or e-bike!
Best of all, it is easy to upgrade to a true, 2-channel system with stereo separation by pairing another JIVE via its TWS feature.
At ₱9,990, the WOW! Audio JIVE is an attractive alternative when compared to more expensive brands like JBL, LG, Sony, or Marshall. Its main competitor, the JBL Partybox Encore, costs double for similar features.
If you consider the fact that the JIVE only costs about as much as the smaller JBL Charge 5, then perhaps that would be enough to think twice before taking the plunge into the world of portable speakers.
WOW Audio JIVE specs
- Speaker Power: 55W
- Bluetooth Version: 5.0
- Party Light Mode: 4 Color-Changing LED Light Modes
- Music Format: MP3, WAV, APE
- Splash-proof Rating: IPX4
- Stereo Pairing: True Wireless Stereo (TWS)
- Frequency Response: 90Hz-20kHz
- Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR): ≥80dB
- Power Input: Type C 5V
- Dimensions: 240 mm x 315 mm x 220 mm (WxHxD)
- Weight: 4 kg
- Battery: 7.4V / 5400mAh Lithium Battery
- Runtime: 10 hours (LED off, mid volume); 6.5 hours (LED on, mid volume)
- Charging Time: 5-6 hours
- Speaker Configuration: 1 x 8” Woofer + 2 x 1.5” Tweeters
- Cabinet Layout: Bass Reflex
- Connectivity: AUX In, Mic, Bluetooth, USB, SD Card, FM Radio, TWS, DSP, Party Lights
- Warranty: 12 months
- Price (Philippines): ₱9,990.00