ARCHEER A320S Bluetooth Speaker Stereo Pairing with Super Bass, Built-in Mic, 20 Hour Playtime

The A320S from Archeer is a handsomely designed Bluetooth speaker featuring rounded bamboo panels on both the front and back. Rubberized control buttons are on the top center along with an LED power/Bluetooth indicator and mic.

Aux, charging port, battery indicator, and reset button are located on the back. There is a cloth like material that covers the sides, top and bottom of the unit.



Build quality in general seems to be good. The bamboo panels give the A320S an earthy look and robust feel with some heft.

I would have liked to have some kind of protection over the speaker drivers as they are bare. Too easy to damage the drivers by accident.



Despite the overall build quality seeming solid, Archeer really dropped the ball in the design of the bass port on the back of the unit. It is made out of plastic and is prone to rattling with certain types of music and possibly movies as well. This will be discussed in more depth in the sound section.


The overall sound of the A320S is pleasant and very warm sounding. It's a veiled sound lacking a bit of detail, but there is enough detail to enjoy many types of content. Volume level is good for the size. Will definitely be able to fill an average room in a home with sound.

Mid bass tones are the focal point of the sound which are undoubtedly enhanced by the bamboo paneling giving an extra bit of resonance and oomph in that area. The bass is a bit slow and flabby, but still pleasant. There is no real sub bass response as the A320S only reaches down to around 80hz, but the bass still comes across fairly strong. There is a faux sub bass like response due to the resonance.

***There is an issue present when listening to music with resonant bass, strong kick drums, and especially hard hitting solo drums. Those who listen to genres such as Hip Hop/Rap, modern R&B, EDM, etc. may often deal with a persistent rattle coming from the bass port. It happens frequently and annoyingly enough, even with relatively low volumes (25% volume, EQ off on an iPhone, and with absolutely no obstructions to the bass port), that I would suggest to anyone who listens to these or similar genres to just not bother with this model. It's a major oversight and a complete deal breaker for me, and one of the main reasons for docking points. It's imperative that audio companies make products that are suitable for all genres and do thorough testing before releasing a product to the masses.***

Mids and highs are veiled, and can be a bit obscured by the forwardness and resonance of the bass. I don't mind this too much with music as it makes the feel of the music more the focus rather than the detail. However, dialogue in videos and movies might be difficult to make out at times.

The A320S has the ability to sync up with a second A320S unit for a true stereo experience. I enjoyed using this feature. One can really get a nice loud volume if they wished with two of the A320S synced. Just be aware that the sound emitting out of these speakers can be very directional making it difficult to maintain a good sweet spot between the left and right channels. I'm guessing the very directional aspect of the sound is due to the speaker drivers being quite recessed into the bamboo panel.

Just as a final comment on the sound, the overall sound of the A320S is quite resonant. If one is prone to headaches from certain resonant frequencies and/or dislikes boomy cardboard like sound, I would suggest staying away from this unit.


Bluetooth performance in the A320S is very good. Syncing to phones, computers, etc. is quick with no issues. However, automatic re-sync with last paired device doesn't always seem to take. I experienced no audio dropouts, and the wireless range is fairly close to as advertised at around 10m.

The wireless sync between a pair of A320S for true stereo sound is very good. Once they are initially paired to each other, automatic re-sync (when in range) works flawlessly. The range between two synced A320S apart from each other is about the same as the general Bluetooth range of around 10m. One may have to put the second speaker into Bluetooth pairing mode before attempting the initial sync operation.

One thing I especially liked is that the dual speaker mode can also be used when in Aux mode. This is a definite plus if you have two of these units and want to enjoy content from a non-Bluetooth device.

When two A320S speakers are paired to each other, all the controls on one speaker has the exact same effect on the other. Volume, track skipping (Bluetooth mode only), power, etc. only need be adjusted on one unit to effect both. Quite a handy feature.

Audio sync with video content while in Bluetooth mode is good providing one is only using a single A320S. When using two A320S in wireless stereo mode, there is an additional delay in the audio leaving sound and video a bit out of sync. A bit of sync issues may arise even in Aux mode when two A320S are paired to each other.

When taking calls on the speaker, I stood a few feet away from the A320S and was told I could be heard pretty well on the other end. When it came to hearing calls on the A320S, audio quality was sufficient, but not ideal. Voices heard in calls lack clarity in a similar way as voices heard in movie content.

The A320S comes with an Aux cord, USB charging cable and a nylon carry bag.




The A320S is an audio product with a lot going for it and a lot against it. It has a great feature set and a nice design. It also has a major flaw with the poorly designed and implemented bass port.

For those who listen to music like Hip Hop/Rap, modern R&B, EDM, or anything with strong resonant bass and strong kick drums, just do yourself a favor and don't even consider this product at all.

For those wanting the A320S as a dual speaker system for watching movies, this is not ideal as there is additional audio/video sync delay in that mode, as well as some possible speech intelligibility issues due to the lack of clarity.

For those who listen to more melodic, less bass and drum heavy genres, the A320S may be a good purchase for you as you may not have any issue at all with the bass port.

EDIT 1:

LNuneek reached out to me and told me that the bass ports rattled when he tested the A320S. We tested and found that the bass port rattles on both of our pairs of speakers only when the bass port is blocked or when the source volume goes above ~60% with the volume maxed on the speakers themselves.

I hadn't noticed this before he reached out to me because I keep the speakers on my desk away from the wall and usually don't turn the volume up that high. Because the rattling does not affect the way I listen to music, I thought it best to mention this issue but not change my 5-star rating; however, depending on your listening preferences, you might want to take this rating with a grain of salt.

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I probably don’t need to say this because I’m on Head-Fi, I love listening to music and making it sound as good as possible on a college budget. After doing research and starting a small IEM collection of my own, I started posting reviews of some of them here. After my first few, Lucille from Archeer reached out to me to see if I was interested in their A320S speakers. I’ve had a total of one speaker for about three years - the DKnight MagicBox II - and was interested to see if I could upgrade from what was called (when I bought it) the “Best Sub-$100 Speaker”, so I accepted her offer.

Archeer is not just an audio equipment company but also makes outdoor goods, cellphone accessories, home goods, and other consumer electronics along with speakers, IEMs, cables, and microphones. I have worked with Archeer before and own their AH28 IEMs (I’ll update this with a review link once I write about them) and their monocular telescope; however, I had never worked with Lucille before. Additionally, despite my history with the company and receiving the A320S in exchange for my review, all opinions expressed are completely mine and I always write reviews as unbiasedly and honestly as I can.

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At the time of this review, the A320S is $102.99 on Amazon, though I would recommend getting a second one as well.

When I received the package from Archeer, I thought the box was much bigger than it should have been. When I opened it, I found two A320S speakers instead of one - I thought Lucille had accidentally shipped me two. After reading the Amazon listing again (after initially being confused about the difference between the A320 and the A320S) and the very helpful user manual that came with the speakers, I realized that I had received a pair because they can pair with each other to create, as Archeer puts it, “truly wireless stereo”. The review I’m writing is about the pair of A320S speakers as a unit; you can find reviews for them individually on the A320 page.

Packaging and Accessories:

The packaging is simplistic but avoids unnecessary frills, likely reducing cost, while providing excellent protection. The speakers came in cardboard boxes with the Archeer logo, model number, and a small drawing of the speakers on the front. The boxes open to show the speakers, covered by a plastic bag and padded by a thick Styrofoam cutout on each side.




Behind the speakers are the accessories that come with the A320S - a drawstring carrying bag, the user manual, a 3.5mm audio cable, a micro-USB charging cable, and small plastic “feet” you can put on the bottom of the speaker to keep it from moving or sliding.



Build:

Right out of the box, I was struck by the looks of these speakers. They are minimalistic but very attractive and fit well on a table or a desk, which are the two places I keep them for the most part. The front is a bamboo panel with three cutouts for the two 5W tweeters and the 15W subwoofer. The Archeer logo is lightly embossed on the bottom right corner of the front panel but it is small enough that it’s easy to miss at first glance. Though the panels on my two speakers are different colors (one lighter and one darker), their design is identical and shows off the grain of the wood beautifully.



The back panel is made of the same bamboo; it has a small black bar across the top that has AUX and micro-USB inputs, a reset button (that I haven’t had to use yet), and a charging light. There is also a bass port on the bottom left.



The rest of the speaker is covered in a canvas-like fabric that is both aesthetically appealing and serves as a good damper for the ridiculous amount of bass the A320S has. Surrounding a blue connectivity light are printed logos of the usual buttons - power, pause/play, volume up, and volume down - as well as microphone that works surprisingly well. I was initially worried that the buttons themselves would be buried in the unit and wouldn’t have good tactile response but I was pleased to find I was wrong.



Connectivity and Battery:

The process to connect the A320S speakers was a bit difficult to figure out at first - turning one on at a time and setting them in pairing mode individually - but I’m pleased to say they function as one now, with the darker speaker being the left channel and the lighter speaker the right one. After the first time, they pair together automatically and work in complete tandem; both speakers respond when I adjust the volume or hit the pause/play button on one. They also pair to each other whether connected to my phone via Bluetooth or aux (though there is a constant low hum in the background when connected via aux). However, make sure they are on before connecting the aux cable - the speakers don’t work if you plug the cable in and then turn them on.

The A320S comes with Bluetooth 4.0, claiming a pretty standard maximum range of 10m/33ft. However, the A320S stands out from all other Bluetooth devices I have for one reason - the connection has yet to cut out, no matter where in my apartment I am. Even if I’m in a different room, they stay connected and I have yet to experience either speaker lag or hiccup.

I’m the kind of person who starts to worry when my phone battery drops below 50%, so a good battery life is very important to me. Each speaker comes with not one but two 4400mAh batteries, promising a 20-hour battery life at 50% volume. When these are on my desk, I lower the volume and they’ve lasted about 17 hours so far from a full charge; when I put these on my table I had to turn up the volume so they lasted for about 15 hours. The battery also doesn’t leak very much when it’s off (I always turn it off when not in use), unlike other speakers I’ve used.

However, the enormous battery life comes with a tradeoff; these take over 5 hours to fully charge (Archeer says 6.5 but they went a bit faster for me when I used a good wall adapter). You can use the speakers while they charge but Archeer recommends leaving them off, which I did.

Sound:

Either due to my focus on/fascination with budget IEMs or due to having only one speaker before this or due to anything else, I’d never truly had the out-of-head listening experience that I see so often described on Head-Fi. However, I can confidently say that listening to these speakers for the first time changed that.

The most impressive part - and the one that immediately stood out to me - is the stereo effect of the speakers and the soundstage it delivered. I first tested the A320S by sitting in a chair with a speaker on each arm, facing each other. I was immediately blown away by the clarity and detail of the sound, which seemed like it was coming from all around me rather than the speakers. I could clearly hear left from right, more forward sounds from more recessed ones, and could even pick out where individual instruments were coming from. The stereo effect lessened when I moved out of the direct middle of the speakers but was and is still strong no matter where I am in relation to them.

No matter where I put the speakers, the music fills the entire space. That’s mostly due to the powerful bass, which booms rather than thumps. Rather than fight for attention, though, the sub-bass and mid-bass complement each other nicely and give low-end sounds a rich, warm quality. The bass also has a level of detail I didn’t think was possible and can distinguish between a bass guitar and a standing bass with ease, which many bass-focused IEMs (and even my other bass-focused speaker) cannot do.

The outstanding detail of the A320S is even more present in the mids. I can clearly hear how hard a guitar was strummed and the force with which a piano key was pressed, which gives music a whole new level of clarity I hadn’t heard before. Similarly, vocals come through clear and bright; it sounds like I’m listening to them live rather than through a recording, especially when I can hear a singer breathe in between phrases.

After listening to bass-heavy songs and hearing the sheer power of the subwoofer I expected the treble to be distorted and recessed; I couldn’t have been more wrong. The treble is light and seemingly weightless, highlighting the detail of the sound. Despite the speakers’ v-shaped sound, the highs and mids blend together seamlessly. Female vocals also sound great, and when combined with the crystal-clear treble, stand out whether the song is a ballad or pop.


Final Thoughts:

Archeer did a great job with the A320S. These speakers are the best of all worlds - beautiful design, great connectivity, enormous battery life, powerful bass, crystal-clear mids and highs, a mind-blowing stereo sound, and detail I’ve never heard before from any other source. I can only think of one drawback of the top of my head - the charging time - but struggle to find any others.