My two years at business school were two of the best years of my life. I got to stretch myself in areas I otherwise would not have, and meet people who I know for a fact will change the way the world works. I also, for the second time in my life, lived with 5 other males…Yes, a bunch of men in their late 20s to early 30s lived together for two years with the hope of saving money and extending our childhoods. Now that I think of it, some may even call me a bro (are there Black Bros?).

One of the most critical decisions our house, a group of man-children, had to make up front was to decide on a speaker system. We needed something for house parties. We honestly weren’t sure what type of house parties we were going to throw, but they would be glorious. Were they going to be pleasant get togethers, or huge ragers? Only time and our classmates would tell.

After doing some Amazon research, I came upon the TDK Life on Record Sound Cube. Rated at a whopping 4.7 out of 5 stars (75% of ratings were 5 stars) and selling at $120 at the time, it seemed like a no brainer. What happened next far exceeded my expectations. In typical PM fashion, I’ll define a persona and map out use cases to assess how the Cube stacks up in order to better understand the value of this product to our household.

Introducing the Black Bro

Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to present you with the persona of the Black Bro. The Black Bro is 18 to 35, single, and sociable. He tends to throw a larger percentage of house gatherings than his bro counterparts as a result of music in the surrounding locations not being tailored to his taste. He also spends a decent amount of time grilling heavily seasoned meats that will most likely shorten his lifespan. The Black Bro is typically not an audiophile, but he knows when a speaker system sounds good. Finally, the American Black Bro wears socks with flip flops, which is confusing to every other type of bro.

The Black Bro Use Cases

The Small Get Together

Small get togethers usually span 5 to 10 people within the Black Bro’s network. These days, most of the attendees will have smartphones or tablets with music or streaming services on them. Said attendees wish to play music at a moderate level so they can vibe but still hear each other talk. The setting usually consists of more mellow, softer music like Drake or Miguel so the bros can make solo moves on the women in attendance. Many times in this setting, an inebriated fellow Black Bro will want to play some wack music that kills the party vibe. You need to be able to easily swap phones out with a cable in this setting.

The Large Get Together

Larger get togethers one the other hand range from about 20 to 30 people. As before, there are many smartphones with gigs of music, so the party never stops. Unlike a smaller get together, attendees at this one wish to play music at a high level due to the number of people present. “Trap music”, a genre of rap with lots of bass, is often played because it’s critical that people at least know what song is on with many attendees in different rooms. In this case, there will also usually be a designated DJ who will demand that he/she take over the party music, so the speakers must be easily compatible with his/her device.

Outdoors

The Black Bro will also host outdoor events when the weather is suitable. In this setting music will be needed outdoors. It’s preferable to be able to have music be played anywhere as well, regardless of the distance from an electrical outlet.

Roadtrips

Road Trips are essential to the Black Bro’s social life. Whenever he leaves the comfort of his home with friends, any combination of the use cases described previously can occur. It’s optimal for a set of speakers to be able to fit in a car trunk; even better if the speakers can be brought on as a carry on a flight (yes this did in fact occur and we were definitely the life of the party).

Satisfying the Use Cases

Identifying the Black Bro’s use cases was an essential step to making a set of speakers that satisfies his needs. Taking a quick look back at the use cases, compatibility, portability, and sound quality were key qualities needed to ensure the Black Bro can host an enjoyable party. Let’s first talk about the compatibility.

Compatibility

Courtesy of http://www.firebox.com

You can’t have multiple DJs without being able to easily switch them out. Luckily, the Cube has a number of options for audio inputs. Equipped with a USB port for iPhone, iPad, iPod, USB drive and hard drive playback, an auxiliary audio jack, a left and right stereo input, built-in FM radio, and even a musical instrument input, the good majority of black bros should have no problem playing their music of choice.

Portability

Courtesy of www.cnet.conm

The Sound Cube is an approximately 10” x 10” x 10” box that weighs between 17–18 lbs. On the top of the box is a firm leathers handle that allows people to transport it with relative ease. It’s not the lightest speaker in history, but if the bro does not in fact, even lift, he’ll still be able to enjoy his music almost anywhere. This comes in handy if he wants to play some decent music to set the stage for having a small “room party” (wink, wink).

Sound Quality

Sound quality is the most impressive attribute the Sound Cube possesses. This box knocks, period. The cube boasts 20 watts RMS of power — wait I know what you’re thinking: that’s not much at all. However, as the result of some excellent engineering and design, the Cube can easily have every member of a 20-person party feeling its bass and treble. Speaking of bass and treble, the Cube has a built in equalizer that allows users to control sound with a decent amount of precision. Keep in mind that the Black Bro isn’t an audiophile. He just needs enough bass to feel it, while providing enough clarity to hear song lyrics.

Points of Improvement

Nothing is perfect, and the TDK Sound Cube is no exception to this rule. On the portability front, this particular version has no batteries, meaning it always has to stay plugged into an outlet to be powered. The Cube falls short of some of the portability expectations if one takes it too far outside the house.

As for connectivity, this version also does not support Bluetooth, meaning that the black bro always has to deal with some sort of cord to play music unless he’s listening to the radio. In addition, due to the speaker’s omnidirectional design, I wouldn’t recommend it as an optimal substitution to a home theater system. This is definitely a party machine.

Fortunately, the issues with portability and connectivity are solved with the Cube’s cousin: the TDK A360 Bluetooth Wireless Sound Cube. Honestly, all of these points are nitpicky; this is an excellent piece of equipment and a legitimate surprise to anyone who uses it for the first time.

The Real MVP

Altogether, it’s safe to say that the Cube satisfied our, and more importantly, the Black Bro’s requirements. Expanding on the Bro’s persona, one can easily see how other user types can fully enjoy this speaker’s design. After finishing school, I claimed the Cube for my own use in my apartment. I use it almost daily, and as stated previously, I have little to no complaints about it.

In a fairly crowded market, the Sound Cube stood out to me because of its interesting design and stellar reviews. It would be interesting to do a side-by-side comparison with some of its competitors: the iHome iBT44 Bluetooth Portable FM Stereo Boombox, the Logitech UE Boombox, the Altec-Lansing IMT-800, and the Sharp GX-M10.

TDK hasn’t stopped here. Looking at the different product models, the company has definitely taken lessons learned in each iteration and incorporated them for future features. Great design like this only comes from deep thought and user empathy and for that, I applaud the guys over there at TDK. Sound Cube, you “The Real MVP.”