Tronsmart Halo 100 review: are you ready to party?

Tronsmart is no stranger to us here at Gizchina HQ. It’s a well-established Chinese manufacturer making a name for itself by making impressive speakers at lower prices than other competitors. The Tronsmart Halo 100 is one of those speakers that has enough power inside to cost twice as much. But it doesn’t and that’s what everybody will love in the end.

It’s a well-built device, looking funny as it stands upright with its three illuminated rings around woofer and midrange drivers. When you turn it on however, things start to change… in an impressive way. The Halo 100 comes packed with decent specs: theoretically 18 hours of battery life, 3-way stereo system, 60 watts of total amp power, compound driver – that´s what is making party people really wanting to check the Halo 100´s capabilities in real life beach sound situations.

You can buy the Halo 100 from Amazon US

You can buy the Halo 100 from Amazon UK

Tronsmart Halo 100: sturdy and ready for action

Although it measures 198 x 150 x 287mm (WDH), the Tronsmart Halo 100 only weighs a mere 2.72kg, making a bit lighter that the Tronsmart Bang. It has a black plastic case, metal grille, and a rubberized touch surface on top. There’s a faux leather strap on top, and in the main package we find a USB-A-to-USB-C charging cable and a 3.5mm-to-3.5mm aux cable.

When you first look at the Halo 100’s speaker configuration, we can easily spot two mid-tweeters (above) and a large woofer (below) that together resemble an open-mouthed face. A smaller, less visible tweeter also sits above the ‘eyes’, while a 5.6in passive radiator hides behind the ‘mouth’.

For the tech savvies, the Halo 100 packs a 1.22-inch tweeter, two 2.09-inch mid-tweeters, a 4.53-inch woofer, and a 5.6-inch passive radiator. It can easily offer up to 60W of power and has a frequency range of 40Hz – 20kHz! That’s an impressive amount of volume from a speaker at this price.

Take it to the beach!

For those who want to take it to the beach, you’ll be happy to know that it packs an IPX6 waterproof rating, so it’s safe to use outdoors near the lake or pool, but the company doesn’t rate its resistance to dust.

Since the max input power is 5V/2A via the USB-C input, a full charge will take 5.5 hours. You can also use the Halo 100 as a phone charger since there’s a USB-A outlet.

For those of you who want to have more fun and have a party under the moonlight – by the sea, you can! If you have two Halo 100 speakers, you can create a stereo pair and double the sound power (and the quality!). If you don’t want to use Bluetooth, you can plug in any other audio source via the 3.5mm cable. There’s also the option to load your music onto a USB flash drive or microSD card and play back via the slots on the rear of the unit. Note also that this option will further increase the battery life – since we’re not using Bluetooth.

Tronsmart Halo 100 controls

On the top of the Halo 100 there’s a small “control panel”, featuring a power button, low battery indicator, a play/pause button, and volume control buttons. There are also buttons to cycle through light show options and input modes. As we mentioned earlier, you can pair to another Halo 100 via the stereo pairing button.

There’s a nice feature that lets you switch between sources by simply pressing the mode button. Doing so allows you to cycle through the Bluetooth, TF/SD card, USB-A drive and AUX-in modes quickly and having such a range of playback options is very welcome.

There’s a custom digital signal processing feature inside, called SoundPulse that can be activated on the control panel. This setting manages to increase the thump on low frequencies without introducing distortion in the upper registers. I found myself enjoying the SoundPulse playback for hours at a stretch.

One more nice feature of the Halo 100 is that when connected to two devices simultaneously over Bluetooth, it will automatically switch to the device that’s playing audio, a nice touch given Bluetooth is likely to be the primary form of connection for most people.

Bluetooth and much more

I must admit that there are a lot of options in this speaker. Getting used to all takes a bit of time but it is surely worth it. The ´M´ key stands for  source selection, keeping in mind that AUX is a prioritized input as soon as there is such a signal. Lighting console and EQ can be activated using the unmistakable keys. For playback control, voice assistant and answering phone calls, however, you have to memorize quite a variety of double-clicks, long-clicks and short-clicks until you really master the Halo 100.

There’s music playback available via Bluetooth 5.3, analogue AUX input, micro SD slot or USB storage. The USB-A for the latter also provides a powerbank function and runs independently of the USB-C, which is where the power supply should be connected.

I admit that I was impressed. That´s a really versatile concept, especially since it allows multi-hosting keeping two Bluetooth sources connected at the same time!

The Tronsmart mobile app

Tronsmart has an app for iOS and Android you can use to play, pause, skip tracks, and adjust the volume. The app also shows the speaker’s battery level, makes it easy to install firmware updates, and you can read the speaker’s user manual. There’s an Equalizer presets panel that, in addition to the default and SoundPulse options available on the speaker’s control panel, offers Deep Bass, Classical, Rock, and Customize options.

A Controller panel gives access to inputs, allows you to activate stereo pairing mode, or power off the speaker without needing to be next to speaker. You can also choose between lighting modes and see their entertaining names: Ballet, Party, City of Phantoms, Carousel, Starry Night, and off.

The three additional presets are just as uninspiring as the EQ presets you’ll find on almost every other Bluetooth speaker. The only real decision here is between SoundPulse and no SoundPulse. If you insist on creating a custom EQ setup, you can’t save multiple versions of your work.

Conclusion

According to the manufacturer, the Tronsmart Halo 100 is a a “portable party speaker” and I gladly agree with them. It is aimed at all those who prefer beach parties (or any type of parties), giving more importance on sound – power and less on critical quality. Remember to always set the built-in SoundPulse DSP engaged in order to enjoy the best possible sound!

It’s an eye-catching Bluetooth speaker, with an impressive power that will turn heads and keep their attention through sonic clarity and stunning lighting. I loved the high level of control and customization it offers, along with the easy “turn on – connect” feature!  Add the power bank capability and decent waterproofing certification and you’ve got a real party starter in your hands!

PROS

• Rich, deep bass
• Powerful for its size
• Nice and easy to use controls
• Naturally balanced sound
• Sturdy Strap

CONS

• Not impressive battery life
• Could hear audible noise when skipping tracks

You can buy the Halo 100 from Amazon US

You can buy the Halo 100 from Amazon UK