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.
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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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I'm a 20 year old college student who listens to music at every possible opportunity. I prefer IEMs to cans and wear them on the subway, between classes, doing school work, working out, and any other time it's socially acceptable to (as well as a few times it's not).
I listen to a bit of everything but usually prefer male vocals and strong bass. I don't know how to describe my tastes by genre so I would say somewhere in the middle of Hozier, early Maroon 5, Bruno Mars, Queen, and Mumford and Sons is my sweet spot.
I hold all of my music on my Samsung S8 and use Poweramp as my main player. Though I conduct all of my tests without EQ, this is my preferred EQ for casual listening:
Some of my test tracks are:
Sail - Awolnation
Somebody That I Used To Know - Pentatonix
Centipede - Knife Party
Rivers and Roads - The Head and the Heart
Hallelujah - Rufus Wainwright
Creep - Radiohead
Killer Queen - Queen
Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen
Hundred - The Fray
Welcome to the Black Parade - My Chemical Romance
Someone Like You - Adele
Gasoline - Halsey
Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes
I listen to a bit of everything but usually prefer male vocals and strong bass. I don't know how to describe my tastes by genre so I would say somewhere in the middle of Hozier, early Maroon 5, Bruno Mars, Queen, and Mumford and Sons is my sweet spot.
I hold all of my music on my Samsung S8 and use Poweramp as my main player. Though I conduct all of my tests without EQ, this is my preferred EQ for casual listening:
Some of my test tracks are:
Sail - Awolnation
Somebody That I Used To Know - Pentatonix
Centipede - Knife Party
Rivers and Roads - The Head and the Heart
Hallelujah - Rufus Wainwright
Creep - Radiohead
Killer Queen - Queen
Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen
Hundred - The Fray
Welcome to the Black Parade - My Chemical Romance
Someone Like You - Adele
Gasoline - Halsey
Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes
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.