Cowin Ark review – the portable Bluetooth speaker with a subwoofer

Music quality

Inside the Cruze are two speaker drivers with a passive radiator. It doesn’t fare particularly well on its own, as its thin sound lacks presence and doesn’t really make much of an impact, but thankfully music becomes much livelier when it’s paired with the base station’s ported 3.5in subwoofer. 

The bass isn’t wanting for brute force, but it lacks a degree of refinement. With a track like The Toure-Raichel Collective’s ‘Tidhar’, which has particularly unruly bass, the Cowin Ark struggles, as the base station’s cabinet constantly resonates and vibrates with each beat, making it very distracting to listen to. Even less difficult tracks still sound a bit muddy at times, but for the most part it copes reasonably well. Volume levels are also respectable, filling a medium to large room, but it begins to distort at the higher levels.

Conclusion

Overall, the Cowin Ark should be commended for its concept. A modular Bluetooth speaker is a good idea, especially as some portable speakers do tend to lack for bass presence. However, its execution left a lot to be desired and its design will be divisive. The base station should really augment the existing bass delivery from the Cruze, but instead the Cruze’s almost non-existent bass means it sounds tinny and flat without its companion. Given a choice, I’d still opt for a separate subwoofer-less Bluetooth speaker such as the Cambridge Audio G2.